£250 A WEEK NOT ENOUGH FOR BOY ACTOR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 2, 25 September 1937, Page 10

£250 A WEEK NOT ENOUGH FOR BOY ACTOR

"Freddie inight just as well have stayed at home for all the money he has made in Hoilywood, . . . He has almost"- nothing- now after the lawyers had their share." So Miss Millieent Bartholomew, the aunt of the 13-years-old British film star, said recently. "What is the use of Freddie going on?" she lasked. "He is one of the biggest .draws in Hoilywood, yet he is the -lowest paid of them all. He's wasting his time hapging xound here. "I'm bringing him back soon if things -are not cleared up. '-I'm tired of all this wrangling. , , , ' Freddie aunt, and* guardian wbs referring tof Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's refusal- to inereasc his pay froin £250 "a week to £500 under a new contracts A* year, ago, Freddie," after two yeiars. in Hoilywood, was repqrted to 'be worth about £6000. Lawsuits, it is stated, have cost him> £5000. '■'Why,;' asked Freddie 's i aunt, "should the boy have fo suffer^ People talk as' if-.he is worth. a'f ortun'e. Believe me, he is not, and I knbw.'? Where the Meney Goes. ' 'Get this,'5 said- Miss Bartholomew, "Freddie; earns £250 a' wefek. •? .0^' that ,The income , tax , people '. take £50; 10 per 1 cent. ' "goes -in-- agentJs fees; • £20 per cent. : is allowed . hir parents and t'wo iisters; " . , I "get about £160 a month for his ifiiaintenaiice. "What can he ( save out of that? We've got a nice home ia the hjllp near. Hoilywood, bfit-it's .very unpretentious,. • ' - • • "Look at "the -other stars,. not hearly . such . a draw as Freddie. It is they who make the money. "Freddie. is debarred from making money in other ways like Shirley Tomple. It . is horribly unfair on the" boy- that he- shoiild have had to spend his eamings on paying lawyers. 4In fact, those acting for him now are doing it for nothing. They realise only to well how he has had to pay up in the past,' ' Miss Bartholomew was anxious to emphasise that she Was not "fighting" Freddie's parents, who, livo -in Bames. ( ' They came over here,' " she said, "and, got what they wanted. Kow I want Freddie to get his due. 4 'Freddie doesn't know a:thing about it. He's enjoying his first real holiday. • " - " We want £500 - a week or nothing. After all ,the boy is. worth it. "People sirnply adore him over here, And if we can't reach a compromise with M.-G.-M. then I'm taking Freddie away, It seems to me they don't quite realise how valuable he is to them. "If Freddie does come back to England he wiir go to college. I'm going to see he gets a deeent education if nothing else." *" But the odds are that Freddie will rtay in Hoilywood. ■ His aunt has a "hunch" that Way and also that Freddie will be at work again — soon.