D. W. Griffith's Hollywood Program #3 Date: Jan 11 1933

D. W. GRIFFITH'S HOLLYWOOD
PROGRAM #3
WJZ TIME: (10.00 - 10.15 PM) JANUARY 11 1933 WEDNESDAY


CAST:
ANNOUNCER
D. W. GRIFFITH
PAUL DENNY
GIRL, journalist
FLAPPER
PUB, publicity man
GRACE, Paul's wife
MAE, a friend
GIRL, moviegoer
BOY, moviegoer
RIDER, stunt man
ASST, a yes-man named Jones
and various VOICES

NOTE:
Bracketed text is crossed out in the original script and presumably did
not air. A list of New York radio actors' names is handwritten on the
script: Peggy Allenby, Frank Readick, Allyn Joslyn, John McGovern,
Hildegarde Halliday

ORCHESTRA: (SIGNATURE............................FADES DOWN UNDER) ANNOUNCER: The makers of Hinds Honey and Almond Cream present another in their new series entitled, "Hollywood", featuring the greatest motion picture director...the foremost discoverer of feminine stars of all time.....Mr. D. W. Griffith. As you listen to Mr. Griffith's dramatic, thrilling story of Hollywood, remember this: Feminine loveliness must never be left to chance. Watch Zita Johann who is appearing in that thrilling picture "The Mummy" with Karloff. Notice her lovely well-kept expressive hands. If you will only use Hinds Honey and Almond Cream regularly every night, your hands will have...and keep...that delicate, soft, appealing look that makes other women marvel, and husbands wonder how two such dainty hands can get so much done about the house. And now..I take great pleasure in introducing Mr. D. W. Griffith, himself. GRIFFITH: Thank you, Mr. Keech. Ladies and gentlemen...tonight...every night...in every country..in every quarter of the globe...flaming lights, red..amber..white..blaze the names of the Hollywood movie stars to the world. Millions envy them their fame...their fortune..the exciting life they lead. Well....Hollywood sometimes is an exciting place. But it can also be a most heart—breaking place - Don't forget that. I want to begin tonight by telling you the story of an actor whom we'll call Paul Denny. Four years ago he came to Hollywood from Broadway..and found the going tough. [For months at a time, he and his wife hardly had enough to eat.] Finally his chance came. He was cast in a small bit in a picture..and managed to give such an outstanding performance that offers came thick and fast. In his next picture he was given a leading role. Look at Paul Denny now..the picture is only half finished, but he knows he is giving the greatest performance of his career. The news has got around Hollywood that Paul Denny is a coming star. The world seems to be at his feet...listen.... (MURMUR OF VOICES....BUILDS) GIRL: [Mr. Denny...can you give me an interview for "The New Movie Mirror"? PAUL: Sorry...haven't time now. GIRL: But our readers want to know more about you. You owe it to them. PAUL: I'm awfully sorry...but I'm due at the studio now. I've got a lot of work to do. You'll have to see me again. GIRL: (RECEDING) Oh well..if you want to be high-hat about it...] FLAPPER: (RUSHING UP) Oh Mr. Denny...you are Paul Denny, aren't you? PAUL: Yes...but... FLAPPER: I'm so thrilled, Mr. Denny, will you autograph my book for me? PAUL: Really I... FLAPPER: I won't take no for an answer...I mean, after all.. I'm terribly stubborn. PAUL: (LAUGHS) Oh all right..give me the book..there. FLAPPER: Thank you so much. Oh, this has been such a wonderful day...I mean...I got Clara Bow this morning..and now you...(RECEDING) Goodbye, Mr. Denny. PUB. MAN: (APPROACHING) Oh there you are, Denny.. PAUL: Now what? PUB: My name's Gallagher, from the press department of the studio. They sent me out to get you and shoot some publicity photographs.... PAUL: Listen here, man..what all you people seem to forget is, I'm playing a part in this picture that takes a lot of thought and concentration..how the devil can I do it if you keep me running around the place like a chicken with its head off? PUB: To blazes with that..that ain't my worry. I'm supposed to get some press photographs of you...and I got a great idea. I'm going to shoot you going down Hollywood Boulevard sitting on an elephant! PAUL: Listen man...I've got lines to memorize and an important scene to rehearse. PUB: Aw, quit crabbin'! You actors make me tired...you seem to think the picture's more important than the ballyhoo. Come on..I ain't got any time to waste. PAUL: I suppose I'll have to go through with it. How long's it going to take? PUB: It won't take long. All we've got to do is find an elephant, and we're all set! (MUSIC IN STRONG FOR TEN SECONDS..THEN FADES DOWN UNDER) GRIFFITH: Yes...it's pretty hard to keep your feet on the ground, once you've tasted the intoxicating beverage of Hollywood success. And yet..that's the time that you need a level head the most. The ladder of success in Hollywood is more like a greased pole..it's easier to slip back than it is to go forward. Well..to get back to Paul Denny. Suppose we pay a call now on Paul's wife..in the new apartment they took to celebrate Paul's first big part. We find Grace...Paul's wife..talking to a friend of their not-so—prosperous days, who has dropped in to call. MAE: Yeah..it sure is great, Paul's gettin' his chance like this. Why, Gracie..in no time at all he'll be one of the big shots of Hollywood. GRACE: Mae...don't talk like that! MAE: What's the matter? It's true, ain't it? GRACE: Oh, I hope so. But it's bad luck to count your chickens before they're hatched. MAE: Well..with me and Bert, that's the only time we can count our chickens. They never do get around to being hatched. Well...I've got to be chasin' along. GRACE: Don't you want to see Paul? He ought to be home from the studio any minute. MAE: Gee......I'd like to wait..only.... (DOOR OPENS ....AWAY) GRACE: There he is now...(CALLS) Is that you, dear? PAUL: (AWAY) Yes. GRACE: Come on in here...there's somebody here to see you. PAUL: (APPROACHING) Who is it..? Oh..hello Mae... MAE: Now I ask you...is that the way to treat a long-lost girl friend? Paul Denny..you're not going Ritzy on us, are you? PAUL: I'm sorry, Mae....only I'm...I'm sort of tired. MAE: I'll bet you are. Well..it must be kinda nice to be tired from work...instead of from lookin' for it. PAUL: I...I suppose it is. MAE: Well...I just dropped in to congratulate you, Paul. PAUL: Thanks. MAE: Well...I guess I know when I'm not wanted. I'm going to beat it. (RECEDING) So long... (DOOR OPENS....AWAY....CLOSES) GRACE: Paul...why were you so rude to Mae? PAUL: Was I rude? Sorry.... GRACE: Paul...what's the matter? PAUL: Huh? GRACE: You're white as a sheet. Are you sick? PAUL: I'm all right. GRACE: Do you have to go back to the studio tonight? PAUL: Grace..I don't have to go back to the studio tonight...or any other time. GRACE: What!? PAUL: I'm fired.. GRACE: Paul..that's not true!? PAUL: It's true enough..they just told me. GRACE: But I thought..that is...everybody said you were doing so well.. PAUL: I guess..you can't always believe...everything you hear. GRACE: But...how can they let you go ...the picture's half finished...they can't go on without you. PAUL: They're not going on..they're scrapping the whole thing..everything they've done so far..and starting fresh..they've got a new idea. GRACE: Oh, my Heaven - why does a thing like this have to happen to us? Why do they have to do things this way? (MUSIC IN STRONG.......FADES DOWN UNDER) GRIFFITH: Yes...the movie actor's life is not always a bed of roses. Cases like Paul Denny's are not uncommon in Hollywood. One brief flash in the headlines...and many a performer vanishes from sight..and is never thought of again..except when somebody says "Remember so-and-so? He showed lots of promise..I wonder what happened to him"? When you sit in a darkened movie palace, watching the drama on the screen, do you ever stop to think that those performers in front of you have risked health..happiness...and yes, even sometimes their lives, to furnish you a few moments of entertainment? What thanks do most of them get for it? Suppose for a moment you're sitting in the audience, watching a great aviation picture. On the screen, aeroplanes are zooming about..... (AEROPLANE EFFECT IN SOFT) Machine guns are rattling...... (MACHINE GUN EFFECT) It is tense......exciting..dramatic..living..! And then, from the seats behind you, you hear the following conversation..... (AEROPLANES AND GUNS UP FOR A MOMENT...THEN FADE DOWN UNDER THE FOLLOWING) GIRL: Ooh...Irving..I'm scared..hold my hand, Irving... BOY: Aw...whatcha scared of? GIRL: All them planes flyin' around there..an' all that shootin'..somebody's goin' to get hurt... BOY: Aw, be yourself, baby. Them planes can't climb off the screen an' chase you up the aisle.. (HEAVY BOOM AND CRASH) GIRL: (SHRIEKS) Irving! Didja see that? That plane went to pieces right in the air..It's caught on fire..it's droppin'...Ooh..I can't look. Oh, Irving. Do you suppose anythin' happened to that fellow that was drivin' it? BOY: Of course not...this is the movies. GIRL: Yeah..but Irving...maybe the poor fellow got hurt..I seen him drop off the wing..right in the air! BOY: Oh, act your age. Them guys don't take no chances in the movies. Them are all dummy planes..they don't really burn up and fall..they just make you think they do. GIRL: (WONDERING) Yeah? Is that right, Irving? BOY: Sure...they do it all with mirrors! (EFFECTS UP STRONG AGAIN..THEN FADE DOWN UNDER GRIFFITH AND OUT) GRIFFITH: And that is all the appreciation some daredevil gets...after he has risked his life to give you a momentary thrill. Well, the man who takes his life in his hands does it as a matter of course..at least, he generally does. After all..he's just a mortal who has to make a living..like you and me. Though sometimes there is more in it than meets the eye. I'm thinking now of a picture I directed... a picture that had as its climax a thrilling leap for life, wherein a man on horseback was supposed to jump from a seventy-foot cliff into a river. A jump that high is a pretty ticklish piece of business. But as the whole picture depended upon it, we decided to go through with it, taking as few chances as possible. To begin with, we procured a horse that had been trained to make jumps and knew how to fall. For the rider, we hired a professional stunt rider. However, after we had been out on location for two days and the time for the great leap was at hand, the stunt rider came up to me.. RIDER: Mr. Griffith..I want to resign. GRIFFITH: What!? Listen here..you can't quit like this! We're paying you a hundred dollars a day..isn't that enough for stunt riding? RIDER: Sure..but it ain't enough for suicide. I just took a look at that cliff. GRIFFITH: But I told you before we came out here what you were expected to do..and you agreed. Don't say I didn't warn you. RIDER: Oh sure..you warned me. But seventy feet looks a lot higher than it sounds. GRIFFITH: Well..if you don't want to do it..I'm not going to try to compel you. Only you've left me in a devil of a fix...a hundred and fifty miles away from town on location..and no stunt rider. RIDER: Sorry..but that's how it is with me. I'm going back to town this afternoon. Maybe I could send some other lunatic out. GRIFFITH: Too late for that. I've got to get this scene taken today. RIDER: Well...guess I'll blow....(RECEDING) So long. GRIFFITH: (CALLS) Jones..Jones! Where is my yes-man Jones? ASST: (RUSHING UP) Yes sir. GRIFFITH: That blasted rider has quit on us. I guess we'll have to call off that leap scene. Well..that'll ruin the picture..might as well junk the whole thing. ASST: Maybe there's somebody else in the company that'll do it. GRIFFITH: Well..I wouldn't ask them. That's a dangerous jump...nobody but a professional stunt rider should attempt it. Curse the luck...our whole investment's shot. There isn't another stunt rider within a hundred and fifty miles! ASST: Yes there is. GRIFFITH: Who? ASST: Me. GRIFFITH: You!? A stunt rider? ASST: Sure..I used to be one..didn't I tell you? GRIFFITH: Well...I'll be a.... ASST: I'll make that jump for you..it's nothing to me..I've made 'em twice as high as that. GRIFFITH: O.K. I'll take your word for it. Boy! If you'll do it, you'll certainly get us out of a sweet jam.. ASST: I'll do it all right..but I'll only do it once..no rehearsal. You get everything set down on the bank of the river...cameras and everything..just the way you want 'em..then give the signal..I'll be over. GRIFFITH: We'll get you the first time! (MUSIC.......BRIEF......DRAMATIC) GRIFFITH: Cameras ready? VOICE: All ready... GRIFFITH: You guys down there on the bank..fish him out the minute I yell "Cut". And the horse, too...don't forget the horse.. VOICE: (AWAY) O.K. We'll get 'em.... GRIFFITH: All right..get set. (THEN YELLS) All ready..let him come! (THEN SOFTER) Start your cameras..start your cameras.............. (GALLOPING HOOF BEATS HEARD...APPROACHING RAPIDLY...REACH CLIMAX...THREE SECONDS PAUSE...THEN TERRIFIC SPLASH AND THRESHING ABOUT IN WATER) GRIFFITH: (YELLS) CUT! (GENERAL CONFUSION....VOICES...SPLASHING) GRIFFITH: Get him! Fish him out of there! VOICE: We got him..come on, Bill..lend me a hand with this horse. (MORE CONFUSION) VOICE: Horse is O.K. GRIFFITH: Good! Jones..Jones...are you all right? ASST: (WEAKLY) Who, me? Sure. How was it? GRIFFITH: It was wonderful. What a picture! What a picture that'll make! Say..why didn't you tell me you could ride like that? ASST: I couldn't. GRIFFITH: What do you mean?..."you couldn't"? ASST: I mean I couldn't ride... Until today..I was never on a horse in my life! (MUSIC IN STRONG) GRIFFITH: And that little incident...really happened. Think of that sometimes, when you're sitting in a theatre watching an exciting drama on the screen. Those that act out those dramas for you will stop at nothing to provide you with authentic thrills. You see.....that's Hollywood. (MUSIC.........FADES DOWN UNDER ANNOUNCER) ANNOUNCER: Yes...when we're in a picture theatre, the screen brings us thrills, as Mr. Griffith says. But there is another kind of thrill that every woman can have..all the time. And that is the thrill of knowing that she has a soft glowing skin and lovely hands. No matter how severe the winter weather..no matter how strenuous her work and play...every woman can have hands that are soft and smooth and charming, if she will only use Hinds Honey and Almond Cream regularly, every night. You see, Hinds is a chiffon-weight cream that dries naturally, leaving a delicate textured second skin that protects the hands. Three days of Hinds Honey and Almond Cream banish the tell tale traces of roughness and chapping..and leave your hands soft and smooth and glamorous. (ORCHESTRA: SIGNATURE) ANNOUNCER: The Hinds Honey and Almond Program, featuring the great motion picture director, Mr. D. W. Griffith, comes to you every Sunday and Wednesday night at ten o'clock. This is the National Broadcasting Company.