Evening star., 1939-11-20

say has the flavor of Importance, not"
to mention the bright coloring of
one of the most enviable vocabu-
laries this side of the Old Testa-
ment.
Mr.. Blair's current message is a
strangely optimistic one, the more
strange because it comes from one
SO expert at finding shadows on
the sun.
1t goes to the effect that out of
Hollywood's current travail, will be
born a greater happiness for the
remainder of the Republic. To stop
all this deviousness, Mr.. Blair is con-
vinced that motion pictures are going
to be better as a result of lost mar
kets in warning countries.
Take it from him, via us, there
are number of excellent reasons
for such a conclusion. One of the
more significant of them is that in
losing it's foreign markets Holly
wood no longer. is at the mercy of
dozen foreign censorships. In
making pictures for more limited
market, primarily the American one,
it no longer will be necessary to
disembowel lively, aggressive story
merely because some totalitarian
might say Naughty, naughty" or
whatever totalitarians say when
umbrage shakes their souls.
I'm making pictures for world
market the studios have been sub
ject to some murderous censorship"
says Mr.. Blair. I'VE have lived con-
stantly in a state of double jeop-
ardy, first having our ideas mur-
dered by some alien censor, then
having the remnant murdered by
critics. The loss of the foreign mar
ket, a very serious thing, at least
exempts us from that situation
Another thing which Mr.. Blair in
terprets as a hopeful sign IS that
not every movie executive has set
tied down to turning Hollywood into
vale of tears. Instead of dissolv-
ing in their grief at the disappear
ance of the foreign market some
of them have had the notion of
turning out a quality of picture that
will increase the domestic demand
for screen entertainment.
There still are a great MANY
people who do not go to movies
either because of film quality or for
some other reason" he says. More
carefully and intelligently made
pictures, less dented by collisions
with foreign censors, might be lust
the thing to turn these agnostics
back to the fold. The industry is
all for giving it trial"
Mr.. Blair, who possesses a down.
| right fervent hatred for the idea of
unemployment for any one, is of
the opinion, nevertheless. that some
personnel cuts in Hollywood may
prove beneficial. The 10 per cent
slice in rosters not only eliminated
some of the deadwood, but put the
80 per cent on its mettle to avoid
a similar disaster in a possible sub.
sequent reduction of personnel.
At this point in the conversation
Mr. Blair sounded like some one whit
might be considering recanting or
his old cynical realism. That he wa.
not was demonstrated a few min.
utes later, when speaking of actors
he observed:
Actors, ah, always say slash ar
actor deep enough and you'll strike
veneer"
With the sixth annual dinner anc
dance a matter of history, very vivie
history, Variety Club members set.
tied down today to their regula,
tasks =. Full of gratitude to Chair.
man Hardie Meakin Full of tn,
same to Carter Barron, whose Who'll,
stage show was part of the enter
talnment q. And to the Earle fo,
the same reason Enthusiast
Tor "Rebecca" may be interested t,
learn that the film version, like tn,
novel, is going to get along with ,
heroine whose name never appear
IN the story 4. Joan Fontaine will