THE HIGH COST OF BEING A FILM “STAR”

Evening Star, Issue 20996, 9 January 1932, Page 6

THE HIGH COST OF BEING A FILM “STAR”

Miss Benita Hume, the British film actress, who went to Hollywood recently on a contract for three years that will bring her £50,000, discusses in the ‘ Sunday Despatch -’ the cost of being a film star. “ What .a wonderful salary?” (she writes). “ What can she do with all that money? I can hear them saying it—the filmgoers who read that we earn perhaps £2OO in one week while we are acting in a film. While some stand agape with amazement, others criticise the extravagance of our employers, and declare that such a salary is far too high for one woman to earn, and, moreover, far too much for her to spend on herself. How many of ; the public know how costly is this business of being a film star; how numerous _ the expenses which cannot be avoided? In England I earn about £l5O a week while I am acting: in Hollywood I shall earn £IO,OOO during my first year, £15,000 in the second, and £25,000 in the third year, no matter how many or how few films I make. Suppose that in England a film actress appears in eight pictures a year, earning while she works £l5O a week. Each picture will probably occupy three weeks; then she has earned £3,600 in the year. But for six months she has been ‘ out of work.’ “ During that six months she must keep in the public eye. She must stay in expensive hotels when on holiday-. She must go to all the smart parties. In London she must be seen and recognised in the best restaurants, at first nights, balls, at special functions, and in the park, and always she must be beautifully turned out. She cannot afford to be forgotten. She must have her publicity a gent to write about her doings, and her doings must be exciting enough to write about, for the public expects its film actresses to cut a dash. “My publicity agent charges me about £l5O a year. My booking agent charges 10 per cent, or my salary for getting me a contract. Dozens of men, women, boys, and girls write to mo daily for my photograph. I try to comply with their requests, but that costs me £2OO a year, I have to spend far more on hairdressing and beauty parlours than does the average woman. The great heat of the studio lamps dries both the hair and the complexion, which require frequent treatments. My hairdressing bills alone .amount to .30s a week. Then there is the expense of getting to studios in outlying places. A car is an absolute necessity, for the work is terribly fatiguing, and one has no energy for travelling by tube or train. Now I have a small car which I drive myself, but until recently I had a saloon and a chauffeur to drive me. I was spending £7 a week on wages and the running and upkeep of the car. “ Clothes are my greatest expense. Numerous evening gowns and wraps, sumptuous furs, and real jewels are a necessity. 1 1 never keep accounts, but I think my dress bills are little short of £I,OOO a year. Then there are holidays. Last summer I went to Cannes for three weeks and spent between £2OO and £3OO. Much of it went in the casino, but that was all right—l was in the limelight! Those are the expenses peculiar to the world of film ‘ stars.’ Added to them there is the rent and upkeep of my flat in London, which must have a good address. ' I have not yet sampled life in Hollywood, so I cannot say just how expensive it is, but I hoar that wonderful houses are to be had quite cheaply, and on the wholo I hope to be better off there than I am here.”