The Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, in partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will hold a conference exploring the history of Hollywood and the film industry in the critical decades between the First and Second World Wars. The two-day conference at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens will be held May 30–31 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“We're excited about this conference because it promises to illuminate the rise of Hollywood against the backdrop of the equally dramatic rise of Los Angeles in this critical period,” says co-organizer William Deverell, USC history professor and director of the Huntington-USC Institute. Also organizing the conference is film historian Taylor Coffman.

“Moguls, Millionaires, and Movie Stars: Hollywood Between the Wars, 1920–1940” will feature lectures and panels on such topics as the ascension of the studio system; the careers and lives of moguls Joseph P. Kennedy, Howard Hughes, and William Randolph Hearst; and the art and architectural connoisseurship of film industry titans. 

Other themes include the creation of the Academy, the historical and personal connections between vaudeville and early Hollywood, and a retrospective look at Citizen Kane. Panelists and presenters include USC professors Leo Braudy, Steve Ross, and Kevin Starr; historians Samantha Barbas, Cari Beauchamp, Neal Gabler, and Emily Thompson; film writers Richard Schickel and David Thomson; Academy president Sid Ganis; Barbara Hall, research archivist at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library; and Los Angeles Times journalists John Horn, Patt Morrison, and Tim Rutten.

The Academy will host a dinner and film screening on May 30 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in the Pickford Center at 1313 Vine St. in Hollywood. For details about conference registration and related activities, see www.usc.edu/icw and www.oscars.org/events/hollywood_betw_wars/index.html.