Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-16

and the manufacturers sold, say fifty reels,
Corbett must have received two thousand
dollars or more for his afternoons work.
At Work the Plays
IN the Bronx, little to the west of New
l York's Botanical Gardens and within
stones throw of Fordham Univers ity, is an
enormous concrete building topped off with
dome of glass. This is what is called a
moving picture studio, and right here is
where some of the most successful prOduc-
tons in the history of the industry have been
planned and staged.
Under the glass dome stretches an ex-
panse of bare floor honeycombed with trap
doors and surrounded with scenery and
stage property. Three stages are rallied off
from one another, and as many as three diff
at the same time.
Being moving picture actor is not much
different from being an actor in a regular
production; only, the moving picture &C
tors tongue is tied and he must talk only
with his shoulders, his eyes, his hands, and
his lips. To such extent does he develop
the expressive possibilities of gesture that he
soon learns to rival even in ordinary CONVEX
sation the most enthusiastic gesticulating
Italian. The spirit of the play is carried on
vocally by the stage director. who declaims
carry out the idea through movement.
While salaries in the moving picture world
may not range SO high as on the regular
stage, they have the advantage of being
steady and lasting. not through the short
season of thirty weeks but for the entire
fifty-two weeks of the year. Then. too, the
continual travel and horror of one-night
stands is done away WITH which compensates
the average thespian for the excitement of
first nights and the gratifying applause of
pleased audiences.
Local Color Sometimes Exciting
WHEN the company leaves thestudioand
goes into the neighboring woods or off
through distant States for the purpose of Sc
curing new surroundings or local color. a
pleasing element of variety enters into the
life of the actors. Sometimes this variety is
more exciting than pleasing.
While working on an elaborate railroad
picture, four or five moving picture actors
passed through genuine thrilling experience.
The producer in charge, climbing into the
tender of the engine with his camera oper-
ator and few other actors. instructed the
engineer to start the engine and then get out
of the way so as to allow clear range for the
camera. Mr.. Producer had lost sight of the
fact that they were at the top of steep and
by no means straight grade which ran for
eight miles along tortuous route.
The camera operator started to grind as
the engine sped down the steep grade with
increasing velocity. The actors. as we'll as
the operator, began to experience great diff
Guilty in maintaining their equilibriums, and
before long it dawned upon them that the
engine was really running away. The en-
gineer, true to instructions, had calmly
jumped off at the start, leaving the engine
entirely in charge of the moving picture
men, who now began to take more interest in
their surroundings than in the play on
which they were working. After expert
mentng with all kinds of levers and valves,
the panic stricken actors succeeded in bring
ing the unruly engine to a standstill; not
before each of them. however, had taken a
solemn vow to return to the world of wooden
engines and make believe wrecks.
Some of the productions for which the
public now evinces hearty favor involve for
the actors no little risk of physical injuries
in their preparation.
When, for instance, Lord Byron's poem
"Mazeppa," or 1.-THE Wild Horse of Tar
tary," was to be dramatized-o to coin a
word, motorized for moving picture
production, it was necessary to find. first,
most unruly horse, and then performer
willing to risk her life tied to the wild horse
IL