IN FILM CITY

Evening Star, Issue 19800, 25 February 1928, Page 17

IN FILM CITY

HOLLYWOOD INDUSTRY BEGUN BY A SCOTSMAN 1 have spent several days in Hollywood, the capital of the film industry (writes Mr H. J. Shepstone, F.R.G.S., in tho ‘ Weekly Scotsman), and the experience was a revelation. Everything turned out differently from what I expected. 1 was under the impression that the movie centre must be a busy commercial city, that the great cinema companies operating there had been lured to this spot because of its beautiful climate, and that if 1 ventured to delve below tho surface I should find its citizens leading a hectic existence. Hollywood certainly fascinates you, and she has a* distinct atmosphere of her own She is. different to all other cities, and is inclined to be a little aloof and independent, yet apparently hospitality itself to the stranger within her gates. She is first and foremost a city of beautiful homes, stately public buildings, line churches and schools, gorgeous and ornate picture palaces, and novel out-door places of entertainment. Her rise to fame and universal popularity as the world’s film centre is a wonderful romance, and is due to the far-seeing possibilities of a Scotsman, Mr A 1 Christie, of tho Nestor Film Company. He established the first motion picture studio in Hollywood in the autumn of 1911. At that time Hollywood was little more than a quiet, peaceful village of 10,000 .inhabitants. To-day it has a population of 150,000 souls, with spacious boulevards from which run avenues lined with palm and pepper trees, where wo find the palatial homes of the movie stars and the wealthy business men of Los Angeles. CAUSE OF THE MIGRATION.

Tho story of the coming of tho film industry to this favored spot in Southern California has’ never been properly told. It was not tho lure of sunlight alone as is generally supposed. It was rather due to the desire of the operators to escape the process servers of the United States Government who wore chasing them all over New York, New Jersey, and the eastern States on the plea that they were supposed to be using cameras controlled by the Motion Picture Patents Company, tho first of tho big movie trust?. As a result operators were being continually hold up, and as a protest against this irritating technicality the companies began to migrate westward, among them being Mr A 1 Christie. He eventually found his way to Hollywood and rented a disused tavern at £6 a month, which has to-day grown into a modern, up-to-date studio occupying a corner site on Sunset Boulevard and Gower street. Last -year a tablet was placed in the corner wall here calling attention to the fact that this is the spot where films were first made in Hollywod—namely on October 27, 1911. , In the grounds of the famous Lasky Studio I was shown a wooden building which was the original barn which Mr De Lasky first used when he followed Mr Christie to Hollywood. The barn was near the old tavern, but has since been removed to the new Lasky location on Marathon street, some little distance away. It has been converted into a gymnasium, and is regularly used by the movie stars. This great studio, where the famous Paramount pictures are made, covers twenty-six acres of ground, and is ono of the leading .and most up-to-date of the many studios found in Hollywood. To ramble over it is an interesting experience and a startling reminder of the rapid and scientific growth of the film industry. It gives employment to 1,200 skilled workers, not including actors and actresses. _ There are ten stages in the ground, immense covered buildings, 150 feet wide and 300 to 400 feet long, where as many as fifty sets can he set up and worked at the same time. In tho grounds here I saw a wonderful and really artistic and lifelike representation of Venice, with real water canals, gondolas, and palaces. Close by was a street scene in Chicago, and near this again a typical English village. “STRICTLY PRIVATE.” Over tho entrance to all the studios one reads the sign: “Strictly Private. No Passes Allowed.” You know pictures are being taken behind those walls, but you must wait till they are released before you can see them. But people come to Hollywood to see how the pictures are made, only to meet with disappointment. The promoters are stern business men and do not wish to he disturbed in their work. So the Chamber of Commerce has endeavored to surmount the difficulty by showing a special film every morning depicting the rapid growth of Hollywood, followed by scones showing how films are made. Apart from'this the only evidence of the movie business one secs is tho occasional presence on a side walk of a group of people, with a carefully arranged background, possibly a costumed giil, a man turning the crank of a camera in hoi direction, while another man makes the girl do something foolish over and over again. Scenes like this attract little attention. The fact is tho percentage of the population of Hollywood engaged in the movie concerns is relatively small,' only soma 25,000 of its inhabitants being directly connected with tho pictures. True, the industry is an important asset to Hie community, something like £250,000,000 having been sunk in it. GEORGEOTJS PICTURE PALACE. It is but natural perhaps to find that Hollywood boasts of some magnificent moving picture houses. The latest is the Chinese Theatre, without question tho most .gorgeous picture palace in the world. In design it represents an ancient Chinese temple, and it was here that I saw tho much-discussed film. ‘The King of Kings,’ This moving picture presentation of the life of the Master was preceded by several Biblical tableaux., and during the run of the picture a choir rendered sacred songs and hymns. While there may be parts open in criticism one can say this of "The King of Kings,’ that it is very heart touching, and as the story is unfolded it draws many a tear. In an out-door theatre I witnessed ‘The Pilgrimage Play,’ which is presented at Hollywood every summer. The mountain setting where this drama of the Ijfe of the Man of Sorrows is enacted is a natural replica of Hie hills of Judea, and the acting is most reverently done. But a stone’s throw away is the famed Hollywood Bowl, a vast amphitheatre in the hills, capable of seating 20,000 spectators, where highclass musical concerts and symphonies are given nightly during the summer months. Here, too, every Easter a religious service is held, when churches of all denominations are represented. 20,000 UNEMPLOYED. You cannot wander about Hollywood, visiting its great studios and chatting with their directors, without discovering that behind all the city’s glamor and prosperity there is a tragedy—the problem of her ever-growing army of unemployed, .who have been at-

traded here by the pictures. 'there are 20,000 of them, many of thepi talented and gifted, including many from these isles. There are officers of high rank, names to conjure with during the years 1914-18. All that they can hope to do is to get crowd work at thirtv shillings a day, and sometimes very little of that. Thousands of tjiese “extras,” as they are termed, are jiving on the border line of starvation. So intense has the situation become that the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce sends out letters to all inquirers seeking work at the studios advising them not to come to Hollywood unless they have a return ticket and sufficient to maintain them for three months I Such is Hollywood to-day; but you cannot go among her people without discovering one patent fact. They feel grieved that their city has received such a bad name and a reputation which it does not deserve. I mentioned the matter to Mr W. L. Spellman, the assistant chief of the Los Angeles police department. Mot only did'he assure me that Hollywood was as law-abiding as any other community, but records show that so far as legal and criminal offences were concerned Hollywood was far and away the most law-abiding city in the whole of Western America in proportion to her population. True, there have been lapses among certain typos in the movie concerns, but Hollywood feels they should not bo judged by this. And here again the idea that film actors and actresses lead a hectic and high life does not bear investigation, Apart from tins assurance by the police, I found the ministers of her churches very emphatic in their denouncement of_ the stigma which has come to be associated with the centre of the .film industry.