Picture Play Magazine (1932)

64 Continued from page 25 That's why Joan Blondell, a levelheaded girl if ever there was one, is very happy to be getting $750 a week, though her name is receiving star billing now. Joan realizes that though her salary isn't like those usually attributed to the movie great, it's more than she 'made on Broadway. As for the newcomers, they offer no problem at all. An unknown, whether she is a society girl or a waitress, who is offered a chance to go into pictures, will accept on almost any terms. And there is a vast difference between the terms of the contracts to-day and those tendered the embryo geniuses of yesterday. Take Clark Gable, for instance. Clark is at present considered the best male box-office draw in pictures. Yet each week when he walks up to the cashier's window at Metro-Goldwyn studio, he receives just $750. Of course, since he has attained such tremendous popularity, Metro has been giving him a bonus at the completion of each picture. But that $2,000 extra won't bring his yearly income up to that received by heroes of the past. Pay-day Blues! Johnny Weissmuller is another lad who is happy over receiving a very, very moderate salary. For, believe it or not, the boy who made "Tarzan" and sprang to instantaneous popularity, earns only $250 a week ! Being a movie star is proving a very expensive proposition to him, he says. Before he went into pictures, Johnny was working as "contact man" for a bathing-suit company. His salary was $250 a week and all expenses paid. Since becoming an actor, his salary is the same, but he has to pay his own living expenses. Just think back a few years. Can you imagine one of the prime favorites of the screen — a man receiving one of the greatest volumes of fan mail in all Hollywood, accepting $250 a week — and liking it ? Shades of Wally Reid and Rudolph Valentino ! Adrienne Ames is another newcomer whose living expenses exceed the salary she earns, which is in the neighborhood of $100 a week. Fortunately, Adrienne is married to a wealthy New York broker, so she doesn't need to worry, anyway. Further proof of the difference between the salaries of to-day and those of yesterday is seen in the new contract just signed by Colleen Moore. At the time of her retirement from the screen about two and a half years ago, Colleen was one of the highest paid stars on the First National lot. Her weekly salary, rain or shine, was $10,000 a week, for fifty-two weeks a year. Recently, Miss Moore signed a new contract with Metro-Goldwyn. Under its terms she will work for twenty weeks at $2,000 a week, and for another twenty weeks at $2,500 a week. Quite a difference, is it not ? Oh, there's no getting around it, there's a lot of worrying going on among the actors and actresses at present. As has been said so often before, it is necessary to keep up a certain appearance in order to be a success in the picture industry. And it isn't so easy to do this on sadly shrunken incomes. So let's shed a tear for our sisters and brothers in the depression who are suffering from Pay-day Blues — even as you and I. Continued from page 26 "Do I ever strike you as being crazy?" she demanded. "I always fly from one thing to another. I find myself going with certain people I know I should keep away from, merely to experience the results. I actually get to talking like them, using their pet words and phrases, and regarding life as they regard it. "So it is no use my saying that I am never affected by the company and surroundings I find myself in. Both affect me very strongly. I know it is dangerous for me. That's what makes me wonder why I choose to go with certain people, or encourage them." The fact is that Maureen wants to get a thrill out of each new thing that comes her way. People who do not understand her, brand her as insincere and fickle. But that is not so. It is merely that new things attract her attention, drawing her momentarily away from old friends. But she comes back again and is always herself. "When I first came here," she said, "every one regarded and treated me as a sweet young thing. Well, that was all right, but it somehow forced me to do a little act for people. I thought if they want to see me according to their own ideas, then here goes. I think I liked to give every one the impression that I was just what they thought me !" People seemed to forget that before Tea for Two she lived in Hollywood Maureen had lived in London, Paris, and Dublin. And to live in Dublin alone is to see the world. I recall "Ding once with Maureen to a luncheon given by Fifi Dorsay. As a select group, with good sauterne flowing freely, we possibly thought ourselves very cosmopolitan. There was Fifi prancing about in her green silk lounging pajamas ! Walter Byron, jolly and humorous. But Maureen, looking a mere child in the wrong setting, somehow managed to appear the most sophisticated of us all! "I used to believe it was necessary to fall in with everything," she stated. "I believed that if I went to a night club, to appear smart I'd have to take a cocktail. Now I realize how silly it is to do things we imagine others expect us to do. To-day I order a glass of milk, because I prefer milk to cocktails. Others have said I do it to attract attention. I let them say so. "I have found that what people say is scarcely worth bothering over. In Hollywood they don't care what you do, so long as you do it in a nice way. Outside of open scandal, you can conduct yourself as you please, without censure. Only if you get in some entanglement, you must take the blame alone. "When I've found myself in what is usually referred to as a 'dangerous situation,' it has always been my own fault. Not that I've had any men offering me diamond bracelets ! But one or two unpleasant incidents have happened which caused me to breathe a sigh of relief when I found myself clear of them. But how much longer do you suppose I can keep up that sort of thing?" Now all this might lead one to suppose that Maureen was the wildest child in Hollywood. Such is not the case. Maureen is far too intelligent to act in any senseless way. In her thirst for experiencing results from her varying moods, she is slightly cruel. She disregards the person and his feelings to satisfy some craving within her. But those who like her and understand her well, remain her friends. Russell Gleason is one of Maureen's best friends. Their friendship, in spite of wild rumor, is entirely platonic. Sometimes two or three months go by without their seeing each other. Eventually they get together and drive out of Hollywood, to Santa Barbara or elsewhere. The story of the little girl who adores solitude is nauseating, coming from the many it does come from. But in Maureen's case it is true. She does like to be alone. She wanders off by herself. Irish tales and legends have given Maureen her love for Dana, the earth mother. I have dropped around to see the O'Sullivan, hoping for one of her