Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-21
HARRY MYERS HAS
MORE TO TELL
ABOUT "OLD DAYS.

AyOT long ago zoe printed some inter
" rsfino "reminiscences of the old Lubin
studio days in this city, Dritten by
Harry Myers, 1ho plays opposite Bebe
Daniels In her current release, THE
March Hare" and toho has scored a
personal triumph in For's Connect
cut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" J"
not vet seen here.
we promised that zoe oouId gire
some more Of Mr.. Myers memories. He
has Just sent them to US and here
they are:
A 7 THE time when the play "Salva-
n ton Nell was quite in vogue
! some one said he could visualize me
as an expert crook, and to prove that
he possessed a certain amount OF
creative ability, borrowed a large por-
ton of Salvation Nell" changed the
central character and wrote q scenario
which was called "Three- Fingered
Jack"
We finished this and the same seem
ario writer, seized with desire to i'm
mortalizc the poor American Indian in
the fickers, concocted a script entitled
"Red Eagles Love Affair"
At that time 1t was customary for
the film company to 60 over to the
Redmen to borrow costumes for the In
Remington's s drawings at home and
studied these. made the part up like
real Indian, used real eagle feathers
fer the headdress-when previously tur-
key feathers were considered sufficient
and as l had a pair Of genuine Indian
moccasins on the wall Of my den,
shook the dust out Of them and wore
them, and from pair Of army blankets
I made the breeches.
In those days when the movies were
cutting their milk teeth We used to use
wooden cigars and never had real
lamp. We were doing a picture called
"Over the Wire" in which one Of the
chief props" was lamp. But what
they furnished was piece OF board
with button on the back Of 1t painted
like lamp.
In the action I got up out Of bed and /,
not knowing the business, turned the
lamp sideways.
Darn you," I said. why can't you
have a regular lamp?" But they said
the glass was so thick it would never
photograph. Another argument-which
ended like the aforementioned one and
found me going out to the five and ten
cent store and coming back with glim-
mer.
TT YOU sat at a desk in the early
l. days it was q desk painted on fiat
piece OF scenery-no desk at all You
had kitchen chair, never an Office
chair, because, they said, 1--WE don't
show that part Of the picture
You never thought of going out to
location" in an automobile. We got
L. ~ pN,, ,,I ha
trolley car; then we were fun for the
natives.
went to Kellyville the first time for
a wedding scene. We got the priest to
open one of the side doors Of his church
and the bridal party filed out. There
was a lapse of time in the picture and
we had to change costumes. Some
changed back of the columns or behind
the church, but drew the chicken coop
and put my clothes on In there after
got the chickens out.
had a silk hat and three brand new
tailored suits all at once. That was
one of the principal things that helped
make me a juvenile lead--I had so
much wardrobe.
After dressing in the chicken coop
forgot to duck beneath the door and
smashed my silk hat. l went over and
kicked to the director about 1t and he
promised to buy me a new one. He
never did.
At first I never could understand the
pictures. 1t was nothing for me to
walk out Of the scene. ] always have
taken very long steps. This was an
asset in pictures, as it gave me slow
action, but I didn't know that, and
when took step 1 walked right out
of the camera.
A T THE old Lubin studio the place
"A was no larger than the average
room. The first time I noticed big
change was when somebody wrecked a
house in Philadelphia and Lubin bought
the old doors and we started to get
away from the canvas door and the
cloth scenery.
We had lights that caught FIRE every
ten or fifteen minutes. They would
ignite in the middle of a scene. We'd
get the extinguishers, help put the fire
out and then go back TO work. But
when we moved to Lubin's new studio,
in came Cooper Hewitt lights, and we
worked on solid floor, where the
camera was steady. That was a big
step in those days.
At first the dressing rooms were just
like Eastern seaside bath houses--three
walls Of canvas set against one Of the