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214 THE HOUSE THAT SHADOWS BUILT
resolute and ambitious Hodkinson was blazing exploratory trails toward new horizons. All this time, gossips and go-betweens were fanning up the resentments of these bom antagonists.
During the two years of the temporary arrangement between the producers and Paramount, there arose new problems which made the future seem to Zukor even more clouded. The great moving-picture boom, of which later I shall treat in more detail, was rising toward its climax. Stars — and rightly, considering their drawing power — were beginning to demand salaries beyond the dreams of bank presidents. Zukor was paying Mary Pickford a thousand dollars a week, then two thousand, then — but I will save the last figure for a climax. Zenda^ his original production of 1912, cost ^7,000. By 1915 or 1916, a rather ordinary film might cost $40,000. The “milliondollar film” was on its way. As the expense of production mounted, the producer must pay from his sixty-five per cent, of gross receipts the interest on increased investment; while the distributor, mnning along on the same old scale, got his thirty-five per cent, just the same.
Also, the project known as First National was a-borning. It said to stars, directors, and actors: “Our company will produce and also distribute. Why pay a middleman’s profit.?” Eventually, if not immediately, he must meet this kind of competition.
The existing contracts between Paramount and the three producing firms were due soon to expire. Disquiet