The 'Hollywood Happy Ending' wasn't just a creative choice; it was a business requirement during the Great Depression. In the early 1930s, audiences were living through extreme economic hardship. Studios discovered that films with tragic endings performed poorly at the box office, as people went to the movies to escape their reality, not to be reminded of it. This led to 'test screenings,' where studios would show two different endings to audiences and pick the one that received the most applause. This practice became so ingrained that even adaptations of tragic literature (like 'The Little Mermaid' or 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame') were often given happy or 'hopeful' endings to ensure they would be profitable summer hits.