Movie Pictorial (March 1915)

MOVIE PICTORIAL WONDER TOWN OF THE WEST By RICHARD WILLIS The drying drums hum and the electric liaht plant throbs, and shadowy figures pass In and out—for Universal City is never at rest is the announcement blazed forth, and welcome it surely will be. In addition to seeing the technical departments, where the visitor will be shown just how films are made, he or she can visit the Japanese gardens, the open air gymnasium, the wonderful lake in the very center of the city, or can rest by the side of the reservoir, which is located on one of the hill- tops. A menagerie is always entertaining, and espe- cially so when it contains as many wild animals as does the one at Universal City. Here are elephants, lions, tigers, camels, and indeed, almost every wild animal down to the domestic dog for even the cats and dogs have not been overlooked. The cages are roomy and comfortable, and the section devoted to the animals is parked. y ASTLY interesting to outside visitors will be the ' dressing rooms of the artists, convenience and comfort has been studied and every room has its hot and cold water and other conveniences. The artists are proud of their quarters. The dressing rooms, as you approach them look like small terraces with innumerable doors and windows. Each actor has furnished his room ac- cording to his or her taste — some of them are very elaborate, and some very business-like. One girl has her room furnished in oriental style, and a character man has rigged up blocks in order that he can make all his own wigs and beards, another looks like a delicate and dainty bedroom, another has a desk, and so forth — each according to his or her particular liking and idea of workaday comfort. It is pleasing to know that the inhabitants of this unique city will eventually have their own club rooms, a swimming tank, billiard rooms and an athletic track, and that the management is con- siderate enough to think of these things and so bring themselves into close touch with their employees which means added interest and that friendly feeling which means so much to everyone who is human. U NIVERSAL .City has a truly beautiful situation and environment; it is in the foothills which guard the approach to mountains of considerable altitude, and is cut up into valleys and flats, but the mountains are ever dominant. The fertile valley of San Fernando stretches for many miles, on either hand backed by mountains which even at this writ- ing are snow capped. The Los Angeles river flows through the estate and adds many lovely spots in- valuable to the makers of artistic pictures. I am not going into detail concerning the vast- ness of the stages, or the completeness of the many buildings, the wonder of the indoor lighting system, by which the company can work all night if it wants to, or, the many other remarkable things which will be written and rewritten, but confine myself to the “human” side of this adjective break- ing city. To me one of the most remarkable things about the concern is that it gives employment to some two thousand people in one way or another, these figures being claimed by the management. A large number of these appear in the pictures and have to be clothed and fed and a visit at noon to the large and well appointed restaurant gives a very intimate view of the costumes of almost every nation under the sun, for the actors have no time to remove their “make-up” for lunch. Apart from the two thousand mentioned and who are on regular salary there are always hundreds of extra men and women who fill in for crowds and gatherings. Standing in the cupola where Isadore Bernstein almost resides one can see a regiment of soldiers attacking the Indians; an Italian street; a Chinese settlement; a road in London Town; the gates of Lucknow, together with interior scenes being taken on the two stages, each one of which is ca- pable of housing a scene for every company employed. One can see people costumed to match the scenes, and it is all a marvelous mass of ever varying color, of movement and of life. These people pour through the main gates every morning in busses, in auto- mobiles and on motorcycles, and a line of jitney busses does a thriving business, and every evening, after the days work is done and another daily in- stallment of this great company’s vast chapter of varied pictorial story is closed, the same crowds pass through the gates again, but the movement never stills, for the drying drums hum and the electric light plant throbs and shadowy figures pass in and out—for Universal City is never at rest. T HINK of it, every day there are two thousand people regularly employed, and as often aug- mented by two thousand extra people, the majority of these eat and drink at the restaurant and not a few live on the grounds. Many of them earn large salaries and have comfortable homes and a large percentage are married and are bringing up families. They are a fine lot of people too for the most part, well educated and generous to a fault, often highly strung and always lovable. I look back three years almost to a day, when I came to Los Angeles—a memory of the motion pic- ture making plant equipment as it then existed, registers itself in my mind’s eye. And in contrasting that vision with the immensity of this one tnoving pic- ture plant of today, the scope of it, the power of it, the vast treasures stored within its walls, I feel the thrill and marvel that must permeate one’s senses when such a forcible, impressionable reminder of the wonderful growth of this world’s great industry is brought home to one’s understanding. Where there ran a lane road through fields and foothills a very short time ago there is now a city, a fascinating play-acting city on a gigantic scale where men and women work hard at their play to give pleasure to millions in all parts of the globe, and the silence is broken by an endless hum, the hum of a great industry. The vastness of the stages, the complete- ness of the buildings, the wonder of the Indoor light- ing, crowd fast upon one’s sensi- bilities