The Rise of Hollywood’s “Extra Girls”
They didn't have to do anything besides stand around and look pretty. At least, that was the myth the studios wanted the public to believe.
Who Looks Like a Professor?
Movie portrayals of faculty may influence the ideas about professors that students bring to the first day of class.
Way before MTV, Music Ruled the Living Room
I want my Ed Sullivan, Arthur Godfrey, and Lawrence Welk! To say nothing of Soul Train!
The Summer Blockbusters of JSTOR Daily
Our favorite stories about popcorn movies! There may or may not be explosions.
Six Cat Poems That Aren’t That Owl and Pussycat One
There's nothing practical about these felines. Meow.
The Philosophy of Posthumous Art
For some creators, death isn’t the end of their career. How should we think about completing and releasing their work afterward?
Asthma Tropes and the Kids Who Hate Them
Children with asthma respond to the movie executives who see them as weak people helped by magical inhalers.
The Photographers Who Captured the Great Depression
The Farm Security Administration had photographers fan out across the country to document agricultural conditions. But they brought back much more.
The Dressy Ghosts of Victorian Literature
Realism was exceptionally well suited (heh) for elaborate descriptions of spectral clothing.
Emily Brontë’s Lost Second Novel
The author of the English literary classic Wuthering Heights died tragically young, leaving her second novel unfinished.