Sitting Pretty.

Hollywood was at its peak when the 1940s opened. The industry had exploded into the American consciousness during the previous two decades and held a unique grip on the American imagination that would only begin to dissolve in the late 1940s when television would become more widespread and the studio monopoly of production and distribution would be shattered by the U.S. Justice Department. Eight studios controlled the entire industry (Warner Bros., M-G-M, RKO Radio, 20th Century-Fox, United Artists, Paramount, Universal, and Columbia) and signed a stable of directors, technicians, and actors, controlling their careers exclusively during the life of the contract. The system has often been compared to a form of servitude, though perhaps baseball's reserve clause is a better analogy. Actors were not free to pursue projects outside the studio. Studios often released one picture a week either...