Word: pined
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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white-robed men sat at trude pine desks facing the tomb of their Father Founder. A few were lay brothers, most were priests, but all were monks, vowed to perpetual poverty, chastity and obedience. They were not Roman Catholics but Episcopalians, members of the Order of the Holy Cross, oldest of their church's five male religious orders.-They were met for their Annual Chapter meeting...
This gave Pine & Thomas, who call themselves the "Dollar Bills," what few other class-B moviemakers have: a big bank roll and a spigot for their potboilers in Paramount's 11,000 outlets. Result: By last week the Dollar Bills were 1) producing pictures at an average cost of $125,000; grossing an average $600,000 on each, 2) top class-B producers in Hollywood, 3) among the highest paid moviemakers in the business. This year they will collect about $700,000 (before taxes) for their work...
Profits, Not Art. In their early years in Hollywood, Thomas as a producer-writer and Pine as an associate producer (he was once Cecil B. de Mille's assistant) learned that poor planning skyrockets overhead and production costs. Often everybody on the set is idle while the director works out a new plot twist. So Pine & Thomas reduced their plots to two inartistic formulas...
Overhead is cut to the bone by renting stage space, keeping only a skeleton staff of eleven people between pictures, paying actors by the hour. But they are paid well and they do the scenes right the first time. Gagged Pine: "We pay the highest salaries in Hollywood-for 20 minutes." Result: Overhead, which amounts to 40% of a film's total cost at M.G.M., is kept at 4% by Pine & Thomas...
...made Power Dive, Wrecking Crew, etc. will begin work on their 28th picture for Paramount, a bodily-harm thriller called Hot Cargo. If their formula holds, it will be shot in the usual time of twelve twelve-hour days, should earn some $378,000 for Paramount, $97,000 for Pine & Thomas. Hollywood's artists will pooh-pooh it. But the customers will...