The Morals of Hollywood and the Arbuckle Case

Owners of the Movies Are Responsible for Present Conditions

Seventh and Last of Series "Baring the Heart of Hollywood" (1921)

The men in charge of the destinies of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, which is accused of being a motion picture trust, are a far-seeing group when it comes to saving or making a dollar. Take, for example, the strike of the carpenters, electricians and employes other than actors, directors and scenario writers, which has been (at this writing) on for several weeks with prospect of settlement very remote. It is charged by men who understand the inside workings of the industry that this strike was deliberately fomented by the producers.

One reason given for such procedure in the supply of foreign films in the hands of certain producers.

With their studios idle for two or three months, the supply of American-made films will soon be exhausted. They will then be in a position, it is charged, to go to the exhibitors and say:

"We are sorry but we have no more pictures for you. You know we had a strike last summer which put us behind in production. However, we have a supply of foreign pictures which we will let you have at the same price."

What can the exhibitor do? He must have pictures to keep his house open. The result will be that he will buy these foreign pictures and pay the same price as he would for American pictures, and the producer-distributor will clean up a tidy sum.

But, says the Actor's Equity Association, there is still another reason for the encouragement of a strike by the producer. Many of the biggest producers, notably Famous Players, are burdened with a top-heavy salary list. They have been seeking, especially since they have discovered this foreign pasture, to find some way to reduce these swollen salaries. They have found a place, it is said, because virtually all these contracts contain a joker in the form of a strike clause. Thus in case of a strike a star who is said to draw the comfortable sum of $4,000 weekly, would be allowed to rest while the company adds the amount of his salary to its dividends. This plaint about the big salaries paid to stars and directors has been aired in the press frequently. No doubt many of these actors do get what appears to be an exorbitant sum for the work they do. But it must be remembered that they are paid not because of the amount or difficulty of their labor, but because of the drawing power they have at the box office of the theaters. It is by this measure that the amount named in their contracts is fixed. The public flocks to see them, therefore the exhibitors demand them and to maintain their prestige the producers must hire them.

This is the reason for the sudden exaltation of the author and director by Famous Players and Goldwyn. They figure that if they can make the story the thing and cause the public to forget the star they will be relieved of a tremendous expense.

The actors, however, point out that they are not the only ones who are draining the stockholders of these big film companies. They refer to the salaries of men like Adolph Zukor, who is said to receive $3,000 a week from each unit in Famous Players. There are something like 10 of these units, so it can be seen that Mr. Zukor, although no star himself on the screen, yet makes these luminaries appear as pikers when it comes to remuneration.

Topheavy Overhead Expenses

This burden of overhead expense is the source of great complaint from the directors of the unit companies. They assert that if they make a picture for say $40,000, an overhead expense of a sum equal or more than amount is charged against the picture. This overhead goes to pay salaries of executives, cost of distribution, and so on. The tremendous cost of production therefore cannot be all placed at the door of the stars.

The truth of the matter is that there is need of a radical reduction all along the line, but it should begin at the top instead of the bottom. The whole structure of the motion picture industry is unsound in that the profits are disproportionately divided.

In no other industry is such stress placed an such intangible assets as good will, drawing power at box office and so on, all of which is largely a matter of guesswork. The motion picture industry always will be of somewhat speculative nature, but the element of chance could be largely eliminated if it were in different hands. To be placed on a sound foundation, it should be passed into the control of men who really have the future of the business at heart and are not simply trying to make a quick profit for themselves; men who would realize that the real backbone of America is not found in the slums and ghettos of the cities but in the American home. For the motion picture to be a lasting institution, the appeal must be made to the home element rather than to the shallow-minded, sensation-craving apartment-house and tenement dweller. Just as the American nation is founded on the American home so must every industry and art that would live be builded on that same rock. And no industry can be erected by those who fail to know what an American home is. Since the Arbuckle case, attention has been focused on the moral conditions surrounding the production of motion pictures. The tales of degeneracy as revealed in the daily press have shocked the public, yet had this same public reflected for one moment it might have known that such conditions must exist. The type of pictures shown on the screen are but an indication of the type of mind that produces them. This means not only those who act in them and direct them but those who finance them. They are all tarred with the same stick. The men who own the motion pictures are just as responsible for the conditions existing today among the directors and players as are the men who own buildings rented for immoral purposes. Their atrophied moral sense is proved by their attitude in the Arbuckle case. Those who have not rushed to the defense of Arbuckle have remained silent, awaiting the course of events. None of them have denounced Arbuckle. With the exception of a few men like Benjamin Hampton, men who have been fighting for years against just such conditions as led up to the Arbuckle affair.

As this series of articles on the motion picture industry closes, word comes from Los Angeles of the almost complete submergence of moviedom into the hands of Jews. A syndicate, the United Pictures Incorporated, headed by Joe Schenck, defender of "Fatty" Arbuckle, has taken over the studio heretofore controlled by Robert Brunton. Brunton's is the last studio but one where the independents had chance to make pictures. The Robertson-Cole, an independent, is now the only studio where Jews are not in the ascendancy.
Brunton fought the Jews in the motion picture world as long as he could. Last summer only the Pickford and Hampton companies were left on the lot, and Brunton was, it is said, paying interest and depreciation on an investment of more than $1,000,000.
Associated with Schenck in the Brunton deal are the Selznicks and others, including a number of New Yorkers with Jewish names. Some Los Angeles Gentiles, stockholders in the Brunton Organization, are left in the new syndicate with their minority holdings probably as a matter of policy.
The Los Angeles Times says the immediate result of the taking over of the Brunton studios will be the installation of a number of new units that have, prior to this, functioned in the East. Principal among these are the Selznick companies and the Talmadge units, which operate under the supervision of Schenck.
The taking of the Brunton studios means, of course that the heretofore independent Pickford and Hampton pictures will be made at what is now a Jewish-controlled studio.

It would be amusing if it were not pathetic to see some of our stars and directors rushing into print with denials that Arbuckle was a true representative of movie morals. Arbuckle and his gang, they assert, are the black sheep of the industry. Only about 10 per cent of the movie world is bad, they assert. The remainder are as pure as angels. In the light of their own convictions and code of morals, perhaps they are right. But if we accept the standards that govern the average American home we must reverse their figures.

An Un-American Atmosphere

The truth of this will be apparent when anyone familiar with the picture world sits down and tries to pick out the stars who are leading sane, normal lives. Among the screen luminaries, those who have not been tainted by the breath of scandal, who do not number their husbands or wives in the plural can be counted on the fingers of two hands. It is true that among them however, there are a great many who do not practice nor countenance the excesses of the Arbuckle crowd, who hold aloof from the orgies and bacchanalian revels that have made the name of Hollywood a byword throughout the land. But it is also true that the whole moral tone of the motion picture colony is distinctly Continental-European rather than American. That why so many of our stars find themselves much more at home in Paris or Vienna than they do in America cities.

It is not only among the stars that one finds this low moral tone, but also among the lesser luminaries and especially those known as extra people.

It has been the writer's fortune to have had considerable to do at times with people of the legitimate stage. Among these "troopers" will be found a certain freedom from convention due largely to their enforced method of living. Yet despite this a surprising adherence to fixed moral standards always was found. The old-time trouper, like the circus performer, was bound by an unwritten code that kept family relations as sacred as they are in any other walk of society. At least this was true a decade or so ago, before certain elements attained complete domination of the speaking stage, as they have of the movies.

It is among these old-time troupers, who are known as character actors in the motion pictures, that we find the cleanest people in the pictures today. It takes work, hard work, to become a good character actor or actress, and it is work that keeps the body wholesome and the soul clean.

That the great body of our motion picture players should have become what they are is a great pity and it is a condition for which they cannot be held altogether to blame. The environment of an aspirant for fame in the pictures is such that only one of exceptionally strong moral fiber could be expected to emerge unspotted. This applies to either sex, for the temptations are just as strong and appealing to the boys as to the girls.

Many of our motion picture players have been recruited from good American homes, the same kind of home that furnishes the bulk of our skilled labor, our office workers and our salesmen and saleswomen. These boys and girls, good looking, healthy and with some degree of personality or talent, come to the studios as clean morally as the average American youth, but how long can they stay that way?

Spooning Expensive to Producers

The working conditions in a few of the larger studios have changed for the better during the past two years. This was not in the interest of morality but of efficiency. The producers found that love making around the studios during working hours was a costly proposition for them and they took steps to eradicate it. But in other studios conditions are much the same as they were. A well-known producer mentioned two of the largest studios in telling the writer that he would rather see a daughter of his in her grave than working in either of them.

The comedies are particularly bad. A college girl who had done some newspaper work before coming to Hollywood and going into the movies, told the writer about a certain well-known comedy company where the brother of the producer and star hired the girls used in the pictures. Before a girl was given employment she took a walk with this man and on her acceptance or rejection of his advances depended her engagement.

This same system of employment was followed by many other studios until it was seen that such methods were costing them a lot of money. Jealousies between directors' favorites often delayed pictures and caused friction among the players that destroyed discipline and ran up production expenses.

The director was a petty czar on the lot or on location, and he could ruin the chances of advancement of any girl who might reject his overtures. A girl with ambition to be a star, therefore, either had to accept the director's advances or quit the pictures, unless, as was sometimes the case, she was the sweetheart of the producer, which gentry often had a penchant for beautiful Gentile women.

A Gentile producer brought out a young woman who showed promise as an actress. After she had been working in her first picture for a few days the producer noticed that she was worried about something. After some difficulty he succeeded in getting the story from her. The director, she said, had made overtures to her from the first day she had appeared on the lot. When she refused his attentions he had threatened to get her job. One day he had torn off nearly all her clothing before she could get away from him.

Curbing the Director

This director had a two-year contract with the producer. The latter said nothing to him at the time, but put a private detective on his trail. After he had obtained sufficient evidence the producer called the director into his office and informed him that he was through. The director threatened to sue for fulfillment of his contract, but after being shown the evidence against him thought better of it. He immediately went to work, however, for another large studio where he is still directing.

It was such abuse of their positions by directors that led to the installation, by some studios, of casting directors. Under this system the applicant registers with the casting director, is photographed in several poses and these photographs, known as stills, are filed away with the name, address, telephone number and description. Sometimes a few feet of film are also taken. After it is decided to film a certain script these files are gone over and the players selected from them. Thus the director does not see his players until they walk on the lot the first day. Being shorn of his power to hire, his power to fire is also limited. In the studios where the casting director system is used a girl has an even chance of preserving her honor, provided she escapes the notice of the producers themselves, and has sufficiently strong character to resist the blandishments of the male stars and directors.

It takes a girl of exceptionally strong character to emerge unscathed from the temptations presented at the studios, and all honor should be given to those who do. The free and easy life, with its escape from the conventionalities, tends gradually to weaken the sternest moral fiber. Things that horrify at first become a matter of course when seen daily. The ambitious girl sees others availing themselves of their charms to push themselves forward into stardom and its attendant financial reward. It is only a girl of the most exceptional talent and energy who can hope to succeed without the aid of a pull. Small wonder that so few of them hold out. The blame does not rest on them, but on the whole rotten system, a system that will endure until the public has convinced the producers that there are some things more precious than the dollar.

Stories of wild parties given by motion picture stars have not been exaggerated by the newspapers. Owing to the difficulty of getting liquor, except at almost prohibitive prices, many players have resorted to drugs, especially heroin, codeine and cocaine, for their "kick." Federal narcotic officers told the writer that the Hollywood clique affords one of the best markets to the "dope peddlers."

While holding no brief for Arbuckle, who richly deserves all the censure that has been heaped on him, it must be borne in mind that the comedian is but the product of a certain environment. Arbuckle was the victim of a host of fawning sycophants who encouraged him in his vices and bled him of every dollar they could get out of him. While possessing a certain cleverness as a comedian, Arbuckle is intellectually and morally a moron.

It is interesting, and were it not for the tragedy, somewhat amusing, to note the change of attitude of some of the motion picture colony since the San Francisco affair. Many of those who were proud to be seen in Arbuckle's company, who were glad to accept his invitations, now hold up their hands in horror when his name is mentioned. The ones who are sticking by him are for the most part those who hope to benefit financially by their friendship or who are not yet sure that he is dead as a motion picture star.

Arbuckle Means Money to Them

Those to whom his ruin means financial loss are either making loud protestations of his innocence or are maintaining a complete and discreet silence. Illustrative of the former are Joe Schenck and Marcus Loew, two Jewish gentlemen who naively assert that the comedian must be innocent because he means a lot of money to them and of the latter, Adolph Zukor and Jesse Lasky, who are silently awaiting and watching the effect of the revelations on the public. These two heads of Famous Players are in something of a quandary after their promises of reform. Lacking the courage to write off their loss and publicly proclaim that they have no further use for men of Arbuckle's caliber, they yet realize that Arbuckle is done as a comedian no matter what the outcome of his trial. Dense as they have shown themselves in certain matters of gauging public opinion, they are not so lacking in perspicacity as not to know that Arbuckle has transgressed beyond the bounds of public tolerance. What they are looking for now is a soft place to light.

Besides this is not the first time that the fat comedian's parties have put them in a hole. A certain affair at a resort in a Boston suburb that cost them more than $100,000 in hush money, as well as costing several Massachusetts officeholders their jobs, is sticking in their minds.

In justice to them it must be said that the blame for that affair is reputed to rest on Hiram Abrams, the Jewish head of United Artists. Abrams, in his desire to curry favor with Arbuckle and his guests, introduced the women at the banquet without the previous knowledge of the others. His evident desire was to add a little spice to the entertainment The real spice, however, was furnished by the alleged husbands of the women, who worked the well-known badger game on the movie magnates to the consequent depiction of their bank rolls.

The blame for movie morals rests unqualifiedly on the heads of the producers. There is small hope for their improvement until a different type of men get into the game. Federal licensing is the only practical solution. It may not eliminate all the evils, but it will weed out the worst elements, and the others will find that clean pictures will pay.

"The Morals of Hollywood and the Arbuckle Case," Baring The Heart of Hollywood Part VII, The Dearborn Independent, December 10, 1921, pages 13-14.

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