Wallace Reid is an example of a matinée idol. The original caption of this image fromPicture-Play Magazine reads: "The only reason why they don’t let Wally play in dress-suit rôles all the time is that the casualties among the ladies would soon empty the picture houses. In fact, we feel that we’re toying with the fan hearts even to print this picture."[1]
Matinée idol is a term used mainly to describefilm ortheatrestars who are adored to the point ofadulation by theirfans. The term almost exclusively refers to adult male actors.
Matinée idols often tend to playromantic anddramaticleading orsecondary leading roles and are usually known for having good looks. The term can be taken as faintly pejorative in that it suggests the star's popularity came from the afternoonmatinée performances, frequented more by women, rather than the "big picture" evenings and, hence, a less discriminating audience. Matinée idols often became the subject ofparody during the height of their popularity, an example beingStan Laurel spoofingRudolph Valentino in his filmMud and Sand.
Now a somewhat old-fashioned term, the phenomenon reached its height from the 1920s to around the 1960s in Hollywood. "Teen idol" is a similar term, which often refers to youthfulmusicians as well as film actors. In today's Asia, “idols” pertain to a broaderpop culture.
The term differs from "sex symbol", which refers to a star's sexual attractiveness in and outside of film more so than their romantic performances on the screen. However, a sex symbol may also be a matinée idol.
Photoplay namedRichard Barthelmess the "idol of every girl in America" in the 1920s.[2] An admirer wrote that "his wonderful black hair and soulful eyes are enough to make any young girl adore him" in 1921.[3]Rudolph Valentino is the epitome of a matinée idol.
1910s–1920s
Matinée idols during these time were commonly referred to simply as "lovers". "Latin lovers", or actors who specialized in characters ofLatin American or Romance European descent, became popular in the 1920s after Rudolph Valentino's famous performance as Julio Desnoyers inThe Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Other Latin lovers includeRamon Novarro,Antonio Moreno andRicardo Cortez, although the latter was actually a Jew named Jacob Krantz whopassed as Latin to capitalize on the trope's popularity.[4]
Sessue Hayakawa (first Asian idol to become popular in America)
^Barry, Michael Thomas (August 25, 2011)."Van Johnson, Paul Muni".Official Blog of Author and Columnist Michael Thomas Barry. Blogspot. RetrievedSeptember 3, 2015.
