Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-26
Movie Actors
Faced Death in
"QuO TGdS -
Many Hair-breadth Escapes by
Those Who Create Noted
PhotopIays.

That death and danger III the lives
of the photoplay actors and camera
men is shown by the thrilling stories
of peril and hairbreadth escapes told
In connection with obtaining realistic
scenes for motion pictures.
AS dramatic as the pictures on the
screens are the events resulting from
attempts to portray men, women and
children in an arena with wild beasts,
the enactment of a scene showing
train wreckers at work and the rep
resentation OF suicide by drown
ing.
Making a photoplay of Quo Vadis''
was fraught with peril for the mo-
ton picture actors and actresses.
When a scene in which fifty wild
beasts play an important part was
about to be staged near Rome, Italy,
all of the big menagerie dealers in
Europe were asked to obtain wild
animals of the right type. Lions,
tigers. wolves and panthers were So
cured to make the scene more life
like
The secret of the arrival of the AMI
mails had been kept from the MEM
bers of the motion picture company,
but when 1t was revealed they re-
fused pointblank to act with horde
of savage beasts. unrestrained by
bars The directors of the company
had planned to have the brutes in the
arena with the crowd of men, women
1d children that took part in the
production. and they finally secured
more actors by Offering unusually
high salaries and promising to take
every precaution against accidents.
The high wall about the arena was
I.41. oh, -
which stood an expert marksman
with a loaded rifle. ready to kill any
animal that started to attack.
1t became known that the fears of
the actors were well founded when a
large Bengal tiger made for pretty
actress in her teens. The force of his
attack was stopped by bullet, but
he succeeded In severely mangling
one of her arms. One of the keepers
was attacked by a lion in the ex-
element that followed. and he did
not leave a hospital till six weeks
afterward as a result. Another tiger
attacked an actor later on, but the
tman's life was saved by bullet from
a rifle.
F. Martin Duncan, a well-known
British naturalist, has had many adj
ventures while taking living pictures
of wild beasts. On one occasion he
CT tCl6u Ills Cdl1tId III q llSCi tdS0
in Carl Hagenbeck's great zoo in
Hamburg when one of the tigers lost
his temper, gave a furious growl, and
sprang toward him. Fortunately the
camera was in the way. This the
brute knocked down and seized,
crunching it to pieces between his
long sharp fangs, while Duncan made
hurried exit.
A dramatic termination occurred
L. a..
which train wreckers were supposed
to tie a signalman to the metal.
The engine was supposed to ap-
proach and to be stopped just in
time to avert a tragedy. Unfor-
tunately, this latter provisio failed,
for the man was run over and killed.
A gruesome feature of the tragedy
was that the operator, who was
stationed higher up the line, was
quite unaware that anything was
amiss and continued to turn the
handle of the camera, thus record
ing every detail of the accident.
The film was used as evidence at
the inquest, but, of course, was never
exhibited. This accident occurred
before the photoplay men had
gained the knowledge that the eff
feet of showing a person about to
be run over by the cars could be OBJ
lneu ny TouIlillB lllt train away
from the actor tied on the tracks.
On more than one occasion daring
actors have sacrificed their lives in
their efforts to obtain the proper
effects. One day the steamboat pier
at Bellevue, Paris, was the scene of
sad tragedy caused by an effort
to give an accurate representation
of drama in real life. In one of
the scenes, enacted before the lenses
of the moving picture camera sui
eide Is supposed to fling himself into
the river and drown. The actor
chosen to play the part was a we'll
known acrobat named Otreps.
At the appointed hour he jumped
far out into the Seine and struggled
and shouted in q manner so intensely
realistic that the people who were
looking on clapped their hands and
cheered Justify. Presently he sank,
but as this was part of the "busi-
ness" no one was surprised. Seconds
grew into minutes. Otreps did not
reappear.
There were shouts for boat. Men
pulled out, but there was no sign
of the poor fellow. 1t was not until
an hour later that his dead body
was recovered. He had been seized
by cramps and his shouts for as
sistance had been taken for clever
acting.