Screenland (Nov 1929-Apr 1930)

Record Details:

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for December 19 2 9 127 continued. "We all have one, and I knew that if I looked dilligently enough it would be there large as life. But one must keep one's mind on the job. No one ever baked a cake by going to a matinee. "Now, when things go wrong in the studio, I try to realize that it is my false concept of what is actually taking place. Rumors are often false. Believing them can cause no end of damage. "If I feel that a rise in salary is due me because of added expenses connected mainly with my work, I try to know deep within myself that I am worth it; and that if I am it is only fair that I should have it. That is fair to both sides. Sometimes an employer doesn't realize that he is taking more than his share of the profits. If you ask for a rise with the right motive, know ing that you are not imposing, you will have no trouble. But you have to be square with yourself first. You have to be sincere in your demand. "Sometimes I am told that people are double-crossing me in the studio. I never allow myself to believe this. If I did I'd be lost in a maze of politics. The easiest way to get the best of any problem is not to give it power in your mind. Stick to your constructive thoughts and they will win out for you through anything." "It is like this," Mary Pickford once said to me. "If an architect has a building to plan, does he worry about who is going to dig the foundation, who is going to find the lumber, where the money for all these things is to come from, and so on and so on? Of course he doesn't. If he did he would never set pencil to paper. He does his bit, which is drafting the plan of the building, and then he turns his plan over to those who take care of the rest of the business. "That's what I do when I have a problem to settle. I try to be sure what part of it is my job, and then I go right at it and work until it is settled." I suppose most of you think that Rudy Vallee with his eight thousand dollars a week and his Radio Pictures contract hasn't a care in the world. And if he has, he shouldn't have the face to mention it. I must admit that eight thousand dollars a week would give the cares of most of us the air. Or we think it would. The funny part about it is, that when we overcome one difficulty another seems to take its place. Rudy's chief problem now is to keep his voice from tiring. That may sound foolish, but when you realize that fatigue is a singer's worst enemy, and that if he lost his voice his job would wobble, you can begin to understand Rudy's problem. In his sunny dressing-room at the studio he told me that he had come to Hollywood for a rest! And then he outlined his New York program, which, to put it mildly, did seem a bit strenuous. Hollywood actors often have put in twenty hours at the studio, and while it tires them out they have not usually the terrible strain of performance that Rudy was called upon to give. "Our regular hours were from noon to three o'clock in the morning. On the mornings we recorded it became nineteen hours of work. It meant getting most of us out of bed at eight-thirty, depending upon what part of the city we lived in, to get to the studio." Rudy was referring to the phonograph recording, not radio or motion picture. "It may not sound much," Rudy went on, "to say that we gave five shows a day at the Paramount Theater and covered two night clubs after that, at which time our programs were broadcasted. But I want to tell you that to be keyed up five times a day to concert pitch, mentally and physically, with your clothes pressed for each performance — well, it gives you not one moment to relax. There is all that time between shows but you can't do anything — ■ I mean you can't go anywhere. There is nothing to do but stay on the job. Then on the mornings we had the records to make, we never knew whether we could go through with it or not. Sometimes my voice just wouldn't function if I had been very fatigued the day before, and all those boys would lose their rest for nothing. Then we had the noon show at Paramount to get to. It just got to be a headache to make that noon show, what with traffic and one thing and another. "On the mornings my voice went back on me would be the worry of whether it would be all right for the Paramount show. It could be quite a nightmare if I let it get me. But that is a thing I have learned not to do. Don't fear things. If you do you are sunk. Don't recognize them or give them power. Keep your mind as unruffled as possible and think only of the tasks at hand, not of the things that may try to keep you from doing them. "My boys would urge me on a particularly strenuous day not to give so many encores. But I knew those people had come to hear the songs they asked for and I wasn't going to disappoint them. I knew that by keeping calm and not getting excited or thinking that I was overdoing, I would conserve the strength I needed. "Sounds as if I had been convalescing from something, doesn't it?" he asked with his sunny smile. "It sounds more important than it is, really, just to mention it. Yet of course if I did lose my voice it would be a calamity for us because we should have to cancel our engagement. "I thought coming to Hollywood would give us just the rest we needed and it has. The unions prevent us from being too active, starting night clubs and so on, as we have been asked to do, and there is a lot of red tape connected with our appearance even at the hotels. But it's a good thing, because we certainly need a rest." The Price of Stardom — ■ Continued from page 25 sandwiches sent down to the stage," was the solacing promise of the lady of leisure. And there we ate, our trays on the arms of our chairs, Renee mumbling her lines to herself, between munches of chicken sandwich. At eleven I said good-night to her at the gates of the studio. "For heaven's sake, go home and go to bed," I grandmothered. She waved her script at me through the window of her car. "I'll take this with me when I go," she giggled, "tomorrow's words have yet to be learned." You can call it play if you so desire. You can speak enviously of beds of roses and soft cushions. That one day opened my eyes. Heigh-ho for the life of a screen celebrity! She can show the little bee, who improves each shining hour, a few tricks in busyness. "The Happiest Day of My Life!" "Ode wedding DAT ! A year ago it seemed like a dream that would never come true, tor my salary then was barely enough for one to lire on. I faced the facts. Unless I could make more money I had no right to keep Ruth waiting. I must find out how to make myself worth more. 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