Evelyn Brent — Why Hollywood Spurned Her (1934) 🇺🇸
“They wasted me. The producers seemed to think that because I played a crook, I was to play one forever.”
by Nanette Kutner
“I suppose I made a mistake, but I couldn’t play studio politics. I told people what I thought of them, and you can’t do that if you want the right rôles. Most stars who stay on top put on a constant show. I couldn’t.
“Eventually, I was out. I started watching the financial upheaval that was shaking Hollywood. I saw stars, who had let success go to their heads, afraid. I was afraid myself. I could still work for independent companies, but there was neither money nor glory in that. Then, I faced myself.
“I thought things over from the beginning. There was my first chance. It came with the rôle of Feathers in ‘Underworld.’ They planned to make the picture in ten weeks. But politics interfered. The director was told, after he had started, to make it in four. Before the time was up he was ordered to finish it in three days or they would scrap it. I worked for three days and nights without a wink of sleep. But we finished.
“When the picture was previewed, I heard important picture people say it was so bad it should be shelved.
It was sent, without a line of advertising, to a theater in Los Angeles. The night after the opening, the papers called it the greatest gangster drama ever produced. Of course, the people who knocked Underworld said they had known how wonderful it was.
“It was then they wanted to star me. I begged off. I knew I’d have a better chance surrounded by all-star casts and good stories. But nobody paid any attention.
“My first starring picture was adapted from a novel by Phillip Gibbs. The man who purchased it had never read the book. The rôle was for a shrinking type like Lillian Gish. I put up a kick, so they had it rewritten. Besides the bad story, I was given a cast and director no one had ever heard of. I finally broke my contract with Paramount and went to Radio. Things continued.
“Two years ago I was offered five thousand dollars a week to make a personal appearance tour. I turned it down. What was five thousand then? The price of a car. Now, I know.
“I went into vaudeville to see if I could actually put on an act. We opened in Omaha. I had such stage fright I thought I never could go through with it. That same week the banks closed. We were nearly stranded. At the moment I was worried where my next meal was coming from, I knew I was a trouper.
“I’ve done away with pride. I know I could always get a stage part at fifty dollars a week.
“Understand I don’t blame Hollywood. The people there simply had no vision. In one way, it’s a good thing. It’s good for that new crop of young people. They won’t be elevated to stardom over night. They’ll learn Hollywood has changed into a sane place.”
And now Miss Brent is back again. At Universal, playing in “Cross Country Cruise.” Lots of luck!
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Collection: Modern Screen Magazine, January 1934
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- 1934–01 — Evelyn Brent
- 1934–01 — Cora Sue Collins
- 1934–01 — David Manners
- 1934–01 — John Miljian