Former Child Stars

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23037, 14 May 1938, Page 16 (Supplement)

Former Child Stars

Problematical "Awkward Age" Spoils Careers of Marty? Y CHANCES OF CONTINUING WITHOUT BREAK

By J. K. NEWNHAM

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 worn-out 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 dismisses the awkward age bugaboo as something of a myth. He should know. He has Shirley Temple under contract, and there are still no signs that her day is over. Although you can see in her recent films that she's older than she was, it looks as if she might ease her way into more matured roles without having to retire.

way back to the studios, though not necessarily permanently. Children play a bigger part in the movie scheme of things than most filmgoers imagine. It is estimated that an average of three hundred and fortyflix children are always on the Hollywood payroll. Most of them are used in minor roles. An average of twenty succeed in getting important parts. Demand for Babies There is always a demand for babies in arn?s. About one hundred are kept on call at a time. Recently, a baby was actually signed up by a studio before it was born. The studio wanted a very young baby on a certain date, and a child that was due to be born just at the right time was therefore engaged—through its parents, of course. Our Gang has provided Hollywood with the majority of its child players. There is an incessant demand for newcomers, and most of them find work in other pictures when they grow too old for the Gang. The children vary between the ages of two and nine. The Gang is always changing, of course. Each member must be a distinct personality. Hal Koach likes to have one fat boy; one darkle; one pretty-faced girl; one fighter; and so on. There is always a long waiting list. Earn More Than Garbo Payment for children varies. Jackie Coogan is said to have made well over a million dollars fifteen to twenty pounds a day is quite a usual but, for a very young child, a day is represented by twenty minutes' work only. An American organisation, the State Welfare Commission, has guarded child players' interests in this way, and has also decreed that a trained nurse shall be in attendance and that the wattage of the lights shall not lie excessive. Also, up to the age of two, children are not allowed to face the for more than thirty seconds at a time. Growing up a bit more, child actors are bound by law to go to school as well as to act. the Los Angeles Board of Edu-

There's young Mickey Rooney, now 16 and still going strong. He was an infant prodigy, too, and he has been acting continuously since the age of two. Entering more grown-up parts, he is still as active as ever, and is a first-rate young actor. Jackie Cooper, now fifteen, has also been acting since he was so high, and there has been no serious break in his career. Seeing him in "The Devil Takes the Count" a year or so ago, a lot of people said, "Ah, this is where he takes the 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."

Nova Pilbeam has bridged the gap with ease. She began at the age of fourteen. New she is eighteen, and her latest picture. "Young and Innocent," shows that she has passed- out of the childhood era.

Then we have eleven-year-old Jane Withers (on the stage since she was four); Jackie Searl, now 1 fifteen; Douglas Scott, eleven; and a whole hunch of others, including Edith Fellowes and Freddie Bartholomew.

All seem to stand a very good chance of carrying on without a break, and filmgoers have been- able to watch them developing. They don't seem to be-in the least worried about any awkward age.

Delving into a mass of statistics concerning child actors, I have discovered 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 eighteen or nineteen. Remember Baby Leßoy ? Chevalier made him famous in "A Bedtime Story." He was just under a year old when Bigned up. His fame didn't last much more than another year. The principal awkwardness of his awkward age was that, unless 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. A good many have come a cropper around the age of nine; but the majority have found twelve to fifteen to be the awkward year. On the other hand, Deanna Durbin began her screen career proper at the age of fifteen, and Judy Garland at fourteen. So what? V Former "Gangster" What happens to those who fail to make the follow through ? Most of them are lost in obscurity, but every now and tben news leaks out concerning the movements of a few. Wesley Barry, known to millions of filmgoers as "Freckles," finished schooling and then became a band leader, touring the States. Leon Janney, the original Pen rod, -4s attempting to follow in his father's footsteps as a legitimate stage actor. Former Our Gang players can be found in various walks of life. Some are radio entertainers. One." is working on the production side of pictures. One is a theatre manager. Several are in business. A number have become lawyers (Jackie Coogan, by the way, still hopes to take his law degrees). Some of the girls have become wives. Money in Trust But the majority are still at school, and, like other former child stars, their education is being paid for out of their film earnings. 1 here has also been enough money put in trust for them to be able to start in business on their own when they are old enough—a wise precaution made by the studios when it was discovered that parents of soinn were squandering all the child players' earnings. Most ex-child stars try to make movie comebacks as adults. It is estimated that one in a thousand gets another chance; but very few actually entrench themselves again.

cation keeps an. eye on this side of the question, and now* most of the studios have their own school buildings, with a teacher appointed by the Board of Education and paid for by . the frlm company. Three hours per day must be devoted to schooling. Health is an important matter. No child is allowed to work in the studios unless it is both physically and mentally sound. A contract mustn't be signed until there has been a strict mental and physical examination bv doctors appointed by the State of California. Children, for the pait, are amazingly easy to direct. Nine children out of ten are natural imitators, and very few directors havo much trouble with them.

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 bo ago, she returned as a grown-up. She got back into the swing of things with comparative case. Johnny Downs used to be an Our Gang member. To-day, he is a Para-, mount bontract plavcr, and has been featured in such films as "College Holiday," "Clarence" and "Thrill of a "Lifetime."t. Mitzi Green is now attempting a second comeback under the auspices of Radio. She is now quite a glamorous young woman. "Dinky*' Dean, a Chaplin protege, is now a hefty young man. and he tried a screen comebnck with Cicely Courtneidge in "Everybody Dance." And so, one by one, the most prominent of the former child stars find their