Talking pictures : how they are made and how to appreciate them (1937)

Stars performance will be seen. When discovered, if they possess exceptional talent, they will be sent to a studio with a contract for three months. There a "test" will be made. Once, in silent picture days, tests were quite casual. The player walked toward the camera, turned, smiled. But today, there is dialogue, and a test usually consists of several scenes from an actual picture. Sets are built and other actors hired to support the candidates. The cost of making the cheapest test is several hundred dollars. If the test is satisfactory the candidate enters a practice "school." This school is exclusive to its studio and is headed by two or more trained directors of acting and voice. These give daily individual instructions to the newcomers in acting, correct placing of the voice, and how to sit, stand, and walk. Several studios cast their young players in actual stage plays, which are presented only for one night to an audience composed entirely of producers, directors, writers, and other players. In this manner the fundamentals of acting are drilled into a candidate, and minor faults and mannerisms are ironed out before the young player is permitted to appear in front of the cameras. If the player reaches this stage, his or her option will have been extended to six months. Then for a long period the player appears in minor parts, many different ones, to show every facet of his personality. In about a year and a half may come the first real opportunity for self-expression — a subordinate part. By this time the player is fairly well-established, but there is still a question whether he will be a star, or [hi]