London, Oct. 12.
One may assume that the public interest in the film star is influence by stories of colossal salaries. At least, the publicity experts seem to think so, that a star is worth as much as he is paid. Once upon a time there was a persistently current statement that Constance Bennett had received the highest payment ever made to any individual actor or actress; that she had received £6,000 per week. Since then the market value of Miss Bennett must have declined considerably.
There can be no doubt about the popularity of William Powell. All the attempts to boost Robert Taylor 4 and others into the first position cannot obscure the fact that Mr. Powell's name Outside a cinema means consistently large audiences, and it is the box-office which tells so far as salaries are concerned. Therefore it is not surprising when it is rumoured that Mr. Powell will be paid £8,000 a week for five weeks when he will be making "Jean" with Annabella for Twentieth-Century-Fox, Now and again Mr. Powell has been allowed to stray out of hi clement, as when he appeared as a Viennese artist in the American version of "Maskerade." But such a mistake as that has been very seldom made. Almost invariably William Powell has been the perfect present ment of the appropriate character. This was true in those silent days when he played the dangerous gangster with a polished manner. His manner is even more polished than it was then. So polished is it that there are some who think that he does not act. His method is a wonderful example of that art which conceals ort. One can quite believe that Twentieth Century-Fox are wise in paying him a record salary.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.