Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1930)

Sold Down the Boulevard (Continued from page 2q) rfile and loaniriK big stars was virtually unheard of; studios then were much more jealous of exclusive contracts than at present. But now, with the exception of the "immortals, " it's only a question of the price. The Wall Street Influence EVEN the biggest studios now carry on the payroll under contract only a fraction of the nuge stock companies of former daya, and with the growing control and "emciency" of Wall Street and the banks, it seems that even these are being constantly pared down. Contract people nowadays number for the most part only the biggest players and directors and a few "youngsters" capable of development — and profit. Bush-leaguers, these last, whom their "owners" hope some day to sell or loan to the majors. Quite outside of the pictures they make at very moderate salaries to the producers who discover them, there is as much money in raising a winner on the •creen as on the race-track. An outstanding example of this is Lewis Ayres, the youn^ hero of "All Quiet on the Western Front.' That one picture moved him up from a banjo player to a star, and his present five-year contract is worth a fortune. After "All Quiet," he immediately went out on "loan." Whenever a major player is loaned, the deal between the studio that "owns" the contract and the studio that "borrows" the player is fenced around with inhibitions, prohibitions, clauses, codicils, p>ostBcripts, ami u' , It -not. A few bad pictures will ruin an . ; i . er, no matter how talented or how popular he or she may be: so whenever such a personality is loaned there are more conditions in the contract than quills in a porcupine. What's in the Contracts THE "loaning" studio does all it can to ' *fct its property. First, the part :,iyed must be approved — not by Ui< oia>er, but by the studio to whom he or sne belongs. Then, the "billing" hat to be arranged — everything from the player's position in the cast to the size of the lettermg on the screen and the type on the billboards on which his name will appear. The other players must be approved at fit company, and sometimes even the dialogue and wardrobe are sF>ecified. In P 1 ase, the number of songs that he X in the picture were set forth, •ealt . -Mgned. Not infrequently, nearly a whole cast ii "borrowed." For 'The Little Accident," Douglas Fairbanks. Jr., was borrowed from First .National, Anita Page from M-G-M, Sally Blane from RKO, and so on. But sometimes even the most popular players don't have to be borrowed — the studios just give them away. Such an instance was that of Richard Dix and Behe Daniels, two of RKO's biggest ■tan. They were big stars at Paramount, too. until somebody looked at their salaries and whistled. They weren't sold down the boulevard: they were shooed down. Then came "Rio Rita " for Bebeand now "Cimarron" for Dix. It costs plenty to "borrow " them now. Path^ did the same thing with Jeanette Loff and Stanley Smith, whereupon Univeraal and Paramount, respectively, instantly snapped them up. It's all very much tne same on all the plantations these days, for the studios are all specializing more and more upon storiea and leas and Teta upon stars. They buy a ■tory, and borrow the stars to fit it, which meant a far better product upon the screen. And as far as tnr stars themselves are concerned — well. I'mle Tom is bedecked in diamonds now "My Fat Shall Go Say That Today — Then Do This You know that it can go, because people all about you have reduced. In the past few vears, excess fat has been disappearing fast. Not by starvation, not by over-exercise, not by harmful drugs. Science has found a new way to fight fat. Doctors now employ it the world over. They supply a eland secretion — a big factor in nutrition. It is now known that the lack of that permits too much food to turn to fat. 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