UPS AND DOWNS

Hokitika Guardian, 15 May 1931, Page 7

UPS AND DOWNS

AUCKLANDER IN AMERICA. After losing his position and of necessity sleeping out in a Hollywood park in winter with a covering of newspapers, and, having been forced to leave his baggage at his lodgings because he was unable to pay his rent, sleeping in the most cosmopolitan of American “doss houses,” directed thither from the park by a kindly Irish policeman, a young New Zealander who went t> America to fill a post in the picture world can say he has had a few unusual experiences. Though things went ill for a while with Mr J. (1. Beamish, of Auckland, who returned recently to visit his people at New Plymouth, lie found his cloud had a “silver lining” to the extent that he has received an invitation from the Caddo Company, Hollywood, to act as one of the sound technicians in the production of a picture. He will leave by the Maunganui on May 19 for San Francisco.

For a time, Mr Beamish said, everything went along well, but he had a misunderstanding with his employers, and suddenly one morning he found himself very much alone in n strange land, without a job and without enough money to pay the next week’s rent. His landlady would not trust him, and he had to leave his belongings at his lodgings ns a security that he would return and pay the money he owed. He had nowhere to go and it was winter and he had no friends. The next night he slept in Westlake Park, Hollywood, with newspapers for covering. He has nothing hut good to say of Am. Pljcgn policemen, for while he shivered on a park seat he fount] focused on jiim the bull’s eye of the law, a lid, unlike Ids landlady, the policeman believed his story. Not only that, hut this binding Irishman, with his red hair and typical smile, guve him a packet ol cigarettes, a dollar in money, and a ticket of entry into a “doss house." Most of the dollar was spent on food, for lie had missed several meals.

“Doss House” Rations. “Horrible” was tbe way lie described a “doss house” and it was there that he became acquainted with the American “bum” of popular song fame. There also lie lost a travelling rug presented to him by his one-time workmates at the Auckland Savings Bank. “Five tiers of us,” he said, “slept on mattresses of tin, one above the other, and our allowance in bed covering ivii s a blanket apiece. Bad as that was, it wasn’t the worst. In the morning came food—and such food! A greasylooking nigger came along with a filthy iron pot full of sausages. Each man’s rations were dished out from the pot hy the negro’s large and dirty paw. 1 ate mine, and' *1 > oaten "the lot if I could.” After that Mr Beamish’s luck changed. He secured a position as one of the four sound technicians in the making of the picture “Hell’s Angels,” recently screened in Auckland. The producer of this film was Mr Howard Hughes, who, left a fortune of £I9,QQQ,* QOO at the age of 19, has increased it to £30,000,000 in seven years. In the actual presentation of the picture, Mr Beamish wag sound representative ifl the famous Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. After that he came home to see his family, and worked in Wellington fitting extra amplification in the pic* ture he had helped to produce in America. “It’s a curious thing,” he 6aid, “'but where I expected in New York to be a lone New Zealander in a great city. I found myself meeting one niter another of my countrymen. There is actually a New Zealand Club in New York, and membership is in the hundreds. A sub-editor of the ‘New York Times’ hails from New Zealand, and also a branch manager of Western Union Telegraphs. As was natural, all New Zealanders came together, and from what I could gather they have a great time.” New Zealanders must play Rugby wherever they go, and two once-famons New Zealand players formed the nucleus of a team in New York. They were P. S. deQ. Cabot, who represented Otago and New Zealand, and J. O. d. Malfroy, erstwhle Victoria and New Zealand University College represent ative and crack Wellington wing threequarter, he whom the ‘New Yolk Times” described as “the slightly baM blonde with a beak like a hawk.” The British Consul at Los Angeels, Mr Beamish said, had suggested that theie was material for at least half a dozen fifteens in that city, and Mr Beamish, himself a centre three-quarter, proposes to do his best to get the game going over there. Despite his ups and downs i' l the United States, Mr Beamish believe that it is assuredly a land of opportunity if one is enthusiastic enough, and he proposes to make it his happy hunting ground for at least the next three years.