Hollywood (1942)

Hollywood in Hock By B ■ When you go broke in Hollywood the custom is to go broke on a magnificent scale. The conventional thing for prominent picture people to do is keep on spending in the face of adversity, then blow up to the tune of a few hundred thousand and leave the creditors holding the bag. An auction is then held 0:1 the estate and the public is permitted to have a field day. This is in the grand ducal Hollywood tradition. Hock shops are unfashionable and patronized largely by the little folk and by such of the big shots as have the courage to keep struggling when the going is tough and to give hostages to the future against the time when they will be back in the money. One of the most pathetic little dramas ever enacted in pawn shop history was the struggle of an under-sized day laborer named Lou Costello to keep abreast cf the interest payments on a ring he had pawned for $1.25. That was in the days when the kid Costello and a chum lived in a tiny two-room house near the M-G-M lot in Culver City. Existence tf ■JLL was such a struggle that for an entire year after taking possession of their hovel they didn't have gas and light connected. Their only income was an occasional $5 for day work with pick and shovel at Metro. This entailed getting up two hours before dawn and standing in line at the studio hiring gate. Eleven days out of twelve there wasn't a chance for either of them. Lou had left home the year before with the idea of electrifying Hollywood with his ability as a stunt man and acrobat. All that, and Bud Abbott, came later, of course, but meanwhile there was the matter of sleeping and eating to be considered. Christmas came around. Lou, devoted to his family in Paterson, N. J., had no money to buy gilts. But on Christmas Eve, roaming around the streets alone and broke, he felt he had to make some sort of gesture toward the folks. So he hocked his birthstone ring, a present from his mother, and sent a long and glowing telegram full of good cheer and optimism. [Continued on page 63] Both big shots and little folk in Hollywood have found the pawnbroker a friend in need. John Barrymore, Lou Costello, and Robert Cuinmings' stand-in, Eddie Reagan, are only a few of the cinema folk who have made trips to the corner loanery. Lou's in Metro's new musical, Rio Rita This cotton ^t-wa^hed Lmitstarctaed, ironed 87 tames s no evidence of fabric wear, e llder the micros cope. It looks new, has linen-like finish. (Tests by United States Testing Co Inc. Tyest No. 24747, Feb. 6, 1941.) Everyday Sheet Washed 87 Times; No Sign of Wear Laboratory Tests Show Linit-Starched Cotton Wears And Wears ; Looks Like New It's a wise homemaker who gives her sheets a light LiNiT-starching. Linit keeps sheets (in fact, everything washable) fresh and clean-looking longer. It gives supple, smooth finish. It makes cotton sheets feel and look like linen. Linit helps fine fabrics resist laundering wear. Free! The helpful "linit laundry chart". Write Corn Products Sales Company, 17 Battery Place, New York, N. Y., Dept. LF-5. ALL GROCERS SELL LINIT PENETRATES the FABRIC PROTECTS the FIBRES 61