Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-23
FIRST MOVIE STAR
RECALLS OLD DAYS
Actress Who Entered Pictures
In 1906 Had Many Mar
row Escapes.
mpecial Dispatch to The Star.

forum. Still later, she toured the
country as leading woman in the play,
"The County Chairman" She was a
star Of the moving pictures when they
were all "one-reelers," shown as
"chasers" at the close of vaudeville per-
formances and in nickelodeons. She
has written scores of scenarios of NOV
ing pictures, and produced and played
as the star in many of them. Twenty
years ago the announcement that one
of her moving pictures. with herself as
star, was to be shown in any theater in
the Middle West was enough to PACK
the house.
She was the first star of the moving
pictures to be advertised and the first
woman director of moving pictures. Also
she was the first woman manager OF a
moving picture studio, and the star Of
the first company that went from
America to Europe to produce motion
picture. She wrote scenarios and pro-
duced pictures in nearly every country
In Europe and in Africa and Palestine.
She discovered d. w. Griffith, di-
rector of THE Birth of a Nation" In
tolerance" and other great pictures, and
gave him his first job as director, at IS
Q day.
Entered Movies in 1906.
Miss Gauntier and her sister have
Of burying the ashes Of their father,
James w. Liggett, in the family burying
ground in this city. The father died
last Spring in Stockholm, where the
family resided for some years.
Twenty-four years ago, Miss Gaun-
Ter went into moving pictures-that
was in 1906, when the movies were very
young and crude, and the pay was
small In the very first picture in which
hn 81 n
rowest escapes from death.
81 was on the stage then" said Miss
Gauntier. AT the close of the road
season, in 1906, went to New York 20
rest and Sidney Olcutt, then with the
Biograph Co.. asked me to go out with
Q company to take a moving pic
tllre. He said merely that it was a
water picture, and that would get So
for the days work, and as / had money
enough to last me only until June. 1
went. There were 10 people in the
cast. We went to mill dam in Con-
necticut and when we got there I found
that was to pose as the girl who was
pursued by the villain. 1 was to run
across the mill dam and be caught in
the middle of it by the villain and
thrown into the water, which was 80
feet deep there. I couldn't swim
stroke, and when learned what I was
u.
pie at SO a day, the railroad fares and
all, and after some argument 1 said 1
would do it if Olcutt would have res
cuers ready to pull me from the water.
Allowed to Struggle.
Jim Slevin was the villain. He
chased me, caught me, grabbed me, lift
ed me up bodily, whispered to me, Now
hold your breath, one-two-three-'
and hurled me into the water. Beyond
the camera lines other members OF the
cast waited in boats to save me, but,
when I arose from the bottom of that
mill pool, gasping for breath and
clutching at the air, it made such
good scene that the director warned
the rescuers not to touch me, and he
kept the camera grinding. I went
down and up Is times, and when they
finally pulled me out was uncon-
scious. But it was a great scene and
the director was so joyful he kissed my
hands
Another time, on a river in Florida,
Miss Gauntier had to flee across mass
Of loose logs where the water was deep,
and she slipped and fell and went down.
She came up under the logs and for
time could not find an opening. She
would have drowned, but just in time
she was found and pulled out. Again,
In Q picture being filmed of the Florida
coast she fell into the ocean, accident
ally, and went down and was caught
and held by a Seaweed until a diver
went down and rescued her.
In o play representing a battle scene
n the Civil War she was to appear close
- IN exploding powder train, but it
went on prematurely. She was hurled
100 feet and lay unconscious for an
hOW. But luckily the camera man
6Aught It, and it made a thrilling scene.
Trapped by Fire.
Once she was to be caught in burn
eng house and rescued through hole
1aoa& would be cut In the roof. 1t was
her own company and she had written
the scenario and was the star She
bought an old abandoned house, it was
ct afire, and as the flames burst out
and licked the roof she appeared at
INST one upstairs window and then
another. trying TO escape and calling
for help but cut of by the flames.
The fire burned more rapidly than was
expected because the house was made
Of pine and was dry, and she was al
most suffocated before a hole could be
chopped in the roof She was pulled
out with nearly all her clothes burned
eH.
She was the star in a military pic
eure taken In Canada. She was about
70 mount q horse. when it struck out
with both hind feet and kicked her.
She was rendered unconscious for a
moment, but as soon as her wits re-
turned she mounted the horse and rode
him through the picture While star
ring In a picture in Ireland, she was
held head downward over the high
walls Of Barney Castle to skiSs the
blarney stone, and the man holding her
ankles found his strength giving out
She felt herself slipping while the man
holding her yelled for help. It came
In Just the nick of time. In another
minute she would have dropped to the
ground far below.
Miss Gauntier's greatest picture was
'From the Manager TO the Cross" or
"The Life Of Christ" The idea of that
picture came to her when she was TAX
ing pictures in Egypt, 10 miles out from
Luxor, on the desert, and had a sun
stroke. She was lying looking out at
the desert when the idea came that a
good picture might be made right in
Jerusalem of the life of Christ
1T was six-reel picture" said Miss
Gauntier. Il think 1t was the first
six-reel picture ever made. Oh, how 1
studied the Bible so would know how
70 write the scenario and get all the
scenes correctly. We were six weeks
making Jne picture, and II cost the
enormous sum Of 100000, including
salaries and all expenses. To take it
today, as pictures are now made, it
would cost $1,000 900, probably.
Ben Hur'' In Three Days.
"I read the book 'Ben-Hur' and wrote
q scenario of IT, a one-reeler, in two
days, and we went out TO Sheepshead
Bay. where Payne had given The Fall
Of Jerusalem in fireworks His scenery
was yet standing, and we utilized that
omR cur background. We made the
pictnre IN three days. 1t was consid-