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Show I 77?e AfoynS c ur-e fncfu&tny n 1 1 mz J i ' ,, k JT sss?- 72 c&A- JOxtjZ Jfll 1 ," f Vcro- OA jfe Aim J ill -... '"JZZZJIIL . An Intimate Sketch of the Work of the Studios In I That Section of the Country Where Most I of the Pictures Are Made. B Copyright, 1017, by rlbo International Sindlcato. fHE growth of tho moving plcturo business ha3 been so phenomenal phe-nomenal In all parts of the globe S5 that It might bo classed with H tho world's sovon wondort not only B as a business proposition, but In Its H bcicntlflc dovelopmcnt of photography. M Although sovoral attempts at mov- H. ing pictures had been made, tho Edl- B Gon klnotoscopo, put on tho market M in 1893, was tho real beginning of the H moving plcturo Industry. Inventions H and Improvements followed each oth- B er In rapid succession until tho ovolu- B tlon of both tho plcturo taking and B the exhibition of tho films bocamo well B nigh perfect. With this development B of tho Industry and tho excellence of B the pictures tho number of patrons ln- B creased so rapidly that hundreds of B movlo halls seemed to spring up over H night and the average dally attend- 5L cmco in 191C In each of tho cities of BSV- New York and Chicago Is estimated WM at moro thnn 750,000. Tho plcturo B makors soon found that It was a good B investment for tholr money and largo H companies wero formed for tho pur- B pose of filming claborato pictures. B Today It Is estimated that about $400,- fl 000,000 Is invested In tho moving plc- H turc Industry. B California Studios. B Moving plcturo studios are to be B found In all parts of the world, but B Southern California has pcrhnps the B greatest number of any ono section B Tn iK.-fc.ru climate of the State makes It posslblo to "shoot" scenes almost cvory day and tho groatcr part of tho tlmo without artificial light It Is estimated that at loatt 25.000 persons per-sons aro engaged in tho industry In tho Golden State ono studio employing employ-ing between 2, GOO and 3,000 persons. This, of course, Includes carpenters, sceno painters, cooks and waiters, in fact, almost ovory trado has some part In tho mo king of tho mov!c3. A visit to ono of these places is a liberal education although it may dispel dis-pel some of tho illusions of tho ocroon for tho tlmo. Tho largest of tho California Cali-fornia plants is located a fow miles from Los Angeles It spreads over acres and acres and scenes from all parts of tho world are filmed thore. Villages aro constructed over night, frequently to bo burned tho no.t day. Tho far East can bo pictured so perfectly per-fectly that tho traveler has been known to locate tho exact placo of China, Japan or India when the sceno h thrown upon the screen. When street scenes aro to bo mado, fronts of houses aro set up, being hold In placo by scaffolding. Tho architecture of tho placo whero tho sceno Is laid Is carried out to tho minutest detail as aro tho costumes of tho players. On tho payment of a small admission fee tho publlo is permitted to roam at will ovor the plant and In doing do many countries can bo visited. For instance, theio Is a street In an Italian town, a Belgian lllago with da&ocstft&Zori CVi- jjffr 1 rSP Nt " Its windmill, a slroot in Canton, China, a wild Western town ready for tho arrival of tho stage which comes thundering along In truly Western stylo. There Is tho border lino between be-tween Mexico and tho United States set for a stirring scene of a Mexican raid, a hugo templo and gigantic gatos ready to opon for a mob sceno In India, whllo up on tho hillsides aro cannon ready for uso In battlo scenes. Indoor Scenes. Theso aro for tho outdoor scenes, tho Indoor pictures being mido in tho great studio largo enough to accommodate accom-modate twenty companies at ono tlmo. Tho studio Is dlvldod In rooms which aro fitted up to roprosont anything from a hovel to a palaco Lights and reflectors aro sot about as noeded and all day long sceno after sceno Is re-hoarsod, re-hoarsod, A long platform set up on tho top of a row of dressing rooms Is provided for visitors who may spend as much tlmo as they wish watching tho work and getting a real view of tho movlo queens. Whllo none of tho lTnrtl Work And Risks. Tho life of a movlo actor is one of thrills and hard work, for scenes arc rehearsed many times before tho photographer Is allowed to "shoot." Tho star must bo an accomplished person for ho or she, as tho caso may bo, is Ukoly to bo called upon to swim, rldo horseback, drlvo a team or auto-mobllo auto-mobllo or do somo athletic stunt at any time. Accidents sometimes happen, as in tho caso of Mary Fuller's rldo on a bucking broncho. Luckily sho escaped with nothing moro than a sprained back. Blanche Swoot has had somo narrow nar-row escapes, one when posing for a film in which sho leaped from the back of ono galloping horso to an-othor. an-othor. The feat was successfully accomplished, ac-complished, but tho actress was laid up for sovoral days with a sprained wrist and many bruises. At another tlmo sho drove a two horso pralrlo schooner over some of the roughest country In California. When tho drlvo was over Miss Sweets' hands were a mass of cuts on account of tho strong pulling of tho horses and tho rough lines. Holcn Holmes, who Is familiar to all movlo fans for her work In tho Hazards of Helen, has had somo nar-iow nar-iow escapes, for whllo many tricks aro played in movlo work, Miss Holmes actually carries out tho "hazards" "haz-ards" In realty. Mabel Normand, was onco lashed to a rock which jutted out whoro the ocean waves touched her. While the sceno was being filmed a huge wave swopt over her breaking the fastenings fasten-ings and sweoplng her against tho rocks on tho beach Miss Normand was badly bruised, and noarly drowned boforo being rescued. Any number of storlc3 may bo told of strenuous acts and narrow escapes of tho movlo actor whoso director goes in for realism. Directing a mob sceno Is ono of tho most difficult tasks of a diroctor. Tako for Instance tho mobs of several hun- " , . ' ; , t J , ' .111 H drod persons as seen In Joan the Woman. This picturo was mado under un-der tho direction of C. B. De Mlllo and ono day when tho writer happened to be present Mi. De Mlllo was mounted on a platform beside his camera man without hat or coat yelling at the mob which surrounded the pyre on which Joan was ahout to bo burnt. Tho bishop bish-op was approaching and Mr. Do Mlllc was shouting "Hero ho comes. Now romembor ho is a big man and you aro afraid of him and you hato him. Now talk about It," The mob began to gesticulate as Thoodoro Roberts and his attendants moved toward the seats on a stand But the mob did not act to please tho director and the sceno had to bo dono moro than a doen times boforo orders wero given to tho photographor to "shoot the scene." Ttflcks. Of course, many tricks are used to produce tho "thrillers" such as the destruction of an automobllo containing contain-ing people Now tho movlo companies aro not breaking up good machines, nor are the actors so daring that thoy aro willing to bo hurled off a cliff, so when two autos aro to collide or one is to run ovor a cliff, do not suppose for ono mlnuto that tho handsomo auto you havo seen running along the road Is tho ono which goes over tho cliff. When tho auto reaches a certain cer-tain point the film Is stopped and n wood replica in which dummies aro seated takes its placo. Tho director, out of tho rango of tho oamora, sends tho woodon car over and at tho bottom bot-tom it Is seen a comploto wrock. Again tho camera Is stopped and tho Injured people walk ovor and crawl out of tho wreck. As nono of tho Intervals In-tervals aro shown tho Illusion is perfect per-fect In picturing fires in interiors, smoko pots aro used and llttlo or no damago is dono to tho house. Evon when tho horolno Is to bo rescued tho only dam-ago dam-ago lb tho breaking of a door or a window a3 tho smoko pots produce enough smoko to glvo all tho horror of a fire. Whllo many "supes" arc used thero aro various devices to do away with human beings whenever B posslblo. A case of this camo under B tho writer's notlco ono day while jfl watching a girl bid her soldier sweet- H heart good-bye He camo Into tho B room and kissed her and then rushed jH out to Join his regiment, which was. jH to all appearances, marching past tho jH house. Tho girl took her placo at tho H window and waved her handkerchief H as tho row of bayonets and spiked M helmots passed. A few minutes later jH In walking back of tho window, the H "soldlors" proved to bo a lot of spikes IH and bayonets on a machine which re- wM volvod around and around; not a hu- jH man being was In sight but tho pic- H turo of a passing regiment was por- JH H Animal Actors. IH Two of tho California studios havo H a wild animal section and tho meth- M ods of training tho beasts as movlo H actors would mako an Interesting H book. Suffice to say they aro trained IH rathor by klndnoss than by brutality. H Many pcoplo will recall tho "Adven- VM turcs of Kathlyn," one of tho first jH sorlal pictures produced with scenes H supposed to bo laid in India. Kathlyn H Williams was the star and during tho H play sho rodo on an olophant like a JH circus veteran and also had many en- M countors with wild animals. She Is H today tho most accomplished actress H in that particular line, as sho handles H a leopard with as much easo as ono H would handle a pot cat This type of H work too has Its dangers and on ono H occasion sho camo noar losing her life. IH Sho was In tho act of stooping down H almost on top of a tiger and whon It jH turnod sho was to Jump behind a pro- H joctlng rock. Something miscarried H and the animal sprang at her. Thero H was no time to escape and her scalp M was badly torn beforo tho animal jH could bo beaten off. It is not unusual H for movlo beasts to rebel and trainers H nro ovor on tho alert Largo tracts H aro set asldo for tho animal cages and H whenovor you sco animals roaming In H tho Junglo on tho screen ou may feel H pretty suro that the junglo is lnsldo H of ono of tho big animal cages In H Southern California. B |
