A CHANGED HOLLYWOOD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 543, 27 August 1932, Page 24 (Supplement)

A CHANGED HOLLYWOOD.

Spirit of Defeatism grips Town, says Actor. A graphic picture of altered conditions in once-opulent Hollywood is given in a recent article by Anthony Bushell, the English actor remembered for his portrayal of the neurotic office: in “ Journey’s End,” who has just completed four years’ work in the American screen capital. What has made Hollywood "broke”? he asks. All America is trying to find the answer to that at this moment; the Goliaths of Wall Street are ut fever pitch trying to solve the riddle, and New York’s bankers are panicstricken in their wild efforts to find the infernal machine that has blown their gigantic fortunes sky-high. Hollywood is as glaringly conscious of her bankruptcy to-day as, five years ago, she was conscious of her millions. Most people have a pretty clear idea of Hollywood in the Golden Age of the Silent Film. It was then that she dominated the whole world of entertainment, and her colossal prosperity strangled Europe’s film studios and reduced them to poverty and quotas. Now eighteen hundred theatres all over the United States are shut down, and each day brings news of a fresh i closing. Even the mighty Roxy Theatre in New York has closed its j doors rather than face the new crisis with empty seats. America’s giant film palaces played to packed houses in the days of the silent film : millions of dollars came in as extra profit from the cinemas of Europe and Britain. To-day, Hollywood gets little from Europe— except unwanted competition. Wiien I left, the position was so bad that in one theatre it was possible to see two such pictures as Chevalier's “ Smiling Lieutenant ” and Garbo’s “ Rise of Helga ” in one programme for a shilling. In another house, a block or two away, women -were admitted free. Anybody who knew the old, gay, rich Hollywood and returned to it today would think they were having a bad dream. Bankruptcy and the spirit of defeatism grips the film town like a vice. Houses in Beverley’s exclusive canyons, which yesterday cost £125,000 to build, can at this moment be bought for a paltry £SOOO. Expensive motor-cars are daily being seized by the instalment men, and even home furniture is being taken back—unpaid for. Three years ago, ground was prepared in the Hollywood hills for a super Ritz-Carlton hotel. Batteries of searchlights, flocks of aeroplanes and a giant firework display made a huge ballyhoo of the historic event. Not a single brick of this splendid hotel has yet been laid, and the ground lies bare and derelict. How is Hollywood- meeting the crisis? To that I would answer: By panic economy. Cuts have been made in stars’ and studio executive salaries, until they have reached such a low level that now they can be cut no further. Thirty per cent is an aver- | age cut, and even the studio stenographers find their weekly nav cheque that much thinner. The great men of Hollywood are not. facing their trial with courage; rather are they like millionaires on a sinking ship, too scared to jump to save their lives. A jump needs courage. In an effort to face the crisis, talkies are being turned out in a few days, whereas, in the silent davs. production would take six weeks and longer. Is Hollywood finished? No! Her studios will always go on. and when she has learnt the lesson that a crisis teaches she will be all the better But 11 oil v wood has lost one thing—the British market. And there lies our tremendous chance, Bushell concludes. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “ Smiling Irish Eyfes ” —Write to Fox Films. Hollywood, California. The eost is approximately one shilling. Baby Peggy Grows Up. Baby Peggy, adored by thousands of film-goers a few years ago, is thirteen years old now. She is returning to ! pictures and will make her appearance i -; n a series of “ Jerry of the Journal j productions to be made by an indeI pendent comapny.