sempozyum_bildiri_kitabi

which now started to be viewed in the categories of professionalism, talent and artistic achievement.
Moreover, as Hallett emphasises, the development of American culture of celebrities showed that
the promotion of female film stars required different strategies and images than was the case for
famous men. This process was accompanied by "New rituals of celebrity" 15 that were both created
and promoted by women’s magazines. There appeared numerous autobiographical pieces of writing
on the fame and glamour of the stars, re‐discovering "the truth" about the complicated and often
mysterious careers of the most celebrated actresses.
Similarly in Poland, there appeared the need to create stars, especially female ones who might
draw the representatives of the beautiful sex before screens. Małgorzata Hendrykowska (2007: 35)
writes about this, emphasising that Polish cinematography before 1918 did not have "its own"
female star. This was because at that time, the cinema here had not managed to bestow any of its
actresses with the traits of originality, thus creating the image of a woman worthy of admiration and
imitating. Therefore, Poland did not have her own Mary Pickford, whose outfits, behaviour and
professional activity, along with her independence might be discussed, either by emulation or
criticism.
The appearance of Jadwiga Smosarska on screen, who fitted the canons of beauty and
demonstrated professionalism in her trade, was welcomed enthusiastically, testifying to the
expectations and needs of the film audience. It also proved important for the receivers of popular
culture, the considerable part of which were women. The attempt at finding parallels between
Smosarska and Pickford and other American actresses is an extremely difficult task because of
cultural, economic and technological differences. One would have to apply a special code to be able
to speak about their roles, especially using the category of genre. However, one can make a
comparison of the two figures as phenomena of cinematic (as well as popular) culture in the defined
epoch, with its colour and gender specificity. As early as 1922, a Polish film magazine "Kinema" wrote
about Smosarska in a world context, emphasising her talent, power of creation, and the expression
and emotion of her acting, which ranked her as a peer of world‐famous actresses, such as Priscilla
Dean, famous for her role in The Virgin from Stamboul [1920, dir. Tod Browning].
A trans‐continental and trans‐cultural juxtaposition is also possible on the level of popular culture,
whose mechanisms are similar to each other in many countries, thus one can analyse (or describe) in
the same categories. This is proved by the commentary of Leon Trystan concerning Smosarska's
roles, which he expressed in the text Bohaterka sceny i ekranu (Heroine of both the stage and the
screen), published in the pages of "Kinema” number 14, from 1922. There he wrote that "making a
fascinating impression and diffusing unspeakable charm, she creates a specific cult for herself – the
cult of the viewer to a genuine and thrilling talent.". 16 Pickford was also written about as a cult figure,
which was thanks to such people as producer Adolph Zukor, among others, promoting her as "the
first of the great stars". 17 That sufficed to make the actress an object of adoration and a heroine of
the popular press which made her "the idol of America’s young womanhood and girlhood”, calling
her "the greatest woman of her age”. 18
In 1923, Smosarska became "a big‐city star", a label which can be given to her after her role in the
film produced by Aleksander Hertz, entitled Niewolnica miłości [The Slave of Love] from 1923, (dir.
Jan Kucharski, Stanisław Szebeko, Adam Zagórski). The producer advertised this film in "Świat"
magazine, number 46, from 1923 as "a national film made for the widest possible audience, a film
which would fire the imagination of the public", adding: "I offered a cinematic epos of a big city
where I showed Warsaw to Warsaw itself, tearing off the veil which hid the city before itself" 19 . This
melodramatic picture was supposed to show the viewers traits of tragedy, as well as sentimentalism,