The New York herald., 1921-04-03
City Is Re-Creatsd
for Queen of Sheba
Desert in California Remod-
elled for Production Of
Ph0to-Drama.

In throwing the romantic love story
OF the beautiful Queen Of she5a upon
a background of exotic splendor, J. Cor
don Edwards set forth the claim of
the modern motion picture director to
be considered as the practitioner OF a
new and many sided art. Upon the re-
suit. the public VIII have an opportunity
10 jas;ec, wher the spectacular phcto
play made by William Fox is seen next
week at the Lyric
Il; directing The Queen Of sheba."
Mr.. Edwards attacked a task that
challenged the combined knowledge and
resources OF a painter sculptor. poet,
a historian and a soldier. 1t was no less
thna 70 place upon the screen in dram
attic form, story that had been for
gotten by the Western World for more
than three thousand years, and to make
live again the people OF kingdom that
had been dead almost before the dawn
OF history.
The first problem. after months Of
research had brought out of Oriental
legends and traditions the connected
story that no one volume had been found
10 contain, was that Of location Mr.
Edwards could have transported his en-
tire company 70 Arabia. and filmed the
scenes on the very spots where Sheba
herself lived and reigned But there
was a wider gulf than that Of distance
to traverse-the gulf Of more than three
thousand years. Sheba's cities have
gone the way Of Babylon, and not even
their dust remains to tell the story.
Here" says Mr.. Edwards. was a
case where bringing the mountain to
Mohammed was easier than bringing
Mohammed 10 the mountain" In other
words. he found it not only expedient,
but also better for pictorial effect. to
build the kingdom of Sheba on the soil
Of America. And this is what he did.
1t is a motion picture axiom that one
can find pretty nearly everything in
California. 1t was no feat OF exploring
10 find convenient desert there, just
as good for Photographic purposes as
the Sahara itself The, burning plains OF
California had appeared on the screen
before, but hardly to such good effect
rs Mr.. Edwards proposed to use them.
What is a desert without an oasis or
two? The only oases on the burning
plains of California were gasolenc and
free air" stations. So Mr.. Edwards
proceeded to build a few on the genuine
arabian model. with the aid of experts
who knew what a real oasis was like.
Luckily the palm trees were there.
After remodelling the desert, obtain
ing a caravan Of many camels, with real
'nahouts tc match, was simple matter.
II was when he came to building the
city of SEeba and the temple Of Solomon
and the tower Of David and decorating
the interiors Of Oriental palaces that the
real difficulty commenced.
What was the prevailing type Of archi-
lecture in the land Of Sheba? Any
member Of the Institute of Architects
might be excused from answering.
Archaologists as well as architects were
called upon for advice, and the result.
combining beauty with historical accu-
iacy, was a series Of huge buildings.
patterned after Assyrian. Babylonian
and Egyptian models. rising like a new
city on the outskirts OF Hollywood. The
magnitude OF this achievement may be
appreciated from the fact that one Of
the buildings had to bear the weight Of
more than 5000 heavily armored men
in battle. while another, representing
tho courtyard or a palace. contained at
one time nearly 5000 men. women and
children. every one Of whom had to be
strategically placed for pictorial effect
But there is more than spectacle in
"The Queen OF Sheba," according to Mr..
Edwards.
"Ie is drama first" he says In his an
nouncenent Of his aims. 1T was be-
cause of the appeal Of the story that we
made the picture. The story. / firmly
believe, is one Of the worlds greatest
romances, ranking with those OF Helen