The Tragedy of Hollywood's Fame

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 60, 3 December 1937, Page 13

The Tragedy of Hollywood's Fame

Disillusionment Behind Glamour

TN a recent edition of the Los Angeles Times,*on the motion picture page, a column of ,local chatter opened thus: "International 'complicatidns arise ou1 of the marital differences between Joy Howarth— screen name, Constance Worfli —and George Brent. In Australia, in par-

i ticular, where there is a movement on , foot to , ban^his -pictures because of . . charges and counter-charges during a ■ " recent suit of Brent's for an annulment ■ of his Mexican marriage." l v The column then quotes freely from . an article in a Sydney weekly magazine. Hollywood, the Writer states, has been lit by a bright glare of publicity from the Joy Howarth tragedy. In that glare the hollowness of Hollywood is vividly seen. "Thanks to the flapper Press of Sydney and other centres the girlhood of Australia had iargely become persuaded that Hollywood meant glamour, romance, adventure and love."

With much of the article I am entirely inaccord. There are 7000 men, women and girls — mostly girls— who have come here to x fight for fame. Each and every one of them with hopes to reach that place in the sun and share in that so-called glamour. How many of them get it? And those 7000 all seelc to realise their Halcyon dream before the cameras. The. number given does not include any of those other thousands employed, or eeeking employment, in other branches of the picture business, on "the other eide of the camera," which in my opinion is by far the best place to be. If you must make a living in Hollywood. Going around this week I picked up many little incidents that should keep fame-seekers away from here. But the tragedy is that once here everyone goes on day after day, month after month awaiting that break— which comes but once in every 100,000th spin of the wheel of fortune. In one studio — on the set of a famous child star. Two girl extras. Pretty kids. Dressed and made-up for a costumed crowd. Both sat on upturned boxes until the whistle blew for action. One girl had her shoes off and was nursing her feet. This was a snatch of their conversation I heard. The first girl: "Can you lend me a quarter for lunch? I'm broke. I've only ha' nine days work this month, though I did have a break last month. Two days in a 'bit' at thirtyfive a day." The other girl answered, "OkayJ I'll lend you a quarter. But you're doing better than I am. I've had 12 days work in two months." I passed on. Both these kids had probably left good homes somewhere to come to Hollywood and reach the heights . . . How do they exist? There are girls' clubs here where the single ones can live for 30 dollars— £6— a month. But they are always full up and have waiting lists. Others bunk together, five and six of them, in tiny apartments where the/ share ihe average rent of around 35 dollars a month. When one girl gets work she shells out to the others. And so it goes on. The average daily employment of film extras is 350. Of all the girls — 4000-5000 who hope for film work — perhaps 5C of them make a decent living. In due time some of the most sensiblc of them get jobs in restaurants, in shops, in factories at a wage of about £3 a week or less. All right, then, you girls who "know you're good." Perhaps you might get that break. A studio signs you up on a "stock player's contract." You get from £10 to £15 a week "with options." These call for increases over a period of years to maybe £100 a week or more. Hollywood has been- described as the fcpwn fif "optical illusipnfl." A first epa- :

tract is usually for six months. If yog make good the the studio can retaii your services at a specified increase. Bi3 they can equally drop you back where you came from at the end of the flrst period. It's being done in hundreds of cases every day of the week. And whai then? A lovely young singer I knew well In New York was brought out here on * contract by one of the smaller studios.1 The agreement specified, in her case, nine months at £40 a week. If the option was taken up there was a salary tilt of £15 a week for the next year. The girl arrived. She was given bits and pieces in a number of films. With success "assured" she had taken a large apartment, bought a ar, dresses, engaged a maid and chauffeur. Life was sweet. She Jiad chipped herself off a piece of that Hollywood glamour she had longed for for years. Came option time. The studio did not renew her contract. At the end of that nine months, the girl had not . saved a penny. Believe me, please. That girl is now singing in a night clup— for tips! And she's lucky to have that ODOortunitv.

Another girl I knew well. Or, rather I knew her well until she vanished utterly from the Hollywood scene. Since she was 17 she had determined to come to Hollywood to become a film star. She lived in the east. Came from a good home. Her parents tried their best to hold her to a normal life, But Hollywood was, in her. outlook, her sole future. She ran away. After a series of astonishing adventures and hardships she arrived here. In three months of ceaseless effort she could not even get herself placed on the list of extras at the central casting oflfice. Eventually she got work as a hat check girl in a night club. No salary. Tips only. She averaged 18 dollars a week. She worked from 7 pjn. to 3 a.m. every night of the week. And all the time she tried to break into the movies. True, by being "sweet" to one or two big shots who propositioned her she might have got a chance. But she knew she had talent. She'd make the grade the hard way . . Six months ago she vanished. No one knows what happened to her . . And the merry-go-round goes round. You read only of the glamorous stars. Of their homes. Their cars. Their jewellery. Their romances. Their marriages. Their rotten divorce cases. You see them on the screen— envy them. You see them pictured in the magazines at previews loaded down with furs. Half of what you read about them is flapdoodle. A star, even, is but a cog in the machinery of the relentless motion picture treadmill. Once they fail to keep their place— they're down below in the murky waters of ohlivion. I truly believe a greai many of those names you envy so much would, at heart, trade their present places with yours. You don't see enough of "the other side of the screen." Carpet. Go over with a duster each day, the way of the pile, a new carpet to remove fluff and save cleaner being clogged. Plaid Scarves. Scarves of plaid taffeta help you to go gay about the neck as well. This is a welcome vogue for it allows you variety in neckwear at small expenst. The scarves are just straight pieces of taffeta with fringed ends made by; frayipg the nmterial with the flngei^