Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-09-03
GRIFFYTH'S INDIAN
PHOTOPLAY ACTORS
The Careers, Work and Ideals
of Two Very Distinctive
Actors
Nv THE PHoToPLAY EDITOR

The two chief Indian players at the
Grimth coast headquarters, the Reliance
Majestic studios. are in decided contrast.
Dark Cloud Is an American. who acts
before the camera to eive permanency TO
the traditions Of aboriginal America
which have come down to him from his
forebears He has so broadened his art
in doing this that he is able to appear
not only as an Indian, but as member
Of almost any dark-skinned race. While
he is an artist, too. yet he admits that
historian for his people.
Eagle Eye. the other principal aborlg-
inal player. on the other hand. is an
actor and an artist. pure and simple lie
does not concern himself with ultimate
motive. but is content with the JOY OF
creative artistic expression.
The two men entered motion pictures
in widely different ways. II was purely
an accident in the case of Eagle Eye, who
found himself virtually penniless in
New Mexico town. Tourists liked his
Indian get-up. The Snowman in him i'm
rnediately came TO the surface and he
charged 10 cents zach time he posed for
n tourists camera
Dark Cloud. on the other hand. ap-
preached the screen stage deliberately
with the purpose stated above
Eagle Eye Is full-blooded Apache He
was born on an Indian reservation near
San Carlos, I'm Arizona, i'm 1870. He re-
ma'ned on the reservation until 1891 when
the actors instinct developed within him
so strongly that he could not resist t. He
tcined n strolling Indian troupe and played
through the West. He had been noted
as dancer among his own people He
used the Indian dances with the troupe.
An engagement with Buffalo Bill" fol-
lowed his first venture. engagements
with other wild west shows led him fin
ally to the doors of motion-picture
studios. ID. w. Griffith saw Eagle Eye
and thought him a splendid type. His
future was then assured.
At the Reliance Majestic studios Eagle
Eye has specialized in daring fcats He
falls from galloping horses, leaps SEEM
ingly impossible distances, falls safely
down what Easterners would consider
precipices, leaps from moving trains. So
whenever Mr. Grifhth or his aides require
an Indian feat of exceptional daring,
Eagle Eye is one Of the first OF whom
they think.
Both Eagle Eye and Dark Cloud are
well-read men and speak far better Eng
lish than the average American of
later race.
Dark Cloud is of great assistance to
the directors in all matters pertaining to
his race. Practically every Indian pro-
duction of either the Reliance or Ma
jestic Company is brought out under his
unofficial direction. His wife, Dove Eye,
and his baby, Prairie Flower, frequently
appear as in THE Arrow Maiden" They
are carefully coached by Dark Cloud.
,F
the competition between big motion pic
being taken by Carl Laemmle, president
of the Universal Film Company, to in
crease the capital stock of that concern
by $1,00O,0OO, so as to permit the widening
of the already big scope of the activities
of that corporation.
Developments in the picture business
have come fast and furlously within the
last few months. The entrance of the
new 5000. 900 Equitable Corporation into
the field in conjunction with the World
Film; the reorganization of the Mutual,
with its $S,000.O00 capitalization, and the
forming OF the Triangle Company, with
>, 5000 stock, by Harry Aitken, d. w.
Griffith, Thomas H. Ince and Mack SEN
nett, all previously prominent In the Mu-
tual; to say nothing of the projection
into the field of other lesser, but still
large, concerns. renders It necessary for
every manufacturing company to strain
every effort to remain among the leaders.
William Wilson, of this city, who has
been featured with many of the stock
companies throughout the country, has
been engaged for leads by the Lubin
Company. Mr.. Wilson is an excellent
portrayer of heroic roles, as well as of
more everyday types He has also been
successful in vaudeville and played for
several seasons in "The Club Woman"