at liquid URL_TOKEN experience better hydration today at liquid URL_TOKEN promo code dark history a big thank you to liquid iv for partnering with me on today's episode now let's get back to today's story now of course studios didn't see their stars as people but as little money-making machines who have to present a perfect image to the public at all costs now this would become especially bad when we see the studios use their fixers and their power to create and control their stars from a very young age force feeding them drugs to stay awake and drugs to fall asleep and working NUMBER_TOKEN-hour days before they're even NUMBER_TOKEN years old basically if you wanted to be a star your life was no longer your own you see actresses had it pretty much the worst okay look their hair was usually dyed and cut instantly after they signed their contract then they were forced to stay under a certain weight and if they couldn't do it on their own the fixers would step in to keep food away from them swiping it out swiping it out of their hand slapping it slappers slapping the food away instead they fed them things like coffee and diet pills so that's nice the actresses even had appearance reviews with the studio heads and even their names would be changed you were just a blank slate baby mgm once held a contest to have the public vote on the stage name for a young actress named lucille and that's how lucille became joan crawford girl yeah we're talking about you fun fact joan always hated her new name because it reminded her of crayfish can i just say side note i just finished mommy dearest not that long ago ah joan john john joan not you girl um joan crawford she was something wow maybe another day okay but anyways you should read that if you haven't and okay look it wasn't just superficial stuff the studios didn't let you have relationships with like your kids without their permission they called this a morality clause which they could kind of use to apply to just about anything the big problem with these morality clauses was that they gave studio heads the legal power to basically say anything was in violation of it for example let's say a female star got pregnant the studio could make her get an abortion because it was a violation of her morality clause which many times was just a reflection of the religious and social idea of the studio head and the public at the time so the morality clause would end up feeling like a prison sentence in a way so the studios didn't care about what kind of effect this would have on the actor as a person and if they didn't cooperate with the studio the studio would straight up ruin their lives one of the most disturbing examples of an actress who was wildly abused by the studio system and never got any justice was patricia douglas okay so patricia patricia patricia douglas she was born in NUMBER_TOKEN in kansas city and like many girls of the era she was drawn to the glamour of hollywood so she headed out west and she became a dancer and a background actor in movies now she was only NUMBER_TOKEN years old in NUMBER_TOKEN when she got her big break and started appearing on screen in movies for mgm now part of the whole deal that stars had in their contracts with studios
START_SPONSOR_TOKEN at liquid URL_TOKEN experience better hydration today at liquid URL_TOKEN promo code dark history a big thank you to liquid iv for partnering with me on today's episode now let's get back to today's story END_SPONSOR_TOKEN