1930s Hollywood:
Escape, Glamour & Dreams
Step into Hollywood's world of extraordinary contradictions — lavish spectacles amid desperate poverty, glittering stars concealing hardship behind their dazzling smiles.
Step inside the story
- Discover how Hollywood helped America escape the Depression.
- Experience Busby Berkeley’s spectacular musicals.
- Explore the cheeky freedom of pre-Code cinema.
- Uncover the scandals and fixers behind the stars.
- Relive 1939 — Hollywood’s legendary year.
DURATION
45 - 60 minutes plus time for questions
PRESENTATION
Illustrated talk with high quality images and short film clips
COST
£100 for talk + 55p per mile after 20 miles from Bicester, Oxfordshire
Featured films include
Footlight Parade (1933)
Musical
Top Hat (1935)
Musical Comedy
Three Broadway Girls (1932)
Pre-Code Comedy
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Screwball Comedy
Dracula
Horror
Hollywood sold the world a dream — whatever the cost.
Behind the dazzling smiles, powerful studio bosses worked tirelessly to keep the illusion alive.
“
And in the end… the magic was never just on the screen—it was in the hands that created it.
”
— Julie Oatridge, 1930s Hollywood: Escape, Glamour & Dreams