The international photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

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August, 1934 The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Five went home and hoped she would turn her hack long enough so that the curtains could he borrowed. Joe was in luck; she was going to take a hath, but she had to wait the two hours necessary to heat the water. That was in the days when many Hollywood homes depended on the sun and a tank on the roof for heated water. While the landlady waited for warm water Joe waited and cast sidelong glances at the curtains, knowing that Al Christie was not a patient sort. Of course, Joe, like all prop men, got the curtains. Joe Murphy in those days lived to gather props! Everywhere he went his eyes were awatch for possible items for his property department. He carried a horseblanket with him and each morning when he arrived at the studio, there would be a horse-blanket full of odds and ends slung over his shoulder. On more extended forays, he drove a tired horse and wagon. Through lack of entertainment facilities in Hollywood then, our Joe spent his evenings gathering props. One man was the prop department. He did the research, washed the water-color scenery off the "flats" in readiness for the new scenes to be painted, ran errands and did such odd jobs as required. Today, the property departments in each of the studios employ fifty or one hundred persons, and in each studio there is maintained an elaborate research department. Now five to fifteen men in a "swing" gang for each set move the props about while a "set-dresser" and his assistant "do" the set. Besides the Property Chief there is a prop buyer who knows where anything can be located. One prop buyer, Tom Fortune, at Paramount Studios, has been buying for twenty years. Years ago he was a singer for "Ediso-o-n-e Records" when these cylinder records were made of soft wax and when each record was an original recording which sold for as much as five dollars, this being before the days of duplicates or re-recordings. When Tom Fortune started with Paramount Studios the prop department consisted of a pair of green drapes and the first props were kept in a de-horsed stable. Today, the Paramount prop department is housed in a large building, and from it may be had about anything under the sun. If an item needed in pictures can't be located in short enough order it is made on the Paramount lot. A quick call from Cecil de Mille for an asp of the time of Cleopatra in Egypt, Roman glass or tools, oldtime buggy autos, or a dog that can bark in the key of C, will be ready pronto. When asked how he locates all the things necessary for picture making, Mr. Fortune showed a large phone book filled with addresses and 'phone numbers of companies and persons who can be called on to supply whatever is needed at a moment's notice. One company, the Western Costume Company, is a museum of costumes and unusual items. They have costumes of all periods from the Chiton of ancient Greece, which resembled a sheet or drape that was thrown over the head, to the bustles of the nineties. In fact, they claim to have over 200,000 costumes, which can be believed when the row after row, hundreds of feet in length, are seen. Among their costumes are those worn in Joan-theWoman, by Geraldine Farrar ; costumes worn in Voltaire, by George Arliss; Cisco Kid, by Warner Baxter; Kid From Spain, by Eddie Cantor and many, many other notable costumes, including those worn by Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino and other popular actors. Besides costumes, they make their own shoes, wigs, ornaments and braids and whatever else is needed, in separate departments maintained for the purpose. They have guns of all descriptions stacked like cordwood. While there I saw, it seemed, everything from tobacco cutters to an array of armor. It seemed there were about a ton of different buttons in all shapes and colors. An important feature is the speed and sureness required in accurately furnishing props. If a group of period costumes are ordered, usually twenty-four hours are allowed, and in that time the costumes must be made ready, complete historically to type of braid, ornaments, shoes, description of manner of wearing and hats and 9 1 PWIIMll l| Ml |J r-QB?7| WmilSii! 5 r "FHf "Hobby Horse", bicycle which was invented in 1818. This is the first bicycle. Would a prop man be able to locate one of these? "Puffing Billy", a steam engine of 1813, one of the early steam engines. Any day now one of the prop departments will be looking for one of these. Courtesy Ransome Matthews Los Angeles Museum. other accessories. The value and importance of research and correctness is here apparent in that, if a costume is supplied, and when the director with an overhead of perhaps several thousand dollars an hour was ready to shoot, the costume was found incorrect, — well ? Often through an oversight the studios overlook the ordering of some important item. Then one of the many costume companies save the day. After each time a costume is used, it is disinfected and cleaned in readiness for the next time before the cameras. In making a picture, when the assignment is given the writer to adapt the story for filming, a duplicate assignment goes to the prop and to research departments of the studio. They list any unusual items and immediately start out to locate them. When the script is complete a copy goes to these departments, from which a list of the props needed, scene by scene, is made up along with the probable expense necessary in supplying same. A trained duck, or an old vintage auto, costs the studio about twenty-five or fifty dollars a day. Connected with the prop departments in each of the studios, are gun departments. At Universal, the gun room is in charge of "Ollie" Emert, who can supply smoke in liquid form or cloth to be burned or cartridge form ; plaster-of-paris guns for actors who are to fall off horses ; swords and bayonets that will telescope so that actors won't be hurt and guns with blank cartridges. It is the duty of the gun department to supervise explosions and (Turn to Page 23) Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.