Evening star., 1927-05-22
Flashes From the Screen
BY c. Z. NELSON.

THO the photopiay tan there IS
no more interesting subject
than the men and women
= who act before the camera.
The personalities of the stars and
the featured players are tavorite
items OF conversation: they are as
much discussed and thought over as
the old stage stars. and there Is al
WAYS a hunger for more news OF the
screen workers. For this reason elle
address of Milton Sills before the
Harvard Business School few days
ago makes especially interesting
reading. In part, Mr., Stills said:
Roughly, the human figures YOU
see oil the screen are TO be divided
into FIVE classes--the extras, the
rank-and- file actors. featured artists,
stars and actor orproducers. lhere
are some $4,000 extras registered III
HOLLYWOOD, and they receive from
IS to SIS per day-but neither every
dav or consecutively. Their form of
making a living is a precarious one.
Nevertheless. they perform an essen
tial function i'll the making OF PIC
lures. They constitute the nursery
of the industry, where the stars and
principal players of tomorrow are re-
cruited. A very serious problem IS
the training and development OF new
talent. There is great dearth OF
leading men and women. There is
not enough talent to go around. as
some OF the pictures show.
"The gull between the extra and
At. ti,ar ,X+tAp l1sS fc de-
fined largely by the accolade known
in the screen industry as screen
credit which is bestowed upon the
actor when his name is placed i'll the
cast at the beginning of picture,
or thrown upon the screen at his
first appearance. 1t is the ambition
of every actor 10 obtain screen
credit The number who have been
promoted TO this emineuce i'll Holly
wood is roughly 1000. Most OF
these are employed at a rate OF Sz0
per day upward.
"Of hrst-class actors. in almost
constant demand, there are about
800. They receive from $500 to 81, 500
per week. From IS to 40 weeks per
year is good average of their work
ing days. They are not under con-
tract, a time between pictures is lost.
Most of this class own their own
homes, drive their own cars, live
modestly and save their money.
"Ths aristocracy of the profession
consists of the featured artists, the
stars and the ctor-producers. There
are about 100 of the featured players
under contract, and their salaries
average $500 per week. The range,
however. lies between $500 and $4,000
per week. in exceptional cases. Con- |
tracts are usually for 40 weeks out |
of the 81, but in some cases are tor |
the entire year.
Included in the 800 first-class ac-
tors there are some featured play |
ers' not under contract, with a |
similar range of"Salary. These are |
called free-iance actors, and they
play in as many pictures as possible.
The number of frst-class actors is
20 or thereabout. Seventeen of these
are actor producers and 50 others
are under contract. The amounts
of their salaries are not available
they are jealously guarded secrets
but, from what | can gather, they
range from $1,000 per week to $l5,-
600. The average would be from
$4,000 to $1,000. Most contract stars
are limited to making four pictures
q year.
THE producer is no longer
an employe; he is an employer.
There are II of these, men and.|
women, producing drama and come
dies. These combine the roles of
actors and big business men at thel
same time. Their regulations re-
quire that special efforts be made
with their productions, and nothing
can be left to chance. Some of the
ctor-producers have acquired great
wealth.
THE working conditions of the
screen actor are entirely different
from those of his stage cousin. He
starts work, made up and in cos
tune, at in the morning, and his
day averages eight hours. Not in
frequently he works all night when
night scenes are required. Consider
able physical endurance is required
OF the screen actor. Usually his
schedule calls for about Il scenes
in a days work. At an average of
90 feet per scene, or one per minute
of time, this means about II minutes
of actual screen performance, which
will be reduced to half or less in the
cutting room.
During the World War, for the
first time, our Federal Government
put the seal of approval upon the
motion picture as all indispensable
industry. What brought this about?
Because we are beginning to recog-
nize that amusement satisfies a
fundamental human appetite, that it
is a commodity as essential to the
physical and mental health and WELL
being of the human animal as lunl-
Der, wheat, steel or textiles-that, in
short, II is staple product in con-
Stant demand +"