The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1916-02-14
Ford's Theatre Reproduced In Actual
Size and Five Southern Towns
Built and Burned For the Sake
Of q MOVING Picture

WAS ready, and 10 the hest ~ q Wo>eA
uadsv telsphoRs 0Fdsvs the satlSs ~
san, The civ Allsd With svNete-tAe
soldiers appeared 10 N w . pesl Asht.
TrstRs of psnte stricken rseueees
wound over the hills In olaht, saA
then thsy stopped,
I'VE used the greatest numbss IN n
the scenes where they appear wtthout
reference to the position the pictzse0
appear In the productioo,s ssAd NJ
Griflith. THAT IL always doas, IT,
ally the number was cut down unttl
at last We had only the principals I'M
their scenes.
"Some Of the scenes which appear In
order today were taken three or four
months apart, That made more trou.
BILE, but 1t had to be done that way.
You must remember exactly what the
individual did the first time I'm order
to preserve uniformity, exactly bow heI
or she wore Q hat, entered Q house.
wore the hair, or did anything else.
That brings gray hair. Then w had
q few little stunts.
''You remember that case where the
negroes are SHOT and fall when the
Ku Klux come into the town. The
horses jump over them as they lie In
the street. 1t took considerable per-
suasion to get men to do that, although
the horses and their riders were the
best trained obtainable. We took it
up with some men. Boss, We WON'T
do that for less'n S. day. they said.
They got it.
Take another case in the guerrilla
invasion Of the town. 1t may be re-
called that a man shot falls from the
roof Of front porch head first on the
ground. Many think the fall is made
by a dummy. A real man does it and
practiced it in a fire net until he got
his fall just right, timed exactly AZ
it had to be done to At in with the
scene.
There is one case where a rider
coming out Of house makes q flying
leap into the saddle over the tail OF
his horse. That took time, and it does
not show, but the man who did that
had to jump over railing encountered
by q robe.
MANY things were done in the work
that do not appear in the film. There
are twenty-five field guns in the battle
scene pounding away, and they were
too far away for the eye Of the cam
era Houses are burned of which you
catch only q vague glow, people are
fleeing over the hills and you can hard
Iy see them"
The actual work was all over In i've
months, Mr. Grif1th said. From their
first camp they went to California for
interiors and the honeymoon scenes.
the allegories and theater scene show
ing the assassination of President Lin
coin.
1.-THE theater was the exact size Of
Ford's in Washington" Mr.. Griffith ex-
planned, land it was an exact dupli-
cate. Old prints gave us every detail
even down to the appearance Of Laura
Keene and her company in "Our Amer
lean Cousin We sought long before
we got man who could satisfy us as
President Lincoln, and every man who
became a member Of his Cabinet was
size and general makeup.
ut was there that detail became al
most Overpowering. Men who lived in
the old days were besieged. How did
this man walk; how did he gesture;
how did he wear his clothes; did ne
have any mannerisms? l tell you it
kept great many people awake nights.
We took the famous painting OF thu
Of Lee, and we never laid it
down until believe that every man in
it had an exact double before our cam.
eras."
Thus It all came out. There were
more months as the Aim was perfected
and made ready for the public. But at
last it was done.
..Now what is the future Of the NOV.
ing picture!"
The man being interviewed lifted his
hands. "Why, there are no limits to its
possibilities in artistic work. This IN