Hands of Hollywood (1929)

Chapter XV THE FUTURE OF PICTURES The makers of predictions are prophets, when their predictions come true; they are merely "bad guessers" when their predictions are not realized. In Hollywood today predictions are more numerous and swifter of flight than the swallows of Spring. No one \nows just what is going to happen, because no one knows just what the public wants. However, one thing is certain — the public no longer will patronize a picture simply because it talks. The novelty has worn off. As "Variety" says, "The customers are shopping. " Poor talking pictures are meeting the same fate as that of poor product in any branch of entertainment. Audiences have become impatient, super-critical. Excellent talking pictures are bringing enormous returns and, considering the short period that has elapsed since their introduction, the production of well constructed Talkers reflects great credit upon their producers. The great majority of motion picture spokesmen predict that the silent picture will disappear. Yet Charlie Chaplin loudly de' nounces the Talkers. Irving Thalberg, the young marvel among producers, announces that his company, MetroGoldwyn-Mayer, will continue to make silent pictures. Lon Chaney, one of the greatest box-office attractions in the world, is under long term contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and announces that all his pictures will be silent. Mr. Thalberg, who is famous for his showmanship and shrewdness, an4 his ability to gauge the public taste, claims that Lon Chaney, in silent or in any kind of pictures, will continue to draw thousands to the theater. He also announces that Greta Garbo and Nils Asther, both possessing decided foreign accents, have been re-signed by his company under long-term contracts. He says that a producer is foolish to release great public favorites, in whom he has invested millions of dollars for advertising and exploitation, and to replace them with [107]