Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Star-dust in Hollywood rivals have been kidnapped by masked men, and carried into the desert. There, in a shack fitted with the latest conveniences of modern surgery, masked doctors and nurses have carried out a slight but drastic operation common in the Moslem East, and thus the victims have been physically debarred from all possibilities of future competition. One such brutal elimination occurred during our stay. Naturally the author of the outrage was known to all concerned, but there was no chance of proving the crime against him. In fact, the victim could only say as little of the affair as possible and hope that in the future oblivion would erase from popular memory the sad results of his unlucky presumption. Three important factors usually kept the stars in the comparatively narrow path : health, work, and the Black List. The task of creating a character by means of two-minute spasms, spasms often taken in a disconnected fashion, is far from easy. Added to this difficulty the physical strains are great. The arc-lamps concentrate heat as well as light, the actor or actress is often served up cooked as well as blinded. The floating particles of carbon discharged by the arc-lamps often settle in the eyes and cause a painful inflammation known as Kleig-eye. Betty Compson told us that once she had to act for several successive nights in a tank of water which, as the heating apparatus had failed, was icy cold. But when the film was finished all her pains and risks of pneumonia went for nothing, as the whole scene was eliminated in the cutting-room. In order to find new jobs, the stars must visit persistently all places where they can keep their faces and personalities before the directors and producers. The star not only has to work all day, but has to cultivate relationships half the night. It seemed to us that the need of getting a new job dominated leisure almost to the exclusion of other interests. The parties to which we were invited were [162]