Evening star., 1955-02-13
Did Judy's Career CrumbIe in "A Star Is Born?
Answer Probably No,
But Film Hos Raised
Quite q Quondury
By jones Bocon
Assoeiaisd Press Stuff Writer
HOLLYWOOD.

HOLLY WOOO.
Judy Garland is faced with
an old show business dilemma
What to do for an encore?
And If one comes up. who's
going to back It?
"a Star Is Born" generally
is conceded to be the best movie
ever written about Hollywood
and Judy gave 1t q real
Oscar performance.
But there are some who say
that this perfectionist comes
high, too high for money-con-
scious Hollywood producers.
Some studio sources say her
behavior with "Star" aged
Jack L. Warner 10 years and
currently is giving the studio
accountants an anxiety COM
plex.
Warner Bros. agreed to A.
nance the musical version Of
the once-f1lmed story for Judy
and her producer husband,
Sid Luft. A budget Of $2.5 mil
lion was set and a top time
limit of five months.
The picture finally cost $6
million and took almost a year
to finish. Selznick burned down
Atlanta, Ga. for "Gone With
the Wind" cheaper than Judy's
Born in a Trunk" musical
number in "Star."
How 1t Adds Up
A So million picture usually
must make $12 million to break
even-the advertising. exploit
tation and distribution costs
double the production cost.
But this one got the greatest
exploitation send-off in recent
Hollywood history. An unim-
peachable studio source esti-
mates 1t will take SIS million
for "Star" to break even. Few
pictures gross that much.
Had "Star" been made
within budget, 1t would be a
boxoffice smasheroo already.
AS it is, it may yet make it
but the Warner ulcers will
have to bleed q little longer.
Picture the agony of these
brothers who made public
Enemy" in the early sos for
5000 and saw a recent re-
issue alone gross 81 million.
Why did Star" cost so
much?
Judy admits she's a per-
fectionist but won't admit to
temperament. She says:
I'm a little tired of being
the patsy for the production
delays on this picture. It's
easy to blame every production
delay on the star. This was
the story of my life at Metro,
especially when / was a child
actress.
An Unsound Theory
when some problem came
up that they couldn't lick. the
delay, no matter what caused
it, was always blamed on the
star. Whoever was respon-
sible figured that the star
could get by without a bawling-
out, they couldn't"
Judy claims that a change
in screen processes cost a
months delay right at the
start.
You know there was little
thing called CinemaScope that
came along just as we started
this picture. We scrapped a
months work and started over
again.
"I saw my name in print
blamed for that too but I
never said anything. I sup
pose I should have but I am
basically lazy. I always figure
that everything will right it
self. I think I'm going to
talk up the next time"
The picture had five camera
men, one right after another,
who either quit or were dis
missed after alleged tiffs with
the star. There were reported
fights over wardrobe, musical
numbers and even Judy's song
arrangements. Vocal arranger
Hugh Martin walked off the
picture.
Here's Judy side:
Sure, we had five camera
men but they didn't leave be-
cause of any trouble with me.
II anything was to blame, it
was the newness of Cinema
Scope. Everyone was trying
to shoot this picture like THE
Robe" a spectacle. 1t couldn't
be done that way. This was
an intimate love story and