The Stripping of His Charms. The Stability and Transformation of Oldřich Nový's Star Image 1936-1955
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | Although still visible and a prominent part of nostalgic reminiscences of the First Republic, star identities were never until recently subjected to academic scrutiny. Throughout the 1930s and during the war years, the star system was crucial for the local film industry. Similarly to various forms of European stardom, celebrated Czechoslovak performers fulfilled two important functions. First, they served as a major crowd-puller, securing domestic and in some rare cases even international revenues; and second, the stars stood for a culturally important product. Although the whole concept of stardom seemed endangered due to nationalisation of the film industry, and especially after the Communist putsch in February 1948, a practice of evaluating and selecting the best performers persisted, with a new set of criteria. The case of Oldřich Nový allowed me to address the topic of the stability versus the transformation of star images in an era which generally was not at all favourable to stardom. The chapter thus sheds a much needed scholarly light on the demise of Czechoslovak prewar stardom, undermining the myth of the total elimination of a whole generation of celebrated performers. |
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