American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1924)

Sixteen AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER July, 1924 Imagine what a job it was with my camera mounted on the tripod, set up in a howdah on the back of an elephant. I could maintain a fair level for filming the operations of ringing etc. but as soon as my elephant located the tiger, which was always before I did, he started turning and twisting. One moment I had the moving grass on the finder, and the next I would be "shooting" directly up to the sky. During the last part of the shoot they gave me an old elephant that was totally blind, with which I had considerably more luck. When a tiger once breaks the ring whether hit or not it will travel about two or three hundred yards and then lie low again. A number of the elephants from opposite sides break away and immediately start ringing him again, while the shoot continues in the same ring to see if there are more tigers. Once we had three rings going at the same time, each with a good tiger inclosed and we got them all. It was a regular three ring circus full of fun and excitement. ^Not Without Its Danger. As to the element of danger, it is small. I actually believe that in this kind of shooting there is infinitely more danger of being shot by a fellow "shootist"on the opposite side of the ring, or a ricochet bullet from a stone than there is of a tiger climbing into one's howdah. One tiger in our shoot did attempt to get on top of a small pad elephant and almost succeeded without even mauling the elephant. But cases have been known where the FILMING A TIGER SHOOT (Continued from page 7) tiger when wounded would attempt to reach the hunter's howdah. In shooting from a moving elephant there is always a chance that the elephant will move or twist sufficiently quick to throw the gun up, even though the man behind takes every precaution. There is more danger in shooting a heavy double barrel Express gun than a rifle. Once the safety is off the gun both barrels are free. The elephant always gives a start sometimes a violent jerk following the discharge of a heavy gun so near his head. To upset the shooters' balance might easily cause the remaining loaded barrel to be discharged in any direction, while with a rifle it is necessary to operate the bolt after each shot. While not so quick for a second shot as the duplex barrel arm it is far safer as it requires that the shooter regain his equilibrium. I have never heard of a man being so shot, but I was told of an elephant which was killed by a gun so discharged on the opposite side of the ring. Most of my time was occupied filming the whole affair, following the ever changing positions of the rings over all of which I had no control, and looking for good positions and trying to determine where the tiger would break. In this I do not mind admitting that I often chose the same side of the ring as that taken by the least experienced "guns" and for this I had my own reason. <J Cinematographer Not Popular with Sportsmen. The movie man is rated as a decided nuisance by most all sportsmen that are shooting: chiefly because he usually pesters them to desperation. The professional hunters in Africa hate the camera, and I am told will double their charges if a movie camera is to accompany the shoot. Of course, the cinematographer wants good pictures, realistic and even dramatic pictures if he can get them, staged or otherwise ; he is often inclined to want the ring reformed for close-up "cutins" of the "mighty hunters" shooting. Or to even ask that the whole cavalcade be stopped while he "sets up" on the other side of the river for the "victorious return" always when the hunters are all anxious for camp and tea. He is the bane of the native skinner's existance, who want to get on with their work rather than sling the dead tigers on elephants and take them across the river "for a picture." They argue that they can skin the animals on this side of the river as well as the other side and the Sahib ought to know it. Yet perseverance and a smile will accomplish much, especially when backed up with a "jingle of the guinea that soothes the hurt that honour feels." There is another method of tiger shooting practised in the central provinces where elephants are not available. There "Medians" are built in trees, but it is slow sport and does not compare with the ringing method for fun and excitement nor is it accompanied by any more danger. WILLIAM ("DADDY") PALEY CROSSES GREAT DIVIDE (Continued from page 8) original lines, and who had already perfected the famous Edison's Kinetoscope. The first picture ever made by Edison for exhibition purposes was a boxing match between the famous Billy Edwards and Arthur Chambers. It was filmed in five reels of 50 feet each and was a real triumph of the cinema art as it was in those days. This picture created the first big sensation in the amusement world, and forecast definitely the possibilities and popularity and importance of the motion picture as an entertainment medium. Mr. Paley's camera was so much in demand that he could not begin to fill the engagements offered him. He worked in and around New York, Washington, Philadelphia, photographing all classes of subjects, until the U. S. warship, Maine, was blown up in Havana harbor. At this time he was at Yale University filming the winter sports of the students. Thomas A. Edison wired him to go to Havana to make news features, and he accepted, remaining there until Consul General Fitzhugh Lee left his post to return to Washington, war between the United States and Spain being then a certainty. When the first U. S. expeditionary forces sailed for Cuba, Paley w"as with them aboard the hospital ship, Olivette, formerly of the Plant Line, embarking at Tampa. At this time Daddy Paley stood six feet one in his hose and weighed 335 pounds. He was the biggest man in the expedition except the comander-in-chief, William R. Shafter, who weighed 355 pounds, but was not so tall as Paley. He reported to Shafter at Tampa, and because of the fellowship that naturally exists between men of large displacement, the two mammoths of the Yankee expedition at once became fast friends, and Paley was given every facility to pursue his work. In those days photographic equipment was not so handy as it is now, and Paley had his troubles with his heavy loads, rough roads, rains, mud, heat, mosquitos, snipers, yellow fever and bad food and water. From General Shafter and his staff down to the mule drivers Paley had the entire army and navy with him, but everybody was