Motion Picture Magazine (Feb-Jul 1925)

So, with the unterrified courage of young genius, he flung all his savings and all the money he could borrow into a cheater. His was a gypsy story that had been told him by a real gypsy who had rescued him when Sture-Yasas' horse had been killed during a wild boar hunt in northern Hungary. Not being symbolism like von Sternberg's, this one required a lot of people and a lot of money. He couldn't depend upon dredgers. He hired Shannon Day as the leading lady. She too had been waiting a long time for a real chance. He took the part of the leading man himself and he made the entire picture outdoors, to save studio expense. All in all, his picture cost sixteen thousand dollars. If it is a success, of course, it will put him on his feet as an independent producer. It is a romantic and appealing gamble with Fate. "Doth von Sternberg and Sture-Vasas never intend to ■*-* make another cheater. These were only steppingstones. There are, however, several firms — mostly audacious boys and girls — who regularly make cheaters as a steady thing. Some of their methods are amusing. I know cne young man who is making a fortune out of it. His specialty is buying up discarded film. As is generally known, every studio takes three times the amount of "picture" that is ever used. He buys the surplus. I saw one picture, for instance, at which the tragedy of the evening took place at a dance. This boy brought up the "trims" from a big society picture in which a masquerade ball was shown. He showed a big "shot" of this elaborate ballroom with the crowd of dancers; then he cut to a "close-up" showing his heroine and the villain sitting at a table in a corner of the cafe. They kept looking off and applauding: so skilfully was this faked in that it looked as tho they were applauding the dancers. But they really weren't looking at the dancers. They were looking at a bleak corner of a rented studio. The result was that his entire picture cost about one-third what the ballroom scene had cost the big producer. A x o T II E R boy I knew was making a picture in w h i c h he simply had to have a mob ; that was all there was to it. A mob. or he perished as a producer. So what did he do but rent a grocer's delivery wagon ; conceal the camera inside and make it lose a wheel on the busiest traffic corner in Los Angeles. The traffic policeman came running and the bystanders came running also — to the number of several thousand. He heard a large and eloquent variety of swear words from the traffic cop ; but he got his mob for nothing. It saved him five thousand dollars. Another time it was highly important that he have a fire-engine tearing down thru the traffic. He lay in wait for a fire-engine peacefully coming home from a fire. That was easy. But how to get the rush thru the crowded traffic ? He solved this problem by renting an ambulance for an hour from an undertaking establishment. With a camera concealed inside, he drove it down himself — hooting the siren whistle that gave him the right of way thru the heart of the traffic, with the traffic cops warning back the crowds. *■ I "" h ere is a house on the edge of a hill made to order for cheaters. It stands just on the brow of a steep hill. Standing on one of the window-sills, you have the impression that the hero is looking dow:n from a high building into a business street. As a matter of fact, he is looking down about four feet. One of the most interesting cheaters ever made in Hollywood was made by a girl stenographer who suddenly took it into her head to be a motion-picture producer. She had nerve but almost no money. She had the heart of a hero. She got one of her big scenes by getting on board a passenger steamer about to leave for San Francisco— and refusing to get off until she had shot what she wanted to shoot. Another time during the making of the picture, the ruthless and unsympathetic owner of a rented automobile wanted it back because he got in a sudden panic about his pay. To have taken it would have ruined her picture. So she drew her trusty revolver and held him up at the point of it while the camera grouix on for the few m o m e n t s necessary. With the unterrified courage of young genius, Helge Sture-Vasas flung all his savings and all the money he could borrow into a cheater — a gypsy story. He took the part of the leading man himself, and made the entire picture outdoors to save studio expense. If it is a success, it will put him on his feet as un independent producer h I 'he archi■*■ tect who built the Los Angeles courthouse twentyfive years ago, is blessed by all makers of cheaters. He made a tunnel thru the elevators ; and the entrance looks exactly like the gateway of a mediaeval castle. More than once, the meek and lowly court stenographers and clerks hurrying to get to work on t i m e have found themselves — at least, their backs — figur ( Continued on page 95) '2lP pa ah