Evening star., 1924-02-12

\Nf. and I was then not quite
" " thirty-five years of age. !
was accustomed to life
spired by the one thought, How
can | make the I-asky Company more
significant" You can imagine. there
fore, the terrible blankness of those
days following my resignation. Fe-
verishly / cast about me for new
outlet for my organizing energy. and
in the autumn of 1916 I, together
with my friends Archie and Edgar
Selwyn, the theatrical producers;
the theatrical producer. founded the
GoIdwyn Motion Picture Company.
The beginning of this second film
venture of mine involved conditions
very different from those which at
pany three years before. Then the
story was supreme and the Lasky
Company was successful without any
really overshadowing personalities
True, the field presented some great
celebrities such as Mary Pickford.
upon the player to the degree which
afterward swayed the producer
Constantly this emphasis became
more irresistible. and by the time
that started the Goldwyn Company
it was the player, not the play. which
was the thing.
Every theater-owner in the country
wanted personalities. stars. were
now made overnight New names
came out in electric light almost
every evening. Obviously. therefore
the only guarantee for the success
of Il new motion picture organiZa.
| ton was the assemblage of a list OF
| big names.
| planets that the Goldwyn Company
| concentrated it's initial energy. The
first star we engaged was Mapei Nor
mand: the second, Mae Marsh: the
third. Madge Kennedy. Add to these
such towering figures from otner MS
Jane CowI and Maxine Elliott. and
you will see why our competitors
were warranted in feeling deep un,
easiness. For the engagement OF
! nous publicity. Newspapers featured
! many of our stellar connections and
! added to this, huge posters oia1oneo
with the names of our trophies car
| ried promise Of greatness to ever!
| hamlet in America. The first thlne
! that 1 did. in fact. was to scatter
! these posters broadcast.
| Perhaps at first I did not quite
| realize that In building up the Lasky
name I had been in reality creatine
| a Frankenstein. Later. however. the
| full force of this figure was to occur
! to me. for at every turn ] was met
F; by the ruthless competition OF the
| Famous Players-Lasky Company
| This was particularly acute In the
| engagement of stars.
Added to distractions of bitter
rivalry came a personal misfortune
| While playing hand ball at the ath-
| letic club one day I broke my ankle
, This kept me away from our studlc
for three months and. as my asso.
ciates were inexperienced In picture
production, my absence meant loss
| to the company of thousands of dol
lars It was, indeed. maddenlns
situation for one attempting to
/ launch a new business where the odds
were already sufficiently against him
It would seem as IL the Greek dram
atists had not overdrawn things
When the gods decide they want te
make things hard for you they are
detail The first Goldwyn film was
Just being released when America an
nounced her participation in the war
Heretofore the conflict had spelled
advantage rather than disaster to the
American producer. inasmuch as our
films had become the rage in all neu-
trail countries. But with Americas
precipitation came a new set of con-
| ditions. These. oppressive enough tc
| picture industries long established
almost succeeded In crushing our new
venture.
First on the list were transporta.
! ton difficulties. We were now unable
| to procure space on ships to move oui
products. This handicap was accom-
panied by shortage of fuel, conserva-
! ton of light and scarcity of labor
| The second obstacle Of this group be-
came so acute that we were some.
! times obliged to use four studios IN
order to complete a days production
of survival lay in removing our es-
; tablishment from the Fort Lee studio
| where we had been operating; to q
California one. This we did in the
summer OF 1918.
Somewhat less than two years after
Americas entrance into the war oul
| pay roll was $4,000. How to meet it
here was the question which tortured
every waking hour. At last ] felt II
nne HPon in as the the
and as the individual in our grouI
personally responsible for loans
| amounting to SSO0.000 or 5000. 900
| to lay the whole situation frankly
! cord they advised that the company
/; should go into the hands of re-
/ could not sleep that night wher
y i
| for the past years threatened to ge
down with the morrow. Money
credit. my reputation as a producer
how, how was to save them? Spen,
| by my vigil, I arrived in my Office
the next morning.
! Here, after a talk with Mr.. Schay
| the controller of our company, Il
seemed to me that the one reprieve
Of which I had thought during the
night was really available. The re.
/, prieva was this: We had branches II
! twenty-five different cities. Each
| branch represented $4,000 or $1,000
| of ready money. BY removing tn.
| total amount from all of them w,
should be enabled to meet one week.
pay roll.
/ the controller.
j shrugged my shoulders. But in
side I was thinking fiercely tha
! something had to happen.
1t did. The very next week tn,
| armistice was signed. From this mo
| ment the entire complexion of tn,
picture situation changed. Shipment
/ to Europe came about almost imme
diately. Other difficulties cleare,
| away. 1t was not long before the d.
Points Of Wilmington and other prom
| inent financiers invested $7,O00,00l
cash in the Goldwyn company.
II yssl, y; mi -