ABSTRACT
The year 1940 marked the beginning of a more serious decade of film making. With Europe cringing in the shadow of Hitler, and the United States recovering from a depression and apprehensive about involvement in the conflict abroad, movies of the late 1930s and early 1940s began to reflect new concern for the future. Miss Rogers’s performance won her an Academy Award, and Renie’s costumes set a new look in the fashion world. And the madcap sprite Carole Lombard turned to more serious endeavors when she appeared in “off the rack” clothes in RKO’s 1940 film adaptation of Sidney Howard’s stage success They Knew What They Wanted. The rising costs of making films on studio stages and steadily rising union wages coupled with demands for increased benefits by set technicians made shooting a movie on location simpler and considerably less expensive.
