“In Hollywood dwell some ten or twelve thousand misguided folk who cling tenaciously to a couple of really fantastic illusions… Theses illusions are that it is possible today to make a living as an ‘extra’ and that ‘extra’ work is the way to ‘break into the movies’.”
“In twenty years it is improbable that more than twenty men and women have broken out of the extra ranks into the upper levels, while hundreds of once-prominent – even stars and directors – are now in the ranks of the ‘extras’.”
“There are not 200 whose earnings reach $100 a month, and there are perhaps fifty who will reach $200! And these last few have invested from $1,500 to $2,500 in wardrobe and must spend from $500 to $750 a year in maintaining it!”
From Amazon: Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players, and Stand-Ins
