POOR RICH FILM GIRLS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4678, 24 March 1924, Page 1

POOR RICH FILM GIRLS.

(By Lady Troubridge in the Overseas Daily Mail..)

What is the truth about Hollywood, that film city in Los Angeles, the doings o£ whose inhabitants have raised such a storm of protest from time tr time ? The inhabitants, of course, are those film stars whose names and faces are as familiar to u.s as our own.

Are they a set of people governed merely by the lust for pleasure which they indulge in at the expense of all laws, social and divine ; or are they, as their defenders eagerly tell us, simple, hard working folk who carry their prayer books to church before meeting for bathing parties and other innocent pastimes ? , I have mo inside information ; my point of view is that of the ordinary woman. But since the kiuema has in some form or other come to stay; since it mesmerises our’young people and entrances our children, I maintain that these doings in far-away Los Angeles merit the earnest attention of every woman.

It is practically certain that this great Film Colony contains many de cent, hardworking people ; it is alsb certain that each year something! exceedingly ugly and sinister, if not terrible and vile, rears its head like an unseen monster crouching in that sunlit land.

It is not difficult to see why these things happen.. These ‘stars” are ali young. They are, without exception, beautiful or gifted by nature with faces of extraordinary significance, and they are, so far as those who fill stellar roles are concerned, rich be yond the dreams of avarice. Men and women usually come into possession of extreme wealth for two reasons ; they make it or inherit it. If the first, it generally takes years of toil and needs great strength of character. If the second, some sort of training is invariably received.

It is the fashion to sneer at tradition, those faiths and beliefs! which are handed down from father to son. Yet the “stars” of Hollywood are living proof that these things are necessary in the lives of,human beings, for they are all we have to cling to.in moments.of stress and conflict, when a quarrel springs up and men and women “ see red:”

There are fffie and great traditions in the United States, but these poor rich people have forgotten or never learnt them. Few of them are ready for the acid test of wealth. The rise has been too sudden.

In Hollywood a penniless girl can walk into a studio and attract the attention of a big producer or casting director by having precisely the face needed for some particular film part, and before thirty months have rolled by she has her jewels, her limousine, her bungalow, her maid, a leaping income, a growing beauty and popularity, and—nothing else.

From early morning to late at night, by means of exercises, massage,, and diet, and every device known to the beauty parlour, she tries to enhance those charms, without which she means nothing, and as her beauty thrives, her spirit starves. She has an exquisite house, but it is empty, for no one dwells there. She can fake every emotions but it is the spirit that quickeneth. The task becomes more and more difficult without the aid of dope and drink. The end is not hard to see.