Wealth to Poverty

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17947, 26 November 1932, Page 10

Wealth to Poverty

TO anyone who knew the reckless if lovable character of the dark-eyed petite Lya de Putti, who knows, too, the sensational rapidity with which so many famous players have plunged from almost fabulous wealth to poverty, the news of her tiny £227 estate is not surprising, writes a film correspondent. In Hollywood, especially, the standard of living in the film colony is so high, and the star’s expenses are so heavy, that only the Very .strongminded are able to provide for the time of inevitable eclipse. One well-known agent recently laid down the rule that only a player earning £200,000 a year could afford the luxury df a valet—and all that went with it. Larry Semon, the comedian, at one time worth £250,000, left even less than Miss de Putti—only £(SO. Wallace Held, for years at tiie very head of his profession, left his wife in comparative poverty. The estate of a greater favorite still, Rudolf Valentino, was valued by his relatives at a modest £2(1,000. And Max Linder, once one of the wealthiest men in the business, had dissipated most of his fortune-by the time he killed himself with his wife in Paris. Charles Ray, reputed at one time to be a millionaire, owed his losses partly to lavish hospitality, but mainly to entering .into production on his own account. '“ Miles . Standish” completed his ruin, which ho accepted with a characteristic gesture. One night he. g'fltVp.; ohm of the biggest parties ever aeje%;i|i! and next day lie anhoiiiiced‘hy bankruptcy.