HEAVY POLICIES

Southland Times, Issue 23287, 25 August 1937, Page 9

HEAVY POLICIES

INSURANCE AGAINST ERROR The motion-picture business has grown to be one of the most extensively insured industries in the United States. Not only are studios covered by insurance against all imaginable risks, but many stars have six-figure policies. When Mary Pickford took out her last £20,000 annuity, she described it as “a protection against mistakes of judgment on my part.” The amount of insurance in Hollywood is estimated at £80,000,000. Cast insurance is taken out on every new production, gauged according to the scheduled cost of the film. Animal insurance applies to mortality risk. In the last Tarzan thriller, the elephants were insured by the studio for £6OO each. For the same picture the two prize chimpanzees were protected in the sum of £2OOO each.

Marine and negative film insurance are two of the biggest gambles. Heavy policies were issued in respect of the “Mutiny on the Bounty” and “Captains Courageous.” Within the studios there is slim chance of a mishap to negative prints, but in the outdoor locations —in jungle, on the mountains or the high seas—anything might happen. Negatives of “The Good Earth” scenes on location were insured for £BO,OOO.