The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF HOLLYWOOD Grable with 20th Century-Fox : Jane Russell with RKO : Esther Williams with MGM. Each studio had its own style. If you came into a cinema in the middle of the performance you could usually tell a Paramount film from a Warner Brothers film. I doubt if you could today. What has happened is that the stars one by one broke away from the studios for which they had been working, in some cases for as long as twenty years. They formed their own companies and became their own bosses. James Stewart was one of the first to make the break : he started something new in Hollywood by going to Universal-International and offering to work without salary, taking instead 30 per cent of the picture's profits — if there were any. In other words, he set up in business using himself as capital. Other stars were quick to see the attractiveness of this arrangement. If they appeared in a film on this basis and it was a tremendous hit, they stood to make millions. Furthermore, their earnings would be spread over several years instead of coming in one lump sum, and that meant a much lower rate of taxation. They also discovered that they could raise money quite easily to set up and make their own films. If they invested their names, other people were prepared to invest the money. Stars like Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Tyrone Power, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Alan Ladd, all now have their own production companies. The effect of this has been to make the studio boss a far less important or frightening figure. He cannot order now; he must negotiate. The major studios which used to operate like tiny totalitarian states have to submit, if not to the will of the people, then at least to the will of the stars. 182