An Interview with Susan Ohmer

nnSusan Ohmer is the William T. and Helen Kuhn Carey Assistant Professor of Modern Communication in the Department of Film, Televsion, and Theater at the University of Notre Dame. In George Gallup in Hollywood, Ohmer looks at how George Gallup and his newly developed polling techniques influenced the Hollywood Studios of the 1930s’ and ’40s. Here is an interview with Ohmer:nnQ: We’re all familiar with Gallup’s political polls. What was he doing in Hollywood?Susan Ohmer: Gallup’s political polls became famous when he correctly predicted the outcome of the 1936 presidential election. The leading poll of the day, the Literary Digest, forecast that Alf Landon would defeat Franklin Roosevelt, but Gallup had developed more scientific methods that showed that Roosevelt would win. After the election, his name and methods became famous around the country. Several Hollywood producers approached him about working for them, and finally in 1940 he signed an exclusive contract with RKO Radio Pictures. Over the next few years he carried out surveys about many of the studio’s planned film projects and many of the stars it had or wanted to have under contract, including Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Orson Welles, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. When that contract ended, Gallup continued to work with RKO and also added David Selznick and Walt Disney as clients. After World War II, he worked with a number of independent production companies as well.nnQ: How did Gallup’s political polls affect his film work? Was there any connection between the two endeavors?nnSO: Gallup’s political polls affected his film research in several ways. First, the success of his political polls drew the attention of Hollywood producers, who were eager to enlist him to study reactions to films. The name “Gallup” had become synonymous with opinion polling by the end of the 1930s and many studios wanted to be able to advertise that he was working for them. Second, Gallup developed techniques for studying reactions to films by adapting methods used in political polling. His film surveys, like his political polls, used statistical sampling and carefully constructed questionnaires to gauge audience preferences. Finally, Gallup used his political surveys to ask questions about films. The surveys I discuss include questions about films right alongside questions about the Supreme Court and World War II. Gallup also lent many of his political staffers to his film operations. So his political polls provided logistical and material support to his work in film.nnQ: What were some of the methods Gallup used to study reactions to films? How did they compare with the ways Hollywood itself gauged public reaction?nnSO: Before Gallup, Hollywood employed a range of methods to study how people were responding to its films. Primarily, studios read the fan mail they received and occasionally mailed cards to civic groups and clubs around the country, asking for their opinions. As Gallup pointed out, however, none of these methods was designed to reach the full range of filmgoers, in terms of age, gender, and occupation. Gallup, however, used census data and interviewers trained from his political polls to construct a scientific cross-section of the filmgoing public. He interviewed people from all income groups, residents of cities, towns and farm areas, and viewers as young as 12. These efforts to construct a more accurate pool of respondents brought to light opinions from groups that Hollywood had overlooked, such as working class viewers and teenagers. Gallup provided the first empirical evidence that teenagers bought more movie tickets than any other group, emphasizing their importance long before the teenage revolution of the 1950s.nnQ: In addition to constructing a more accurate cross-section of U.S. filmgoers, how did Gallup study their responses to particular films and film stars?nnSO: Before Gallup began his political polls, he worked as Director of Research for the Young & Rubicam advertising agency. In that capacity he developed methods for studying audience reactions to print ads and radio broadcasts. Drawing on contemporary theories in psychology, and his own graduate work in the field, Gallup argued that media texts should be viewed as a bundle of components that could awaken responses in their readers or listeners. For print ads, these components were such elements as headlines, illustrations, typeface, and the ad’s position on a page. For radio broadcasts, Young & Rubicam used a mechanical device that allowed it to track listener interest over the course of a program. This research enabled Young & Rubicam to perform a cost-benefit analysis for each ad or radio commercial that determined the number of readers or listeners reached and the cost for each audience member. Similarly, in Hollywood, Gallup divided films into key components, which he identified as titles, casts and stories. While it was not difficult to measure responses to titles, it was a challenge to study reactions to plots, and Gallup developed several creative strategies for doing so.nnQ: Did everyone in Hollywood react positively to Gallup’s work? Were there any producers or directors who objected to his research?nnSO: One of the most fascinating aspects of Gallup’s work in Hollywood is the controversy it created. Many studio executives welcomed his ideas, because they felt he had modern, up-do-date approaches for studying the public. Others, however, viewed Gallup as an interloper who did not fully understand the film industry or the mysteries of the creative process. Particularly after World War II, writers and actors objected that he was creating “machine made estimates” of their value and popularity. His quantitative methods provoked hostility from many at a time when U.S. culture as a whole was becoming more industrial and managerial in its orientation. An important contribution of the book is to trace the controversies that Gallup’s work engendered and to show how they connected with broader issues in American culture.nnQ: What do you see as the lasting contribution of Gallup’s film research?nnSO: Gallup pioneered many of the fundamental techniques used in film research today. Previews held in theaters in Los Angeles and New York, for example, involve questionnaires that use many of the methods and categories Gallup defined. Historically, Gallup’s work in Hollywood provides a critical connection between areas of U.S. culture that we might think were separate, such as political polling and popular culture. Many of the people Gallup hired for his film surveys went on to have illustrious careers of their own, such as David Ogilvy, the founder of the advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather. Ogilvy was Gallup’s chief representative in Hollywood until 1942 and wrote most of the early reports for RKO. Finally, many of the reactions Gallup uncovered shaped films that endure today, such as Gone with the Wind.nn