The answer is really simple -> “The Great Depression.” Movies didn’t really hit their stride till then. As talkies were coming in, the depression hit. Movie makers had to figure out how to get audiences INTO a theatre. This wasn’t too hard. Charge them a nickel and give them, news reels, cartoons and maybe a double feature. Later air conditioning was used as a lure.
All throughout the 30s color was being developed and improved, but the fact remained, it was costly. But they had things like TV and such even developed in the 30s. Of course TV was bad and for the very wealthy and there was virutally no programs.
Then came WWII. As the depression eased there were shortages. WWII was really unique because rationing and high patriotism allowed the common man and the very wealthy to be equals. It was REALLY awful to use wealth to get anything on the black market.
If you were rich and lucky enough to have a, say maid, and the maid saw you doing something wrongs, she’d quit and go make just as much, if not more, in a war plant. And everyone PRAISED the maid for helping the war effort and looked down upon anyone who stopped her.
The war drafted everyone from rich people to movies stars. OK it wasn’t exactly an equal draft, but it worked to “equalize” people.
So B&W stayed pretty much till after the WWII. Then after the war there was nothing literally. Iron and steel was used for war production. People wanted THINGS. New cars, even things like Toasters were in short supply. People were making do with 20 year old toasters with outdated and in some cases dangerous technology. So people wanted THINGS instead of movies.
Eventually when people got these things it was 1949 and TV was bursting on to the scene. They could do color TV but there format wars and B&W TV was just easier to transmit and made the picture look better. The decison was made to rush TV out, to get it to the most people.
Then movies started to need something to compete with TV. So color movies became “THE” main draw. By then color was good as easy to produce as B&W. But directors were seeing B&W as an “Artistic” tool.
Finally you have to remember before the early 50s, movies were pretty much a TOTAL vertical system.
That means everything was owned by the studio. They “owned” the movie, the actors (each actor was tied to a studio), the writers, they even owned the theatres which the movies played. They made their own sets, from start to finish everything was run by one studio.
In the early 50s, the Supreme Court ordered the movies to sell off their theatre chains or face anti-trust law suits. This marked the end of the studio system, after which actors, over the next ten years became essentially “free agents.”
So with vertical integration of movie production there were no outside influences strong enough to force anything, that is until TV. Remember the movies actively set out to kill TV…
From Burns and Allen RADIO show.
Gracie) I think George would be a big star on TV. And you could help.
Rita Hayworth) I could?
Gracie) Yes, you could be a guest on his show
Rita) But I am in the movies I don’t want TV to succeed. If Geroge went on TV…(stops a minute and thinks)…On second thought sure I’ll do it.
<and audience laughs…The idea is George was so bad he’s kill TV>
