travel, hotel and booking Information

How We Got Movie Stars
By Stephen Schochet

Early movies had no stories, no movie stars and no sound. A popular
production in the 1890's was two girls getting undressed by a lake.
Right before their last garments came off, a train came by to block
your view. In the next scene they were swimming. The three minute
film was a hit throughout the country. One old farmer became a big
fan and kept paying to see it repeatedly. One day the theater manager
came down and said," Say old timer. Every day you sit and watch the
same thing over and over." "Well sonny, one of these days I'm hoping
the train will be late!"

Many of the early film performers were quite content to stay
anonymous, reasoning that the new flickers were a novelty and would
damage their reputation on the legitimate stage. They were often
expected to work all day long. Their duties included hammering nails,
painting the set, picking up trash, and lifting heavy equipment.
There were no trailers, perks, glamour or big mansions. A casting
director might meet a newspaper boy on the street and hire him as his
lead actor for five dollars a day. Ladies of the evening were often
given jobs simply because they provided their own wardrobes. More
often the studios would hire teen age girls who needed no make-up
which in the pre-Max Factor days would melt under the hot lights. Not
knowing their real identities, the movie going public would give
their favorites appropriate nicknames such as "the waif" or "the
cowboy". The growing curiosity surrounding the identities lead to the
birth of movie magazines such as Photoplay in 1909. The new
publication conducted a poll asking what kinds of screen stories
would people would like to see. Was it romance? Crime? The
overwhelming answer was the fans were far more interested in learning
about the mysterious figures in the dark. But fearing that their
players would demand huge salaries the producers still refused to
reveal who they were.

One of the most prominent movie theater owners was a former clothing
store manager from Oshkosh, Wisconsin named Carl Laemmle, the
eventual founder of Universal Studios. By 1909 he was sick of buying
movies from Thomas Edison or European providers and had concluded he
could make his own. Laemmle would listen each night as his patrons
would leave his theater, many would excitedly discuss the actors on
the screen. If he was going to produce his own pictures he would sell
them by creating a star.

He wasted no time in hiring a twenty-year-old actress named Florence
Lawrence known to the public as the Biograph Girl, named after the
studio she worked for. One tale had the four-foot ten Laemmle
conducting a midnight raid of Biograph's offices, where he carried
his new charge away over his shoulder. He revealed her real name and
250 dollar a week salary to the new fan magazines, then arranged for
her to mysteriously disappear. "My competitors will stop at nothing
to ruin me. They've kidnapped poor Florence, perhaps even killed
her!" he told the press.

For the next few weeks Americans followed the saga in the newspapers,
there were several false reports of foul play. One account had
Florence killed by a streetcar. Then, as pre-arranged by Carl
Laemmle, Florence "miraculously" resurfaced in St. Louis were she was
mobbed, her clothes ripped off by fans (some of them hired). And so
Florence Lawrence gained a huge following. Movies with her name on
the marquee started selling like hot cakes.

Laemmle quickly became discouraged by the movie stars he created and
the high salary demands that predictably followed. Universal
eventually become a horror factory where actors playing the Mummy or
the Invisible man could easily be replaced if they asked for too much
money. The mogul often tried to exit show business. One time another
Florence, vaudeville producer Florence Zigfield was desperately
strapped for cash and sent a messenger to Universal to offer Carl
Laemmle some wardrobe dresses for five thousand dollars. Not
interested, Laemmle told him flatly. Undeterred, Zigfield asked for a
personal meeting. "Mr. Laemmle, how much to buy your studio?" Eagerly
the tiny mogul named a price that was in the millions. "I see, well
let me talk it over with my lawyers. You should hear from me in a few
weeks." Zigfield got up to leave then paused at the door. "Oh by the
way I have some dresses left over from an earlier show. I'm trying to
get rid of them for ten thousand dollars." "Yes of course," said
Laemmle. Zigfield left the lot with his money, but the studio
purchase was never consummated.

As for Lawrence, glory was fleeting. A few years after her public
breakout, she was working on a film when a fire broke out on the set.
The young woman courageously risked her life to save one of her
fellow actors and the incident left her temporarily paralyzed. Unable
to work she painfully watched the rise of new silent film sirens such
as Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. By the time she recovered no one
would hire her. She ended up in obscurity and tragically committed
suicide years later at the age of 52. But during her appearance in
Saint Louis in 1910, Florence Lawrence the world's first movie star,
drew a bigger crowd than the President who came to town a week
earlier.

Want to hear more stories? Stephen Schochet is the author and
narrator of the Audio Books "Fascinating Walt Disney" and "Tales Of
Hollywood". The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says," these two elaborate
productions are exceptionally entertaining." Hear RealAudio samples
at http://www.hollywoodstories.com.

Hotel Booking

golf course, golf hotel, golf weekend, golf vacation, golf holiday, golf training, 18 hole hotel, booking hotel, hotel booking, hotel Accor, Accor hotel, cheap hotel, luxury hotel, two star hotel, three star hotel, four star hotel, accommodation, hotel room

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]