Bisbee daily review. [volume] (Bisbee, Ariz.) 1901-1971, 1918-03-17
EA!6y[aRt0MafI
r. By GIllen A. CAIN

with Ramsey Canyon of the Iuachu-
icas fer natural beauty and grandeur.
this newspaper man did not see ii with
his eager and rowing eye.
But if there was much rain and
dreariness upon this trip there was
also an hour of compensation. There
always is in this old life below, il one
will only look for it and be ready to
receive it when it comes And that
was the hour in the studios of the
Universal Film company. This arden.
movie fan had never seen a picture
filmned. And, although he has read
much that has been written Of the
picture industry, he had not the
slightest idea of the actual work OF
the making a picture.
Z Here was a street scene in a sleepy
country town. Broken board walks,
grass plot and little church Across
from the church is a cottage with It's
! little porch and climbing vines and
picket fence with swinging gate The
idea was to film the heroine as she
emerged from the door. descended the
steps and paused a moment at the
gate to Ssh deeply before passing to
the street and disappearing from the
range of the cameras eye.
Simple enough Only one person in
I the picture No complex situation
and no acting at all. One hundred
feet of film would cover all of il; yes.
sixty feet. I.ut this little scene re-
quired enc hour CT hard work and
tense effort. It was revelation.
Consider. you movie fans. this sim
Pile scene. Platforms had been built
at each corner of this little cottage,
high up to the caves. And upon eacn
platform was ain electrician with his
spotlight battery trained upon that
space between the porch steps and
the gate.
Here comes the heroine, a fairly
nice looking girl in a bright yellow
dress and dull-yellow hair hanging to
her waist i'm two plaits and carrying
enough toilette articles and boxes and
bottles in a large bag to doll up
musical comedy chorus. Everything IS
ready and so she rubs a lot OF a
special preparation upon her face,
neck arms to make her skin take"
white in the picture She takes up
her position upon the porch. ana
bins. All the spotlights and side
lights and "Overheads" and direct
fights are flashed on. Lo. here is
miracle. This rather nice looking
young woman of the twentieth cen
tury has become an angel. In the
ethereal brightness she stands there
like Raphael's Madonna come to lite
and waiting there in that portico for
the organ strains to call her across
to the church where she will count
the beads of her rosary DER and Ger |
And, just to give her the feeling ana
expression sought for a saint, husky |
gent in his shirt sleeves begins grind |
ing out a deep, sweet old hymn upon |
a big accordion.
Well. they made that girl come out !
of the door Of that cottage and de- /
scend the steps and pass cut of tnc
gate about seven times. The director. |
a big. forceful man. lolled back in {
chair and spoke softly but insistently /
as she went through this act over ana /
asain. And remember, this girl was /
wearing a low-necked, sleeveless sun I
mer dress, and this was a bitter
March morning and she was working
in a great barn OF q studio open en- |
tirely to the cold winds at this end !
where the picture was being taken. /
The newspaper man in his Overcoat
shivered TO watch her.
At last the big director seemed 20
be halfway satisfied with things and
he gave the signal tc take the picture Q
The girl made another dive for her
grease pots and cream cans and be
gan industriously to daub her face ana
arms all over again. The camera man
threw away his cigarette and bent
over his tripod. The husky man
ierked the kinks out of his accordion. /
The spotlight boys focused their /
lamps. The property man hurried UP
with one more flower pot for the gaze
pest. The canary bird in the cage /
hanging on the porch piped a little 7
lay The heroine started for the cot T
tage. when the eagle eye of the a. /
rector detected a spot on her cheek /
that did not glisten enough with the
skin preparation and he stopped her
Another actor grabbed the cream ana
came forward and dabbed at the spor. q
Then the director came up and took
dab. .too. He scanned her closely
took another dab and nodded to go .
ahead
This director, He had passed from T
calm TO action. He was a pulsinE
dynamo and an active volcano now.
He took his station right by the cam
era man and began to mark his orders. /
The photographers arm began is cir
cJtlar motion. the door opened and out
came the yeliOw-haired girl whom the
lights transformed into a radiant and
angelic presence.
4
DON'T close the door" She had
started to do so. but at this COMMAND
she left it open without a change OF
expression or a movement that was
confused or unnatural She advanced
This officer stated Immediately after