Studio System

Studios worked on an assembly line process with separate sections for writing, costuming, set construction, equipment, shooting, publicity, marketing, financing and many other things

Using talent scouts, major studios recruited and trained actors. Stars were usually contracted for seven years at a time (often with a six month trial period)

Studios controlled stars' professional and private lives, Studios determined the films stars appeared in and the parts they played. Publicists managed (and often facilitated) the stars' private lives, determining with whom they would be seen, the events they would attend, and notoriously, their partners and sexuality.

Rock Hudson (Leroy Harold Scherer) is a great example. Hudson, who was gay, was positioned as the ultimate ladies man. Natalie Wood had 'romances' with Tab Hunter and Nick Adams, both of whom were gay. Studios arranged publicity romances between Judy Garland and Freddie Bartholomew and between Loretta Young and Spencer Tracy, and many others.