Film Fun (Jan - Dec 1916)

Holding Up the United States Mail "I remember a striking example of what motion picture people sometimes have to go through when I think of a scene I was directing quite a few years ago over in New Jersey," says "Silent Bill" Haddock. "We were out on the marshes in the vicinity of Hackensack, working on a picture that was known as 'The Trials and Tribulations of a Camera Man.' It was one of those pictures that was intended to give the public some sort of an insight into the humorous and tragic side of making motion pictures. In this particular scene we were going to show how a dummy is sometimes substituted for an actor. The idea in this scene was for a camera man to be grinding on his camera and be struck by a railroad train, after which he would pick himself up and brush off his clothes and go back to work. "We had made arrangements with the conductor and crew of a local train to pay no attention to a dummy that had been placed in the middle of the track with a false camera, as a substitute for the regular camera man. We had quite overlooked the fact that a mail train was due about that time, and the local took a siding to let it go by. That's Different Director (during the love scene) — Is that the way a loving couple would kiss each other? Actor — Oh, I understood that we were married. A Display A society play was being screened. Several women appeared, dressed for the opera. "Those women look quite nice in their opera gowns," remarked a woman to her husband. "Yes, " he replied; "but they didn't get in them very far, did they?" 83 © All the Faster A picture of a very plain girl was flashed on the screen. An Irishman, turning to his friend, remarked: "Faith, thot face would stop a clock!" "Be jinx," was the reply, "I am thinking thot it would make it run all the faster!" It is quite probable that the crew of the local train supposed that we knew all about the mail train being due first, but we didn't. ' ' Along came the mai 1 train, bearing down upon the poor dummy camera man. When we saw it was going to stop, we began to realize that in about half a minute more we would be guilty of holding up the United States mail, and, therefore, liable to imprisonment. There was nothing to do but run, and there was no place to run except through the swamp. All hands, ladies and gentlemen, floundered in the mire, while the mail train came to a halt quite close to the dummy camera man. I have no idea what the conductor of the mail train had to say, but I know that when we got into Newark that night, we were a sad-looking lot, and we kept to the dark side streets to make sure that we would not be arrested for vagabonds. ' ' as © No Show at All A four-year-old created a disturbance at a Wichita motion picture show by crying to go home. "You promised to take me to a fehow, " he burst out to his mother, "and this isn't any show ? There isn't any Charlie Chaplin!" MOTION PICTURES '. lmiiiiiiiiiiiiwiiiiiiii a INDUSTRIAL = SERIES = AMATEUR I WALL-PAPfR I HANGING i »tanniiiiinniMii» ft — a C0MMENCIN6 TO BEGIN o o ft ft } a THE FINISHED PRODUCT 0 □ V ft |jg& C6 > — ri MAKING THEM INVULNERABLE o □ i & i * SENDING THEM TO THEIR DESTINATION * Si h | ft ft AYEARLATER HUNGRY ACTOR BLOWING HIMSELF TO LUNCH ft" ft fi, V? UJNQy ROOM PR i ftL . — U& PASSED BY TOE BOARD CENSORSHIP = -<SeorgeCar)son _, &n n» Industrial Series: or, Making the Best of Difficulties.