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346
CINEMATOGRAPHIC ANNUAL,
tunately with a time lag of 1-2 years. As is usual in such cases, the supply has more than caught up with the demand, even during peaks of production. During periods of only moderate activity, as at the present writing (March, 1930), there are considerable numbers of qualified sound engineers out of work in the Hollywood district. The number of jobs is at best very limited. Variety, in its survey of motion picture studio employment, reported in its issue of January 8, 1930, gave the following figures for sound personnel in the Western Studios :
Company
No
. Employees in Sound
Company
No. Employees in Sound
Warners
193
Columbia
22
Metro-Goldwyn
-Mayer
147
Tiffany
15
Paramount
105
Tec-Art
12
Universal
100
Hal Roach
10
Fox
75
James Cruze
9
United Artists
44
Mack Sennett
4
Metropolitan
41
Educational
4
RKO
32
Larry Darmour
4
Pathe
32
Miscellaneous
71
First National
29
Total 949
While in some cases these figures have been increased since the tabulation, it is clear that there are only about 1000 sound jobs in Hollywood. This is surely nothing to write home about, especially as Los Angeles affords relatively few jobs in allied fields to the man waiting for a moving picture sound connection. It may be conceded that many of the men who are now knocking at the gates are just as good as those who are inside, but the ins are in, and the mortality among them is not sufficiently high to justify extravagant hopes on the part of the waiters in anterooms. Furthermore, the introduction of student engineering courses in some of the studios, the association of some of the producers with the electrical manufacturing companies, and the prior rights of eligible men in other departments of moving picture companies, further decrease the opportunities for immediate entrance for men whose experience has been confined to other fields. In short, sound must echo the warnings issued from time to time in the older branches of the industry against blind ventures in the direction of Hollywood, where neither the climate nor the scenery nor the presence of the national heroes and heroines can compensate for the lack of a personal income.