"We Poor Actresses"

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 242, 9 July 1938, Page 5 (Supplement)

" We Poor Actresses"

Work, Saving and No

Glamour

(~)NE thousand women from all over Jiritain. housewives who want to k how the other half of the world lives, sat in Kingsway Hall, Holborn. Tondon, recently and listened to Miss Rene Ray, 23-year-old English film star. It was the annual rally of the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds, and the subject of discussion was “The Cinema” —a departure, for the topic is usually something solid like “Food Values” or “The Population Problem.” Miss Ray, wearing a mink coat, told them: “We poor actresses have very short careers. We have to save our money while we work, making hay while the sun shines. “Most people have the idea that a film .star's life is surrounded by glamour, with milk baths and champagne breakfasts. I sometimes work 16 hours a day. When I am busy on a film I get up at 5.30. I have a bath—not in milk—then a light breakfast. It’s about 6 when I start out for the studio, and it’s usually quite dark. "My hair must be done every morning ..nd mj’ face made up. That takes an hour. Then I rehearse, perhaps four or five times, and start work before the cameras about 9. “I leave the studio at G p.m. and may have to play in a theatre at night. “And all the time one must be well-turned-out and have that look of exuberance.” The thousand women, determined to see “The Cinema” from every angle, also beard talks by a director, a production manager, an exhibitor, and a critic. The production manager, Mr. Victor Peers, said: — . “The cameraman never touches a camera. He arranges the lights and the setting and makes plain women beautiful. The operator handles the camera. “The producer does not produce the film—but the money to make it “The assistant director is. the jack-of-all-trades. hardest worked and hardest kicked.”