New Books Network Katherine Fusco, "Hollywood's Others: Love and Limitation in the Star System" (Columbia UP, 2025)
Sep 6, 2025
Katherine Fusco, an Associate Professor and Chair at the University of Nevada, Reno, dives into the complexities of Hollywood stardom in the 1920s and 30s. She examines the emotional ties between atypical celebrities and their white audiences, highlighting figures like Lon Chaney and Shirley Temple. Fusco critiques how the film industry managed these connections and discusses the intersection of race and disability in celebrity culture. The conversation also touches on women's voices in Hollywood and the evolving dynamics of fame amidst societal expectations.
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Silent-Film Festival Sparked The Project
- Katherine Fusco discovered Farina when watching Our Gang films at a silent-film festival and noticed shifting gender references across titles.
- That personal curiosity launched her inquiry into how a Black child star became popular in Jim Crow America.
Stars As Picture Personalities
- Fusco contrasts aspirational and relatable star models with stardoms that appeal through otherness, like Lon Chaney's disability roles.
- She argues certain stars functioned as 'picture personalities' where character confusion aided studio publicity.
Chaney's Masked Public Image
- Fusco selected a publicity still of Lon Chaney with his face obscured because Chaney resisted biographical exposure and emphasized character transformations.
- She recounts fan magazines trying to normalize his strangeness by insisting he was 'real normal' under the makeup.
