The Screen Guilds’ Magazine (March 1935)

March, 1935 17 Lowdown London By PAIJL PEREZ T HERE are in England a dozen-odd studios—some odder than others. All need American talent badly. Some will pay for it—badly. A glance at a studio payroll and you’ll understand why England is known as “the tight little isle.” At one studio which shall be nameless —Gaumont British if you must know— junior writers pay for their jobs, serv¬ ing as apprentices until they’ve mas¬ tered their craft. If you find it im¬ possible to believe this, just take a look at their product. With few T exceptions the entire person¬ nel in the industry is underpaid, from the five-dollar-a-week secretary up. I know- of an American writer in England whose salary—in the lower brackets, from a Hollywood standpoint—was con¬ siderably higher than that paid to the head of the studio. The few exceptions are American “names”, for whom English studios will pay well—well out of proportion to their box-office value. Nor have they stinted in purchasing the latest and cost¬ liest technical equipment. British In¬ ternational has the last word in optical printers, that has never been used. No¬ body knows how to operate it! The chief fault wdth British pictures, from an American viewpoint, is their lack of tempo. The blame for this lies with English directors, mostly graduates from the stage, who insist on making protracted scenes of incidental bits of business and dialogue. They are, how¬ ever, God’s gift to the actors, most of whom are paid by the day; to the British directors “wipes” are anathema—each THE ATTENTION OF GUILD MEMBERS NEGOTIATING ROYALTY CONTRACTS IS DRAWN TO THE FACT THAT A MINIMUM STANDARD FORM FOR SUCH ROYALTY CONTRACTS IS CONTAINED IN ARTICLE IV OF THE CODE OF WORKING RULES FOR WRITERS OF THE SCREEN WRITERS' GUILD. player must be given an entrance and exit in every scene. Despite their understandable resent¬ ment against the American invasion, the English prove grand co-workers and hospitable colleagues, eager to learn any¬ thing the Hollywood contingent can teach them. Their producers have as¬ similated even the childishness of their West Coast brethren, as witness the fol¬ lowing incident: While working at British Internation¬ al I happened into the office of the studio’s big chief. He was almost in tears. “Read that”, he gulped, indi¬ cating an article in the Daily Mail. The story was a eulogy of Micky Balcan, head of Gaumont, the rival stundio. “Well?” I asked, “What about it?” “ 'What about it?’ ” he replied wdth quavering voice, “that article calls Bal¬ can the ‘Thalberg of British pictures’!” Patting him kindly on the back I tried to console him: “That’s all right —you can be Darryl Zanuck! ’ ’ She Couldn’t Wait The assistant director from a large motion picture concern was interviewing the manager of a small livery stable. “You see,” he explained, “the scene is a dilapidated country village street. What we’re after is an old draft horse —the older the better. We want her to look as if she were dying on her feet.” “I’ve got the very horse, sir,” inter¬ rupted the manager, leading the way to the stalls. “This white one. No one knowrs how old she is. You can see for yourself she’s tottering.” The horse raised her eyes slowly and surveyed the customer pathetically. The assistant director was enthusiastic. ' ‘ Great! She ’ll screen like a million years!” he prophesied. “We’ll be ready for her tomorrow. Whatever you do, don’t let her go!” “No fear of that,” said the manager, laying his hand on the horse’s head af¬ fectionately. “I’m going to turn her out to grass next w r eek.” A fortnight later the assistant director made his appearance at the stable. The manager hurried tow-ard him. “Ah, my dear sir, wdiere have you been?” “Production delays,” explained the assistant casually. “We only got around to the horse today. Where is she? My old white nag?” The manager looked crestfallen. “I’m mighty sorry,” he apologized, “but, you see, she wasn’t an actor. She couldn’t wait. She’s dead!” Leo M orrison INC. cAgency AArtisp— ^Representative o HOLLYWOOD NEW YORK Actors Have reproduction Negatives made of Your 8x10 Stills NEGATIVE CHARGE $ 1.00 GLOSSY PRINTS . .15 IOO LOTS . . 10.00 Ries <S- Fitzpatrick 1557 NORTH VINE STREET GLadstone 1521 HOLLYWOOD FLOWERS “cAlways the 6327 YUCCA ST. Telephone Hollywood, Calif. HEmpstead 2634 “FLOWERS BY WIRE”