From time immemorial, actors and actresses have been thought of as whores, robbers, cheats, immoral, louche creatures. This began to change in the mid-1800s, though did NOT really change all THAT much, until the 1920s or so. Eve then, many people still had negative views of threatre and movie people, though they were captivated by them and yes, "STAR STRUCK"!
It took until the beginnings of this nation's cultural downfall ( the 1960s-'70s ) for almost all of the "old" memes to get short shrift....except now on this hypocritical site.
And you're 100% correct about the now scourge of useless, mostly stupid and banal, damned VANITY posts!
OTOH...once women began to work outside of the home, for others, no matter WHAT fields of endeavor, there were predatory males who harassed and demanded sexual favors, and/or raped them.
There have also been women who "slept their way to the top"...whether that meant marrying a wealthy man, or rising in a business!
Lots of pre-Code movies were made about the above, see : "BABY FACE", for but one example of the early years of the 20th century and "THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ( taken from the book by the same name) for a 1950s view of women working in a publishing house.
Re child actors and actresses.....there probably were some pedos, but the worst things that child actors and actresses had to worry about, was a parent/s stealing their earnings and/or being overworked and later, doped up to keep up and then for sleep.
And as far as movies about making it in Hollywood...WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD ( the first A STAR IS BORN movie ) sort of covers it. The movies about making it on Broadway, have been and are, for the most part, Hollywood whitewash/hoax.
When many theatre troops were run by actor/managers ( talking now about the mid 1800s onwards )and the whole family were involved, the children were protected and some ( the Booths, Drews, Barrymores, etc. ) went on to become some of the all time GREATS and very famous.
Sorry for the longish history lesson, but am trying to catch up and reply to many of the stupid posts on this inane thread.
Ah, yes, the Jackie Coogan laws that came into being because his parents spent all his money. Of course, like most laws, it didn’t do much good and many parents continued to blow through child actors’ earnings.
Did you know I used to work for Freddie Bartholomew in the 70s? He was a soap opera director at ABC. I worked in the office. The dearest, sweetest man I have ever met.
Well, your notion that show biz people are continued to look down on is certainly true. Just look at the ignorant rants on this thread! LOL!
Enjoyed your history lesson.