"STARS MAY COME—"

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 122, 25 May 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

"STARS MAY COME—"

RIOTOUS MODE OF LIVING,

THOSE WHO SEEK NOT FAME

The facts of life for actors in Hollywood have undergone a revision of late, along with some of the other "eternal verities," including the necessity for a large clement of Hex and other "boxoffice attributes" in motion pictures. So far ae the actors are concerned, the greatest change in their ideas concerns stardom. A few years ago those who thought they heard the Lorelei songs of the cinema went out to Hollywood to become stars. There were tales of fabulous salaries, riotous living, fun and idolatry for motion picture stars. The idea 'Wae to make a lot of money and get out at the peak of a career. What matter, then, if one left behind a swimming pool as luxurious as an Augustan noble's' bathe and sold out spurious old masters, bought at great price, along with the furnishings of the 10-roomed shack for which one had no more use? No "Rainy Day" Anticipated. The whole idea wae extravagant, and it took a few years for some of the lollywood idols to learn that they had been living up to their names and didn't have any retirement money when the prearranged date for said withdrawal from mundane labours came along. Besides, they were getting older and their earning power was decreasing in the distressingly inverse and perverse way it has with age and motion picture playere. So, first of all, the old Hollywood idea was proved wrong and the people of the cinema began to take stock. The first thing a good number of them decided was that stardom, while it couldn't be dispensed with entirely because of the producer's need for selling points, was not very desirable. Then, too, so many people have gone from Eastern stages to' Western studios of late that a different type of personnel has grown up with the talking picture. New Credo of Films. The stage people, much as they wanted success and much as they would be proud to have their names in 4ft electric light signs, were inclined to b conservative. The credo was, "You're a star for only a short time, but characte players go on for ever." During the past year particularly th desire for a long, profitable career hae proved more worthwhile than a short, dazzling one to ■ dozens of prominent screen personalities. Pat O'Brien, perhaps because of his Celtic origin, is one of the most emphatic of the newer generation of cinema conservatives. He opposes stardom for himself. He wants to be "in pictures" for a long time. Frank McHugh, who has been acting since he was nine and hopes to go on till he's 90, doesn't want to be a star either. He claims it's not sour grapes with him; si.ys he knows the limitations, of his face, but, even if ho had a different one, he wouldn't want to bo a star. Matter of common sense, he thinks.