1928: The rise of giant merchants

Although they were shorted by the two in the stock market and became the loser, Louis' attitude was quite enthusiastic. Together with Fairbanks, they welcomed Ye and Luo into the hotel lobby and introduced the content of the Oscars ceremony.

The Oscars were Fairbank's initial attempt to standardize the awards ceremony. He wanted to create a world-class film award that was both enjoyable and authoritative.

And if he wants this award to reach the height he hopes for, he must make a name for himself in previous editions.

It actually doesn’t matter which movie is selected. It mainly depends on the cooperation of major media, support from the political and business circles, recognition from celebrities from all walks of life, etc.

The young lady who has just made a profit of more than 30 million from the U.S. stock market and instantly became famous is obviously one of the suitable candidates to promote the Oscars.

Fairbanks could see that Hui Xin was not interested in this, so he focused on the interested young Chinese next to him.

By going to the bathroom, Fairbanks quickly obtained all the information about Ye Luo from his secretary.

You won’t know if you don’t look at it, but you will be shocked when you look at it.

It turns out that this tall and handsome young Chinese is actually the number one tycoon in Shanghai, China, a pioneer of sound films, and is highly supported by the Jinling National Government.

In New York, the United States, he also had a close relationship with Franklin and other political figures. He often visited Franklin's villa and was a member of the leisure sports club.

Knowing that Ye Luo was looking for the businessman who had tricked him, Fairbanks immediately sent people to search and inquire at the venue to see if they could gain anything.

Ye Luo and Hui Xin wandered around the venue together, looking for hidden business opportunities.

At this time, the award ceremony has been held. Film company bosses, producers, various actors and audiences were drinking and dancing at the venue, exchanging resources.

There were no particularly interesting movies in the first Oscars, but one incident caused quite a stir.

The reason was that Mary Pickford won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for "Coquette."

"Coquette" was Mary Pickford's first sound film. It was a mediocre box office success and was completely unconvincing for her to win the Best Actress Award.

It is said that on the eve of the award, she invited all the judges of the Central Jury to her villa for "tea", and she actually won the award.

At this time, public opinion was almost unanimous in criticizing her despicable behavior, but reporters and other actors were helpless.

Because Mary's husband is Fairbank, the dean of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Mary, known as "America's Sweetheart" and "Public Lover", was gathered in the center and accepted interviews from various well-known newspapers.

Of course, it is unknown whether these reporters really came here because of her reputation, or whether they were paid to help her build publicity.

To be honest, Ye Luo admired this woman.

In her prime, she was the most beautiful, richest, and most famous woman in the world. In 1919, she joined forces with Chaplin and others' companies to form United Artists Pictures.

When she entered the industry at the age of 14, she realized her commercial value and continued to control operations, repeatedly switching jobs with various film companies to make her contracts bigger and bigger.

In 1916, Mary and Zucker signed a shocking contract: Soda would pay Mary $10,000 per week plus a bonus of $300,000 per year, and at the same time help her establish a branch company, the Mary Pickford Film Company.

The company specializes in filming films starring her and participates in the studio's profit sharing.

The following year, Mary signed a contract with First National Pictures, charging $350,000 for each film.

In other words, in 1917, Mary could get a salary of about 1.5 million oceans for one movie!

At this time in China, Ruan Lingyu, the top actress of Yip's Film Company, has a monthly salary of 3,500 oceans, and the company pays dividends of 120,000 oceans a year. Ye Luo's salary for her is 350,000 oceans per movie, which is far ahead of all other stars. And it is a cliff-like first.

Even including the dividends from Ye's Film Company shares given to her by Hu Die, her annual income is about 1.5 million yuan, which is equivalent to Mary's salary for one of her films in 1917.

It shows how rich this woman is.

From this we can see the huge difference in economic base between China and the United States.

Mary, who was surrounded by flowers, also saw the two of them, Ye Luo, especially Hui Xin, who was at the venue with a big belly. It was quite eye-catching and made her a little curious.

Just when Mary was about to strike up a conversation, Fairbanks ran towards her with an angry face and pulled her out of the crowd with an evil look on her face.

Mary asked in an unhappy voice: "What's wrong? I'm being interviewed by the New York Times."

"An interview with the New York Times? I think you will be able to successfully become the headline news of all newspapers and magazines in the near future." Fairbank teased.

The two married on March 28, 1920, when Mary had just divorced her first husband, the famous actor Irving Moore (Irving's long-term alcoholism was difficult for Mary to accept).

The marriage of Mary and Fairbanks became a sensation in the world of cinema. But after getting over the initial novelty, the two lost much interest in each other. In 1936, the two, who had been separated for many years, officially divorced.

Now Fairbanks and Mary's relationship is very thin, but due to the aura of marriage and the status of business partners, they have not officially confessed.

"Isn't this a good thing?" Mary didn't hear Fairbank's sinister tone and couldn't help but ask, "If I win the Best Actress Award, it will also make the headlines of major newspapers and magazines."

"I'm afraid this headline is not a good thing." Fairbanks admitted that Mary has extraordinary talents and talents, but sometimes this woman's pure thoughts and love brain are really speechless.

"Why?" Mary became even more confused.

"Because you messed with people you shouldn't mess with." Fairbank pointed at Ye Luo.

It turned out that he sent someone to investigate and found that the businessman who had tricked Ye Luo belonged to United Artists Pictures. The four major shareholders of the company were Fairbank, Mary, Chaplin and Griffith, and the other three None of them knew it, and it was obviously Mary who did it.

Mary only remembered this little thing after his reminder, because when United Artists Pictures was investing in new films, Edward, the eldest son of the Sassoon family, generously gave him $500,000, so she helped with this little thing.

After listening to Fairbanks' introduction to Ye Luo, Mary opened her small mouth wide with disbelief on her face.

This man and woman are already worth more than 40 million US dollars?

And it’s working capital.

"I'll introduce you to him later, and you can solve this problem yourself." After all, Fairbanks couldn't bear his wife being killed, and said helplessly in a low voice.

After Mary was shocked after learning this, her eyes shone brightly.

She suddenly felt that her opportunity had come!

Since becoming a businessman and actress, her career has become narrower and narrower. Seeing that her former status will be shaken in the sound era, she is extremely anxious.

It would be great if some big boss could praise me!

Now, isn’t this big guy coming? (End of chapter)