Barbara Stanwyck
Popular 1940s actress known for her versatility, celebrated for leading performances in Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944) and Sturges’ The Lady Eve (1941)
Cecil B. DeMille
Legendary filmmakers of who directed over 70 films, with many of them highly regarded as classics (The Ten Commandments (1956), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), and Samson and Delilah (1949))
Celluloid
Transparent flammable plastic which was manufactured in sheets and intended for film-making purposes
Closeup
A type of shot which tightly frames a person or object
Elizabeth Short/Black Dahlia
An American woman who was brutally murdered in Los Angeles in 1947. Due to the sensational violence of her death, Short/Dahlia’s murder became highly publicized
Gone with the Wind
1939 epic historical romance film featuring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, based on Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel of the same name
Hedda Hopper
Popular movie gossip columnist notorious for her feud with Louella Parsons
Isotta-Fraschini
An Italian motors brand that manufactured and distributed luxurious, and expensive cars throughout the early 20th century
Kaffeeklatsch
A social gathering where coffee is served
Maharajah
Sanskrit for a "great ruler," "great king"
The Naked and the Dead
A highly regarded 1948 novel about the 112th Cavalry Regiment during the WWII Philippines Campaign, written by Norman Mailer; it was adapted into a feature film in 1958
Palazzos
Extravagant, palatial buildings
Pish-posh
A nonsense or absurd statement
Pamona
City in Los Angeles county, acted as a movie-previewing location for studios to test their films for middle class audiences during the 40s and 50s
Rudolph Valentino
An iconic silent film actor, known as first “Latin Lover”
Salome
A biblical figure, the daughter of Herod and Herodias, who according to the New Testament demanded, and was given, the head of John the Baptist as a reward for her dancing. Her dangerous female seductiveness became the inspiration behind and subject matter of many artworks, plays, and films
Spotlight
An apparatus that projects a powerful beam of light in a specific direction
Sunset Boulevard
A Los Angeles street where many 1920s filmmakers and stars lived in extravagant mansions
Technicolor
A popular series of color picture processes, commonly used in musicals spanning from the 1920s to the 50s
Waxworks
Lifeless wax figures
