Moving Picture World (April 1912 - June 1912)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD "7 a well-lighted corridor, he must have proceeded to locate the operating room. He was trying to locate it, remember. He passed a double door on his right and, had he turned the knob of the right leaf of this door, he could have passed into the operating room. Instead, he continued a few steps further, and there, to his right, was another double door, with window panes in the upper halves. Through these panes he looked into the dark operating room and could see the rays of light from the lenses and the faces of the operators faintly. Here was his goal. The problem was how to open the door, for the leaves were of the sliding kind, operated by a compound lever. He must have shaken the door (which was a new one) and loosened the catch to the left from its lock; then slid the left leaf to the right and stepped into what he supposed was the room, in the darkness. Instead, it was the yawning mouth of the elevator shaft, and he pitched forward and fell headlong eighteen feet below, striking on the floor of the elevator on his head. This opening of the door is not based on mere supposition, for Mr. Kerr, in the exhibition business in Dayton, who was in the operating room at the time and about fifteen feet away, saw Mr. Chalmers open the door. Not recognizing him, he thought he was an employe of the N. C. R. Co. and knew what he was doing. Mr. Chalmers could not see Mr. Kerr on account of the darkness in the operating room, and, as he took the fatal step, Mr. Kerr knew, when too late, that he was not an N. C. R. employe. Mr. Kerr's father had met his death some years before in a similar accident, and seeing this unknown man fall before his eyes, affected him so strongly that he was seized with nausea that lasted half an hour. Strange to relate, John M. Bradlet and W. A. Pettis, vicepresident of the Ohio League, were in the operating room at the same time, about twenty feet away from the shaft, as was afterwards testified to before the Coroner. Neither knew of the presence of the other, owing to the darkness, although only about five feet apart. Mr. Bradlet states that he did not investigate, being averse to view such sights, but he could see on looking down the shaft that the Emergency Hospital staff of the N. C. R. Co. was removing the injured man. The light was so dim he could not distinguish any object clearly. Down on the basement floor, a few yards away from the elevator, at the time of the accident, Frank Mytinger, who works in the slide department of the N. C. R. Co., heard a cry and the fall of a body. He rushed to the elevator, where Mr. Chalmers lay groaning. He did not recognize him (although he had met him once), owing to the poor light. Mr. Mytinger is well known in film circles in Chicago. The rumor spread that the injured man was Mr. Kenfield, of the A. H. Andrews Co., Chicago, and one of his assistants went at once to the Emergency Hospital to learn the truth. He was taken into the operating room and discovered that it was not Mr. Kenfield. At the same time he expressed the belief that he had met the injured man. When the surgeon showed him a letter taken from Mr. Chalmers' pocket, he immediately recognized the name and rushed back to tell Mr. Bradlet. Meantime the N. C. R. Co.'s surgeon, seeing that Mr. Chalmers was most seriously injured, conveyed him to the Miami Hospital, nearby, where a consultation was held with leading surgeons of the institution, and all that surgical skill could perform was done for the patient. Special nurses were called in to assist in the fight for life, but from the first there was little, if any, hope. At 6:15 o'clock, Wednesday morning, March 27, Mr. Chalmers passed away, and the world of moving pictures lost one of its most zealous and optimistic workers. There is great consolation for his relatives and friends in the knowledge that Mr. Chalmers knew no suffering. This was the one mercy vouchsafed in his case, in the completion of "the sore tattered tapestry of life." It was not until nearly 5 o'clock in the afternoon that I heard of the accident. This was due to the fact that I accompanied the delegates and visitors on a survey of the N. C. R. Co.'s plant, which occupied over one hour. The entire narty was subdivided into many smaller ones, so that each of the latter could be carried in one of the large elevators. Each of these smaller parties was in the care of a guide, and I often wondered why it was that I never encountered the party to which Mr. Chalmers had been allotted. I had boarded the car for the city when I encountered C. H. Pyle, manager of Miss Martha Russell, who told me of the accident. I then went back to the general office of the N. C. R. Co., where I met Mr. Bradlet. A telegram was then sent to John Wiley, business manager of The Moving Picture World. Mr. Bradlet made all necessary preparations for the shipment of the remains to New York, preparatory to the arrival of Mr. Wiley, who came into Dayton Thursday morning. He departed the same evening on a Pennsylvania train, being accompanied to the depot by Mr. and Mrs. O. B. Weaver and Wm. Seeley. of Dayton, and John M. Bradlet. After the accident and after the death of Mr. Chalmers I was deeply impressed by the sincere sympathy and sorrow expressed by numerous people, in various branches of the film business, whom I met. Indeed, the tragedy cast a deep gloom over the entire convention, and many were opposed to engaging in any part of the program that was not confined strictly to business. Deep respect for his memory and heartfelt regret for his untimely end will be long retained, for James P. Chalmers, by men in all branches of the film industry. SELIG PICTURE SUGGESTED BY SELIG'S PICTURE. "The End of the Romance," the Selig Polyscope Co.'s release of April 16th, has had somewhat of a romance of its own. Some time ago Mr. W. N. Selig, president of the Selig Polyscope Co., returned from one of his trips abroad, bearing with him a very high priced and well known original painting in oil by the noted German artist, L. Max Ehrler. Mr. Selig, who is somewhat of an art connoisseur, prized this particular work so highly that he gave instructions to have it hung in his beautifully decorated private office at the Chicago plant. Here it at once attracted attention and 'admiration from all who viewed it. The painting, wonderfully lifelike, shows a young lady in the act of burning, over a candle, the photograph of her lover. The painting had been hung scarcely a week before the scenario editor found himself literally swamped with scenarios founded upon the romance suggested in the painting. Practically everyone in the immense plant had received the same inspiration. From among this mass of material one was finally selected and placed in production. The matter was not mentioned to Mr. Selig, and when he sat in the vault the other day and witnessed for the first time a living portrayal of his beloved art subject, his surprise was genuine to say the least. AMERICAN TO RELEASE REMARKABLE SUBJECT. "Her Mountain Home" is the title of a very able piece of work that will be released by the American Film Mfg. Co. on Thursday, April 25th. It is a distinctively odd subject. The opening pictures show a wide and cheerless expanse of dry, barren alkali desert. Immediately in the foreground, with face painfully lined and every evidence of intense suffering, lying flat on the ground, we see a man in the throes of death by thirst. Suddenly his nervously working hand closes on a pebble when — lo! — the magic thought, "Gold!" changes the dying man's expression and lights it with a ghastly ray of hope. Such is the power of gold. He is rescued and later we see him and a chum join in the rush for the new gold field. In that motley crowd we see the rough adventurers of the West, coarse women, mingling into the homogeneous types of humanity that follow in the wake of gold. The hurried packing, restive horses attached to prairie schooners, the populace hurrying hither and thither with newly obtained claim deeds, all serve to make a striking portrayal of that most interesting of Western events — the rush for gold! BRADY THE POSTER MAN MOVES. Arthur Brady, one of the pioneers in motion picture publicity, has just finished his spring moving. He has taken up new and large quarters at 124 East 14th St., New York City, where he will have elbow room for himself and his customers. Brady is doing a land-office business in the poster rental and supply business. Mr. Brady is qualified for the place he fills, because he worked up from the proper beginnings. He was known as "The Aesthetic Sign Painter" when the movies were in their infancy. He got into the moving picture business by painting cards and banners. Later he began to carry a small stock of posters, but the poster branch, increasing with the rapid growth of cinematography, finally became the main part of Mr. Brady's business, and this same poster business became one of the largest in this country by the simple process of evolution.