George Gallup in Hollywood / / Susan Ohmer.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Columbia University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Ohmer, Susan,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2006]; ©2006
• Year of Publication: 2006
• Language: English
• Series: Film and Culture Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.) :; 16 photographs

George Gallup in Hollywood is a fascinating look at the film industry's use of opinion polling in the 1930s and '40s. George Gallup's polling techniques first achieved fame when he accurately predicted that Franklin D. Roosevelt would be reelected president in 1936. Gallup had devised an extremely effective sampling method that took households from all income brackets into account, and Hollywood studio executives quickly pounced on the value of Gallup's research. Soon he was gauging reactions to stars and scripts for RKO Pictures, David O. Selznick, and Walt Disney and taking the public's temperature on Orson Welles and Desi Arnaz, couples such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and films like Gone with the Wind, Dumbo, and Fantasia. Through interviews and extensive research, Susan Ohmer traces Gallup's groundbreaking intellectual and methodological developments, examining his comprehensive approach to market research from his early education in the advertising industry to his later work in Hollywood. The results of his opinion polls offer a fascinating glimpse at the class and gender differences of the time as well as popular sentiment toward social and political issues.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- 1. What Do Audiences Want? -- 2. Guesswork Eliminated -- 3. The Laws That Determine Interest -- 4. America Speaks -- 5. Piggybacking on the Past -- 6. Singles and Doubles -- 7. Boy Meets Facts at RKO -- 8. David O. Selznick Presents -- 9. Gallup Meets Goofy -- 10. Like, Dislike, Like Very Much -- Abbreviations Used and Collections Consulted -- Notes -- Index -- Film and Culture