Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

JUNE 1924 Picture s and Pic hjre $oer he Misfortunes of Ni$e One was a blessing in disguise. y ist of them sounded quite tunny, the way he told of them, in his deep voice with its organ tones. And his own ringing laughter led the rest at every climax. Nigel was the guest of honour at an intimate luncheon the day after his arrival in London and he gave everybody carte blanche to fire off as many questions as they wished. So that naturally the first one was " Tell us about yourself.'' He did. He narrated the story of his first visit to London, how, as a wide-eyed country lad he watched the changing of the Guard and inadvertently found himself parading in front of the big drum. " I left England in search of health," he said. " I had the misfortune to lose my voice and I went to Death Valley, California, via a New England town and regained it there." The way he described his work in the mines evoked smiles, I think he meant it too, but long hours under a glaring sun can't have been funny at the time. Then he told us about one of his early films made from a novel called " Jordan as a Hard Road," and how he had to preach an extempore sermon for certain scenes in it. " Al Jennings, the reformed outlaw and bandit was amongst my audience," related Nigel, " and so I did my best and had most of the women weeping at the finish. Red-haired Al came over and congratulated me afterwards in terms more forcible than polite.'' It appears that because he looks so ascetic and has such an impressive personality De Brulier is always cast for a Churchman of sorts. " It's very hard lines," he complained, " but I suppose it will always be the same. When I was " Jokanaan " in Salome, I had a most uncomfortable time in the dungeon. As a matter ot fact, most of the time I was three parts frozen. The dungeon episode was made on a really cold February morning (we do have cold spells in California), and the cell was quite unheated, because of the lighting effects. If you remember, a beam of light shone down straight upon me, and the cell was half filled with smoke to allow the ray to be photographed properly. I remember Pavlova came to the Studio that morning and I was so cold 1 could hardly find my voice." " It was shortly after Salome's release," he continued, looking a little wistfully at the waiter who had carefully removed his scarcely-touched, Right : Nigel De Brulier in " Three Weeks." Below: As " Frollo" in " Thi Hunchback of Notre Dame;" a snapshot token in London the day after his arrival; and as " Jokanaan " in " Salome." With Gertrude Olmsted in " Ben Hur." third course. " I realised that I could always earn my keep as a living skeleton if all else failed." De Brulier expatiated largely upon the wonders of The Hunchback of Notre Dame sets. " I don't think one glory in celluloid," lie said. He was very enthusiastic over Chaney's work too, as " Frollo," he had many scenes with Lon. He described the manner of taking the crowd scenes, which were so effective on the screen, and how after the charge by soldiery, the huge square was strewn with dummy " bodies " and left over-nignt in case retakes were wanted. Strolling there by himself, De Brulier discovered that the wind had blown some sparks upon the set and started a small fire which would have been disastrous had it not been checked. (Continued on page 55.)