A.C. LYLES: I think it’s the desire of being
obsessed, obsessed, obsessed obsessed. And nothing else mattered
except going to get here and be with Paramount, and be with Mr.
Zukor, and learn how to make movies. I’ve never had a
desire or wanted to be in front of the camera, I’ve always
wanted to be in back of it. Writing scripts, and producing
things, producing movies, and doing that, that was my whole
ambition. I think there’s a lot of boys and girls, the
first thing they want to do in Hollywood is be an actor, or an
actress, which you know, I think is wonderful, it’s very
honorable. I just never had that desire, and its probably just as
well, because I’ve been a very successful producer here,
but I don’t know how I would have done had I tried to be an
actor. I never thought about it.
BRUCE EDWIN: Well I think you would have
certainly done well, you have the charisma to carry any
thing.
A.C. LYLES: Thank you. I just wanted to make it as a
producer. But I have great admiration for those who have that
ability to be in the front of the camera. I have as much
admiration for a good writer, director, producer, executive,
camera man, art director, costumer, as I do for the biggest names
in the business, because they all have great talent, and they all
go together to make the product, and each is extremely important
in making the movie.
BRUCE EDWIN: As a producer, in what way do you
think the industry has changed the greatest?
A.C. LYLES: See, when I came to Paramount, the
pictures were silent. Ladies were typists. They had I think two
or three minorities on the lot. Now, ladies are heads of studios,
producers, directors, writers, the acting field, my gosh,
as I say, they had two or three minorities, now we have
producers, directors, writers. Look at the situation a few years
ago where this actor and actress, two wonderful, great great
talents, Halle Barry and Denzel Washington won awards, and that’s
really good. And everything changes. You go back and look at
automobiles 60 years ago, and you’ll see the changes, and
you look at how people dressed, and you’ll see every man
wearing a hat, now its very seldom you see a man wear a hat, so
everything changes drastically, and the studio, Mr. Zukor came
here in 1926. I joined Paramount in 1928, so I’ve been here
to see things develop greatly, and changes in everything, and a
lot of things that are being developed today, I don’t know
what they are, but they will radically change the business (in
the future) the same way sound did. I saw sound come in. I saw
color come in. I saw the wide screen come in, and the same thing
will happen in the future.
BRUCE EDWIN: Do you kind of embrace the
technological aspects of change, or do you think there are better
aspects of the earlier days of film?
A.C. LYLES: I have always been very positive
about this business. I don’t know of anything that’s
happened in this business that I’ve thought was to a
disadvantage of the motion picture and television. Because the
motion picture and television I feel are the two most absorbing
media’s ever invented that we’ve ever known.
And of course there are a lot of changes now, but I’ve
always felt that the changes that I’ve seen have been a
great advantage, not only to Hollywood, but to the audience that
sees it.
To be continued…
Don’t miss our next great issue, where we discuss further
with A.C. Lyles fascinating topics including Marilyn Monroe,
talent, what it takes to be a star, ghosts at Paramount, life
after death, and much more. Only at the Hollywood Sentinel
®.
© 2009, www.TheHollywoodSentinel.com ® / Bruce Edwin.
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