The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-08-03
DoNALDsoNyILLE. La, SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1912.

LA, SA- u RDl
WONDERFUL MOVING PICTURE
Discovery Of America by coIumbu
Depicted with. Dramatic vivic
ness on Most Elaborate Film
Ever Made-o be Shown Her
Tuesday, Aua..6.
Il .sThe Coming of Columbus. ;
moving picture drama ii three reel
i just completed hg the selig Poly
scope Company, and which will b
I produced at the Gondran Theatre il
this city next Tuesday Afternoon
and right, is the most expensive, The
most elaborate and most wonderful
graphic moving picture film eYe1
made.
The vital events@in the life of the
great discoVerer who gave a new
world to civilization are reproduced
with historic egaetness. To depict
with Photographic accuracy the great
events of history is an achievement
to be numbered among the most
marvellous of up-tgs1aIe science. In
these remarkable pictures Columbus
lives and breathes and moves. He
pleads his cause at the feet of Fer
dlnand and Isabella. In the accoutre-
ments Of an admiral Of Spain he
stands upon the quarIerdeck of the
Santa Maria and leads his fleet of
three caravels westward from PaIos
across an unknown sea- He quells
a mutiny in midocean. He defies his
captains to turn him back. You see
him pacing to and fro on the wather
side of his high-pooped little vessel.
You see his lips move. You see his
hands beat the air III eloquent ges-
ture. You see theSglint and sparkle
Of his eye. You see his face deep IN
thought or irradiated with the inspi-
ration of the dream that led him on
The Columbus OF the pictures is
alive. 1t is as ifsthe camera had
reached back into the past by some
occult power and Visualized scenes
forever departed.
The making OF these wonderful pic
lures occupied three years. The
greater part of this time was taken
UP in gathering data concerning the
life of Columbus to2insure historical
accuracy in every detail. William N.
Selig, president Of the selig Poly
scope company, spaied no expense il
working out this masterpiece He
sent committee of scholars to
Spain. These men spent months
digging among the musty archives of
Madrid, Salamanca, Cordoya and
Seville. They brought to light many
new facts about bus. hey se-
cured Columbus own log of the =Yoy-
age which resulted in the discovery
Of the new world, written in Spanish
in Columbus own hand. BY deposit
ing a $4,000 bond with the Spanish
government, the committee was per
mitted to bring this priceless book
to America, where it was translated
and used to give color and vivfdness
TO the pictures illustrating the Yoy-
age of the great discoVerer.
The ships Of Columbus depicted in
the pictures are the three caraveIs
sent by the Spanish government
across the ocean to the Chicago
worlds fair, and which have been
in Jackson park lagoons
ever since. These three vessels are
exact replicas of the ships Of Col
umbus' little fleet Crossing the At
Iantic under their own sails and fol
loving as nearly as possible the
course Of the original voyage of Col
ambus, the Santa Maria, the Nina and
The @Pinta arrived in Lake Michigan
BY way of the st. Lawrence river,
he Wel1and canal, Lake Erie and
Lake Huron. They sailed into Chi
;ago harbor July 1898. Since the
worlds fair the caraVels have been
ii the charge of the South Park COM
When Mr.. selig took possession Of
he caravels they We're fast going to
pieces. Their bottoms were imbed-
led in mud and when dragged into
5pen water they were as leaky as
5ieYes. Mr.. Selig spent several thou
sand dollars in calking them, re-
them, bending new sails and
zoyerhauling them and max
ng them seaWorthy.
In the pictures one sees the cara I
1els standing brayely across the sea,
'oeking on ocean sWells, lifting and
pitching over emerald hills Of water
0ne sees the eager faces of the sail |
rs croWding their rails and the look
,uts at the Inastheads, peering for
ward toward an unknown world be-
sond the horizon. AS a matter of |
act, the painless ocean" is Lake
Michigan. just off Jackson park, and |
he sailors are selig company actors.
ii the pictures you see Columbus
and on San Salvador and, framed
among palms and ferns and tropical
Gliage, kiss the earth and claim it T
Il the name Of Spain. In reality
San Salvador is the sandy Indiana
hores. Of the lake, near the steel /
;ity Of Gary, and the coeoanut palms,
l1a date trees and jelngles of the
fopies are property plants secured
n Chicago hothouses and stuck in
he sand Of the lake margin.
The cost Of the pictures was over
,50. .0O0. Never before have any of T