Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

1 90 The Temperamental Dumb The bear that worked with Dolores del Rio wouldn't behave unless he was plentifully supplied with sweets. ing immediately that the girls were afraid of her, the ponderous pachyderm took delight in swiping at them with her trunk, and developed a convenient deafness to her trainer's shouted commands. Not until the extras were replaced by real circus girls, could the show go on. "You can't teach a goat if he doesn't want to learn," says Harold Lloyd, after an experience with one of the 'breed in making "Grandma's Boy." "We had a gag all fixed up whereby Mr. Goat was to butt me. The idea was to show that the boy had some fight in him, so I. being the boy, was supposed to jump up and swat the goat, who would then run away. It worked — up to a certain point. The goat would cheerfully butt me, but instead of running away after I had hit him, he'd stand there and look offended. Nothing moved him. We finally had to cut it out. "Still, the world prize for dumb doras goes to turkeys," continued the king of comedians. "We had Genevieve — or rather four of them — for turkeys are delicate things. Once Genevieve flew up to the top of a door ; it took all the king's horses and all the ing's men to get her down again. And she wouldn't act." Overacting on the part of a canine, Hank by name, wrecked a scene for Vera Reynolds, in "Almost Human." In spite of being just a mutt, Hank is a most intelligent dog. His master had impressed on him all during the picture that he was Vera's dog, that he loved her and must show it. Then came the big scene in which Vera sees a child drowning and dives to her rescue ; they are both about to be sucked under when Hank realizes that his beloved mistress is in danger, and effects a rescue. All went well until Vera swam after the drowning child. Hank, on shore, was so eager to act that he didn't wait for his trainer's command, but dove frantically for his actress-mistress, landing on her back, getting a firm hold of her dress, and preparing to pull her to land. Many precious feet of film were ruined and the whole scene had to be retaken, much to Hank's chagrin. Silver King, Fred Thomson's famous white horse, recently proved his right to be as temperamental as he liked. For a certain sequence of "The Sunset Legion," the Western star was required to appear in disguise, attired in black, and riding a black horse. Numerous ebony equines were tried out, but none of them could do even the simplest of Silver King's tricks. "That settles it !" snapped Fred, "we'll have to disguise Silver, too." Make-up was out of the question, as the problem of sweat and hard riding could not be surmounted. So a tailor was called in, and a black-woolen suit that covered the horse from the tips of his ears to his tail was designed. It took more than a week to accomplish the fittings, as no pins could be used, and a spirited horse is not a clothes dummy. It was in this same picture that director Alfred Werker refreshed his knowledge as regards mules. At camp out in the great open spaces a mule is sure to bray half the night, when the unhappy humans want to sleep, but do1 you suppose he'll bray when you want him to? Not much. Mr. Werker had two of the obstinate breed hitched to a rail in front of a movie saloon. Cameras were set up, and the owner of the mules was told to request them to bray. The brutes hung their chins over the rail and went to sleep. Continued on page 112 Jacqueline Logan never knew just how long Olga's leopard temper would remain passive.