Goldwyn on Salaries

"As soon as companies realize that the film industry is not like the automobile industry, there will be better pictures. The public rapidly is becoming fed up with a succession of films, each a carbon copy of the other."

This comment on the cinema industry was made last week at the Harvard School of Business Administration by Producer Samuel Goldwyn. Last fortnight, Producer Goldwyn had more revealing things to say about his own business. In an article for the Satevepost, set down in smooth English by a ghostwriter named Frederick L. Collins, he defended actors' salaries, published for the first time what were generally accepted as the authentic weekly payments to the industry's 15 top-notch performers.* The Goldwyn list:

Greta Garbo $9,000

Will Rogers 7,500

Maurice Chevalier 7,500

Constance Bennett 7,000

John Barrymore 6,500

Norma Shearer 6,000

Richard Barthelmess 6,000

Ann Harding 6,000

Wallace Beery 5,000

William Powell 4,500

Joan Crawford 4,000

Janet Gaynor 3,750

Edward G. Robinson 3,000

James Cagney 2,800

Clark Gable 2,500

Said Producer Goldwyn: "The reason given for the latest Washington agitation about motion picture salaries was that someone had discovered that about 400 persons in Hollywood were drawing 51% of the salaries. ... I was surprised at these figures. I would have said that 40 persons in Hollywood deserved to draw 51% of the Hollywood income." Public bragging about stars' salaries was customary in Hollywood until major cinema companies began going bankrupt. Lately all producers have shut down on this kind of information for fear the size of their salary lists would create an unwarranted impression of affluence which in turn would result in a sharp upping of amusement taxes. Last week, the Hays office received protests that Producer Goldwyn's article was a violation of production ethics. The Screen Actors' Guild wired him congratulations.

*Cinema salaries are calculated on a weekly basis inasmuch as the average working year of actors is only 40 weeks.

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