Hollywood Spectator (Apr-May 1939)

$ Cater the tflidtfle We At BOARD a train speeding eastward last month was your correspondent, being carried "away from it all" for a spell, away from previews and studios, arc lights, publicity stunts, and ostentation, back into the real Americana. Over hundreds of miles of hot, gleaming desert the train pushed, and then through hundreds of miles of the verdant Mississippi valley, its green fields of wheat swept by graceful billows driven before recurring breezes, its forests fresh and shady and strewn with rich fern, a beautiful country this time of year. Most of the towns present streets lined with massive overhanging elms, and under them walk people who are the most typical Americans. They are absorbed with truly important concerns, concerns which, shared by millions of citizens in other small towns and cities of the country, give our nation its greatness— the civic improvements of their town, the building of the new high school, business success of local merchants, the prospects of sending their children to college — all important matters, though Hollywood would not consider them so, nor Broadway. Hollywood thinks the world revolves about Hollywood. The little towns are just "jumping off places.” Films Unique Art Medium <1 This attitude is reflected in motion pictures, where the viewpoints and problems of these most typical Americans are seldom given any comprehensive or penetrating representation. Come to think of it, tbe motion picture is the only art medium that is not in close contact with the people. Music, poetry, the dance, drama and other literary forms are interwoven with the social fabric. To a large extent they spring from the people as a whole, and they remain a part of popular expression through interpretation. But motion pictures are made almost solely in Hollywood or New York. With the possible exception of music, the only contact the film industry has with the masses is through literature, and even when a searching piece of fiction is adopted to the screen, the result generally bears the stamp of cinemaland. Their Viewpoints Refreshing Cl Most of these people have never seen a motion picture star in person, know nothing of guild problems or industrial codes; of players who cannot afford to be human, who must always be seen with the right people, because, children of fortune, their position depends largely on prestige: of old-time players who are still internationally known but cannot get employment. No, these people view Hollywood merely as a rather romantic place on the west coast that contributes the social need of entertainment, as Detroit contributes the motor cars. They are interested in the screen and its players as a source of entertainment, romance, or artistic stimulus, but the film capital and the players exist for them only in a sort of mythological way. It is refreshing to be among them and share their viewpoints. One gets a prespective on all the sound and fury of filmland. The Play's the Thing Cl Over fifteen hundred miles were traveled by automobile in the Middle West, seeing relatives and taking in the countryside. Keeping my ears pricked in an endeavor to sense the prevalent viewpoints on motion pictures of the public at large, I gathered that the interest in players themselves is not as great as it once was. Not once that I recall was I asked, ‘‘Have you seen Greta Garbo?’’, a question commonly put on a visit several years ago; but I was asked numerous times, "Have you seen Juarez?” or some other outstanding film. The old fan enthusiasm is dying down. People are shopping for entertainment more than ever, and on the basis of a picture’s total merit. There is progressively less of attending film theatres for lack of something else to do. There is plenty else to do. Sports are an outstanding interest of the average person, the dominant recreational interest of many, an enthusiasm doubtless given impetus by the radio. Golf has become tremendously popular throughout the Middle West. Paradox Impresses Us C! Dancing is popular too. In fact, I am told that the business of booking dance orchestras throughout the country is thriving in an unprecedented way, despite general business conditions. Double bills, of course, are everywhere. But no one likes them. Getting the same reactions in querying people from one town to another, one is struck by the paradox in the circumstance that the double bills are unpopular and yet continue to be shown month after month. A food manufacturer would not continue to market a product the public did not like, nor an automobile manufacturer. The motion picture producer does. Westerns Preferred IJ One night I chatted with a local exhibitor in Bethany, Missouri, a little BY BERT HARLEN town of less than five thousand population in the heart of the farming district. Farmers form a sizeable part of picture audiences, especially on weekends— leather-skinned, hearty, courageous people who wave to you as you jog along dirt roads off the highways, people who must work long hours in the beating sun and bitter cold; with little time or inclination for subtlety of thought; as a class, underpaid, the least advanced culturally. Coming to town, they want excitement. Westerns are the favored fare. Sophisticated dramas do not go. Mane Antoinette was a bust. The best business of recent months was done with Jessie James. Dodge City was successful too. Fifty Per Cent Action Wanted The exhibitor, an intelligent and analytical fellow, thinks that pictures to be successful with any audience should be fifty per cent action. Did he think most films contained that much action. I asked. No, was his reply. Toward the distributing exchanges he is not friendly. Block booking. That night was dime night — all seats a dime. There was a fairly good house. The show really was not worth any more, however — a B picture, with Jack Holt, and some shorts. National Solidarity Evinced <1 Though Westerns are favored by the farmers, they manage to derive sufficient entertainment from the more worldly offerings, the usual tenor of the shows being dictated by the tastes of the townspeople. Coming attractions were Society Lawyer and It's a Wonderful World. It is interesting to note the extent of the attitudes and ideas held in common by these groups with different modes of living, but even more interesting— in fact, remarkable and admirable-— is the growing national solidarity evinced by the fact that the run of motion pictures can entertain both Bethany and Broadway. There are no more small towns in the old sense, isolated habitats of the proverbial hick. Radio, rapid transportation, motion pictures, extensive magazine publication, and advanced educational systems have eliminated them. A few backward communities may exist in remote mountainous regions, but the nation as a whole is becoming one great metropolis, with foci in the big cities. Girls on the streets of Bethany dress and behave the same as those on Hollywood Boulevard. Only mishap: slipped on a slippery floor in a Kansas City restaurant, and I still sit quietly. PAGE TWELVE HOLLYWOOD SPECTATOR