Yesterday's Child Stars

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 136, 11 June 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

Yesterday's Child Stars

By--John K. Newnham —Copyright

AH, fleeting youth! All over America there are several thousand young men and women, either still at school or in various businesses, who had their moments of film fame. Now they are unknown.

They are probably jealous of the present-day youngsters who have taken their places. And they have some justification. They were discarded like wornout cars when they reached an "awkward age." To-day young players have a far better chance of carrying on with screen careers as they grow up.

Darryl Zanuck diamines the awkward age bugaboo as something of a myth. He should know. He has Shirley (Box-office) Temple Tinder contract, and there are etill no signs that her day is over.

You can see in her recent films th.it she'e older than she was, and it look 3 as if she might ease her way into iimre matured roles without having to rethv.

There's young Mickey Rooney, mow 10 and still going etrong. He was an infant prodigy, too, and lie has been acting continuously since the age of two. Entering more grown-up parts, lie ie still as active as ever, and is a firstrate young actor.

Jadde Cooper is Still Acting Leads Jackie Cooper, now IS, has also been acting eince he was so high, and there has been no serious bieak in his career. Seeing him in "The Devil Takes the Count" a year or so ago, a lot of people said: "Ah, this ie where he takes th? count, too; he's reaching that awkward age." But now there are enthusiastic reports about his performance in a new picture, "Boy of the Streets." Xova Pilbeam has bridged the gf»|i with ease. She began at the age of 14. Xow she is 18, and her latest, pietiuv. "Voting and Innocent." allows that .<!:<• has passed out of the childhood era. Then we have 11-year-old Fane Withers (on the wtnge since she was four); Jackie Semi, now 15; Douglas Scott (11); and a whole bunch of others, including Edith Fellows and Freddie Bartholomew. All seem to stand a very good chance of carrying on without a break, ind filingoer* have been able to watch them developing. They don't seem to be in the least worried about anv awkward age. Probably because they don't know what the awkward age is, any more than Hollywood itself does. Delving into a mass of statistics concerning child actors. I have diseovercl that the first awkward moment is reached when the player reaches the age of one year. There is an awkward age thereafter at two, three, four and right up to 18 or 19. Remember Baby Leßoy ? Chevalier made him famous in "A Bedtime Storv." He was just under a year old when signed up. His fame did not last -n.-'.-h more than another year. The principal awkwardness of his awkward age was that he grew so rapidly that, unlees they could get a picture completed in a short time, it was too much of a gamble to have him in it. He might not' have looked the same child in the first and last reels. And what about David Lee —in other words, "Sonny Boy"? He enjoyed startling fame for a very short time. He was a bit older than Babv Leßoy. Contract trouble is said to have l>een the cauee of his disappearance from the screen. A good many have come a cropper around the age of nine; but the majority have found 12 to 15 to be the awkward I years. On the other hand, Deanna Durbin began her screen career proper at the age of 15, and Judy Garland at 14. So what!

What hapfXMie to those who fail to make the follow through? Most of them are lost in obscurity, but everv now and then lie we leaks out concerning the movements of a few.

Wesley Barry, known to millions of filmgoere aa "Freckles," finished schooling and then became a band leader, touring the States.

Mary Ann Jackson, Sunshine Sammy and Farina (Farina was a girl who turned out afterwards to be a boy), all of them prominent "Our fiang" members at one time, are making their way on the vaudeville stage.

Other former "Our rung" players .'an l>e found in various walks of life. Some aro radio entertainers. One i« working on the production side of pictures. One is a theatre manager.

Most ex-child stars try to make movie comebacks an adults. It is estimated that one in a thousand gets another chance; but very few actually entrench thi-m----aelves again.

Madge Evans is one of the fortunate ones. She enjoyed considerable popularity as a curly-haired child. Then she went to school and, a dozen years or t-o ago, she returned as a grown-up. 3!ie got back into the swing of things with comparative eaee.

Johnny Downs used to be an "Our Gang" member. Today he is a Paramount contract player, and has been featured in such films as "College Holiday." "Clarence" and "Thrill of a Lifetime." Mitzi Green is now attempting a second comeback under the auspices of Radio. She is now <]uite a glamorous young woman.

Baby Peggy, the Shirley Temple of her day, i« back again in Hollywood. :i young woman in her middle teens. Her new screen name is Peggy Ryan. Maybe you saw her in "Top of the Town." Children play a bigger part in til- , movie scheme of things than most fihrigoers imagine. It is estimated that an average of 340 children are always <-n the Hollywood payroll. Most of * them are used in minor rolee. An average of •20 succeed in getting important parts.

Children from eix upwards may Dβ at the studios for eight hours, but only four hours may be spent at work. Schooling , and an hour's recreation balance the rest of the time.

Health is an important matter. Xo child is allowed to work in the studio* unless it is botii physically and mentally sound. A contract must "not be signed until there has been a strict mental and physical examination by doctors appointed by the State of California.

Once having been given the 0.K., the child actor has to be examined at specified periods to make certain that his health and mind are standing up to the Hollywood racket.

Children, for the most part, are amazingly eaey to direct. Xine children out of 10 are natural imitators, and very few directors have much trouble with them.

\ oung Iwibies, of course, are more ot a problem. Ways and means of persuading them to act vary according- to the child. A system that works letter than any other is a* follows:—

To make it (him or her) cry: Try to blow its nose. It will usually objeet'and burst into tears.

To laugh: Funny face or a funny noise usually quite simple. To make it look to the right: Someone standing on its right and getting very excited. Reverse for looking left. To gurgle: Let it look at iteelf in a mirror, or hold a milk bottle tantalisingly. Bottle muet always be handed over after gurgle, in case of retakes.

To go to sleep: Just pray and hope for the beet.

To wake up: If a Uaby does go to sleep in a studio, no one's ever anxious to awaken it.

Headaches are caused (a) when retakes are needed after a film hae been completed and vhe chi'd has grown out »<f all proportions; (b) when a tooth drops out between scenes; (c) when the youngster develops one of the usual childish complaints, such as meaelee (which Baby Leßoy did the moment he was signed up).

Hut a lot of babies we see on the screen areFi't babies at all. They're tiiiii|hs of wood. Owing to the time restrictions, if jte not absolutely essential for the baby to be seen personally, the film star parent merely bends over a crib and stares soulfully at a chunk of timber.