Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Jul 1929)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

16 The Regal Courts of Filmdom Some of the successful stars have built up retinues that rival the traditional pomp of a feudal baron's hall. By Edwin Sckallert Illustrations by Lui Trugo Kings A CERTAIN rather vain and egotistical star was once asked by an interviewer how many servants he kept. With due numerical exactitude he replied, naming the butler, the valet, the cook, the chauffeur, the gardener, and one or two others engaged in domestic occupations. Then, very expansively, he said, "And, of course, besides all these, there is my personal retinue." "Retinue !" exclaimed the interviewer. "Do you have a retinue?" "Yes, naturally," answered the star, with grandiloquence, in which the interviewer did not at the moment discern a note of mockery. "Every celebrity must have a retinue. It's a legitimate heritage." Then the speaker flashed upon his questioner a rather disarming smile. "Only we never admit it except as a joke." However, in Hollywood it's not so much a joke as you might imagine from this very casual dismissal. If a majority of the more famous stars actually came down to cases, they'd have to concede that the word "retinue" has more than just purely rhetorical significance. Regal courts really flourish in the movie world and queens of moviedom have their lords, their ladies, and even sometimes their jesters. The knights of celluloid are not without their vassals and retainers, nor the peeresses of the picture realm their fair servitors. Hollywood — the Hollywood of glitter and abundance, at least — sometimes, nay, often, bears a resemblance to a feudal barony, with its landgraves of high estate attended by their courtiers, mayhap to sup at table ; mayhap to participate in joust and jest, occasionally to decorate and adorn the neverending glamour of the filmy parade. I shall start by dividing this strange kingdom into special classes. First, there is the professional group, possibly the most important. They have to do with picture-making in various capacities, technical and financial. Second, there is the domestic suite, familiarly classified as servants, but often rising far above the conventional concept thereof. Third, there is the social cortege, often related to the professional. This has mostly to do with swank. Not many stars can boast such a triune assemblage in their train. Most of them are satisfied with a single group. It is the high test of celebrity to acquire all three, or to be able to. However, the three constitute the elaborate and intricate liegedom of celluloidia, wherein the allegiances to stars are held in fief and fee. One has to seek out the most successful in order to find the more gorgeous panoply of loyalties and services. Money is unquestionably the dominant power in procuring attendances anywhere. It is especially potent in Hollywood. Still, there is something more. A star can well acquire a resplendent entourage by the glamour of his accomplishments. His followers are also frequently friends of long standing. They may also be on the weekly Charlie Chaplin is pro pay ljst) but there is tected by a master of the somethjng more than art of culling and shooing thfi mere monetarv away bores^and undesir attraction Tf k be only this, then they too often fall into the classification of yes-men, "good men Fridays," and less pleasant phrases. The most outstanding court in filmdom is that of Douglas Fairbanks. It is a court where Greek may honestly and intellectually meet Greek. I found there recently, for example, the expert on French history, one Maurice Leloir, a