Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1939)

What Hollywood Is Thinking I from page 59) rey, Photoplai let your daughter corn her I: which all of the woman and ninety I the men laid •' I •• Why not'.' I've wrote one woman star, the mot! small d:n.Jnht. Mainly This is a new world. A ■ not take can of haraell kicked around," said a second mother. though not until she is over eight. ' third actress, unmar riad hut betrothed. And a fourth V. . it she has enough. Kid. ■ em much more addlepated and irresponsible tlian in my teens " This star is, herself, not yet thirty-five, but she was earning her own living at fourteen. While most of the men declared themin favor of a career for their daughters, they were a little more conitive in their answers. -, but not as a fad." said one father. 'If she starts, she must see her job through." Among the dissenters, one young father wrote: "At risk of appearing horse and buggy.' I think woman's place is in the home. We wouldn't have a depression today if so many women weren't competing with men for jobs!" IF married, what is the subject you and your husband, or wife, most frequently discuss?" To this query, twenty-six per cent of the women said the future; thirteen per cent, money; thirteen per cent, motion pictures; ten per cent politics and six per cent world affairs, with other answers mentioning children, sports, music, books, art, the "isms." "Building toward the future is a vital thing in marriage. Naturally my husband and I talk of it most," said one young star. "We talk about our future. This means in our case, our careers, because we are both in pictures," wrote another. "Money," wrote a third. "After all, you can say what you will, it is money that makes a marriage go 'round!" One good wife wrote, commendably: "Sports. I don't know a baseball from a football, but my husband is crazy about all kinds of sports and I try to be a good wife." A fair-sized group — sixteen per cent, to be exact — of the married men also said they discussed the future oftener than anything else, but thirty-two per cent said that money and finances held first place in their marital conversations. "A good many of our discussions and, I am sad to relate, all of our quarrels bout money," one male star wrote, somewhat disconsolately. "The thing is." he added, "we are trying to save it to forestall a precarious future and the present is too expensive to make that project successful." "Money and what we will do with it is our favorite topic." said another, confiding, also, that: "My wife is non-pronal and I never made very much until so recently that it still is a very novelty." Other favorite topics of discussion, according to masculine players questioned, were world affairs (sixteen per cent listed this topic), home building, music, pictures, children and social theories. Disregarding these, however, one bridegroom said, with rcfreshir * honesty: "We discuss ourselves. Nothing else seems quite as important two months from your wedding <i In i ing Photoplay's fifth tioii, the 11 in point of view be tween the average Hollywoodita and Mr. and Mrs. America, concerning final I parent. "H'/idt do .v<"i conaider an adequate income for marriage'" PHOTOPLAY asked. "At least $100.00 a week' said fifty ' .'f tlu> Women and fifty .tiid one-half per cent of the men! A pretty high figure, you pro' Certainly. But incomes are high in the picture business compared to those of Other industries. And so $100.00 a week looks to the average screen player about the same as $35.00 to anybody else. Moreover, when you consider the extra expenses anyone in the movies has — photographs to fans, fine clothes to be "seen" in, the countless expenses of "keeping up appearances" — $100.00 a week is about the same as $35.00 a week, or perhaps less. Sliding down the scale, thirty-three per cent of the women chose $50.00 a week as an adequate income for marriage, while only nine per cent selected $75.00 a week. Three per cent selected between $25.00 and $35.00. A few more said: "It depends upon station in life and demands from outside interests"; still others, that anywhere between $25.00 and $50.00 would be fine for a childless couple, but that for each child children. This would provide funds for insurance, education, doctors' bills and /encies," wrote another. "As low as $30.00 a week, but it should be sure!'' said another. He is a big star now, but a few years ago he was broke and hungry. Of all who answered this question, only one, a woman, put the sum above an approximate $5,000.00 a year. She is the daughter of well-to-do parents and a ranking star. Her figure was — and understandably, after all— $10,000.00 a year. Of the women who thought $100.00 a week necessary for marriage, twothirds were married; of those who chose $50.00 a week or less, only one-fifth. Four-fifths of the men who specified $100.00 a week were married, as were two-thirds of those who selected $75.00. Only a fraction of the men who thought $50.00 a week adequate were married. PHOTOPLAY'S sixth question was, logically: "Do you save a certain per cent of your income regularly?" In response, eighty-four per cent of the feminine contingent said yes, and eighty-five per cent of the men. "Of course," wrote one feminine star, "i'd be a fool not to. My big income can't last forever." But, "Save? Tell me how!" wrote HOW WELL DO yOU KNOW YOUR HOLLYWOOD? Check your answers to the statements on page 69 with these correct ones: 1. Kay Francis, 8. Janet Gaynor, 15. Douglas Fairbanks, Miriam Hopkins Norman Foster Jr. 2. 3. 4. 5. Mae West Ann Harding Myrna Loy Claudette Colbert 9. John Barrymore 10. Lionel Barrymore 1 1 . Joan Crawford 12. Walter Huston 16. Lee Tracy 17. Claudette Colbert 18. Binnie Barnes, Merle Oberon, Wendy Barrie 19. Gary Cooper 6. Ralph Morgan 13. Hugh Herbert 7. Clive Brook 14. Doris Kenyon 20. May Robson there should be from $10.00 to $20.00 more, weekly. In the majority of cases, the "$100.00a-weekers" mentioned this sum because it would allow a margin for saving. "The future is precarious, especially for a movie actress," announced one, frankly. One of the "$75.00-a-weekers" pointed out that she thought she and her husband could get along on less, but that this much money meant "freedom from worry and possible squabbles over money." Taking a rather different and not unsound point of view, one young actress suggested as adequate, "any steady income." Besides the fifty-five and one-half per cent of the men who stipulated $100.00 as the lowest sum on which a married couple can live satisfactorily, there were the seventeen per cent who chose $75.00 a week; the ten per cent who said $50.00; the ten per cent who declined to set a figure on the grounds that circumstances alter cases, and the small group who mentioned $35.00 and $30.00. "I need to make a hundred bucks to keep things going right!" wrote one married actor. "I've made less and we've lived on it, but I wouldn't call it adequate. Women are too expensive and a man likes his wife to have what she wants." "At least $100.00 a week if there are one perturbed contract player. "It costs me money to be in pictures!" This player, a beginner, has a private income. Apparently, she needs it. Eighty-five per cent of the men also save something regularly, Photoplay's questioning revealed. "I have a business manager and he makes me save, whether I like it or not," declared one, recently risen to stardom. "I should save, but I'm married and have two kids and I can't," wrote one of the small per cent who revealed himself sails a savings account. Of the women who said they saved regularly, two-thirds were single. Of those who admitted they did not save, three-fifths were married. Among the men, approximately half boasting savings accounts were single. All of the men who said they could not save money were married. EXTENDING its survey to embrace other phases of modern existence, Photoplay then asked: "Were the time and moyiey spent on your educatiem worth while?" "Yes!" declared eighty-seven and one-half per cent of the women, but only sixty-two and one-half per cent of the men. "I went to school only a few years. I wish it could have been three times that long!" wrote one feminine star. "Not much money was spent for my education, but, as usual, the best things in life are free!" said a second. "Certainly," she added, "the time spent was worth it and then some!" On the other hand, "I went to a socalled "smart finishing school'," said one of the minority dissatisfied with the returns on their educational investment. "All I learned to do was to ride horseback, balance a teacup and look bored at any given social event! My real education has come since I began to make my own living. . . . And how!" "Definitely!" wrote a large group of men who felt satisfied with their education. However, others in this class qualified their approval. "Well — yes," wrote one, "but college less grammar and high school." "No!" announced one of the masculine critics of modern education. "I was trained to be an electrical engineer, but I had a job in a filling station before the movies got me!" I ROM education, Photoplay turned to a question omnipresent in contemporary thought, to wit: "What do you think constitutes the greatest danger of another world war?" Here, for the first time, the women proved hesitant about answering, with twenty-five per cent either leaving the space after this question blank or saying, frankly: "I don't know." The next largest group — twenty-two per cent — chose Fascism. After that came Communism, greed of dictators, bad economic conditions, aggression, overpopulation and discontent. In selecting Fascism and Communism, many expressed belief that attendant disregard of the church and principles of Christianity is far more dangerous than other phases of these "isms." "The arrogance of rulers has been a vital factor in war-making of the past, and history repeats itself," wrote several others, in effect. Without exception, the men had an answer to this question, with twentythree per cent choosing dictators as the most formidable menace to peace; seventeen per cent selecting Fascism, its principles as well as dangerous greed of dictators; ten per cent, propaganda; eight per cent, Communism; and the rest being fairly well divided in the choice of dictators, capitalism, overpopulation, upset economic conditions and "popular hysteria." "All the 'isms' are dangerous," wrote another. "People should pay more attention to the blessings of democracy." "Propaganda, carefully dished out by the Allies, led us into the last war. It will do it again if we are not careful," said a third, considering, particularly,, America's position in the case of war "A HRE you interested, personally, in any of the outstanding social theories, such as Communism?" To this inquiry, seventy-five per cent of the women and sixty-seven per cent of the men said no. "No 'ism' but Americanism interests me!" said many of both sexes, emphatically. "No! And it's too bad more people don't pay less attention to Communism and such and more to the principles of democracy!" said others. Several were specific. "Neither Communism nor Fascism!" they said. "No, I am an American!" announced one of the men, tersely. Another thoughtful male star, taking a somewhat broader view of the ques 82 PHOTOPLAY