Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1951)

of time, a strange combination of mild hostility and boredom is likely to occur. A “show-me” attitude succeeds the former admiration and booster spirit. Theater owners have been known to compile a list of competent players and tab them “box office poison.” The public begins to write to studios, clamoring for “new faces.” Casting directors begin to reject an established star with the executioner’s phrase; “His price is too high. And he’s so thoroughly typed that his presence in the picture gives the story away.” All of this sets up a violent career undertow which the established star must be prepared to outswim if he or she objects to being swept out to oblivion. And then, inevitably, the cruel question of age rears its graying head. After a recent preview, a Hollywood columnist heard one member of the audience say to another, “Debbie Reynolds reminds me of a young Janet Leigh.” Janet is a glorious twenty-four. OF course the public has a general notion of these problems, but they are constant, prowling dragons to successful stars. Inevitably their presence sets up a series of anxiety complexes in the mind of even the most secure star. Theatrical people almost never believe in their own success. Particularly in Hollywood, the history of a star reaching the zenith, then disappearing, is too wellwritten in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese. If you, personally, want proof of the brevity of screen success, go to your public library and study a copy of Photoplav for the year 1940. Taking this fast fading into consideration, a player suddenly feels that everything he does must be right, absolutely right. Rightness, unfortunately, is an attitude. It is impossible to please everyone. Even when criticized, a player must be constructive about it. He or she may feel like murdering the critic, but the next time they meet, there must be nothing but sweetness and light between them. There are many compensations, when or,° is at the top of the heap, to counterbalance the problems. This is obvious, and many of the compensations are obvious. The take-home pay, even after income taxes, is good. Prestige is great. Social opportunities are without limit. There is seldom a dull moment. There are many less obvious enjoyments, however. As Joan Crawford says, “One of the happiest facts of stardom is that, in the process of reaching the top, a player learns a tremendous respect for the motion picture industry.” Joan loves her job, and is celebrated for her spirit of close cooperation. She never keeps a company waiting; she listens carefully to the suggestions made by her director and works studiously to bring his, not her, conception of a scene and the story as a whole to the screen. Her appreciation of the work of everyone involved in a film is acute, and she is quick to give credit. She regards herself realistically as one element, and only one, in a complex structure. Another sweet dividend of success is the realization that one knows. If you had become a great star, you would know by what process your position was acquired. You would be able to look backward a long way and to see every turn of the road. You would have acquired polish, technique, and self-reliance. When called upon to do a difficult scene, you would feel adequate. You would be able to approach the problem from a number of different angles; you would be able to discuss it intelligently with the director. You would know. The question of time, precious time, would have been resolved for you, as a great star. You would have acquired enough judgment to say “no” to many of the useless, time-consuming activities in which you had engaged when you were climbing. You would be able to travel. Probably you would make several pictures overseas as Tyrone Power, Deborah Kerr, Joseph Cotten, Irene Dunne, Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck, Robert Taylor and Errol Flynn have done. All the world would spread out to welcome you. Wherever you went you would be regarded as a friend; you would have the time, the money, and the maturity to make the most of an experience of which every imaginative person dreams. Finally your success would enable you to do the things which every devoted parent dreams of doing for his children. From birth, they would be given the finest of medical care; they would be sent to good schools and they would be equipped to select the profession of their choice without pressure of family finances. With gratitude for your success, with love for those with whom you were able to share it, with a philosophical eye on the future, you — as a great star — would never forget the one inescapable truth of show business: A player never actually reaches the top, because his next role may be his best. A player has never really arrived, because— until the day of his death— a player is an applicant in search of a job. 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