Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1915)

July 10, 1915 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 231 Universale Unique City. A Town Built for the Production of Motion Pictures — Scenes In and About the Magic Village and Talks With the Men Who Made It. T T T HEN at 11 :30 in the forenoon of a rare Saturday y y in June inquiry at the Hill Street station of the local traction monopoly brought forth the information that the next car for Universal City would leave at 1 o'clock a counter-inquiry from a bystander elicited a suggestion that a Hollywood car would bring a traveler in touch with a jitney that would take him out to San Fernando valley in a jiffy — or something to that effect. The fare to Universal City on a round trip ticket is 50 cents and the single trip is 35 cents. By combination of trolley and bus 20 cents is saved on a single trip and the headway is reduced to five minutes, a fact which undoubtedly causes many employees of the Universal Film Company to look upon the despised jitneys as not necessarily altogether evil. It is one of those cases where necessity is served by the invention. As we passed through the long hall of the administration building of this community of white structures at Universal City we saw the tall figure of P. A. Powers descending the stairs. "Come on, you're just in time," said the treasurer of the Universal, who but a week before had made a flying trip from NewYork ; "have a bite with me." "P. A." was garbed in white trousers and shoes and silk shirt, sans coat and waistcoat. In the big restaurant he ignored the tables along the side of the room and above which was the emblem: "For directors and leads." He took a seat in the corner near the cigar stand. For the next half hour there was a stream of callers — officials, directors, players, cameramen, men who had something to sell him, men who wanted to take him out to dinner. There was an answer for all, and somehow at the same time the steak, apple pie and coffee were consumed. There was no question that the treasurer of the company had a grasp of details concerning the big plant. After luncheon we made search for William Horsley, under whose supervising eye Universal City grew in less than a twelvemonth from a field of grain to its present stature. It took a half hour to locate him. "I thought vou had gone back to the old country," was his salutation ; which, being interpreted, means of course the east. Mr. Horsley talked of early Universal days in California, down to the breaking of ground for the present plant in May of 1914, and the beginning of actual construction on June 18 following. In a walk and drive over some of the 230 acres Mr. Horsley pointed out the hospital on Lankershim Boulevard, the highway that passes the city, the bungalow for the animal trainer, the barber's shop and manicure parlor, main restaurant, administration building, laboratory, theater, with two installations and space for a third ; ice plant, purchasing department, costume building and dressing room for extras, electric studio, technical building, containing the carpenter shop and the paint shop; special property building ; the main stage, 300 by 65 feet, the dressing room and property room in the rear, making the structure of a total dimension of 300 by 157. At the rear end of the ranch there is a stage 50 by 200, fully ENTRANCE™UNIVER5AL CITY. equipped with dressing rooms, property rooms, carpenter shop and scene painting department. There is an arsenal recently completed for the storage of guns and ammunition ; and there is a zoo and also an arena where animal pictures are made. Out by the river are the corrals for the horses, a blacksmith's shop and a harness shop. A cavalry barracks provides quarters for twenty men and a bunkhouse for twenty cowboys. A restaurant furnishes dining facilities for the employees of the rear ranch. All over the big place are sets, elaborate, some temporary and some that may well be permanent, that have been erected from time to time for large productions, ranging from castle walls to city streets. These of course have much interest for the casual visitor — and there are four or five hundred of them who every day pay 25 cents admission to the grounds. But there -is a side to this big establishment the casual visitor does not see — and that is the provision that has been made for water supply and for sanitation. Mr. Horsley explained that owing to the peculiar rock formation it had been deemed advisable to acquire a small piece of land across the river to insure