FilmIndia (1948)

Three-And-A-Half Per Cent Headache By: Peter Waring Because get-rich-quick operator thinks (sometimes rightly) that highly-paid movie stars ara easy prey to business propositions, the stars get dozens of such offers in their mail every day. Most stars nowadays put their financial affairs in the hands of specialists who take care of every penny they earn, pay their taxes and bills when these fall due, dole out pocket-money and then look round for safe investments in which to bury the surplus. Such a man is Bo Roos, who for three-and-a-half percent of a star's gross earnings works an 18. hour day acting as financial nurse to such famous figures as Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Dorothy Lamour, Marlene Dietrich, and dozens more. How would you like to earn •our living spending film stars' alaries for them? Not just one tar who hands over his or her •ay cheque every Friday morning fhen the studios pay out, but 50 •f them, all expecting you to :eep track of their bills, investneints, household expenses, docor's accounts, rents and insurnces, and to allow them a little ocket-money for personal expenles. That is what huge Bo Roos and is 22 spending assistants do in heir comfortable Hollywood ffice. And Bo Rons takes threetnd-a-half per cent of each gross alary for his services. If at this point you would like ) do little quick arithmetic to !nd out whether this is the kind f business which would show you profit, remember that Fred IacMurray, one of Roos' clients, uns roughly £32.000 per movie, ban Crawford last year made ^ 75.000, and most of the people |ho trust him to look after their mk accounts earn an average of -50,000 per year. And although iree-and-a-half per cent may ' a difficult number to manipuhte in your head, it should be pvious to anybody that Mr. Roos I on a "good thing". RETIRED AT 28 In fact Mr. Roos has been on at "good thing" ever since he et Hollywood star Bebe Daniels •out 15 years ago. Roos — the name is Swedish — was a wealthy and retired dealer in reaJ estate at that time. He had made a fortune in the California land-boom and, deciding that he had made enough money for the rest of his life, threw up his business. He was then 28 years old. One day in a Hollywood restaurant Bebe Daniels sat with a mutual friend of Roos. bewailing the fact that she had some property to sell and nobody to advise her on its disposal or on how to deal with the sharks who batten on easy-money Hollywood. The friend mentioned Roos and Bebe Daniels went to him next day for advice — at three-and-a half per cent. Then Miss Daniels told one of her friends, who told somebody else, who passed the word around that this man Roos was the sort of trustworthy person who was fit not only to look after your bills and advise on investments but was an expert in stopping you spending all your money too. As a result Beverly Hills Management Corporation with Bo Roos at the head came into being and the customers began to flock to the front door. Today the list includes such well-known names as Leslie Fenten, Dorothy Lamour, Jean Gabin, Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, George Brent, Marlene Dietrich, Frank Borzage, Johnny Weissmuller, Joan Crawford, Red Skelton, Harriet Pardons and on and on down the list of names usually found in the movie magazines. HE IS THE BOSS All these and many more value the advice given by Bo Roos; but he is no lackey bowing low at the privilege of being allowed to earn a living by spending their money. Bo Roos is definitely the boss. If he advises a star that a certain investment is unsound, and she nevertheless ignores his advice, he 29