Film Children Earn Fortunes

Youngaterl of .. Our Gang" comedy troupe enJoy an Ea.ter party. Left to right: ••Spanky" McFarland. Carl••AUalfa" Swit.er. Darla Hood. and Billie ••Buckwheat" Thoma..

ButRelativesRow Over

.Money,(ConuDued from page one.)

Reverberations of the battleover dollars still go on, as youknow it you have been readingthe recent Taylor murder Inves-tigations. 'Virginia Lee Corbin sued her

mother for an accountingof thefunds she earned as a minorand seems to have had littlebut a fractious disposition andnervous trouble to show for afilm career as a child. VirginiaBrown Faire is another; PeggyMontgomery, famous as BabyPeggy, lives on a small income,trying to beat her way back toa place in the moviesun. Fromthese and other cases one canbut conclude that the fruits ofchild stardom are often ex-tremely Illusory, vie wed interms of lifetime satisfaction.As for present advantages,

the threat of kidnaping alwaysis hanging over a child starBodyguards, iron bars on win-dows, restricted habits, heavycosts to be paid out of thechild's earnings, make life notso agreeable nor so natural asone would like it to be for achild. Shirley Temple and JaneWithers have been the objectsof threatening notes, and manyother child actors who have notpublicizedthe matter have beensimilarly terrorized.••School days, school days,

dear old golden rule days," arenot for the child movie star.There is little chance for thefree and easy democracy of theclassroom,one of the importantfoundations for future cltlzen-ship, in the life of a film star.A tutor or the studio classroomtakes tl'e place of this. A pub-lic school is out of the questionfor a child star; first, becausehe would attract too much at-tention to make normal routinepossible; and second, becausehis movie work takes so muchof his time that special school-ing is the only thing practica-ble. Aggressive playmates in,the ordinary schoolwould cultl-vate his friendship and toadyto him becauseof his fame; andother children, resenting this,would be unpleasant to him,perhaps jealous or cruel. Hisvery importance destroys thepossib1lity of forming naturalfriendships.

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The studio schoolis onemain-tained on the lot by the filmcompany itself and adminis-tered by a teacher selected bythe local board of educanon butpaid by the studio. The studloteacher is responsible for thestudies of all children of schoolage acting on the lot at anygiven time. Since many of thechild stars are kept constantlyat work in the films,this meansthe studio school is the placewhere such stars as ShirleyTemple, Jane Withers, FreddieBartholomew, and Sybil Jasonreceive their classroom educa-tion. Of course, many of thesereceive private tutoring, buthave to attend the studio schoolto complywith the state law.The schoollaw for the studios

in general provides that chll-. dren under 6 cannot remain onthe lot for more than six hoursa day; over that age the limit

Big Money for Little Stars• Topping the list of the juvenile stars of Hollywood is noneother than 8-year-old Shirley Temple, whose income is a half mil-lion dollars a year. She's the pri:ed performer of Twentieth Cen-tury-Fox. In his suit for an accounting in October, 1936, JackHays, her former director, estimated the chiId's earnings iince 1932had been one million from films and another million from royal-ties. In 193<1·she was getting $1,000 a week and her mother wasgetting an added $250 a week.

Others in the big money are:VIRGINIA WEIDLER: Par-

amount. Ten. Court approvedcontract Oct, 4, 193+, $50 to$250 a week over ~ven-yearperiod.DEANNA DURBIN: Uni.

versal. Fourteen. Court ap-proved contract July 2, 1936,$150 to $1,250 a week overseven-year period.JUDY GARLAND: M·G-M.

Fourteen. Court approved con-tract Oct. 15, 1936, $200 to$1,000 over leven-year period.MAUCH TWINS, ROBERT

AND WILLIAM: War n e rBrothers. Thirteen. Court ap-proved contract April 1, 1937,$350 to $2,250 a week overseven-year period.BONITA GRAN'VILLE:

Warner Brothers. Fourteen.Court approved contract March11, 1937, $300 to $2,500 aweek over seven-year period.She is a Chicago girl.EDITH FELLOWS: Colum-

bia. Thirteen. Court approvedcontract July 23, 1935, $150 to$1,000 a week over seven-yearperiod.FREDDIE BARTHOLO-

MEW: M. - G. -M. Thirteen.No complete contract dataavaiIable, but he was supposedto be makina $1,500' a week in1936 when hiI parents attempt-ed to reaain his custody.

is eight hours. Half of thtstime must be spent in studies.At best the whole set-up

makes for an unnatural envl-ronment for the typical moviechild. At worst his life becomesone round of lawsuits amongbickering relatives,all tryingto get control of some share ofhis earnings. The case of the

SYBIL JASON: WarnerBrothers. Nine years old. Courtapproved contract May 23,1937, $150 a week.JANE WITHERS: Twe n-

tieth Century-Fox. Ten. Courtapproved contract Dec. 18,193+. Salary $1,000 a week.SPANKY (GEORGE R.) Mc-

FARLAND: tBaht. Contractapproved March 18, 1937, wasfor only one year at $200 aweek. A year before the courtapproved a contract calling for$+00 to $1,000 over six-yearperiod. Apparently the firstcontract had been dissolved.CARL ••ALFALFA" SWIT-

ZERI Bight. Court approvedcontract March 28, 193+, $50to $275 a week.DARLA HOODI Five. Court

approved contract 0 ct. 21,1935, $75 to $750 a week overseven-year period.BABY PATSY DORIS MAY:

Three. Court approved contractDec. 13; 1937, $30 to $200 aweek over five-year period.BOBBY BREEN: Eleven.

Singini star of Sol Leller Prin-cipal Productions. Nets $1,000weekly from radio, pic t u r ework, recordings, records, per-aonal appearances, and commer-cial tieupa. He is u n d eraseven~year contract, with salaryfor film' work risinll with theyearly options.

battle between Freddie Barthol·omew's aunt, Miss MyllicentMary Bartholomew, and Fred·die's mother, Mrs. Lillian MayBartholomew, in which theaunt retained custody of theboy, is well known; but therehave been others.After a long-drawn-cutcourt

fight Mrs. Elizabeth Fellows,

Mrs. Martha Holt with her two children. David and Betty. the firlt ofwhom hal found a place in the filmL

Baby PcitlY Doria May of •.OurGang." Sh.'. in the cUltody of her

grandparentl.

grandmother of Edith 1"ellows,13-year-oldactress, won the cus-tody of the star from Mrs. Har-riet G. Fellows, the girl's moth-er. In the testimony the bitter-ness of the child against hermother Wasbrought out.Patsy Doris May is another

child star whose custody' bygrandparents has bee n sus-tained by the courts. 'The fa-ther, James Dittemore, a steelworker, contested the validityof the custody; but the grand-parents, Mr. and Mrs. RossMay, established that Dittemorehad abandoned the baby afterthe death of the mother.Naturally such blckerlngs can

result only in the child's hatingone, g r 0 u p of relatives as

.agatnst another. It goes with-out saying that the court bat-tles' are the result of attemptsby one party or the other togain control of the child's earn-ings and refiect a selfish disre-gard of the child'strue interests.Miss Birdina Anderson"who

has been the studIo schoolteacher at Samuel Goldwyn'sstudio for a number of years,has a low regard for child stars'parents and guardians, bellev-ing that the majority of themare interested only in exploit-ing the children. Miss Ander-son's motive may be absolvmgthe studios from blame for abonormal development ()f childstars, but her experiencein suchmatters carries weight.

"The studios are to blame,"she says, ••only because theyneed children in pictures andpay the boys and girls largesalaries. The money attractsparents with eligible childrento Hollywood. The parents willdo anything to attract the at-tention of casting directors totheir otrspring, and it's the chilodren who sut'fer."·What Miss Anderson finds so

pathetic is the failure of youngpeople who were sensationalchild stars. She believes this isdue to the fact that they wereWithheld from normal develop-merit by parents who wanted toexploit them.Some etrort is made by the

courts to protect children fromtheir parents. The studio has

Young Mickey Rooney. boy actorof the mo'Vie. recently leen inMetro·Goldwyu..Mayer' a .. Captainl

CourClgeouL"

to make the contract with thechild's legal guardian. Whether

Bonita GrCll1'VWeof Warner Brothers. equally lkilfulin ••mean brat" or .ympathetic roleL

Jackie Moran of Paramount. whOle work in ••ValiantII the Word for Carrie" cla •• ed him a. an artist.

\Ioice of .I.e ~o"ie F.n Letters published in this department should be written on one side of the paper.If you wish a personal reply please inclose a !tamped, self-addressed envelope.

Mae Tin~e: I saw a preview of II Par-nell" in this city, and I found only one

fault, and thatwas, why didn'tthe director puta full blackbeard on Mr. Par-nell? He worea full black beardwhen I saw himand John D1110nin Clinton, Ia., in1880. His photoshowed a beardat the trial inLondon.Dillon, Da vI t t

(with 0 n e armgone), fiery TimHealy were per·f e c t I y picturedjust as I recallthem at th a ttime' and as I

saw D1110nand Healy in the funeral pro-cession that followed the remains of Grif·fith In Dublin in 1922.Had the director put a beard on Gable

I could find no fault with the picture.I met Davitt in'Seattle in 1891. and his

face was famlliar to me as I saw it onthe screen.Your statement as to the actora-very

good. Yours respectfully, A. H. M.

Editor'a note: Mr. Gable re/uaed towoor a beard. And eo you aGWPGmeU 4n18801 How intere3t4ngl And what abeaut4/td "engraving" haM you writelYour letter gave me genuine pleaaure. Dowrite again.

CLARK 6AILE"fused to weet b.-tel In" ,.,,,.11."

Mae Tin~e: Thoughta after seeing"Romeo and Juliet":

BASIL RATHBONE as Tybalt: As coldand relentleas as the shining blade heunsheathed so readily.JOHN BARRYMORE as Mercutio: Jest.

ing at all, even death.REGINALD DENNY as Benvolio: Full

of the joy of living and wanting others tolive.ROBERT WARWICK and C. AUBREY

SMITH a, Montague and Capulet: Sorich and noble with their flne robes andglittering escort, yet 10 small within thatthey held to an ancient quarrel and there-by helped to cause their children's death.EDNA MAY OLIVER as the Nurse': So

loving, yet so blind to what was in herdarling's heart. Knowing nothing of thelove that conquer. death as she prated ofthe charming lord Whom Juliet must wed.HENRY KOLKER as Father Lawrence:

Doing all that lay within his power tohelp those most ill·fated lovers' plight,and failing when a hand more strong thanhis finished their tale.And the lovers:NORMA SHEARER as Juliet: Wrapped

in her shining cloak of innocence. Blesaedand damned alike by her great love.LESUE HOWARD as Romeo: Pawn in

a game Which he played gallantly to itaso bitter end. Loved and loving. Fightinghis duel with Fate that no man ever won.William Shakespeare fashioned, wrought,

'and made these Immortal characters.Peter Tschaikowsky's tragic genius toldtheir story in deathleH music. The screen

,,

gave all its flnest in acting, setting, andmechanisms to again bring to glorious lifethe most beautiful love story ever known.

PATRICIA SLOAN.Ed4tor's note: Ha4Z1

Dear Mae Tin~e: I simply must pay abelated sincere tribute to Gary Cooper for

his portrayal ofthe character ofWild Bill Hickokin that interest-i n g 111m, "ThePlainsman." ...I realiZed thatthe motion plc-ture first, last,and always is thereal medium forthe presentationof our westerndramas.We thr111ed to

them in ouryounger dayswhen the silentfilms were forg-'ing ahead, andwe. have not de-serted the m in

the speakles. Gary Cooper, Bill Hart,and others we might mention, accept ourhumble thanks for making us youngstersagain just for tonight.We have long sUttered the gibe of our

Engllah eousins that we are still fron·tiersmen-but no one can rob us of ouradmiration for our western films! In this

'lARY COOPERLeuded 'or portteyel of

Wild 1111.

we are truly American; it is, in fact, ourmost American trait.

CARL A. JOSSECKEditor'a note: There you have said

Bomethingl

Dear Miss T1n~: I learned long agothat "one's man's meat is another man'spoison," and presumably that, ancientmaxim applies to women, too.Hence I cannot understand the frothing·

at-the-mouth fury of your correspondents,who usurp toUr editorial functions andllageilate you verbally because they do'not agree With your excellent critiques.Oddly enough (perhaps not so oddly. afterall), they are far more caustic-even vltrl-olic-than you are in your comments onplays and players which and who do notmeasure up to your standarda. Converse-ly, they are far more fulsome in theirII raves" over favorites. I wonder whythey can't profit by your example in thepractice of temperatenesa. As a matterof fact, I ant glad to note that your ex-perience and abillty render your adviceto discriminating movie lovers highly val-uable. I am glad to say that I have neverfailed to profit by taking that advice. aam not egoti.tically classing my judgmentwith yours, but it is pleasing to be able toagree with one who knows.) Yours appre-ciatively, ELOISE ROWLEN.Iowa CIty, Ia.P. S.-Recently you mentioned a ••pres-

ent incumbent." Isn't the phrase a bittautological?Editor'a note: 1 looked tautoZog4calup

~fld right you Gre.

the guardian is an aunt, anuncle, or the child's real motheror father, the guardianship hasto be established in court. Thecourt specifies that the guard",Ian must make periodicaccount-ing of the child's earnings fromtime to time. This tends to pro-tect the child's interests.

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Child stars, or their guard-ians, also have to worry abouta factor that doesn't botherother children. They have topay income tax; that Is, theirguardians pay it for them. Thechild is allowed the usual de-ductions for dependents, and inmany cases this is thEtwholefamily, Including the brothersand sisters and father andmother and any other hang-ers-on.Actually the only person [us-

tifiably dependent on the childstar is the mother, whose nee-essary presence on the set de-prives her of earning opportu-nIty outside. Many studios com-pensate for this by paying themother a stipend, too. Mrs.George Temple, Shirley's moth-er, is said to get $250a week forthis sort of work.The chUd star is allowed de-

ductions just I ike an adultactor. He can deduct fees foragent, advertising and publicity,and other typical expenses forwhich grown-up players makedeductions.