Manawatu Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 21st MAY, 1875.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1921. REWARDS FOR BRAINS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 1941, 8 October 1921, Page 4

Manawatu Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 21st MAY, 1875.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1921. REWARDS FOR BRAINS.

The i'uss that has been made over the arrival of Charlie Chaplin in London has probably caused many an ono to ponder on the lack of proportion that is presented in the mentality of the human species. A northern contemporary points out that here is a gentleman whoso claim to fame is a funny smile, slack trousers, and feet which turn out at an angle of 180 degrees (during business hours). He is paid more each year for these gifts than Poch made for saving Europe, and in all the years he lived before ho did so. Mozart was buried in ,a pauper '3 grave; Shakospeare, though ho retired to a comfortable country life, received less money during his years of toil than Chaplin makes each month. Milton sold his great epic for £5. The greatest of artists, musicians and poets struggled all their li#s on pittances which would hardly pay the car fares of a littlo vulgarian who plays the fool before the world. The cinema actor, if he becomes a "star," rapidly makes a fortune. He has world-advertise-ment in the films, a tremendous advantage over the thespian brother or sister, whose imago is' not multiplied by the movies. Girls whose only asset is a good photographic face, rise to an opulence which the mere gifted actor on the stage cannot ever hope to reach. It is a fact that the greatest happiness a real artist has is in the exercise of his art. That, however, hardly compensates him when ho sees the Arbuckles making £4OOO a week, and tho Chaplins arriving in London in the manner of the great conqueror. Why, ho must ask himself, be an artist on starvation wages when he can be a buw foon and become a millionaire? JETaniiafter death is all very well, but it is too late then.