Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-07
MY Narrozoet Escape, . as Told by Screen
Stars, Reveals the Hazards That Are AU
ina Day5Work atHoly7Oood- Risks for
the Sake ofRealim That O fttimes End
Just on the Verge of Fatality.

BY ALICE L. TILDESLEY.
- rs all very we'll to speak carelesSly Of the
bright face of danger" but when it con-
Germs you at close range the effect is none
too radiant
At any rate, this seems to be the re-
action of those Hollywood stars who have
taken thrilling risks for the sake OF their
screen careers.
Irene Rich recalls with q shudder scene
in which she lay waiting for . pack Of hungry
wolves to menace her.
This was in the old days" recountS the DARK
beauty when fllm companies were not so we'll
equipped as they are now We were making
q picture in the Truckee country and Travelled
across the snow IN mule-driven trucks, real
wolves obtained from q ZOO in st. Louis oc-
cupying the last truck. During the trip the
wolves were fed regularly. but rs soon as camp
was reached they were given only one meal
day in order that they might be hungry enough
to go after bait planted in the scene.
1.-THE action Of the scene called for me to lie
with a tiny Indian baby in . sleeping bag
ON the snow. Bits Of raw meat to attract the
wolves were stuck in around our pillow. The
odor Of the meat was expected to draw the
animals to us and when they had arrived the
director would signal me so that could slowly
open my eyes, regard the wolves with horror,
scream pick up the baby and f1ee
Men with guns stood back Of the cameras,
ready to shoot if the creatures forgot them
selves and attacked human meat nrst. l be-
lfeve 1 was more afraid OF the guns than OF the
wolves 1t was very hard to compose myself
and almost impossible to close my eyes. oont
know how looked but felt far from peaceiu
when heard the crunch-crunch OF the paooeo
paws. My imagination lived scene IN which
the child and I torn to bits by the starving
brutes before I felt their breath on my cheek.
THE welcome now sounded. Instead OF slowly
orsening my eyes, I leaped to my feet with
yell, snatched up the BABY and few!"
"A fATER. it seems, is the most prolific cause
w of trouble in pictures.
Sidney Blackmar was neatly drowned during
the making of Otis SINNERS talkie 'Ksmet"
The veteran actor was called upon to hold
\Sidneys head under water in studio pool
until he received a signal from the submerged
yictim-the blowing of air from his mouth
{ through a tube. The signals got mixed, and
when at length they drew Sidney up he had
; to be rolled barrel by the studio fire de-
partment
That's nothing old chap!" commented Mr..
Skinner when Sidney was again conscious.
"you should have been with me on the stage
when we played small towns in the dead OF
Winter. The fellow who did your part almost
froZe to DEATH
The Little Big Horn River, one of the most
treacherous of watercourses. was the scene Of
ken Maynard's most dangerous exploits.
II was to jump Tarzan, my horse, into the
! river from a steep bluff, hang onto his tail and
! swim under water so the police pursuing would
! think me drowned. i was dressed as a medicine
! man. wearing a heavy headdress leather leg
gings and so / made the jump all right,
caught Tarzan's tail and started swimming
after him. Suddenly we struck bIapch OF
tree that was buried in the stream, my clothes
got mixed up with it so that my grip on
nd haOo to iUk
with the weight of my wardrobe. went down
twice before the men on the bluff realized what
had happened and threw me rope"
- GORGE OBRIEN is one of the Coasts
" champion swimmers. yet his closest bout
With death occurred in the Pacific Ocean. He
Syas told to make q midocean dive of SO feet
from the top deck of the steamship Alexander
for the purposes Of q picture.
when I had gone about IS feet became
unconscious" relates George, due TO the
rapdity Of my fall. regained consciousness
ing that it was seven minutes before the speed
boat picked me up"
The trouble with playing dead for the camera
is that no one knows about it il you're really
dying!" confides Janet Gaynor who looks back
on her drowning scene in Sunrise" rs her
narrowest escape. Nobody guesSes that her
collapse was real until the director called
"Cut." and she didn't come to!
Thrills are expected by riders in anplanes
but Helen Chambers biggest spine-curdler came
from a plane she wasn't in. She was standing
on an airplane field, waving to the pilot Of
plane that was to swoop low. He miscalculated
his distance and swooped 50 low that his pro-
peIler grazed the brim of Helen's hat, and
watchers turned awnv thinking she had been