The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1959-06-26
LOST COLONY
Continued from Page One)

effort which was far beyond the
scope of anything undertaken i,
more recent years.
The late R. C. Evans, owner of
the old Roanoke Hotel, turned
over the entire first floor of the
establishment, including the lobby
and dining room, for use as {
workshop. Between fifteen and q
women, all volunteers, assembled
daily in the old hotel and for sew.
eral weeks were engaged in pre-.
pairing the costumes. The North
Carolina Historical Commission
had secured copies of the original
John White drawings just a short
time earlier, and authentic cos
tunes were designed. In addition
to the costumes for the English
colonists, more than 100 costumes
were made for adults who were
to take the parts of Indians. These
were made of dyed outing, which
gave the finished costumes the
appearance of having been made
from animal skins. Approximately
rs wigs were made in the work
shop for Indian women using
strands of UNFINISHED rope dyed
black.
Meanwhile, Roanoke Island men
also working without pay, were
engaged in building props for the
show. An entire Indian village
patterned after the original Roa-
noke Indian village shown in the
John White drawings, was con-
structed on the shore near Fort
Raleigh, with Horace Daniels of
Wanchese, Horace Dough, and
Wynn Dough among those taking
part in the work.
Adam Etherdige loaned the
company a large shad boat, and
with the help of Tom Basnight
and others it was converted into
a sixteenth century vessel, COM
plete with sails. During the film
ing of the moving picture the
boat was anchored off Fort Ra-
leigh, and with the aid of small
engine, actually brought colonists
to the landing area.
The script for the silent movie,
and the captions, were written by
Mabel Evans (Jones), who was
then serving as Superintendent of
Dare County Schools, and Miss
Elizabeth Grimball, director of the
Inter-City Theatre Arts Company
of New York.
The picture opened with single
scene in England, in which two
boys, Sir Richard Grenville and
Sir Walter Raleigh (played by
Ralph Davis and Hughes Hoyle)
sat by the edge of the sea and
listened to tales of far off placed
by an old sea captain, played by
the late Captain Jeff Hayman.
The scene then switched to the
landing on Roanoke Island, and
the remainder of the five silent
reels depicted events at Fort Ra-
leigh and the Indian village. Many
of the scenes are said to have
been quite similar to those in the
modern Lost Colony symphonic
drama.
Actually filming was begun in
early September, and for several
weeks the entire cast of more than
200 people assembled at the fort
in the early morning and remained
until late afternoon each day.
Manteo residents made the daily
trip on a State fisheries boat pro-
vided by Theodore S. Meekins.
Others came on foot or horseback,
or in carts or wagons, while a few
chugged up the sand trails in
model T Fords. Some brought pic
mic lunches or sandwiches, though
others invariably forgot to and
spent most of the afternoon wish
ing they had.
Cast members came from as far
distant as Wanchese, and there
was hardly home on the north
end of the island which did not
supply at least one actor, while
in many the entire family donned
costumes and took parts.
In the course of the production
the supply of grease paint was
exhausted and one of the men who
took the part of an indian claims
he slept in his grease paint for
seven straight nights; first in the
house with the rest of his family,
later on the porch, and the final
night out in the barn.
The hero of the moving picture