Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

MAY 1924 Picture s and Picture poer \7 ivn minutes later the Sheik returned with a camel with one hump, a fine specimen of the meliari flying type oJ !. The scene was to be shot in fifteen minutes and Bert Lytell had never yet ridden a camel, let alone a racing mchari ! Lytell mounted the beast, and (hat's the last we saw of him. An assistant, with a sense of humour, told us ten minutes lain that a Sheik w.^ seen flying in the direction of rouggourt, on Ins way to his secret haunt a thousand billion miles across the desert. But he did return, looking very cross and undignified. Hun he smiled. ' It's the easiest thing in the world to rule," he said cheerfully. " Have a trv?" lie asked i 'arew. 'Are you ready?" asked Edwin Carew, hastily, and Bert Lytell assum_^; his mysterious and agressive air of Sheikiness said that according to Allah he was. And the filming of that scene proceeded merrily. Bert Lytell in the title role of " A Son of the Sahara.' For one of the big .scenes that took place near Biskra, Edwin Carew had engaged several hundred Arabs, and these were paid by the day. The crowds were required for a week and after three days the Arabs found that they had earned enough money to keep them for the next few days and therefore had all gone away in the night and had left the company sleeping. The next morning the Arabs only came back on the condition that they received more pay ! So while London was having a dockstrike, Algeria had a strike of Arabs. Unfortunately Edwin Carew's company had to travel much farther info the desert and as my time was limited I had to return to Paris. Three weeks later I lunched with Claire Windsor, looking more beautiful than ever in a gown of scintillating gold cloth, with a charming mantcau to match. Thus was I able to get the latest news on the filming of "A Son of the Sahara." " Wc visited El Kantara and went as far as Touggourt, the secret resort of the dangerous desert bandits. But we did not meet any and I was rather disappointed. Touggourt has a most violent climate, but it is a quaint place, very ancient and very dirty. What makes it very interesting are the twenty mosques. Our headquarters after we left Algiers was Biskra and we had a wonderful time in the country around. The interiors of the picture are being made at the Eclair studio at Epinay, where Pearl White made Terror, and some beautiful sets have been erected there. There I met Rosemary Theby who has a leading part in A Son of the Sahara. The leads in the picture are Claire Windsor, Bert Lytell, Montagu Beit Lytell and Claire Windsor. Love, Rosemary Theby, and there is a full cast, composed of many French stars casted by M. Louis Vcrande. A Son of the Sahara will he released in England by Associated First National. In another part of Africa Rex Ingram is making The Arab and the Sheik is Ramon Navarro and the leading lady Alice Terry. There is an all star cast composed of British, French and American artistes. The interiors for this picture are being made at the lar^e Pathe Studio at Vinccnnes near Paris, with Rex Ingram directing. The talented producer of the Four Horsemen, Where the Pavement Ends and Scaramouchr, welcomed me at the studio with his customary charm of manner. Here, too, beautiful sets had been erected and on the occasion T called the scene being shot was the interior of an Algerian cafe. A beautiful and genuine Ouled-Na'il was performing an excessively Eastern dance, while all around sat and squatted Arabs, who either applauded or showed signs of boredom. There were about forty in all, men and women, the latter strikingly beautiful. Rex Ingram, with the aid of his seven assistants directed the picture from a raised camera platform at the end of the studio. The scene to be filmed that afternoon was one of the most difficult I have yet seen any director tackle; principally in view of the iact that Mr. Ingram does not speak French while all the artistes on the set only knew that language. " Fumez, Fumez, Fumez," shouted Rex Ingram through his megaphone in a monotone that did not hide his Irish brogue. And in response the Arabs puffed at their cigarettes or pipes and the cafe grew black with smoke. Ramon