Composite Calendar
Research Seminar: Professor Helen Hanson (University of Exeter), 鈥楲ooking for Lela Simone: Genres of Industry Discourse and Production Histories of Classical Hollywood'
About: Despite her important contribution to classical Hollywood鈥檚 most polished golden age musical, Lela Simone is little known in film history. Undertaking music supervision for Arthur Freed鈥檚 MGM Unit (1944-1957) the German-born Simone displayed an aptitude for exacting technical supervision, overseeing pre-scoring and synchronisation of iconic musical numbers for which the Freed unit have become famous, including Singin鈥� in the Rain. Simone is little known because she worked behind the scenes, but also because her work might be labelled as 鈥榞eneric鈥�, unexceptional compared to the 鈥榯alent鈥� of stars or the 鈥榓gency鈥� of producers or directors.
This paper will demonstrate the centrality of her work to the exemplary production of genre by the unit. Analysing archival and industrial sources, the paper will trace how genre operates within three interrelated areas of production history. Firstly, genre informed the classification of work roles above and below the line; secondly, genre shaped production routines, and thirdly, the shared conventions of technical crafts, such as work with sound and music, formed 鈥榞enres of expertise鈥�. These three aspects of genre are intertwined in Simone鈥檚 career, and the paper will examine the tensions between genre as unexceptional, and as representing the 鈥榖est鈥� of classical Hollywood鈥檚 mode of production.