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What the young player looks forward to as a real thrill often sends her home in bitter tears, weary and humiliated
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the detailed description of the price nine out of ten new players must pay, and have paid, for screen success.
The first thing the studio does, almost always, is to change her name. In place of her own, she is given one that fills two requisites: brevity (so it can be written large in lights) and euphony. Alice Faye, Myrna Loy, Carole Lombard, Jean Harlow — don't they all sound pleasing? They should. They are Hollywood's own creations, decided upon after careful thought and many conferences among the powers that be.
On the first day that this new contract player reports for work at the studio, she is sent — not to some set to face a camera, (she won't see a moving picture camera for many weeks to come) but to the studio's dramatic school. All studios have one. She reports to the head coach. She is certain to find him in a room full of mirrors, and she is certain to be scrutinized, examined, put through her paces much as a child is catechized by a teacher the first day he reports to school, that his talents and training may be properly classified and recorded. Only in this instance, it is the new player's
physical attributes, abilities and appearance that are first considered.
"Stand up . . . Sit down . . . Walk . . . Turn around . . ."
The head coach barks commands at her like a circus trainer handling his animals. And while she is obeying, he and other experts comment on her mirrored likeness.
"She walks fairly smoothly . . ."
"Yes, but she wiggles her hips . . ."
"She is pigeon-toed . . ."
"Her steps are too short . . ."
This will probably go on for hours, until she is ready to drop from weariness and to cry from humiliation. She had better stem her tears, though. If she is smart, she will realize that this is just the beginning.
As a result of this first day's experimenting, the coaches prescribe a course of training and correction for their new pupil, similar to that which has been followed by every big star in Hollywood since talkies came in.
It is a slow and tedious business. She will spend days re
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