The Wilmington morning star., 1940-09-17
In Hollywood
BY PAUL HARRISON
TEA Service Staff Correspondent

NEA Service Staff Correspondent
HOLLYWOOD.-Through world
travail and a upon the double
bill, through bankruptcy and bick-
ering and clustering, the quickie
movies continue their frenzied way.
And in its heart, Hollywood hopes
they always will. True, their. meth
DDS r a little shady sometimes,
and their shabby little pictures
certainly are no artistic credit to
the cinema. Yet Poverty Row is a
tradition now, and its people are
symbols of the desperate ingenu-
ity and sly opportunism and shoe
string showmanship which orig
inally par1ayed a magic lantern
into a 1900, 900, 900 industry.
Besides, the cheapies are good
for laughs. When the wolf scrat-
ches at the door, they yank him
inside and star him in an Alaskan
epic. One producer actually pho
tographed, secretly, a group of bill
collectors and process servers in
his outer office, and as a gesture
of defiance he worked a brief shot
of them into his next movie.
That same man, incidentally,
once wooed and remarked his di-
vorced wife, telling friends it was
easier than breaking a new set OF
relatives into his business.
"NECESSITY
is THE MOTHER 49,"
Most quickies are westerns be-
cause the scenery is free. But even
the rental of horses may be a
staggering item to a producer who
has started out with 500 in cash
and a million dollars worth of op.
timism.
A cowboy actor told me about
a director whose two-day location
schedule was upset by d y
weather. Late on the second aft
ernoon, with the bandit leader not
yet captured by the posse, the
cameraman warned they'd have
light enough for only b 10
minutes more filming. It was a
tough situation because they SIM
ply couldn't hire all those men
and horses for another day.
But the director had an idea.
Hastily he explained and filmed
an added scene: At the head of the
galloping posse, the hero halted,
swung to the ground and signaled
a halt. Men," he said, Its rough
country from here on, and We'll
have to go in afoot. So leave yore
hosses here, spread out, walk quiet
an be ready to shoot quick!"
That solved everything. N ex t
day all they had to photograph
was the encounter between hero
and heavy in the brush and rocks
of a little canyon near Hollywood.
EMOTION
WHOLESALE
I've just been listening to the
indignant story of a fairly we'll
known actress who played a sec
ond lead at an independent studio.
Her contract said she might be
called for a day of retakes at the
minimum wage of $25. The direc-
tor summoned her, but the pro-
Queer ruled against any retakes
after she reached the lot.
They had to pay her, but they
didn't dismiss her. The actress
put in the hardest day of her life
making closeup inserts-the atmos-
phere flashes which are cut in
pictures to show bystander or
crowd reaction.
With appropriate expressions OF
horror, excitement, fear, joy and
anger-together with about 80
changes of costume-she recorded
lines such as these: "Oh! - he's
going to crash!" Here they come!
"Goodby-goodby?" Hold t h a t
line!" 1.-The bombers are coming!'
Throw him out!" Come on! And
Run" "No-no!' Eyes = yes"
isn't he wonderful"
These shots were not for her
own picture, of course. They'll go
into the film library and will be
cut into dozens of future features
for years to come.
HERO
FOR A DAY ,
They tell about a quickie COM
pany head who's so superstitious
that he refuses to make IS fea-
lures on a Friday. Actually, they
don't work quite that fast, yet their
ace is bewildering to some Of the
Grade B.. stars who may be hired
only for a day or two.
The first thing a director does is
film the kiss finish; then he takes
lots of closeups of the leading
players speaking lines, and maybe
the scene in which the hero blithe-
IU f1indc q oho11erro r. tho n1pf.