Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Star-dust in Hollywood and by them the conglomeration which often results from the collaborations of author, continuity, gag-man, and director are fused together into a whole. Except when acting they are practically directors. Of these Von Sternberg could not have said : " Actors? The camera is my only actor." But the position of the planetary stars is very different. These revolve round the director. We have already sketched the portrait of such a star wondering where his next job was coming from. In truth the planetary star lives from film to film. Should his last film be a failure he may have to wait some time before he gets a new engagement. Or if no story is found that fits his scheduled character he may have to kick his heels until a suitable story is offered. Of course, the planetary stars vary much in degrees of luminosity. Some, although they have not the instinctive and creative genius that can make a Charlie or a Jannings, still become so popular and are so naturally pleasing that they remain in constant demand. Nevertheless, for the planetary star the period of prosperity is not usually a very long one. Others are ready to oust them from their places in the firmament of Hollywood. Their peculiarities of temperament are often too continuously exploited, and the quick succession of their films, showing always the same personality, makes the public tire of them. They wane, and fade from sight and memory, like the actor already quoted whose wife was suing him for alimony. He was still capable, she said, of earning ^600 a week. And for the privilege of being Jim Baily's ex-wife she was asking the courts to grant her a permanent annuity of ^5000 a year. Under normal circumstances she would probably have been content enough, in a gingham overall and a mob-cap, washing the family dishes all the days of her life. From £2000 a week to £6ooy facilis descensus. The time cannot be long distant [156]