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Show I! BY A. E GIEBLER. i v F YOU ever go to a moving-picture I studio to visit a friend who has a job acting In the movies and are j told that ho or she Is "out on location," j do not try sitting down in the anteroom and cooling your heels until he or she comes back without asking Just where., "on location" your friend Is located. Your friend might be Just around Iho corner or only a block or so away helping! help-ing! to take a Street scene, or he mlglrt j be in another state. He might be out on j the heaving bosom of the ocean or out on the bi'oad expanse of tho boundless ' prairies: at tho bottom of a 'deep can- ! yon on the top of a high mountain. IIo ! might return in fifteen minutes and he j might net return for ilfceen days. ! "On location" means any place out side of the studio buildings, or the large -" grounds surrounding them known as -! "the lot," where it may be necessary to go to mcko-a scene. ! i The movie people arc export to a de- v j pree that seems almost magical in rc- ! producing scenes. Buildings, houses, pal- , j aces, towns and cltlqs arc easy prob- i loms, but there arc times when they have to go to old mother nature and ask j her to help. l Mahomet Philosophy. B A small lake can bo made in the studio B lot, and a section of a river, with trees " B on the bank and water deep enough to; B float a boat, are frequently constructed. B A "bit" of mountain scenery can be B made. But if a wide stretch of river or Bj lake or a whole mountain Is needed, tho B movies, like Mahomet, must go to the B river, lake or mountain. B ".Little pieces" of desert that look ex-actly ex-actly like the real thing arc very often B built. Some of the "Western studios keep B x supply of giant cacti on hand for ttiis B purpose. B When desert stuff on a small scalo is B wanted, a spdt of ground is covered B with aand, a bunch or so of sage brush B is stuck hern and there, two or three B property men who are not afraid of B Rtlckcrs, wearing rubber coats and thlcx B gloves, operating with long poles, ropes B and considerable profanity, move ths B tall telegraph pole "cactuses" Into lhJ scene and set them up and there you A bit of desert perfectly good enough B and big enough for the hero to givo 'he villain the last drink of water from hU B flask and hear his dying confession that will clear his name of the cloud it has B been under, restore the heroine to his B arms, locate tho stolen "papers" and B make everything lovely, can bo filmed on B B But when real desert stuff Is wanted, B when It is necessary to show tho wide, desolate wastes, with the carcass of a B defunct cow or coyote bleaching here B xnd there on the blistering sands; a B desert with a range of foothills and B Bky line In tho distance, where the hero, or the villain, or whoever it Is that is lost may be shown first as a B little speck that grows bjgger and B bigger until it seems that he Is going B to come right down in tho audience B and hunt for tho water-cooler that H kind of desert cannot be manufactured. Bedouins in New Jersey. Time was when any sandy stretch of H i;ea or lake shore where a house or H factory chimney did not stick itself up P xnd spoil the sky line, would bo used for "desert stuff." The Now Jersey sand flats have been the scene for B many a Bedouin encampment; dozens of cloaked and hooded Arab chieftains have ridden their mill: white chargers H up and down the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan; but since most of the big producing concerns have studios on fl '.he Pacific Coast, real deserts arc used. The Mojavo Desert, which is within motoring distance of most of the West-B West-B ;rn studios, is a favorite location for B "burning sands" stuff. B Sometimes two and thrco days are B ipcnt on these locations. Tho players, H directors, property men, cameramen, B arc loaded up in two or three automo- B biles, and away they go to get the gen- B ulno "Death Valley" atmosphere. When B 9. trip of. this kind keeps tho movie peo- . pie away from tho studio over night, lots of lunch and lots of blankets aro taken along, for In spite of the popular song writers' waillngs about the "sands of the desert that never grow cold," people who have slept out on them know better, and then, besides, a blanket 13 a good thing to keep a sociable so-ciable rattlcsnako or a friendly tarantula taran-tula from getting too companionable. Phoenix as "Red Gap." The filming of well-known books makes many long-location trips necessary. neces-sary. When the story calls for river, forest or mountain scenes of a general , nature, the work Is comparatively simple, sim-ple, and tho nearest river, forest or mountain Is used. But when tho book is laid In some well-known locality and the spots named, thcro is nothing to . do but to go to that spot. When ,the Lasky, Company made a film of "Tom Sawyer," a company of players was sent '000 miles from the studio to the Mississippi (River, near Hannibal, Mo., to get scenery described by Mark Twain in his great story. Too many people havo read Tom Sawyer, and tho location of the story is too familiar to the reading public In general gen-eral to allow anything but the real locations to be used. When no particular town Is specified in a book, or no particular character drawing is done by the author that will make a specified district necessary, any place that corresponds with tho atmosphere atmos-phere of the story Is used. Tho Essanay Company have Just released re-leased a photoplay version of Harry Leon Wilson's story, "Buggies 0f Red Gap." This story was laid in that wide and Indefinite region known 'as "the West," and the Essanay people choso rhoonlx, Ariz., for the setting. An entire company of players, directors di-rectors and others needed in the production pro-duction was sent all tho way from Chi-, cago to Phoenix and kept there until all tho scenes needed were photographed. photo-graphed. It was neccswixy to use the railroad station for several of tho scones, and the sign "Phoenix" on the end of the building was replaced by ono reading "Hcd Cap.' People coming into Phoenix Phoe-nix on tho trains were astonished, and thought they had discovered a new town on tho Arizona map, and one passenger pas-senger who had a ticket for Phoenix had to have things fully explained to him before he would get off. "Going on location" is a sort of picnic pic-nic in tho movies sometimes. A- trip to tho seashore la always relished If tho day is balmy. But when the action calls for bathing suits and the wind is cross and goose-bumpy, it is not quite so much fun. Bear Valley, in tho San Ecrnardlno Mountains, only a few hours from Los Angeles, la a favorite "snow stuff" location; lo-cation; Snow can ho found thcro rll during tho winter months because of the altitude. Trlp3 of this kind sound plcasanter than they aro in reality, and many a poor player starts out merrily on "snow stuff" location to como back with a nice Assortment of chilblains, a red nose and a sncozy cold. A great many .players demand location stuff almost entirely. Nearly all of William S. Hart's films are made In tho desert and on the mountains because of tho character of the stories. Following1 a Circus. Douglas "Fairbanks Is a great location producer. Most of the scenes of "A Modern Musketeer" were filmed in the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Tho Vitagraph serial, "Tho Fighting Trail." was made almost entirely "on location." The company traveled many hundreds of miles; portablo miners' cabins and buildings necessary to tho action wero carried along with the outfit out-fit and. set up wherever needed. When "Polly of tho Circus" was mado by Goldwyn, a company of players, headed by Mac Marsh, tho star, followed fol-lowed a small circus from town to town. This was not done so much to get the circus atmosphere as It wa3 to get realistic scones In different towns and to show tho arrival and departure of the circus. The Pacific Coast country, where a great many of the pictures aro now made, is ideal for location work of all kinds. The sea, tho shores and beaches offer a varied. and almost unlimited variety of scenery. Tho desert Is within with-in easy dlslanco and mountains and foothlllH arc quickly reached; and tho cllmato is n. that outsldo work, with tho exception of action In the higli altitudes, alti-tudes, can bo carried on all tho year round. j It la no uncommon sight to see tho picture people working on location anywhere any-where In and around the vicinity' of Loss Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Pasadena and other coast towns, .indeed, .in-deed, tho movies and movlo making Is one of the great attractions of the country coun-try for visitors. Tho public is not allowed In tho studios, but thcro is no way of keeping them from making an audience of themselves them-selves wlsen the work Is going on out-. out-. elde, j j . V4M : ' -:. :. f- |