NO WIDE-OPEN DOOR

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19371, 8 July 1937, Page 11

NO WIDE-OPEN DOOR

HOLLYWOOD ILLUSIONS disappointment to many Hollywood docs not offer to aspiring actors and actresses a wide-open door to fame and fortune, according to Mr. J. Gordon Allard, a business man of that city who is visiting Wellington. In his business, Mr. Allard has come into close contact with several of the large film studios and he knows many of the famous stars intimately. “There are thousands of disappointed girls ekeing out a precarious existence in Hollywood,” said Mr. Allard. “One sees them every day-holes in their stockings, patched frocks, and pathetic looks of despair on their faces. They are eager for even a chance to be an extra for a day. Many of them do not know where their pext meal is coming from, and some are reduced to petty thieving. It has got so bad that people have to provide a box with a lock for their milk bottles.” For the highly-paid stars and executives there was, of course, a different story, said Mr. Allard. But, despite their high salaries, many of them were nearly bankrupt when their picturemaking days were over. During their popularity the public and their social set demanded expensive homes, motor cars, jewellery, and lavish entertainment. Consequently, their salaries were almost entirely eatep up, if not exceeded.

Mr. Allard is an intimate friend of Robert' Taylor, the famous actor, with whom he was a room-mate at college. They attended Pomona College, a coeducational school near Los Angeles. Taylor and he were both interested in dramatics, said Mr. Allard. In Taylor’s case it was acting, and in his case it was producing. When they produced “Journey’s End,” the wartime play, Taylor took the leading part and so impressed the critics that he was given a contract by a large film company.