Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-09

u
New York, Sept. cit becomes
readily apparent to the most casual In
quirer here that the motion picture
business is passing through parlous
and troubled phase OF its spectacular
! career. No one conceals the fact.
Men connected with the business end
of the big film companies say that few
of them have made any money upon
their investments for the last two
years. They assert that the business
faces the need for sweeping reorgan-
! iZation. ".t
Immense sums of money have been
poured into the movie business. Wher-
ever this wealth is going. 1t Is certain
I; ly not returning to the investors.
The exhibitors will earnestly tell
you that t;ey are not getting 1t either.
Regulations growing out of the infan-
; tile paralysis plague have made 1t
! necessary for many houses here In
New York to close their doors. 1t
r., has also affected them in other parts
of the country. But that is not the
only difficulty. The price Of film has
steadily risen. Many a small exhibit
tor who once paid only fifty dollars for
a weeks program Is now paying That
much for the releases OF single
night. ..n r. ~
If you continue your investigations
and approach the actors on the same
subject, you will likewise find some
dissatisfaction Salaries among the
regular motion picture folk are begin
ming to go down and show prospect
of going down still more.
This. Of course, does not apply to
| the moving picture stars, who are the
most handsomely remunerated people
on earth. They get salaries that the
! stage could never touch, and they get
them by yearly contract, not by the
engagement, which may end at any
time. Charlie Chaplin. with his ten
J thousand dollars a week, Mary PICK.
| ford with her fabulous income, and
number of lesser luminaries with
salaries ranging from one to five thou
sand dollars a week, are certainly not
| feeling hard times. II they chose to
be spenders, the Prince Of Wales
| could not keep them in sight. Cor
| poration presidents are underpaid by
comparison.
These stars. however. are, not
many The majority Of the people who
make the movies are not over PAID.
| Leading parts are played by men and
| women who earn from one to two
hundred dollars a week-quite compe-
! tent actors and actresses who have
not happened to achieve any great
! vogue, but whose work is neverthe-
less very acceptable both to the COM
panes and the public. The innumer-
able lesser parts pay still less mon
ey. the remuneration ranging down TO
the dollar-and-a-half a day people who
make I'm the crowds and armies.
But there is today in the movie
world another, and Of this time it
would seem, crucial element 1t is
commonly referred to among the movie
folk as 'the Broadway people" ss..
/ The Broadway people, you must un-
! derstand, are the actors and actresses
from the legitimate stage who have
| invaded the movies. and carried away
from them laree quantities OF money
Just now very much needed. The
| regular movie actors say that Broad
wav people are killing the game
The directors admit that the Broad
way people must go before the bust
ness will again be on safe and sQlnd
financial footing The only ones that
are not ca ger for Broadway and the
movies to be divorced are the Broad
way actors themselves.
"You can always get Broadway
| star to do part in film for about
four times the price Of a regular
| movie actor-and do It worse ex-
planned one director. .-se. r..
OF course, there are exceptions to
the last part of this statement. Some
| of the Broadway people have been
conspicuously successful in the NOV
les. Likewise, some Of the films they
made have never appeared on the
screen. H. :t& j'.>:... '. a-'-.
There are no exceptions to the high
prices. however. A couple OF years
ago, when the big companies were
| making a thousand per cent upon
investments, and were ready to- buy
| ANYTHING In the world that would
boom the business. they began to cast
, coyetous eyes and alluring offers TO-
ward Broadway. ~
Now the Broadway people were
strongly allured by the offers. De-
spite the large size of the stage sal
aries. acting upon the legitimate stage
Is one of the most poorly paid pro-
fessions in the world. Even an actor
of high ability is lucky if he is e'il-
| ployed half the time. In case play
fails, he may actually lose money.
having gone, through the rehearsal!
without pay and invested lot OF
money in costumes. H..
! To the followers OF this uncertain