Modern Screen (Dec 1931 - Nov 1932 (assorted issues))

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The elephants were stampeding! The trainer was not on hand to cow them! Hundreds of people would be trampled! Wallace Beery saw and— ...This famous writer tells of the courage which is Hollywood's —a courage which remains unduplicated anywhere else in the whole world By ALBERT P A Y S O N TERHUNE It is an unwritten law that nothing must hold up a production. Even when death touches one's loved ones the picture must go on. Mary Astor knows this. HOLLYWOOD OF old, we unsophisticated screen-watchers used to gasp at the life-and-death chances taken by stars of the film. Then we were told that most of the hair-crackling stunts and risks were incurred by doubles. That made us ashamed of our early thrills — even though a double is a human and a risk is still a risk. But we grew to discount our first impression that screen actors had the flashing daredevil courage of a d'Artagnan. Reaction from our spasm of admiration made us over-cynical as to the pluck of Hollywood actors. Then one of us began — carelessly at first — to investigate. Presently a throng of instances was gathered ; instances of flaming physical and moral courage; and none of them smeared by the publicity man's brush. Out of the mass of evidence one truth stood forth, past all doubt — Hollywood has a brand of courage all its own. It is a type of courage which seldom drifts into print. It is a quietly dauntless heroism such as is found in almost no other walk of life. I am going to tell you a mere handful of instances of this. They are worth your reading; not only for their keen dramatic interest ; but because such stories of bravery can do more good than, a hundred preachments. To begin with : Wallace Beery had made friends with the elephant trainer at the Selig Zoo. He had made friends with the elephants, too, and the trainer had taught him how to put the giant beasts through some of their simpler tricks. 26 One day Beery and his company were on location near the zoo. A swarm of idlers were watching. Many other outsiders were strolling around the zoo itself. Somebody yelled, "Fire !" Black smoke and red flames were belching from one end of the menagerie buildings. Crowds came running from every direction, even before the alarm could be turned in. The zoo was in a deafening uproar as the animals smelled the smoke. Should they break loose, there might well be wholesale tragedy among the packed mass of onlookers who surrounded the buildings. THEN came a multiple bellow, followed by a screamed sentence from one of the attendants. The herd of elephants had stampeded ! They had broken out of their own enclosure, maddened by fear. They were starting to charge through the buildings and yards in a rush for escape. That avalanche charge was due to smash down everything in front of it; and to open the way for the frantic lions and tigers and leopards to dash out into the helpless crowd. The trainer had gone to a restaurant down the street. He was presumably the only man who could curb the thundering herd. Wallace Beery scaled the high fence surrounding the zoo; and dropped down into the enclosure. It looked like a deed of suicidal insanity. He flung himself instantly among the trampling and milling elephants. Then the firemen arrived ; and the trainer came sprint