Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Jul 1929)

88 Eve Southern waited ten years for a real chance in the movies, returning home and then coming back with renewed hope. ~% T TE all know why girls come to Hollywood. But, a/%/ failing to get into pictures, or any kind of employment in the studios, why on earth do they remain, year in and year out? For a great many do stay on indefinitely. Each day hundreds of former screen applicants file out of restaurants, shops, and offices of Los Angeles and Hollywood, where they are now employed. To outward appearances, at least, they seem satisfied, though outward appearances, we all know, are deceiving sometimes. They dress smartly, take an interest in topics of the day, frequent plays and movies, very often drive their own cars, and visit the library on Saturday afternoon. Some even marry the boy working in the same office or shop, but more frequently they become bachelor girls. For there is as much an oversupply of marriageable girls in Hollywood as there was in England just after the war. So, girls, if you're thinking of discovering an eligible mate during your visit to Hollywood, better buy a ticket to Arizona instead ! Or bring your boy friend along with you. Just why girls do stay on has sometimes puzzled those discussing the subject. Is it because they hope that sooner or later they will get a chance before the camera, in spite of their failure to get past the movie gates so far — or their failure, at any rate, to get beyond the ranks of extras ? Is it that living conditions and the climate in California hold them? Is it pride that, having left the home town, with the noise of brass bands ringing in their ears, and then turned down at the studios, they fear the censure or ridicule of their friends and relatives? iat Keeps railures After hopes of success in the movies are than return home. This article Bj> Mignort Trtie, these friends and relatives have probably read articles which attempted to paint a true picture of the film situation, but without actually encountering conditions in Hollywood, they cannot understand. It is all the reasons I have mentioned — often a combination of these reasons — and then some more. Among the contributing factors, to why girls stay on, long after they have attempted unsuccessfully to get on the screen, are ; the belief that they still have a chance, false pride, the fact that they have found friends and a congenial place for themselves outside pictures, that, they lack the money to go home, or that they have joined the ranks of the demimonde. It may seem strange that in the face of failure to get picture work, month in and month out, some apparently intelligent girls continue to hope that eventually they will be given the opportunity to act. But they can hardly be blamed, especially if they are young, fairly pretty and possess personality. Remember that some of them are the choice peaches from their home town or city. And there are many instances of success on the screen which came about unexpectedly. For example, Eve Southern made good in Douglas Fairbanks' "The Gaucho," yet she had tried for ten years to get a real chance on the screen. She had even given up the attempt, finally, and gone back to the Southern town from which she came. But unable to resign herself to failure, she returned to Hollywood and renewed the struggle which ultimately brought success. Alice Terry /waited six years for recognition. Both these aspirants had dubbed themselves failures, but couldn't quite give up the idea of doing screen work. "They can't all be winners. Only a very, very small percentage can be," declared Marion L. Mel, who takes care of the women and children applicants at the Central Casting Bureau. "But I don't blame the girls for hoping, at least within reason. Believe me, if I were nineteen years old, very beautiful, and had been told by some reliable person, such as a theatrical producer, or casting agent, that I stood a chance, nothing on earth could keep me from trying to get into the movies. The compensations are so great, if by some stroke of fortune you do make good. I think that I'd give it at least a year's trial. If then I found I wasn't getting along in pictures, I'd get some other work, at least for a while. After I'd been in Hollywood for about two years, I'd certainly return home, unless during that time I had obtained roles, or had become successful in some other business. "Seventy per cent of our registration of twelve thousand, is composed of women applicants," she went on. "Of this number about eight hundred are 'dress' girls — the type of girl in demand more than any other. These girls are not only beautiful, but wear clothes extremely well, have extensive wardrobes, are accomplished dancers, swimmers and horsewomen. Breaking into pictures by way of the extra route is — even though one is lucky enough to be included in this group — a precarious and unremunerative method. Only fifty-five extra women in the entire industry average two and a half days' work a week throughout the year !