Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-10-24
DAY OF SCRIPTS
WRITTEN nv
SUBWAY is GONE

TNHE day when a motion picture di.
Il rector could write his own script
as he jolted to work on Fort Lee car.
ond accept his small sons recollection
Of history as basis for emUire- smash.
ing drama, is over.
There are few Of the old fellows who
still think that pictures can be made in
haphazard manner. but the reluctance
of producers to let them try 1t is con-
flning them TO hall bedrooms.
Today when q director starts story
lie goes into action with stnff OF tech"
nical experts at his side and the chances
for mistakes are reduced to a minimum
Not 80 long ago in motion picture
history n man became an actor by an.
rounciny II on his cards. From that
moment on he was expected to be able
to Accurately depict any role from an
am ba ssador TO a victim Of omne'is
Then critical public learned that a
man does certain things naturally and
other things unnaturally II gradually
discovered that a man who was n min
iature painter before he decided TO be-
come an actor could not lay bricks with
that peculiar flip Of the trowel which
Characterizes a good bricklayer.
Today. whenever il is possible. play
ers of small roles nre selected from
among thousands Of extra people who
have bad actual experience in the par
ticular thing that they are required to
simulate on the screen.
At Universal City n case in point
come up recently.
When Harry Carey wrote '"The
Fox the story upon which he is now
nt work under Robert Thornby's di-
rection. he Incorporated into the nara
tive an important sequence in which the
regular United States cavalry partici-
ratcs.
For an ordinary production Of the
old time movie days n su ficient num-
Der OF men would have been put in uni
form, mounted and sent before the cam
era.
Not anv' more,
WHEN the cavalry sequence is filmed
w on the Mojavc Desert next week
two troops Of the 3egulars from tho
presidio at Monterey will swing down
the line
Why GO to all the trouble and cH-
renSe Of moving troops when any good
riders in uniform would have lone just
as we'll?
li3TeT was aUlH'uSSltlE THe SUBJECT WIN
Harry Schenck. production manager at
| Universal City, and Lucicn Hubbard,
scenario editor. who wrote the con-
iinuitv for The Fox.
The only man VINO can look like n
soldier is man who has done hitch
| in the regulars" said Carey.
ITS particularly hard Ia look like a
,avalryman." added Schenck. who was
Il troop commander when he was com
missioned rs major for the late unI'leas-
Pntness. SchCnCk wanted TO illustrate
| his point. He sent TO the wardrobe for
n service hat Then he called five cnpa
| bic actors into the production office and
asked them to nut on the hat as cav
alryman would. One of them got Tic
indcscribnble slant to il tnat n nan only
acquires in the troop. lie had ridden u
hitch with tho regulars.
! Carey, who is perhaps the most frc-
| Iuently quoted authority on hOrScman
6hip in the West then commented upon
the seat" of real cavalryman.
"A man may ride splendidIy, he
said che may be cowpun"her. IL polo
| player or a jockey. Dut unless he has
ridden with troops b" cant for the life
Of him sit on his horse like cavalry
| man.
All Of which accounts for the unprec-
edentcd order Of Major General Muir,
commanding the Ninth Corps Area. nu
thorizing Colonel John NJ. Jenkins
commandant OF the Preside nj Mon
terey. to detach two troops Of cavalry
pnd assign them to field service with Il
motion picture unit.