Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1915)

228 THE .MOVING PICTURE WORLD July 10. 1915 The offices, near the business entrance, which is at a distance of several hundred feet north on Selig Boulevard, as the finely asphalted portion of Mission Road passing the property is known, are in rustic style. Here on the border of a great grove of eucalyptus trees are the quarters of the officials and directors and scenario writers. Over on the eastern side of the park are the stages where five directors are working — Tom Santschi, George Nicholls, Lloyd Carlton, Marshall Neilan and Mr. Chaudet. There are runs for jungle scenes, caves for illusions, an exact duplicate of a village in Colon, and the large collection of structures known as Bloom Center, the site where are being photographed the rustic comedies produced by Marshall Neilan. Bloom Center is a village. One may stand in front of the hotel and look down two streets, or should we sav roads? There are the Weekly Bugle print shop and the grocery. The print shop is equipped with the orthodox Gordon press and old style cases filled with type. There are a drug store, with regularly labelled bottles and jars ; blacksmith's shop, laundry, livery, barber's shop, brewery, and, to complete the picture, a town hall with its op'ry house and a church. Two primitive lampposts add to the atmosphere. Near the stages is a large concrete dressing room. In the rear of the stages are the extensive carpenter shops, property rooms and quarters for the scenic artists. In the garage are numbered stalls, each employee— official, director, actor or other — owning a machine having his or her individual storage place. Along the southern side are the corrals for the animals other than those in the category of the wild sort. There are stables for the ponies and the many horses, including Sultan, the "high school" animal famous for his "scholarship." Here, too, are quartered the fourteen camels and three dromedaries and the two giraffes. Prince Chan, orang-outang, resides in an electrically heated home. Five of his species are on the way to join him. Toward the entrance are the aviaries where are quartered all manner of fowl and birds from all countries. Superintendent Robinson showed the World man over the grounds under his supervision and pointed out some of the more notable inmates of this remarkable animal and bird world. He put his hands through the bars and stroked the sleek sides of the lions and the tigers, a mark of friendly recognition which it is said Mr. Selig shares with him. In the main house are one hundred carnivorous or meat-eating animals. There are thirty-two lions and lionesses. Of Bengal tigers there are eighteen, the largest collection of similar beasts in the world, and as authority for this statement Superintendent Robinson quotes the younger Hagenbeck. Among fourteen leopards there is one of the black variety, very rare, and certainly of untamed aspect. There are also two clouded leopards, probably the only pair in the country. There are fourteen panthers, also known as pumas and mountain lions. Of the herbivora there are seven bears of different species and five Asiatic elephants, including a mother with a nursing baby. The pair of giraffes are now fourteen feet in height, having grown six feet in the last year. They are three years old. There are but nine other giraffes in the country. There are six efk, ten sacred cows of India, including three calves born on the grounds ; one zebra, three water or Philippine buffalo, one yak — have we heard somewhere of a Doc Yak? — and four kangaroo. There are ten deer, seven llama, and a pair of Russian wild boars. The hay-eating animals total seventy-seven. In the dog kennels are fourteen German boarhounds, which in their native country are used as police dogs. There are four Eskimo dogs, two St. Bernards, three wolves and an Alaskan husky, a wolf-dog. Of squirrels there are many varieties. On the collection of representatives of the bird family quartered in the Selig Zoo a book might be written. For instance, of cranes there are a pair each of Kaffir crowned, companion, demoselle, Manchurian and Stanley. There are three golden eagles and one of the bald variety. There are many parrots, cockatoos and macaws. Of pheasants there is probably the largest collection in the United States. There are six Impeyan, imported from the Himalayan Mountains. There are four peacock, six Amherst, seven silver, six golden, eleven English, two white, two copper, five Reeves, two Kerfield and twelve versicolor. There are seventy-eight young pheasants of different species. The young pheasants are raised by Japanese silky hens ; several of these are used for this sole purpose. In the duck preserve are fifty mallards, eight mandarin, fourteen teal, eight widgeon, two spoonbills and two muscoveys. There are wild geese from Canada and Australia. Of monkeys there are fifty. Colonel Selig is reticent as to his future plans for picturemaking, other than as those plans may be revealed in his formal announcements. There is no question, however, that he contemplates big things. There is an evidence of this in the enormous stage he will erect on the zoo grounds, for the making of Y-LS-E features of well as subjects for his regular releases. With five directors working at the Zoo, three at Edendale, and with Tom Mix at Las Vegas, N. M., where it is expected he will go, independent of the facilities at the big Chicago home plant, it is extremely plain that the Selig Polyscope Company is an organization most splendidly equipped for picturemaking. ^ IL. Selig Zoo — The House of the Lion and Tiger.