Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1933)

22 MOTION PICTURE HERALD April 15, 1933 THE WASTE OF TALENT Studios Spend Half Million Yearly While Hundreds of Potential Players Wait, Lacking Training The greatest waste in Hollywood today is the waste of talent. Large sums are spent by the major studios every year to unearth new talent. In the past year the expenditure probably totaled half a million dollars, perhaps more. Scores are brought there for tests, or placed under contract. They may be from stock companies, from community theatres, from the New York stage. They may be beauty contest winners, golfers, swimmers, football players. In addition, there are already in Hollywood enough junior players, beginners if you will, who have done bits or extra work, to provide talent to last the industry without any importations for the next five years. They come from anywhere, everywhere. Mostly, they fail utterly, never get beyond a few extra talent checks which are so far apart that it is impossible to live on such income. And they drift off into other fields, discouraged, broke. Yet a substantial number of them, if properly trained, methodically developed, would become potential screen figures. No Organized Schooling The reason is that nothing is done in an organized way by the production community to take up, train and make use of this flow of talent. There is no training course, no school ; no orderly, specific method by which these people may acquire the fundamentals of screen acting. At one time or another, almost every studio has launched some sort of a system to develop talent. Before the advent of sound pictures, Paramount established a school at its Long Island studios. Several of the students later achieved considerable screen prominence. Not so long ago Paramount sent out Stuart Walker to the Coast studios to train young players signed for the stock company. Walker had a long and successful record as a developer of talent through his stock company. Oliver Hinsdell, director of the Little Theatre of Dallas, was signed by MGM to coach players. Mr. Hinsdell still is doing that work. Walker does it to a minor extent, but lately he has been given directorial assignments. Long Study Needed That the idea in general has not gained any definite goal is partly the fault of the players, partly the fault of the producers. Youngsters are placed on contracts ranging from three months to a year at salaries of $75 to $100 a week, probably two or three times as much as they ever earned before. Some of them never earned anything. They are flattered. They wait. They "go Hollywood" to a greater or lesser degree. Real acting comes only after long and painstaking study. Most of the best actors are character people who have been at it for ten to fifty years. Most of* them have been students, serious students, of their profession. They have studied the technique of the masters. They have read everything they could find about the theatre. They have read and often memorized the classics. They know the meaning of gesture, movement, dress, make-up. It takes from six to ten years for a man to land even on the bottom rung of the ladder as a physician or an attorney; the same is true with engineering, architecture and other professions. At the center of production, a man must serve an apprenticeship of three to five or six years to become a first cameraman. Many of the sound men hold university degrees in electrical engineering. Art directors very often have studied under masters in Europe. Directors have served apprenticeships in acting, in writing, as assistant directors for long periods. Most of the writers have been schooled in the exacting field of journalism, or have won their spurs as playwrights, novelists or story writers. Any actor of experience, or any director who has ever developed players, will tell you it takes time, much patience and methodical direction, to develop a proficient player. The technique of the profession is quite as complicated and difficult as that of the doctor, the lawyer, the architect. Even with genius to begin with, the talent must be developed. It is as delicate as an orchid. Yet it is one of the really priceless commodities of motion picture production. No Spot for Beginner Technicians meet frequently for study and interchange of experience, but there is no spot where the beginner may learn more about the art of acting, nor where those who have been launched upon such a career may keep up with their profession. When the stage was active, it provided Hollywood with many promising candidates. Stock companies, little theatres, Broadway, all contributed their quotas to the histrionic talent of Hollywood. Today, such training schools scarcely exist. There are those who believe that such a school should be made available either under the sponsorship of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences or of the Producers Association, acting unitedly. Such an institution, receiving general support, could conduct practical theatre experiments, coach students, lay out definite courses of study. Each studio could send its younger players to such a school. If the player showed lack of interest or application, he or she would be dropped when option time came around. Nowhere else in the world are so many experts available to teach aspiring young actors. Possibly in no other important profession is there today so little opportunity to master its fundamentals methodically, correctly. And possibly in no other spot in the world is there more potential talent than within the limits of Hollywood. Depressions End Always: Franklin Harold Franklin of Radio City and elsewhere is one of the industry's most uerlous students of industry and economic history. He does not belong to that school which holds that the motion picture is so utterly different that it is not subject to established economic law. Here is an interesting page from Mr. Franklin's notebook, anent the subject of depressions: "There are pessimists who fear that the present financial depression is a crisis from where there is no way out. "A study of history discloses the definite fact that depressions come and go. Those who have time should read the seventh chapter of Book Two of Harriet Martineau's "A History of the Thirty Years Peace— A.D. 1816-1846." "The author describes the period of prosperity which followed the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, culminating ten years later in an orgy of speculation. (Incidentally, exactly ten years have elapsed between the end of the World War and the present economic collapse.) "The pages read as though they were descriptive of our own times. The coincidences, as to course of events, between what happened one hundred years ago and what has transpired during the past three years are so similar that they are worth reading. They teach a lesson of optimism A description of the chapters tells the story. "The Period of Buoyancy. "Speculation Rampant. "The Gambling Epidemic. "Dreams of Riches Accumulated. "Wildcat Schemes Easily Financed. "And Then— The Deluge! "Panic and Despair. "Hope. "The Problem of Immediate Cash. "The People Patient. "The Need to Restore Confidence. "The Puzzlement of Government. "Continued Pressure Upon the Government. "Light Appears. "The Depression Did Pass. "As the author points out, 'the depression did pass away' — and those who were strong enough, who were not discouraged, emerged stronger than ever before." Young Circuit Manager Dies Frank B. Hill, 31, manager of the Inland Theatres, with headquarters in Walla Walla, Washington, died suddenly last week, after he had been thought fully recovered from a chronic illness. He had been with the organization since 1926. Loew's Declares Dividend Loew's, Inc., has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.62j4 on the preferred stock, payable May 15 to stock of record April 28. Technicolor Increases Capital Technicolor, Inc., New York, has increased its capital stock at Dover, Del., from 700,000 to 800,000 shares, no par value. The Corporation Trust Company is the incorporating company.