Show Stunt Men Really R ally Enjoy Own Misfortunes 1 By Paul Harrison HOLLYWOOD NEA One NEA-One One of the many things I like about stunt stuntmen stuntmen men Js ithe the way they get fun tun out of ot their misfortunes This is notto not notto notto to say they mock at tragedy In fact on the set of a n stunt-man stunt picture picture pic plc- ture Im Still Alive I saw one ore of the veterans break down in as a n s scene ne which recalled almost the exact exact exact ex ex- ex- ex act circumstances of the death 01 ol his best friend But half an hour later they were all sitting around yarning about experiences which they were vere plenty perilous and maybe mabe painful at the time are funny In retrospect Like the time one of them dived pd through the wrong window of a moving train choosing a window In which the plate glass lass had not been replaced by sheet rosin And the time Sailor Vincent chased to the end of a pier by a hungry lion had to dive about 20 feet Into a canoe occupied by hy bya hya a man and a girl The boat should have had a breakaway bottom of just enough lath and canvas canvas- to hold water and yet et allow the stunt stunt- er to go through It But a property property prop prop- prop prop-I erty man got his orders mixed and provided an ordinary canoe with i stout cedar ribs Vincent not only went vent through It anyway but kept right on into soft mud because the water turned out to be only about a foot deep They didn't there was much use of pulling him out But they did and he was all right In a day or two I Fifteen Got 1 Mass Thrill 1 Fifteen of Hollywoods Hollywood's best stuntmen stuntmen stunt men had one of their most thrilling thrilling thrilling thrill thrill- ing and amusing experiences all althe at al atthe atthe the same time It was during filming filmIng filming film film- ing of Mutiny on the Bounty and nd andone one side of a British ship had been built on a. a huge barge It was an mass of I false work cable guys ropes and sails Besides the who were to climb around the rigging of the artificial ship 60 college students had been hired as atmosphere atmosphere atmosphere atmos atmos- phere crew and soldiers I A gusty blow and aM high waves waves' came up suddenly The barge was WIlS overturned and the superstructure I smashed For a f couple of minutes min mire utes recalled Alan Pomeroy we Vt all figured most of us would be drowned There were a fey few boats boats' around but they couldn't get close e with the waves so high and oh that smashed mashed rigging But only one was vas lost lost lost-an an a assistant cam earner earner- rl man I remember Rube Schaeffer fer fer- fer Stunt Man Schaeffer was tas In Inexactly Inex Inex- fOX achy the plight that was SUppO IQ to haye have killed Spencer Tracy in In Captains Captain Coura Courageous he seem seemed Kl I hopelessly caught In cables and debris Said Schaeffer himself I thought of a lot of things in those thoe I Iber minutes but I especially rem remember em ber her something that made me mad A make up man was sas on ona a tug nearby near by and he kept hollering Rube Ruh I hang onto that wig Dont Don't lo lose e that new wig Rube There I was drowning and this guy screaming about a damn 5 dome About that time the cables and spars pars began to sink and me w with t em m I thought Well Vell this Is It But down below somewhere the whole mass turned over and I came conic up and found I wa was free I sure was WI surprised |