South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-02-19
VICE IN HOLLYWOOD Is
REVEALED BY NOVELIST

=
sidewalk and volubly arranging 70
tsIi, IT Immediately down TO Venice.
the local Coney Island. 10 have
some fun"
This happened in 1914.
Fear Public Lfmelight.
When representatives OF the mo-
ton picture industry indulge in such
antic enrontery they should not be
panied. as they seem 10 be. when
their frantic protestations OF impec-
cable nervousness are not receive
with complete credulity They were
better advised 20 confne themselves
TO the assertion that humanity Is
much Of a muchness. that moral
conditions inside the motion picture
industry are not much worse than
outside IT,
Unfortunately they are. when they
depart from conventional standards.
more conspicuous. partly by reason
OF the deathIess curiosity which the
public entertains concerning the
private personalities OF its mines.
and partly because the latter know
that within the ranks Of their own
difference TO anybody what the COM
plexlon OF their private lives may be:
all that is asked Of them is that
they shall faithfully do their part
toward providing the public with
amusement
Men and women the world over,
being mortal flesh. are prone 70
misconduct. But people in private
life live in deadly fear OF public
opinion. which requires but slight
provocation to work their social and
often their financial ruination.
1t is only when the sense Of power,
derived from possession Of great
wealth or otherwise. makes them ar
rogant. that they assert their in
dependence Of public opinion by
openly ahronting II.
Public Opinion in Hollywood.
Motion picture in common with
other professional people acquire
some of this sense Of power through
the spread OF their popularity as en-
tertainers: and in such communities
as the Hollywood Of the movies
public opinion is lenient.
There are distinctly two Holly
woods; the colony of picture folk
which clusters round and lives only
for the studios: and the community
Of small tradesmen and mfddle-class
Americans. such as made up that
congregation which listened with
contained animus to protestations OF
virtue mouthed by a studio manager
whose sense of common fitness had
not availed 10 prevent his going
from the pulpit to a typical party.
This Hollywood knows that some
OF the motion picture people lead
irregular lives; but their resentment
has been so curiously inarticulate as
TO warrant the belief that they have
been tolerant less through ignorance
than because they prize the prosper
ity which the studios and their
highly-paid. free-handed folk have
brought This attitude Of the out
side HOLLYWOOD has been measureably
responsible for the tendency be-
trayed by certain Of the picture
people TO follow their whims openly
and let public opinion go hang.
But there are other reasons
A prominent motion picture manu-
facturer said TO me recently: The
most dangerous weapon you can put
into the hands of ignorance is in
dependence"
He was talking about the people
he employed the actors and act
resses and directors who for years
on end have enjoyed in return for
the slenderest outlay Of intelligent
effort incomes that dwarf those Of
many milHonaires.
$4,000 Weekly.
This IS not said in depreciation of
the great abilities and the admirable
work Of a handful Of great artists.
both on the acting and the direc-
torial sides; Il IS said with only the
hugely overpaid mediocrities in mind
who are in the majority
know an actress Of the most
middling ability who has been for
nearly two years enjoying a weekly
wage Of 5000.
can name a number OF directors
BY no means OF the first rank ia
their. profession who are paid s25-
600 for each production they make
Most OF these men turned 10 pic
lures when. like William Desmond
Taylor. they had not displayed suf-
hclent ability on the legitimate
stage to command a regular living
wage.
a friend OF mine was the guest
OF a certain director at a New Years
drinking bout in one of the restau-
raatr favored by the pic,u fix he
saw the bin rendered AND paid: it
was $1,000. in round fgures-for
Ave persons.
Up 20 the present time. when the
publis is beginning 10 manifest ics
Impotence with poorly thought-out
Pi~-ures by staying away from them,
Sa.Hries OF 81 coo a week Plvc been
nothing TO boast about N the studios
With gold thus literally poured
into hands little If any better than
Incompetent, il is little TO wonder a.
that those who benefited by such
bounty lost their heads and imae-