The Moving Picture Weekly (1917-1919)

Bqijajgfijiji^ I Insisted Alligator Wouldn't Bite Him I Now Champion OneArmed Pool Player I By BILLY LEYSER in the Cleveland News. ■y^E know a man who insisted that alligators wouldn't bite. To prove it he put his arm in the mouth of one. Now he's the best one-armed pool player in the Temperate zone. We knew another man who put acid in his eyes to prove that his orbs wouldn't be affected by the acid. Since he lost his sight he claims to be able to hear a gnat sing while standing in a roundhouse five hundred yards away. Now this fellow Locklear who in making pictures for the Universal seems to have another such hunch. Locklear invites death, carries no life insurance policy as the companies won't insure him and loves his wife. He insists that he won't die in an airplane and to prove it does such daring stunts as jumping from an airplane traveling at the rate of 120 miles an hour, to another, while 2,000 feet above the ground. That's morning exercise for him — an eye opener. The caretaker of a Pennsylvania cemetery keeps the ground always broken on Locklear's lot, and the town florist is ready to make up the sheafs of wheat, plus the white dove just as soon as he is notified the local undertaker is to meet Locklear's body at the train. The scouts for talent in big pictures are constantly fine-combing the earth to discover some novelties which, when thrown upon the screen, will thrill and mystify their audiences. So it was not unlooked for when Locklear was signed up for the most sensational picture ever offered photographed in the air. "What do you want me to do?" Locklear asked the Universal official. "Change planes two thousand feet above the ground to rescue a woman from a falling plane," they answered. "Who's the woman?" the speed demon asked. "Francelia Billington," they replied. "Trot her out," said Locklear. And then the most dainty, smiling demure little piece of womanhood was fetched from a studio to be introduced to the man who flirts with death. Nobody said Locklear forgot his wife — only read what's written here. There is no between the line stuff — but he said he would take the job, providing the rescue part wouldn't be cut. One of the greatest problems that confronted the directors of "The Great Air Robbery," was to find a camera man who could follow the Locklear stunts. Any number of fellows were expert picture men, but when it came to buzz-ing around in the sky 2,000 feet above the cabbage patches that was different. Finally a gentleman who was more or less despondent and eager to find the answer to the question, "Do the dead return?" showed up. He was dined and wined and smiled upon and carefully watched to see if he was mentally O. K. The day for the big rescue, one of the punches in "The Great Air Robbery" came. Miss Billington had written notes to her friends, and there was sort of a lost chord look on the faces of everyone around the Universal lot. Locklear still asserted that he couldn't die and the cameraman was being dazzled with fine conversation so he'd forget to try and measure with his eye the specified 2.000 feet in the air. There was no choir and no ministers present, but the thoughts of everyone were on the lots where cedar trees grow and granite shafts rise in stately dignity to preserve the memory of those who have passed on. The camera man was strapped in a plane — the company said to keep him from falling out. The spectators thought to keep him from running away. Miss Billington was strapped in another plane, which showed the company's sincerity in the matter. They wouldn't hear of her falling 2,000 feet unless an expensive plane fell with her. Locklear smoked a cigarette and talked of something he had to do tomorrow. I thought about the fellow who put his arm in the alligator's mouth and wondered if there were reduced rates on floral pieces before or after the first of the year. I knew that "Resting in Peace" would receive no argument if the party slipped that 2,000 feet to the ground. It took over three hours to make the rescue, but it was done and the cameraman had turned the crank every inch of the way, securing for the public a really phenomenal picture. But I thought of that fellow playing pool with his one arm who still insists that alligator is spelled with one I. "The Great Air Robbery" will be the attractions at the Standard Theatre all next week, beginning Sunday. THE STANDARD BROKE ITS RECORD— THAT'S THE ANSWER