The Moving Picture Weekly (1920-1921)

24 The Moving Picture Weekly October 8, 1921 Canadian Censor Board Ckairmai EDMONTON, Sept. 15.— It is almost impossible to try and picture in a short article the perfectly wonderful trip given us by the Universal Film Manufacturing company of Universal City, California. Our party consisted of 25 censors of motion pictures, representing the provinces of the Dominion of Canada and the states in which there is censorship, representatives of motion picture papers and our hosts. I must say that neither time nor expense was spared in giving us a week of the most diversified entertainment, each day commencing at 10 o'clock, and ending any time after midnight, and before 10 o'clock the following morning. This included motor trips of hundreds of miles through the wonderland of California, revealing to our view acres and acres of orange, lemon, grapefruit and walnut groves; peach, pear and nectarine orchards, and the largest olive grove in the world. Tours of inspection of the sunken gardens of Los Angeles and the famous Adolphus Busch gardens of Pasadena, and visits to the ocean shore. The Busch gardens are marvels of loveliness, covering 80 acres of ground, where one beholds the last word in landscape gardening. The manager of the estate allowed us to pick any kind of fruit or flower which was new to us. Here I picked figs and nectarines for the first time, and a ponderosa lemon weighing four pounds. A beautiful flower of the Amarillas variety won my admiration. It grows up out of the ground without any sign of foliage a cluster of pink waxen lilies, on a tall stalk and the perfume is most delightful. We were told every known variety of flower and shrub is to be found here. Barbecues served on the ocean beach, at Santa Monica and at Harry Carey's ranch, beautifully situated in the San Francisquito canyon proved vastly entertaining. Wonderful Studio Settings We spent several hours on many occasions at Universal City viewing the wonderful studio settings that really have to be seen to be appreciated, or even to convince one that some of the scenes which we sometimes see in the pictures were not really taken abroad. One setting in particular was composed of three immense buildings on three sides of a square in the centre of which was a beautiful fountain playing in the midst of lofty palms. These buildings represented the Hotel de Paris, the theatre and the famous Casino of Monte Carlo. The front of these buildings are exact replicas of the original buildings and during the filming of the picture for which they were constructed were ablaze with millions of electric lights. Three hundred people in evening dress going to and from the diff'erent buildings, motor cars driving through the square, and a street car coming up the street past the hotel could easily convince one that the picture was filmed at Monte Carlo. This one setting conveyed to us the thought, time and amount of money which has to be expended in the filming of a large feature. Circus Staged for Censors At Universal City an animal circus was put on for our party, and we found that the Universal Film Manufacturing Company had a real zoo and a wonderful animal trainer. The lions we so often see featured in serials and comedies are very fierce and vicious animals; not at all Isabel G. Buibeck Praises Courtesy and Generosity of Hosts To Visiting ShearWielders. Met Many Celebrities and Saw Great Variety of Scenic Wonders — Amazed at Magnitude of Monte Carlo Set For "Foolish Wives" what we have thought them to be. Joe Martin, the chimpanzee, was quite as pleased to see us as we were to see him and did not feel at all afraid of the censor, knowing that his pictures were not censorable. Most wonderful dogs of all breeds were there, from the wonderful Kazan of the huskies to the tiny toy poodle and all so sleek and fat and well cared for. AH the animals showed that wonderful care and attention was given them and came very readily and confidently to the trainer. Inspect Many Departments. An inspection of the wardrobe and property rooms would easily give one pleasure for an entire day, but we had to curtail it to a couple of hours. Here one finds furniture and clothing of every period in history, and the research department must be a most interesting one in which to work. Care in the detail of each picture is very obvious when one sees into the interior of these immense storehouses wherein are kept the different articles necessary for the perfect equipment and dressing of the sets. I could write a volume on our visits of inspection to the studios of Universal City. Not the least interesting part of our visit was our luncheons at Universal City, at which we were favored in meeting several of the stars; although at this particular time there is very little work being done in any of the studios. Among those present were Eric Von Stroheim, Priscilla Dean, Gladys Walton, Miss Dupont, Eileen Sedgwick, Marie Prevost, Lee Moran, Hoot Gibson, Eddie Polo, Frank Mayo, Harry Carey, Art Accord, etc. They were very gracious to us, and we spent many happy hours in their company during our visits to Universal City. Our hosts were not selfish in their trips of inspection of studios, for they were instrumental in securing for us the fi"eedom of other studios, such as the Famous PlayersLasky, Brunton, Robertson-Cole, etc., at which we' met and saw at work many of the stars, including Wallie Reid, Casson Ferguson, Thomas Meighan, Betty Compson, Helen Dunbar, Will Rogers, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jack Pickford, Jack Holt, etc. We were personally received at the Brunton studio by Miss Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, the former just finishing the last scenes of "Little Lord Fauntleroy." They wei-e very delightful and altogether splendid in their reception of us, Miss Pickford giving us a delightful talk on their approval of censorship. Ovation to Priscilla Dean An evening was arranged at Sunset Inn when an ovation was given Priscilla Dea in honor of the visiting censors. Here we saw the cabaret life of the motion picture stars, which while not exactly in line with the lives of most of us, was interesting in showing the style of amusement we so often see depicted on the screen. Here we met more of the actresses and actors — Clara Kimball Young, Bustr Keaton and his bride, Natalie Talmadge, Stuart Holmes, Mabel Normand and a number of lesser lights. The closing event on the program was a trip to Catalina Island, the home of Wrigley of Spearmint fame. The trip was made from Los Angeles on a private yacht giving us three hours on the Pacific ocean. We were taken on a trip in the glass boats, through which we saw the beautiful submarine gardens, and from the deck of which we saw 'Reserve at least one day a week for Universal pictures" 52 Universal Special Attractions this year.