In 1938 Hollywood was still in its infancy. While cinema had long evolved from the point where most movies were simply filmed plays, the industry was just beginning to demonstrate what movies could do as a distinct art form.
A LIFE magazine story titled “Sound Stages of Hollywood Hum with Work on Movies for 1938” took a broad look at the state of the movie industry. One sign of how young cinema was is that LIFE began its article by explaining how sound stages had become necessary with the demise of the silent film era.
Sound stages…cover all the Hollywood movie lots. Ever since the advent of sound drove the movies indoors, these huge, sound-proof buildings have been the factories of the cinema industry. Covering more than an acre of ground, each stage is so big that within its walls can be re-enacted the sinking of the Titanic or Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow.
The theme that LIFE hammered in its story was the rise of big-budget pictures, which the magazine referred to as “million-dollar epics.” A million dollars is a lot, but also not that much for a movie budget, even taking inflation into account. For point of reference, a million dollars back then would be the equivalent of about $23 million in 2026. The most expensive blockbusters of today—such as the newer entries in the Star Wars and Jurassic Park franchises—cost around $500 million.
LIFE, perhaps sensing what the future would be, looked at this culture with disdain.
Hollywood’s most successful studios are headed by producing “geniuses” with a fondness for sending expeditions to the South Seas for “atmosphere” and junking $100,000 worth of film to shoot it in color. Surrounding them are equally temperamental directors, writers and actors. The only reason the movies ever get made at all is that beneath the batteries of geniuses are amazingly smooth-working studios.
While the text of the story had its snarky moments, the photographs by Margaret Bourke-White looked more lovingly at the magic of movie making. Her images include movie sets recreating lavish ballrooms or the streets of San Francisco circa 1859, and also showed appreciation to the prop master who kept a vast collection of smoking pipes to give directors plenty to choose from.
Bourke-White also took several photos from the set of the movie The Big Broadcast of 1938, which may be of interest to modern movie fans because of the way its ship models and lifeboats and icebergs call to mind one of the most extravagant and successful productions in the history of film—James Cameron’s 1997 movie Titanic.
The Big Broadcast of 1938 was the last in a series of variety show anthologies, and this edition featured a story about a race between two big boats, the Colossal and the Gigantic—two names which obviously reference the ship Titanic.
To compare The Big Broadcast of 1938 to the vast enterprise behind of the making of James Cameron’s movie is to appreciate how far cinema has evolved. And this isn’t a knock on the prop department’s work on The Big Business of 1938. Rather, it’s a recognition of what happens when one generation after another tries top those that came before—no matter what the cost.
The Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank, California, 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
On the Paramount Studios lot Ernst Lubitsch, with cigar in his mouth, directed Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert in the 1938 romantic comedy “Bluebeard’s Eight Wife.”
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A movie set of the Paramount Studios lot, 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
On the set of a movie at Paramount Studios, 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This prop was being built for the musical comedy “The Big Broadcast of 1938” from Paramount Studios.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This prop was being built for the musical comedy “The Big Broadcast of 1938” from Paramount Studios.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
On the set of the movie “The Big Broadcast of 1938” from Paramount Studios.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstuck
A set for the oceanbound musical comedy “The Big Business of 1938” at Paramount Studios.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This iceberg prop was built for use in the Paramount Studios musical comedy “The Big Business of 1938.”
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Paramound prop master Charles J. Mccormick posed with a prop mosquito on his hand that he controlled with a hair held in his other hand; the mosquito was made for the 1937 comedy “Thrill of a Lifetime.”
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The Paramount Studios prop room included a wide selection of pipes, 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This breakaway stick in the Paramount Studios prop department was held together with toothpicks and designed to break away on contact, 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Prop man R.B. Berscheid at work at Warner Bros. studio, 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Prop champagne bottles on the lot at Warner Bros., 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This puppet of actress Martha Raye was built for a publicity gag and then kept hanging around the Paramount props department, 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This prop street on the Paramount Ranch, 30 miles from Hollywood, was meant to replicate San Francisco circa 1859 for the 1937 movie “Wells Fargo.”
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
A set on the Paramount Studios ranch, 30 minutes north of Hollywood, 1938.
Margaret Bourke-White/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The post Visiting the Studio Lots of Early Hollywood appeared first on LIFE.
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