Hollywood Spectator (Apr-May 1939)

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wv_-v 1'ckey Rooney heads it, a youth still in his +ee. . ; great stage player, one with years of train ing rniuo the footlights, ever has headed it. PerSw..ciity Versus Serious Student €f I do not contend there is no place on the screen for purely stage performances, for a display of the technique the stage teaches. We have had scores of brilliant performances by players who have come from Broadway to Hollywood, performances w hich have dignified the screen and given it artistic prestige; but the text of this discourse is the difference in popular appeal between a pleasing personality (Priscilla) and a serious student of dramatics (Rosemary) as film box-office assets. Making motion pictures is a business in which are invested billions of dollars throughout the world, therefore the box-office always must be the matter of first consideration. Almost every day the cinema pages in the newspapers tell us the difficulty this producer or that one is having in finding the right player for a part in a picture he is casting. If from the first producers had looked for personalities instead of for skilled players, if they had not been stampeded by the conviction that the screen went stage when it went talkie, there would be available today a dozen players for every leading part which needed filling. Spotting Talent Not Hard Job Cjf Spotting box-office possibilities is not difficult. Sometimes I feel I carry to excess my references to the Spectator's record in spotting prospective boxoffice personalities long before any producer has given them opportunities fully to display their wares. But my present argument calls for more such references. Two recent cases of the accuracy of the Spectator's guessing are those of Joan Fontaine, now starring in "Rebecca," which is doing big business wherever shown, in some cases breaking box-office records; and Anne Shirley, raised to stardom in "Saturday's Children." Of Joan I wrote (Spectator, June 5, 1937): "You may put her down as a young person who will achieve stardom rapidly." Of Anne I wrote, under the heading "New Star Is Rising," a brief paragraph which sums up my theory of screen acting (Spectator, January 4, 1936): "One can see Anne's future in her fine eyes. They reveal her possession of the divine spark born in her, but which we mistakenly term genius. They suggest everything clean and sweet, with a hint of latent fire ready to burst into flame when the provocation is sufficient. The only obstacle that can stay her march into the hearts of the country is acting technique. The less she learns of acting, the greater will be her appeal. What she has to offer her audience was born in her and cannot be learned or polished in a dramatic school." Our Guessing Batting Average <fl Of the scores named by the Spectator as prospective box-office material, none who achieved prominence has failed to maintain such status after being raised to it. Bette Davis, Jean Arthur, Myrna Loy — to mention only three to illustrate my point — were nominated for prominence by the Spectator when their names were virtually unknown by picture patrons. And now the reason for my l-told-you-so's: If someone sitting in the audience can spot an unknown person on the screen and record his conviction that such person has everything needed to achieve success as a leading film player, why does it take picture producers so long to become convinced of the same thing? Why complain of a shortage in prospective star material when in almost every picture one sees there can be spotted at least one youngster who has everything it takes? If I can spot a young boy and harass a publicity department into finding out the name of the boy who stood third to the right of the star in a certain scene, why did not the producer of the picture spot the boy and do something about it? The name, I at last was informed, was Mickey Rooney. The answer to the questions is that producers are looking for Rosemarys, not for Priscillas — are obsessed by the notion that they want actors and actresses to bring the stage with them to the screen. The boxoffice today is demonstrating the folly of it. The cure is to look for personalities, for Priscillas. * * * WERE FAR OFF ON THIS ONE /IF THE box-office prospects of "Rebecca" I wrote ^ as follows in my review of the picture (Spectator, April I): "A purely psychological drama, it is not for the casual film patron in search of light entertainment; it is too fine a creation to break box-office records, a fact no doubt apparent from the outset to Producer Selznick and regarded by him complacently, as 'Gone With the Wind' is attending to the money end of his business." "Rebecca" is proving a sensational box-office success wherever shown. At home it established a new record for an opening week at the Four Star; in New York it ran five weeks at the Music Hall; in Cleveland it gave a theatre its first hold-over in six years; in Chicago it followed the second week of "Young Tom Edison" into United Artists Theatre, "Edison" having done $7,100, and "Rebecca" did $23,000. (Figures by Variety.) Box-Office Digest says it is one of the biggest grossing picture^ United Artists has had in twenty years. * * * SCREEN TALENT AND SHAVING CREAM HEN the passage of the Neely Bill ends block booking, there is going to be a revolution in production methods which will jar the whole film world of Hollywood. For one thing, only a small fraction of the talent contracts now in existence will be renewed. With their market being made uncertain by the sale of each picture after completion and on its own merits, instead of by contract before it is made, a practice the Neely Bill will outlaw, producers will not find it profitable to carry the present heavy load of financial obligation under which the contract system puts them. Players, writers, directors then will become custodians MAY 1, 1940 PAGE THREE