The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF HOLLYWOOD with a large loaded automatic pistol at his side and practise aiming it before he fell asleep. William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper owner, took a very close interest in the films made by his friend, actress Marion Davies. He objected to a scene in which she was to receive a custard pie in her face. Eventually he compromised by settling for a stream from a siphon bottle. To ensure that the "siphon didn't turn into a stream from a fire-hose" he temporarily set up office on the film set. Film Tycoon David Selznick once instructed Vidor, "Just give me three wonderful love scenes. I don't care what story you use so long as we call it Bird of Paradise and Dolores del Rio jumps into a flaming volcano at the finish." Vidor did as instructed. Story conferences were held in trains, in bedrooms — and in a car on the way to a funeral. Strangely enough, very good films were sometimes made : some of them by Vidor. Adolph Zukor, the film tycoon who invented the star system, tells us in his book The Public is Never Wrong about the remarkable Mr. John Barrymore. Apparently he was apt to disappear during film production and would have to be traced from one bar to another. "Once in bed," we are told, "he was likely as not to forget all about the film and begin to paint." Zukor starred Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik, starting a world-wide craze and a lasting legend. But he was not as charmed by Valentino as the public — who were never wrong. "All his life," he says, "Valentino was in debt, from one dollar to 100,000, according to his status." It seems he would become dissatisfied with his dressing quarters, wishing to be surrounded in the splendour of a powerful sheik of the desert. Today, there are no Valentinos or John Gilberts. But there is Mike Todd. Mr. Todd, apart from his achievements 40