ROSTEN, LEO C. Hollywood: The Movie Colony; The Movie Makers. Pp. x, 435. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1941. $4.00
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222100164 |
| Date | 01 May 1942 |
| Published date | 01 May 1942 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
224
airlines.&dquo;
He
points
to
speed
as
the
un-
derlying
reason
for
air
transportation,
and
then
outlines
the
development
of
that
form
of
transportation,
both
past
and
future,
in
terms
of
the
speed
factor
battling
against
the
adverse
elements
of
fear
and
expense.
The
contribution
of
technical
progress
by
way
of
improving
safety
and
reducing
ex-
pense
is
succinctly
outlined.
When
it
comes
to
the
discussion
of
the
trend
toward
de-
creasing
costs,
the
difficulties
in
analysis
caused
by
the
parallel
advances,
in
point
of
time,
of
technical
improvements
and
in-
creased
size
of
operating
units
are
not
for-
mally
recognized
by
the
author,
and
no
clear
line
of
demarcation
is
drawn
as
to
how
much
each
factor
may
be
credited
with
de-
creasing
unit
costs.
The
relationship
between
mail
and
pas-
senger
revenues
is
presented
in
some
detail.
The
conclusion
is
implied
from
tabular
evi-
dence
that
only
as
the
ratio
of
passenger
revenue
to
mail
revenue
has
increased,
has
prosperity
come
to
air
lines.
It
would
have
been
well
to
indicate
in
a
corresponding
tabulation
how much
a
simultaneous
im-
provement
of
load-factor
may
have
ac-
counted
for
prosperity.
An
important
omission
in
the
book
is
the
failure
to
present
a
more
complete
state-
ment
of
the
economics
of
airports,
which,
because
they
represent
a
vastly
larger
in-
vestment
than
the
planes
themselves,
should
be
given
heavy
emphasis
in
any
discussion
of
air
transportation.
This
book
follows
a
pattern
of
clear
and
concise
analysis,
enlivened
with
realistic
data,
all
within
the
compass
of
a
limited
number
of
pages.
Such
presentation
has
much
to
recommend
it,
and
the
reading
public
would
be
greatly
benefited
if
it
were
followed
more
often
by
American
writers.
K.
T.
HEALY
Yale
University
ROSTEN,
LEO
C.
Hollywood:
The
Movie
Colony;
The
Movie
Makers.
Pp.
x,
435.
New
York:
Harcourt,
Brace
&
Co.,
1941.
$4.00.
This
is
the
first
of
two
volumes
repre-
senting
three
years
of
research
on
the
motion
picture
industry.
The
study
was
financed
by
the
Carnegie
and
Rockefeller
foundations.
The
research
staff
was
com-
posed
of
Mr.
Rosten,
director,
two
soci-
ologists,
an
economist,
a
personnel
expert,
and
others.
Members
of
the
advisory
board
were
R.
S.
Lynd,
H.
D.
Lasswell,
Herbert
Blumer,
and
Louis
Wirth.
This
book
is
primarily
concerned
with
putting
Hollywood
under
the
microscope
of
social
science.
The
scientific
nature
of
the
study
is
emphasized.
Yet
this
volume
is
not
the
kind
of
a
report
that
social
scien-
tists
usually
make.
It
is
rather
a
journal-
istic
description
of
the
movie
colony
and
its
work-the
kind
of
social
science
that
is
commonly
found
in
popular
magazines.
Among
the
titles
of
the
chapters
in
Part
I
are:
The
Hollywood
Legend,
The
Movie
Elite,
The
Big
Money,
Eros
in
Hollywood,
The
Night
Life
of
the
Gods,
and
Horses,
Gifts,
and
Superstitions.
The
volume
is
evidently
intended
for
popular
consumption.
The
basic
data
are
given
in
the
Appen-
dices.
They
consist
mostly
of
statistics
on
production
costs,
types
of
employee,
volume
of
business,
net
earnings,
comparisons
with
other
industries,
annual
incomes,
weekly
salaries,
and
types
of
spending.
Social
data
on
executives,
producers,
directors,
actors,
writers,
and
editors
were
secured
from
questionnaires
and
from
interviews.
Facts
concerning
age,
place
of
birth,
education,
occupation
of
parents,
marriage,
and
di-
vorce
were
secured.
Special
attention
was
given
to
divorce,
since
that
is
a
topic
of
great
public
interest.
The
statistics
on
dogs,
yachts,
and
resorts
are
less
complete.
In
the
collection
of
the
data
special
at-
tention
was
given
to
matters
of
reliability
and
adequacy.
The
study
received
good
co-operation
from
the
leaders
in
the
in-
dustry,
and
evidently
good
rapport
was
established
with
many
actors,
writers,
pro-
ducers,
and
executives.
Many
of
the
facts
reported
were
checked
in
various
ways.
Mr.
Rosten
appears
satisfied
that
the
data
presented
are
reliable
and
representative,
even
though
in
many
instances
they
are
not
complete.
The
book
is
well
written,
fast
moving,
and
interesting.
It
corrects
certain
popular
conceptions
of
Hollywood,
and
confirms
others.
In
most
of
the
chapters
the
author
goes
beyond
the
data
contained
in
the
Ap-
pendices,
and
gives
his
impressions,
which
no
doubt
are
based
on
his
interviews
and
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