A Little Child Still Leads Them

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 23, 28 January 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

A Little Child Still Leads Them

Screen Page

F'AME is not fleeting. For all , the evanescence commonly attributed to good fortune, all the ephemeral character popularly ascribed to adnlation by th e public of its great and when that public has named its winning ticket it places its money on the line until it is i£ a dy to change the combination for itself. At. (lie snmn time, the pv»blio does not clfWB its eyes to new arrivals on the dcono. own if tlvnt. he the motion picture gconr. supposedly the mwt rapidly changing of /iny. The customers of the mot.ron picture theatro, makers of fame, mwt bo Miown, but they are willing to be shown. Both these facts are attested in the anniml assay of patrons' preferences at the box office by the New York publications. "Minion Picture Herald" and "Fume," w;hich resulted this y«wr» According to voting figures just received from Aincrrca. as follows: — TilK LEADER 3. Shirley Ti'iii|.|« rfl4 V"? "v:" 1 ': : J""' 1 Heine ;}S|( .Mirkf.v H«"»nry sponrrrJ™,-,- ;;;; R'Jifrt I .'i \ 111 r ->7,1 M.rmil l.«iv r'„ Jh n " Willi,>rs !!!" * F "i v ," Tin Tyrone rower £ 1.1 HIINOI K STARS. rv ' "it pcp 14r? 1V.111.1r.. ll.rr.V J.,:! Hliisr ' "rushy !. ! 1 •>« .1 r;in.'i I r MnrDoniilfl ) j".-, [Irannu Hurbln [ ] ]," H1

The Money Makers Of 1938

®°n Ameche ... 1n _ noriubv i.jiiiKmr ••Inner R.»u'pr» Nelson Edclv ; ! K"b Burns . I'.rrol Fly ,i„ ?•' Jennet te MaeDonald lln ,i ' Xnlion 84 "V... j« I »'il Mum I' "illinni I'dwpll tions" f" l" 1!> ? 2 tl,at " Publicaexh ibi f 'wdert ook t„ learn from the thi themselves who were actually the money- making stars. Hevnil 1 - 1 "'r 1 r""'- v thp "Motion-Picture T'ni'teil ,he pschih 't°r« of the in .1 a . t° min»<\ in •onlor, the irrentn f e ' M w . hf>se P'ftures "drew the S'ealre " Z? ' "!■ » >atr ° ns to i he Hording even precluded <®>

the voicing of personal preferences of the exhibitor. He was invited to tell the story of hie account books. Hence it was not the theatre owner or manager speaking; it was the box office. The period covered was the motion picture year, September 1, 1937. to September 1, 1938, not the calendar year. Shirley Jane Temple, with all but th ree of her nine and a half years spent liefore the lights of the motion picture studio stage, is the one to whom the exhibitors continue to turn as the one who assures them of the most cheering box office, year in and year out. For the fourth successive season her's is the name the showmen place first of all as the money-making star. A Matter of History With that record the eternal feminine also becomes supernal in patronage appeal. Marie Dressier, who won the first poll, and repeated that success in the following season, was succeeded by another whose memory also is treasured l>v industry and public alike, Will Rogers. Bot"h represented that type of motion picture and player referred to within the trade as "c'own-to-earth."

> Then came Shirley. When Rogers died in a 'plane crash on August 15, 1935, Shirley already had begun to light up the screen and the motion picture firmament. In 1932 she had started in the "Baby Burlesque" short subjects of hducational Pictures. In September of the following year came her first feature role, in Paramount's "To the Last Man." 1934 brought "Stand Up and Cheer" and "Baby Take a Bow," for Fox, and both Shirley and Twentieth Century-Fox have been taking bows for her work ever since. The 1934 poll found her already in eighth place. In 1935 she reached first rank. While that loyalty of motion picture goers has not dimmed, they have been alert to new personalities. In the 1937 poll Sonja Henie's personality skated her to eighth ranking with her "Girl ii a Million,"' her first American motioi picture. There is a parallel this year ii the case of Mickey Rooney, Alice Fay< and Tyrone Power", in that none of then was within the circle of the 25 leader; of 1937. The parallel carries a stej farther in that Roonev's abrupt advanei to fourth place traces primarily to thi .Tudjre Hardy series, and particularly t< "Love Finds Andy Hardy."'

Miss Fave and Tyrone Power come up to ninth and tenth places, respectively, largely because of two productions in which they co-starred. "In Old Chicago" and "Alexander's Ragtime Band." There the parallel ends, for all three had been in motion pictures several years. Also among the 10 leaders this year is Spencer Tracy. Spencer Tracy completes the quartet new to the Top Ten this year, another parallel with the 1!K}~ poll. Xe\v to the rolls of the Ten Leaders last year were Sonja Henie. Jane Withers,* William Powell and Mvrna Lov, and of these only Powell has returned to the 15 Honour Stars grouping. This year also <S> a