Evening star., 1944-07-09
HOLLYWOOD.

While 1914 has only passed its
halfway mark it's not too early to
christen 1t as the year Of the great
unknown. When the books are
closed next December new names
will make the big news of l044-and
no one can get around It, :.
Six months ago all major studios
were doing an unprecedented brand
Of planting. Big pictures were being
cast in their leading roles with
youngsters, both male and female,
never before heard of by fandom
Today the harvest Is beginning to
roll in--and what a harvest!
An unpretentiously titled picture,
Home in Indiana" is released by
Twentieth Century-Fox It scores
q sudden hit all over the country.
And, presto! Two new stars
Jeanne Grain and June Haver-are
born.
Warner Bros. took a girl named
Jean Sullivan of the U. G. L. A.
campus and placed her opposite Err
rol Flynn In Uncertain Glory" The
picture drew no great raves. but
Jean Sullivan did. Now she's a star.
One Picture Makes Star.
Gene Kelly, great dancer, but
virtually an unknown as an actor,
was borrowed by columbia from
MGM and cast opposite Rita Hay
worth in Cover Girl" Re romanced
rather than danced his way. to star
dom in that one.
In every studio it's the same story
Each lot has at least one unknown
some have three-who has overnight
made the great leap into stellar bill
Ing. Most of these newcomers are
from stage and radio, a few have
worked with bands in night clubs
and a few have come straight from
nowhere.
The phenomenal success OF these
kids and the speed with which
they're edging yesterdays famous
to the wall Is something that nc
one could have foreseen. In the
brief space of few weeks their
names have become household
words. And that is something for
such established stars as Alice Faye
who says she can't even whip enough
enthusiasm to make one picture a
year, to think about.
It's also threat to those $50, ,O00-
a-picture ladies and gentlemen, who
not only must get the very top fig
ure for their service but who also
must daily over stories and working
conditions before they'll consent to
expose their talents. It's cinch
that none of Hollywood's dozen OF
more newly-arrived stars earn more
than $500 a week-and that's a
compelling factor in their favor
when a movie is being cast and
budgeted.
The new faces so widely bought
up by all studios were intended as
reserve bank for talent-some-
thing to draw on in time of temper
ament, illness and a weapon against
growing tendency on the part OF
big money favorites to relax at a
time when profit percentages are
small. The average star is quick to
forget the studios heavy invest
ment in build-up. When they reach
the top it's the common tendency to
act the part of king or queen. re-
gardless of what It costs the boss.
Actresses Become Mothers.
The maternity epidemic which
swept Twentieth Century-Fox a
year or more ago absolutely forced
executives of that company to &c
all out in an intensive search for
new feminine talent. With Uncle
Sam calling many of its handsome
males into service and motherhood
beckoning half dozen Of its i'm
portant ladies. this studio was sud-
denly confronted by chaos. Talent
scouts never spent buster or more
frantic six months than those Fox
scouts did during the last half OF
1943.
Ordinarily, 1t has taken a year OF
two to build a star from the ground
up. The year 1914 has changed all
that. Perhaps public mind exer-