The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-12-27
Many Still Cling To
 Faint Hope

One evening, recently, thousand girls and women were called to parade beneath a barrage of great sun arcs under the eyes of com | rlittee of directors, cameramen and casting directors.
 | Each was given a number as she i filed by, the final die was cast on l her movie future.
 Face Bitter Ordeal l Some moved across the platform with the practiced grace of trained model. Others stumbled awkwardly. Sought for the last possible second in the judges | view; others walked quickly across 1 the platform, as though glad to
 have the ordeal over.
 Young women, of course, far out
 numbered the old, but there no
 lack of gray hair.
 | Though the Hollywood dress
 shops have been ransacked the
 night and day before the parade,
 and though every friend who couil l lend an evening gown or wrap had been canvassed, many of the dress
 es worn by the extras were defin- | itely out of date, showing how blt- ter had been their struggle to keep afioat.
 Last Door Closed Yet, 75O of the 1000 were des- tined to disappointment when the notices came in the mail a few days later which told them they had not been chosen-that their names were being removed from
 the rolls of the casting bureau, and that henceforth even the opportun- | ity for occasional extra work would l be closed to them.
 Several such "eliminations" have
 been held, whiting gradually the | list of names from which extras
 are drawn. A better living for those who remain will be possible at the expense of heartache and closed
 door to the others. So far as possible, the casting
 bureau first eliminated those extras known to have outside incomes.
 Some were found to have regular johs. working at the studios only
 on their days off.
 Wives Are Ousted Married women were dropped. First chance was given to those whose sole means of support is the
 money they have been able to earn
 as extras.
 The larger group was eliminated because of lack of talent and prop CT clothes. For extras must supply their own clothes except when specific costumes are required. We are trying to handle this reduction of extras in the kindest possible manner" Central Cast ing official told me. "One of our
 men is now devoting his full time
 in trying to find other jobs for those we are dropping. And the Travellers Aid Society is offering help to all those who want to re- turn to their home towns" Cling to Hope But persuading the girls to go home is not so easy. Even after the
 crushing blow of being dropped from the extra ranks, many refuse to give up hope that some day they will become stars.
 So they camp on the trail of jobs as waitresses, hat-check girls, and store clerks, remembering al- ways the fable of the movie direc- tor who saw the hat-check girl and was so struck by her beauty and charm that she became star over- night.
 The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and the 'break' for an outsider in Hollywood are made of the same stuff.
 Naturally, many of these girls will fail to get even such work in a town already crowded with the most beautiful waitresses and clerks in the world (99 per cent of whom are waiting for that break" themselves). Unquestion- ably, many will be forced by abso- lute want to leave Hollywood. And the others-nobody knows what
 will become of them. NEXT: What 1t takes to be . Hollywood extra under the New DcaI--a ssdress extra" must have the clothes of a debutante.