I loved this film, but I couldn't stop thinking what a shame it was that they hadn't got an actress the correct age for Rogers' role.
Women in Hollywood were damned either way: if they did play their age, they'd get "Oohh, hasn't she aged!" comments, which in turn fuelled writers creating very few middle-aged leading roles for them, or they'd get typecast in cameo role mothers/grannies etc and never get a leading role again; or if they did play the ageist game they became obsessed with either trying too hard to appear youthful, or just hid themselves away to protect their image/avoid the crap. And then writers made fun of them for it in films like Sunset Boulevard/Baby Jane/All About Eve etc. Strange how those writers never made fun of themselves for doing such a poor job of their craft that led to these women behaving like that. And some those writers were women themselves! But they too knew they had to play the game, or they'd be out of a job; and so it continued.
Even Marlene Dietrich turned down the role, despite being 12 years younger than Clifton Webb who clearly had no such qualms about playing a man in his 60s.
I can well imagine that many actresses then in their late 50s/early 60s would have felt it was somehow undignified, or illusion-shattering to play their age- which just goes to show how much they internalised all the ageist, sexist nonsense, even though it was to their detriment. Meanwhile 1950s Cooper, Tracy, Gable, Bogart etc all looked older than their years, and it never hurt their careers one jot.
Sure- Ginger Rogers is brilliant in the role. But so would have been plenty of other big name "faded" actresses who would have been the correct age for the role.
It's better now, but not by much.
Women in Hollywood were damned either way: if they did play their age, they'd get "Oohh, hasn't she aged!" comments, which in turn fuelled writers creating very few middle-aged leading roles for them, or they'd get typecast in cameo role mothers/grannies etc and never get a leading role again; or if they did play the ageist game they became obsessed with either trying too hard to appear youthful, or just hid themselves away to protect their image/avoid the crap. And then writers made fun of them for it in films like Sunset Boulevard/Baby Jane/All About Eve etc. Strange how those writers never made fun of themselves for doing such a poor job of their craft that led to these women behaving like that. And some those writers were women themselves! But they too knew they had to play the game, or they'd be out of a job; and so it continued.
Even Marlene Dietrich turned down the role, despite being 12 years younger than Clifton Webb who clearly had no such qualms about playing a man in his 60s.
I can well imagine that many actresses then in their late 50s/early 60s would have felt it was somehow undignified, or illusion-shattering to play their age- which just goes to show how much they internalised all the ageist, sexist nonsense, even though it was to their detriment. Meanwhile 1950s Cooper, Tracy, Gable, Bogart etc all looked older than their years, and it never hurt their careers one jot.
Sure- Ginger Rogers is brilliant in the role. But so would have been plenty of other big name "faded" actresses who would have been the correct age for the role.
It's better now, but not by much.