The Moving Picture Weekly (1916-1917)

-THE MOVING PICTURE WEEKLY **The Janitor" Wins Year's Contract for Beery lALLACE BEERY, who was especially engaged by the Universal Film Company to direct the comedy series, "Timothy Dobbs," which features Carter De Haven, has been nicknamed "The Human Dynamo" at Universal City. Beery was a former member of the Essanay forces, and has a great reputation to sustain as a producer of genuine, clear-cut comedy, without either "slapstick" methods, or the slightest suggestion of vulgarity. He has announced his intention of beating all his preAdous records in the new series, and judging from the peals of laughter which echoed from the Universal projection room when the first episodes were shown to a critical audience, composed of the officials of the company, he has succeeded. His brand of humor is a very original one, and he has a star of the first magnitude to work with in Carter De Haven, and one of the best companies besides which the Universal has ever chosen to work together. Beery is astonishing every one at the picture municipality by the speed with which he works — hence his nickname. In three days, a few weeks ago, he produced three reels of pictures, in addition to writing three others. It was while waiting for the sets for "Timothy Dobbs," which, in the second episode, are unusually elaborate, that he found time to put on the one-reel comedy, "The Janitor," which has resulted in a year's contract with the Universal. He plays the lead in this himself, as well as writing and directing it, and the entire thing was completed in eight hours. Beery is a very clever and original comedian, whose work in the character of "Swedie," which he invented, is well known. "The Janitor" is a part of this type, in which he has the assistance of no less a personage than Joe Martin, the Universal ape of nationwide fame. During part of his varied career. Beery was an elephant trainer, and he has always flattered himself that he has winning ways with animals. Joe is almost as intelligent as a human being, where he knows the people with whom he is to work. He is absolutely devoted to Zoo-Superintendent Rex De Rosselli, and never allows him to pass without stopping to take the big monkey in his arms. Beery wanted Joe to do the same thing for him in the picture, but it was some time before he succeeded in persuading Joe that his intentions were honorable. At last he was forced to descend to bribery and corruption and present Joe with many lumps of sugar, finally winning his affections in this way. Joe has taken the director into his good graces at last, and De Rosselli pretends to be quite jealous. Besides his adventures with the orang-outang, Beery took some ex WalUtce Beery in his Mercer racer in which he entered the Memorial Day races at Ascot Park. Wallace Beery at last makes friends with Joe the ape. traordinary risks in the making of this super one-reeler, which entitles him to a place among the reckless dare-devils of the films. Many of the scenes were taken on the top of the Gates Hotel in Los Angeles, a ten story building, with a tall flag pole on the roof. Beery, in pursuit of Ernest Grider, a member of his company, who was playing a second-story man, followed the thief up the fire escape of the building, across the roof and twenty-five feet in the air up the flag pole. At the very top, Grider turned upside down, hanging on by his feet, and the two men had a scrap in midair, risking instant deaht on the pavement below, if either had lost his hold on the swaying pole. Not content with this feat, Beery decided to increase the comic effect, by hanging out of a ninth story window, going through all kinds of contortions, which threatened any minute to land him in the street. Passersby gazed up at the struggling figure, and their anxious interest was caught by the camera, which was placed on the fire escape in order to film the scene. It was all very dangerous, hni Beery belongs to the heroic school of actors who will take any risk in order to get a laugh into their productions. Besides being a director, comedian and playwright, the "Human Dyna(Continued to page 35)