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A CASE FOR LONG PANTS—-Herbert Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966):
An actor whose career spanned over 30 years, Herbert Marshall was known affectionately as “the husband wives loved to cheat on” due to the roles in which he was often cast, alongside some of Hollywood’s most luminous leading ladies, including Greta Garbo (in 1936’s “Camille”), Mariam Hopkins (in 1932’s “Trouble in Paradise”), and Barbara Stanwyck (in 1938’s “Always Goodbye”).
But, no matter how forlorn he was in love, he seemed to always have the ladies’ sympathies. He was a fellow who didn’t have to prove himself to be appreciated; girls seemed to like him just the way he was, wooden leg and all!
Yes, Herbert Marshall was injured in WWI and lost his right leg. This was a secret that he was able to keep for almost his entire career, thanks in no small part to the respectability of the era and the more conservative fashion sense. I shudder to think what would happen if he were starting out today. With the kinds of revealing clothes folks wear these days, there’s almost no way he could have kept the secret, let alone the career! Or could he?
I wonder… as tolerant as we claim to be today, would we accept an actor with a wooden leg as a mainstream romantic lead? My guess is no. It’s such a paradox, though. Because even though many cling firmly to all evidence suggesting that the past was much less tolerant, it was also much less obvious what it was that folks were “less tolerant” about. In other words, while there may not have been these rousing movements about “equal rights for all” back when Marshall was starting out on the screen, people also didn’t generally go around searching for violations of those rights, either. Hence, to the average person, there was much less to fight about, or else, they fought the quiet battle. The result was that folks were less likely to get on the defensive.
But, because we have the knack for spotting such problems today, it creates potential offenders out of all of us, because no-one can play by these perfectly PC rules all the time, and the fact is that we do have our hang-ups. No matter who we are, we have them, some way, shape or form.
So, I again wonder—-would Herbert Marshall make it as a star in today’s supposedly less prejudice society? Well, to answer this question, let’s consider the facts:
- Today, his leg would be titanium
- Today, he would probably be called upon to wear shorts at least once
- Today, the sexually explicit nature of love-scenes often required of romantic leads would render his leg impossible to hide.
- Today, the extreme likelihood of his leg getting in the way of a role would mean that he would probably be relegated to bit parts, or the even greater possibility of being ousted altogether.
- Today, no matter how PC we try to be, we still value the image of perfection in our stars, but we are less likely to admit it.
So, it’s clear, today, Herbert Marshall probably wouldn’t have made it as a romantic lead. Today’s Hollywood is too invasive and too revealing. It tries to be so righteous, but by not acknowledging the deeply innate desire for all our stars to be perfect, they render themselves hypocrites. Therefore, it can be said that in a very oblique, very ironic way, Hollywood of the past was much more honest, and therefore tolerant than Hollywood of the present.
At least in Herbert Marshall’s time, the industry was much more clear on what it wanted and what it didn’t want—-and non-apologetically so, which was admirable. But, that same honesty and those same desires still exist. Only, now they are cloaked under the phoney banner of inclusiveness, which, ironically, would scarcely include Mr. Marshall, if at all.
To those who may want to cite that Mr. Marshall’s wooden leg being a secret is proof of the intolerance of the times in which he lived, I tell you—-we are more intolerant today, for not allowing such a secret to be kept. At least back then, he was able to keep that secret and thus, keep working. But, today, in our [false] openness and tolerance, he would be expected to proudly divulge that secret, and we would be expected to cheer him on as a great role-model, ignoring when the offers come less and less…
What’s worse?
If ever there was a case that shows the benefit of distinguished style and old-Hollywood ideals, this is it! Long pants, anyone?
