The Motion Picture Director (Sep 1925 - Feb 1926)

192 5 57 J— ~*V MOTION PH T tst director Claims Sitting Bull “Stole” Massacre Scene CHIEF Standing Bear, son of one of Sitting Bull's great war chiefs and who is appearing with several hundred other Indians in Universal’s Hearts of the West, takes issue with history as to the part played by Sitting Bull in the campaign that eventually ended in the Custer massacre. Sitting Bull, in the language of motion picture people, merely stole the scene from Chief Gall and Chief Crazy Horse, two great war chieftains of the Sioux, according to Standing Bear. Standing Bear was three years old at the time of the massacre, is a graduate of the famous Carlisle Indian School and has delved deep into the lore of his tribe. In addition, his statements are supported bv the accounts of the campaign given him by his father. “Sitting Bull was not a ‘brave,’ ” says Standing Bear. “Never had be taken a scalp. He was a medicine man who exercised great influence over his people. At the time of the Custer massacre he was six miles away. Chief Gall was the real war leader of my people. Sitting Bull, he had ‘big head.’ When they took him to Washington to see the Great White father he really thought he was to be made president. But he changed his mind when he came back, and but for my father he would have been killed. My people hated him. When he returned, Crazy Horse tried to kill him but my father held Crazy Horse off with a rifle.” Standing Bear takes a rather unique stand as to the ethics of scalping. “When our boys came home from the war in Europe they brought back German helmets and rifles as trophies,” he said, “to show people that they had really been there. When the Indian took the warpath against an enemy tribe he brought back the scalps of the braves he had slain. It was his proof that he had been to war and had killed an enemy.” The cast of Hearts of the West, includes such players as Hoot Gibson, Anne Cornwall, Dustin Farnum, Ward Crane, Kathleen Key, Eddie Gribbon, Harry Todd, George Fawcett and Harold Goodwin. Producing Entire Pictures on Location Probably not since the film industry was “in its infancy” has an entire picture been made wholly on location, but that is what Renaud Hoffman is doing in the Redwood State Park near Santa Cruz and what Jack Ford has been doing at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the Fox special, Three Bad Men, has been in production. A large company of players with a formidable array of props and equipment have been sent to Santa Cruz and filming is now under way on The Phantom of the Forest, Hoffman’s newest feature for Gotham Productions. Both exteriors and interiors will be made in the wilds with the old Spreckels’ ranch at Aptos furnishing part of the settings. The electric power company has installed transformers to secure current from the main transmission line several miles away. The Phantom of the Forest will feature Thunder, famous canine actor of the screen and is an original story from the pen of his owner, Frank Foster Davis, who also plays a prominent role in the picture. James J. Tynan made the adaptation. The allstar cast, under the direction of Henry McCarty, is headed by Betty Francisco and Eddie Phillips and includes James Mason, Irene Hunt, Rhodv Hathaway and others. The company will be on location for several weeks according to Glenn Belt. Donald Ogden Stewart Signs With M.G.M. Studio Found at last! A famous author who doesn’t want to revolutionize the screen ! His name is Donald Ogden Stewart, and he has just arrived in California to serve what he calls an “apprenticeship” at the Metro-Goldwyn-Maver studios. Stewart, author of the remarkable successful novel, The Crazy Fool, recently purchased by M-G-M, is under contract as an editor and supervisor, possibly to do his first work on his own novel. He is one of the best known authors in America, and six of h is books in succession have won wide popularity. “I never had anything to do with pictures before,” says Stewart, “and have no illusions about revolutionizing them — -nor have I any idea that I know anything about them. I am going to try to learn the business before I talk about it.” Stewart is the author of A Parody Outline of History, hailed as a classic in humor, Perfect Behavior, Aunt Polly’s Story of Mankind and Mr. and Mrs. Haddock A broad. 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