However, such a book needs to be more than mere celebration and talking about how pretty Leila Hyams was, etc.

It is important to place the subject within the context of the bigger Hollywood studio system, and within the cultural and ideological context of the times. How was Leila’s image produced and what does it mean?

Leila represents a certain kind of femininity very dear to patriarchal notions of womanhood—decorative, faithful, dependent, non-threatening…She does not represent the aggressive hypersexuality of Jean Harlow or Olga Baclanova that needed to be contained and punished. Leila is not a “working class/liberated woman” in the Joan Crawford or Bette Davis mold. Her wisecracking charcter “Venus” in Freaks is the closest I’ve seen in this vien. She is not an “exotic” a la Garbo nor “dramatic” like Shearer.

Also, it is also meaningful to compare/contrast Leila with her contemporaries at MGM or other studios. How was Leila different from flappers/man-traps Clara Bow, Louise Brooks, Jean Harlow? How is she similar to Madge Evans, Karen Morley, Fay Wray, early Loretta Young? How did the deluxe MGM studio (mis)use her or underdevelop her as an actress/commodity? Pegged as a versatile “utility blonde”, MGM moguls clearly did not regard her in the same big league as Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, or Myrna Loy.

What is Leila’s contribution to film with two big Horror classics and auteur-director Tod Browning in her resume? What does it mean to today’s audiences? Should this not place her high in the “scream queen” cult with Helen Chandler (Dracula), Mae Clarke (Frankenstein), Zita Johnan, Gloria Stuart and Fay Wray? Leila’s blondeness/whiteness makes her a perfect foil to the undertones of bestiality in Island of Lost Souls. I hope that the book will not only “give Leila her due” in celebrating her but will shed new light into the forgotten world of Vaudeville, the closing years of the silent era, the Talkie revolution and THE SYSTEM within which she worked as Golden Age Hollywood grows more remote.

Thank you for commenting! I agree, much of Leila’s cinematic misfortune was the result of poor scripts and a lack of opportunity. As you mentioned, I would also love to see Wonder of Women. To my knowledge, it IS in existence though. See below:

Wonder of Women
1929) American
B&W : 95 minutes
Directed by Clarence Brown

Cast: Lewis Stone [Stephen Trombolt], Leila Hyams [Karen], Peggy Wood [Brigitte], Harry Myers [Bruno Heim], Sarah Padden [Anna], George Fawcett [doctor], Blanche Frederici [housekeeper], Wally Albright Jr. [Wulle-Wulle], Carmencita Johnson [Lottie], Anita Fremault (Anita Louise) [Lottie], Dietrich Haupt [Kurt], Ulrich Haupt [Kurt], Russ Columbo

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Corporation production; distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation. / Scenario by Bess Meredyth, from the novel Die Frau des Steffen Trombolt (The Wife of Stephen Trombolt) by Hermann Sudermann. Production design by Cedric Gibbons. Costume design by David Cox and Howard Greer. Assistant director Charles Dorian. Cinematography by Merritt B. Gerstad. Sound by Douglas Shearer and Ralph Shugart. Intertitles by Marian Ainslee. Edited by William LeVanway. Music by William Axt, Arthur Lange and Sam Wineland. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. / [?] Silent film, with talking sequences, synchronized music and sound effects?

Survival Status: Print exists.

So it’s possible that we may very well get to see Leila as the vamp. It would be extremely interesting.

You mentioned that Leila suffered the same fate as many other MGM actresses. I would agree with you there. However, I based this original post on her personal potential, regardless of how she was treated by MGM. You’re right, they did hold her back, along with many other actresses. I believe, though, that most of her work is available. I personally have about 22 of her films, and I know that a great deal more have surviving prints. They just haven’t been restored and released. That is the main purpose of the DVD petition, which I’ll hope you’ll sign if you haven’t.

If we have the chance to get a better perspective on her body of work, we may very well find her to be a hidden diamond. It’s obvious that I feel that way about her and her work already. I just hope to expose her to many other people. Thanks again! I found your comment to be very insightful!

Gary

I agree with the assessment that she was more than competent as an actor and deserved better opportunities.

However, when I look at evaluate Hyams’ blonde looks and lady-like screen image, I feel that she was “trapped” and probably wasted at MGM, where there were too many actresses in her mold. She is very much of the period and contained within patriarchal notions of womanhood. Leila’s type/image does not easily transcend the ages.

Leila, unfortunately, shares too many qualities with the likes of Madge Evans, Karen Morley, Dorothy Jordan, Lois Moran, Sally Eilers, Virginia Bruce, and later Cecilia Parker—all of whom MGM maintained in their stable of interchangeable blonde leading ladies, often cast as demure “props” for their virile or debonair leading men. Such a situation also meant that Leila had to regularly compete with many of these popular studio contractees for the same type or quality roles. A tough situation when “fresh faces” are always in demand and are just as disposable.

What is disappointing about Leila’s career and so many other 1930s actresses is that sense of waste caused by tunnel vision of male film producers, unimaginative casting and the limitations of the studio system for women actors. Once pigeonholed in the standard “leading lady” mold, such women could not always break out for bigger and more versatile roles. It was a career fate suffered by such charmers and excellent actresses as Mary Brian, Constance Cummings, Frances Dee, Ann Dvorak, Mae Clarke, Marguerite Churchill, Gloria Stuart, Fay Wray, Jane Wyatt and Rose Hobart, all of whom met similar frustrations and stagnation, never achieving superstardom at the various studios they toiled for.

As a screen personality, Leila was perhaps not dynamic or brassy enough a la Harlow, Katherine Hepburn or Bette Davis for the kinds of roles that would launch them as screen icons. I don’t know if I could imagine Leila playing the assertive/trangressive characters of Red Dust (‘32), Christopher Strong (‘33) or Of Human Bondage(‘34),could you…?

If The Wonder of Women (1929) were available for viewing, it might be interesting to see Leila counter cast as the Vamp – sophisticated “other woman”. It becomes difficult to fully assess her image and acting versatility when most her films remain unavailable.

It would be interesting to compare and contrast Leila’s oeuvre and career fortunes with other MGM types in contextualizing her persona within the 30s studio system and for a sense of her overall contribution.

Joseph Worrell