SOCIAL SECURITY IN ACTION

[Music] this is social security in action produced in Hollywood for the United States Department of Health Education and Welfare and here is the manager of the Hollywood Social Security office Edie Kramer he watched movies in television you've seen today's guest they did many times no I can say this without fear of contradiction because he has appeared about 230 movies and about 200 television productions he moviegoers who saw Guys and Dolls will recognize them as Abernathy and he saw the universal international picture the last sunset while you saw him with the Kirk Douglas and Rock Hudson and here's how he appeared in a very early Western with Richard Arlen and some thirty years and two hundred movies later or here he is again with Richard Arlen and all let's meet our guest in person three just to me oh yeah Regis holida to be working with Richard Arlen thirty years later well is pretty much the same Richard Arlen out how that came about it we did a picture for 20th Century Fox called warlock and while we were shooting I was looking for something and I came across a soul stilled from the light of western stars picture we made with Mary Bryan in 1930 and I've brought it on the set to show it to him and Frank neela publicity man said let's shoot a picture now thirty years later that's how this came about well how did it feel to be working with a man that he worked with some 30 years ago and in the Western have you changed any well that's pretty hard question to answer dick Arlen is remarkably like he was 30 years ago this picture really doesn't do him justice he's very youthful looking Becky would say the same thing about you outrageous well I don't know whether he could truthfully wouldn't object well thinking about the old times you have number of distinctions you were with Clara Boaz her leading man and her first talkie how do you remember parable was his neighbor says they say well that was the first talking future Clara made you're referring to kick in well she was a wonderful person very fine talent of course she was the biggest star of her time there's news in silent pictures just before the advent of talkies and it was a great thrill for me to be playing opposite her in a picture because she'd been one of my great favorites before I ever came into Hollywood that's just sort of apprehensive about doing this talking and I've never felt apprehensive about anything in the theatre hardly enough I'd met Clara I knew her fairly well before we started to shoot it meant a great deal to her because this was her first talking picture and I know she was scared to death as were all the other big silent pictures who made this change I was apprehensive for her I think well you had another distinction - you'd played in the first gangster talkie a picture called alibi and I think you have a theme that you play that sort of cast you for quite a number of movies there none remember what that scene was well you're talking about the long death scene then alibi alibi was the first all-talking melodrama and it was the forerunner of all the gangster pictures I played a young crop Danny McGann of the Homicide Squad and I got killed and this started me on a long career of dying I was an actor who was known to die very well longest and corniest death scene ever played this is true I didn't get that the TV Guide said that this scene was the corniest and longest death scene in the movies history well I don't think that's quite true at that time it was I'm quite sure today if it were on the screen today it would be considered very corny and much too long but in those days we had the set music we have we really lived these things and believed in them and at that time well the answer to your question is that that got me off to a pretty good start what how did you get out of this dyeing routine and then to other parts well I got tired of being tight as the dyeing actor I don't mean to say that every picture that came up was a picture in which I was killed but there were a lot of them and the death scenes were getting closer to the beginning of the picture meaning that parts weren't so long and I hired a new agent and I told him I didn't want to do any more death scenes and the first real important part that came up was a picture with C B DeMille and when I went down to be interviewed by him he told me that of course about halfway through the picture Anthony Quinn would kill me and I said mr. DeMille something I don't want to do anymore and he looked at me as much as to say well don't you don't mean you're gonna turn me down he didn't say anything I said but for you I'll do it of course anybody would work for mr. DeMille who's Randall man the motion pictures so I didn't quite get away from the death scenes at that time although I've done very few since yeah must have been quite a traumatic experience going from sadness to talkies for a great movies old stars who were quite big in silence you said they had a test called the Mississippi test what was that well this was a rather tragic episode that I was witness to when I first came to Hollywood was through a lot of these silent picture stars who had been tremendous names all over the world and a lot of them with stage background for many of these people that big stars in New York but they had a know how they would sound so they have microphones set up and they bring these people in they they weren't in the picture that I was in but they they they were I guess willing to come in to find out whether or not their voice had record and they give them this word Mississippi to see if they'd get a whistle at this came out whistles which was an almost impossible word and I felt rather badly about that and I remember I talked to one of the technicians I said how often does the word Mississippi come up in a picture but I didn't get a name for sure it was a rather tragic thing for a lot of these people because a great deal was at stake what do you think about social security as a test what do I think about social security has advice test in terms of terms that could very easily be troublesome does never bother you yes as a matter of fact I've been hadn't come with a partner over the years now and speaking about social security we have a film reaches that we'd like to show our viewers so let's take a minute off each of these men is 65 years old each is getting Social Security retirement payments Jim Roberts here works part time he earns about $1,300 a year and gets a Social Security check nearly every month bill Jones works eight months a year and earns about $4,000 for the year he gets a Social Security check for each of the four months in which he does not work strike Williams works full-time earns about $2,700 a year and gets some Social Security benefits at the end of each year the exact amount depends on his monthly benefit and his earnings for the year if you are 65 or over and have not applied for Social Security benefits because you are still working take this advice from Jim bill and Frank right phone or visit your Social Security office soon you too may be eligible before we're on the air Regis to me said that he had only recently heard that a person can earn over $1,200 a year and still get some of his Social Security benefits while we know that many people don't know this that you can earn over $1,200 during a year and still get some of your so pretty benefit well let me show you what I mean in cities and towns all over the country Social Security people are worried they know there are million people over age 65 in all rakta life who haven't filed for their Social Security benefits now if you're 65 or over and still working and you're learning over 1200 dollars a year you can get some retirement benefits under certain conditions out here that here here are the conditions if you have lower earnings during the year you can get some of your Social Security benefits for example if you're single and earning $2,000 a year you can still receive some of your so sturdy payments if you're a married couple and the husband was working you can earn as much as $3,500 a year and still get some of his Social Security payments and for those who work as employees while they can earn any amount of money four five six eighty seven thousand dollars or more and for any month in which they have wages of a hundred dollars a month or less or don't work in that particular month they can receive a Social Security benefit and they self-employed person - regardless of his enough proper during the year for any month and what she doesn't operate this business or work out his business he can also receive a spoke to detainment and then at age 72 the most which the person reaches age 72 that person can receive Social Security benefits for rest of his life regardless of his earnings now we'd like to recommend some suggestions one is that you inquire before you retire to find out exactly what your Social Security benefit rate is under what conditions you would be painted and how you can draw your security payments and then when you're 62 well check with your Social Security office because you might be out of a job it helps might be poor your financial situation might be in such a for such a situation that you might want to consider filing for reduced benefits either as a man or a woman worker and then even though you're working at past age 65 we recommend you contact your so security office because you might want to file your claim for a number of reasons one even though you may not get any security payments by filing your claim and taking care of the probably paperwork by getting your proofs in they must and what you do retire unless which you can qualify for a benefit we check will come to you without any delay but more than that by spawning at age 65 you might find out that benefits are payable under the conditions I told you about just a little bit earlier and so we have a slogan we'd like to recommend to all those who are past 65 while don't delay check today and find out about retirement Social Security benefits and under what conditions you can we see them if you're earning over 1200 dollars a year and one of the things you can do today is ask for our two little booklets 21 questions and answers about Social Security payments for working people past 62 years of age and 23 C you don't have to retire completely to get social security benefits why now to get these two booklets 23 a and 23 C well please write to us here at this program and we'll see to it you get these updates for free and of course if you have any questions well please write to us we'll try to answer them for you well Regis I've got these two little booklets I'm gonna hand to you because I think everyone ought to find out about these security payments thank you well I guess it's time for me to go down and check I got up early this morning and I did a very stupid thing I went off to prune a pyracantha bush and I got hung up on the forum I forgot about the thorns don't forget about thorns if you ever I'm lucky I don't have a green thumb I might ask a little bit about your personal life Regis as to what you do with your time I understand that you have a very interesting hobby well I have I've had several hobbies I noticed you're a pipe man I collected briar pipes for many years I have a cup of dogs had a Kerry blue Terrier and a little poodle I'm very fond of they take a lot of my time and I do a little writing I correspond with several people on tapes I will tape recorder and I don't know I seem to keep busy and I don't have anyone I guess pipe collecting was the closest thing I ever had to a hobby at one time I had about $200 and I've given a lot of it away I still smoke right Regis I'm sorry but our time is just about up I want to thank you very much for coming on our program I certainly enjoyed you so many many years there's so many many movies and I know we're gonna see you for many many more years to come and then you might even have a new series and television coming up and I'd like to remind everyone to check out their social security by sing their songs to the office soon social security in action is produced by the Social Security Administration and brought to you as a public service by this station [Applause] [Music]