BATTLE OF BLONDES v. BRUNETTES

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 60, 12 March 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

BATTLE OF BLONDES v. BRUNETTES

8y... Sheilah Graham —COPYRIGHT

Hollywood brunettes. In 1935 and '36 her income was assessed for taxing purposes at 241,403 dollars yearly. Until Sonja Henie skated her way into motion picture fame, Mae West

was the number one earner for the blondes. But little Sonja is now topping Mae's gigantic yearly pay cheque of around 480,000 dollars, Sonja received 125.000 dollars for her first film, "One in a Million," another 125,000 dollars for her

WHO makes the most money in films—b]ondes or brunettes? Let's go dawn the list, pitting blonde agninet brunette. Mary Pitkford leads the blondes of all time with a fortune currently credited at 3,000,000 dollars. Tlio I-niiii-t to who should now be Mary 3 ri\ al is Gloria Swanson, wh" ri'fiiM'ii in her heyday a contract guarnntci' i - 1,000,000 dollars a year. But (.ilor■ :v did not invest her film earnings with t ho shrewdness displayed by Mary, and is now said to be almost fhard-up." Widow Is Second Norma Shearer is Miss Tickford's modern-day money rival, with a nestegg (if nvnr 2,000,000 dollars in the bank. This fortune was left her by the late Irving Tliallicrg and does not represent film earnings. However, Norma is a financial leader for the brunettes in her own right, drawing a salary of 0000 dollars a week.

Blonde Greta Garbo goes Miss Shearer 1000 dollars a week better, receiviag from M.G.M. the sizable stipend of 10,000 dollars weekly.

Brunette Claudette Colbert is paid 100,000 dollars per picture—and usually finishes two or three a year. But so does blonde Carole Lombard, who is now faced with the task of sending a large proportion of her 450,000 dollars annual earnings to income tax authorities.

Marlene Dietrich is in the forefront of the high-priced film blonde3—receiving 250,000 dollars per film. Her output in the past has approximated two movie.? a year. (I understand her future will carry less monetary reward.) Kay Francis has been doing well for quite a while now with a fat salary of 5200 dollars weekly. Simone Simon is not doing too fcadly with a listed pay cheque of 3000 dollars. Nor is Katherine Hepburn, whose stipend is in the neighbourhood of Kay Francis. Joan Crawford has been a star in her own right for seven or eight years. Starting in two-figure brackets, she is now one of the most highly-paid of

next success, "Thin Ice," and filled in the time between with a skating exhibition tour that doubled her movie earnings. Constance Bennett, better known in Hollywood as "the Blonde Bargainer," made salary history a few years back with 30,000 dollars a week for ten weeks. Connie does not earn quite as much nowadays, but is sitting very pretty with a 1,000,000-dollar deposit in the bank.

Clara Had No Takers Present-day blondes in the 2000 dollar a-week class include Bette Davis, Joan Bennett, Joan Blondell and Eleanor Powell. Brunettes Myrna Loy (slightly more in her new contract), Barbara Stanwyck and Loretta Young. Dark Maureen O'Sullivan takes home 1500 dollars each week. So does flaxen Virginia Bruce. Shortly before auburn-haired Clara Bow shelved a screen comeback in favour of motherhood, her agent let it be known that the former "It" gal would make pictures for anyone who paid 75,000 dollars "per." There were no takers at that price. In the old "It" days, Clara's weekly salary was 10,000 dollars. Another couple of oldtime brunette favourites—Norma Talmadge and the late Ruth Roland—both accumulated 1,000,000 dollar fortunes from filmmaking, but so did blonde Lillian Gisli, also dead.

By the time Irene Dunne says goodbye to picture-making, she should also he a millionairess. Irene's salarv hovers between 100.000 dollars and 150,000 dollars per film, which is not a bad place for a spot of hovering. Jean Arthur, blonde, is determined to join the future film millioiuiresses. (At the moment, Jean is on a no-work-no-pay strike against Columbia. She wants more money.) Another blonde Jean—the Harlow—used to earn 3000 dollars a week. Margaret Sullavan is one blonde who can get practically any salarv she wants. M.G.M. and Hal Roach are now bidding fancy prices for her acting services. Jane Withers does her bit for the brunettes with a weekly salary of 1500 dollars, plus endorsements for this and that. Dark-haired Deanna Durbin does one better, with a weekly picture salarv of 1250 dollars—plus a :)0.000 dollars a year bonus, a four-figure radio salarv and 2000 dollars a week at least as remuneration for commercial tie-ups. But the blondes have one earning giant who, without any question of doubt, weighs the salary scale in their direction—Shirley Temple. At least, she was a blonde until a few months ago, when her hair took a turn for a darker shade! The box office wonder of the world carries home to mama approximately 15,000 dollars each week. Yes, it pays to be a blonde—in Hollywood, anyway.