San Francisco, July 10.—Among the film folk of Hollywood there is [weeping and blasphemy.
Everyone connected with the 16 studios whose salary is at present more than fifty dollars per week either has had or} fis to have his cheque cut from ten to twenty-five per cent.
This edict was issued a few days. ago to. the! movie colony, who received it with. jstummed amazement, particularly] whose weekly pay envelope holds four or five thousand dollars. The lesser luminaries, I hear, di not squawk" much, although a 25 per: cent, deduction from a $60 weekly salary is apt to cause more concern than 25 per cent. off a $6000 dollar salary.
This general retrenchment is the! result of an agreement among producers who say that the entire picture industry needs ~stabilization, Mr, Jesse Lasky (vice-president of {the Paramount-Famous-Lasky Corporation) summed up the controversy ina few words when he said that all the companies have been "making picture at ridiculous prices for igh-priced and unreasonable stars, mirage No longer, Mr. Lasky, will corporations be dazzled by the very names they have created.
"We now jem to deliver our way or There is the whole story. The executive section of the movie busi ness has for long felt that this had to come, for in a very real way the!
pictures have been ally at the merey of the high: stars. Those satellites who make more money in a couple of months than the President of the United! [States makes in a yes delight in developing what is sarcastically call-fed the "move temperament." They indulge in fits of pique. They are bad-mannered as well as bad-tempered.
Unexpectedly, and for ap-Darently no reason at all, they retrain from attending the studio and consequently hold up the work on ictares, but all the time this costs the producers money for salaries of electricians, carpenters, camera men, lather players, and dozens of mocha fla ind technical workers. This runs into thousands of dollars! which is. sheer waste. Meantime the star sits at ho and sulks, or does disappear act for a few] jay:
Industry Has Reached Age of Discretion The producers are determined that] they will no longer tolerate this sort of thin Not only the stars, however, are hi Scenarists and) continuity wri rs have to toe the mark as well, ind even those who Jdraw no more than $50 a week are to pay the piper.
Apart from the foregoing, it is] claimed that the m jo industry has long been due for a revolution. Tt has reached the age of discretion, Jand must institute reforms calculate Jed to allow of more businesslike tactics in every department. That} 18 situation has arisen is evi-
Tam told that the net income from pictures is not sufficient, be-Jcause costs—mostly due to the stars have soared far too high. As one producer puts We have been /spending far too much for what we have been getting." The first step in this grave situ jon is to ask employees for their ce-operation by ac-Jcepting lower salaries—by ten per cent. on fifty dollars a week, report ately larger cuts and the!
peal" has gone out to everyone, to those under contract well as} those who are not.
T believe the' situation is considered sufficiently }grave to warrant the choice of three (a) to shut down the studios; (b) to curtail production [schedule or; (c) to reduce sal 'These are the producers'
The workers have their own. After the first shock of surprise, the girls and boys in the $5,000-a-week class held a meeting and promptly insti tuted am open rebellion.
"Actors" Equity, an actors' union, at once gave its support, and a mass meeting of protest was called by Mr. [Conrad Nagle (chairman of the ex¢ Jeutive council for the actors Hollywood). Then the scenario writ-Jers and dizeetors joined in, followed by other branches of the industry, and as I write, it looks as if a fight fearful enough to give'the industry immensely valuable publ ty, if clothing else, will soon be on.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.