LURE OF THOUSANDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 192, 15 August 1931, Page 18 (Supplement)

LURE OF THOUSANDS

SCREEN’S DISAPPOINTMENTS. “The glamour attached to the films has attracted to it aristocrats, plebeians, the rich and the poor; in fact hordes of people who are anxious even to walk on. in the hope that some producer ■will select them for a part which will bring them fame and the fictitious millions which are supposed to pour dawn at every film, star's feet.” writes Mr Kinsey Pcile in a book of reminiscences. ‘Crowds of people may be seen at some of the studios waiting for the opportunity of ‘walking on.' A few of them get their desire, but that is as far as they ever get, for they continue to walk on. and on, and on, until the long waits, the strenuous work, the interminable hours, kill their enthusiasm, and they give up in disappointment.

Twenty five shillings a day appears to be a fair income, and so it would be if it came every day, or even twice or three times a week. But when it conics spasmodically, perhaps only once in every ten days or so, filming means starvation. Out of the 25s all modern clothes, as a rule, have to be supplied by the artist, and fares to and fro, to say nothing of food and refreshments during the dav.”

While ‘‘Father’s Son,” was being made at the First National Studios, it was no unusual sight to see a couple of enthusiastic football teams a£ play on the studio lots, with usually a famous star or director playing referee. The luncheon signal was enough to send Leon Janney, star of “Father’s Son,” and Mickey Bennett and the others, scampering off to an impromptu football field, and it didn't matter whether they had a team or half a team. Richard Barthelmess, who was working on a nearby stage, used to slip over and play umpire, and sometimes full back, and sometimes half back, in fact, anything at all.