Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Star-dust in Hollywood The greenwood fries in the sultry breeze, The sand storms blow and the oranges freeze, The Movie Stars marry twice a year And would marry again if the road was clear. So tune up your flivver and start for the West, Where jobs are scarce and the pay is less ; Bring all your cash and plenty of clothes, Where you'll get any more the Lord only knows. . . . Tom Marshall The consequence was that every real estate firm, in an agony of cut-throat competition, was trying to catch every 1 tourist ' as he arrived with his savings, to induce him if possible to invest his money in land before he could discover the real conditions. All along the streets near the centre of the town large rubber-neck wagons waited to abduct the wandering visitor. Young and often charming women pounced upon one from doors waving prospectuses and promising free drives, free lunches, and the rest. Already in our bungalow we had been 'spotted* as 'tourists/ and the real estate touts pounced upon us almost as insistently as the paper-sellers. We had heard unpleasant rumours about the methods of the land-agents. High-pressure salesmanship, hypnotic but illusionary prospects, unfortunate visitors induced to put the greater part of their savings into land purchase on the instalment system, only to find that rates, taxes, part payments for the introductions of roads, pavements, water, gas, and electric light so overwhelmed them that at last the land had to be forfeited and they lost everything. Jo was tired enough of ' going driving.* We had driven some six thousand miles during the previous summer in the " Happy Hearse." . . . She hated sightseeing in crowds. But she was willing to become a wary fly on the spider's invitation, so she accepted at last the offer of a firm that promised a view of the Hollywood Bowl, lunch in a Maori hut where cinema stars habitually refreshed themselves, and [56]