Disraeli (United Artists) (1921)

Interesting Special Stories— (All Exclusive) PURSUING PEACOCKS A PLEASANT PASTIME Among the “props” necessary for the filming of “Disraeli,” in which George Arliss is starred, were three peacocks. Three beautiful peacocks were ob¬ tained in Darien, Conn., and were tak¬ en to the magnificent home of Allen Lehman, at Tarry town, N. Y., where Director Henry Kolker, Mr. Arliss, and their company of players were assembled “on location” on one of the hottest afternoons in late June. The great lawn of the Lehman res¬ idence extends to the Hudson River, and from almost any part of the grounds the view is entrancing. The borrowed peacocks accentuated this beauty. *Mve peacocks, unlike stuffed birds, will not “stay put.” The soothing tones of a motion picture director have no influence on the peacock family. “Bill” Plunien, the “prop” man, was born with but two hands. And we are discussing three peacocks. “Bill” was kept busy. In the middle of the afternoon a big limousine drew up in the grounds, an. Henry M. Hobart, president of Dis¬ tinctive Productions, Inc., which is sponsoring the production of “Dis¬ raeli,” for release by United Artists, stepped out, with some friends. After greeting Mr. Arliss and Mr. Kolker, Mr. Hobart asked, solicit¬ ously: “How are the peacocks behaving? Where are they?” “Just down yonder ,” responded Harmon Weight, the assistant direc¬ tor, pointing. “They were right here,” gasped ‘ Bill” Plunien. “Where the deuce—” And the fun began. One of the laborers on the estate said he saw the peacocks going down toward the river, but he thought it was “in the picture.” All hands set off on a run toward the river bank—and Mr. Hobart was well up in the lead! .. The party scouted about for some moment, and finally the birds were lo¬ cated. Two male peacocks, with long feathers, were at the water’s edge, but the female bird, which has no feath¬ ered tail, had waded in a few feet. “Bill” Plunien salvaged her ladyship, and twenty feet downstream Mr. Ho¬ bart captured one of the male birds just in the nick o’ time—without hav¬ ing to jump into the water! Mr. Ho¬ bart laughingly turned his captive over to the “prop” boys, and in another five moments the three birds were back on the terrace near the house, and put under a strong guard. Mr. Hobart said afterwards he en¬ joyed the pursuit fully as much as the amused spectators—including his guests on that occasion. Mr. Arliss had a hearty laugh when the story was told to him. “That’s tracing responsibility to its source with a vengeance.” Mr. Arliss remarked. “I forgot, for a moment, that I am not Mr. Disraeli, and that the peacocks were not, in reality, mine. They were borrowed.” “Disraeli” will be the feature at the . Theatre beginning . SHE CHANGED HER MIND While George Arliss was filming “Disraeli” on the beautiful grounds surrounding the Tudor home of George D. Pratt, at Glen Cove, L. I., the many servants in the great house had an opportunity to see a group of motion picture players “at work” for the first time. Whenever the servants could get away from their tasks, they went to the lawn and concealed them¬ selves in the great bowers of roses to watch the actors and the cameramen. But one little old woman couldn’t be induced to budge a fraction of an inch. The other servants coaxed her to join them and painted charming pictures of Louise Huff in costume, and Mr. Arliss as Disraeli, and Mar¬ garet Dale, in a beautiful gown of sixty odd years ago. But the word pictures fell on ears that wouldn’t listen. “What?” asked the little old woman. ‘Me go out there to see a lot of ‘movie’ actors? And me a strong church woman? Why, they are the worst lol of people in the world.” This situation lasted for several days. But the little old woman tired of remaining alone for so many hours, took a stroll through the grounds one afternoon, intending to avoid the big crowd. And there, twenty feet dis¬ tant, walked Miss Huff and Miss Dale, two beautiful women in the costumes our grandmothers wore. The little old woman stopped short, her eyes staring at the sight, and finally she gasped: “Are ye ghosts?” “Far from it,” responded the bril¬ liant Miss Dale, “we are merely play¬ ers, and we are alive, we think, in this beautiful heaven about us, and we ai wearing very old-fashioned dresses. It may be our gowns, Louise. The lady is quite startled!” “Why, bless your hearts! My mother, and aunts and all the ladies wore those styles when I was a wee bit of a girl! And are you ‘movie’ actresses?” “We are,” replied Miss Huff, with a graceful bow, as though to a queen. “Sure—I didn’t know!” the old lady said, finally. “I was fed up on tom- myrot, I guess I thought ye were all red devils, but if you’ll forgive me. I’d like to see—” ' And for the next few days, the wide eyed little old woman was “in constant attendance” while Henry Kolker was directing the scenes for his picture. “We made a convert,” said Miss Huff, laughingly. “Disraeli” will be the feature at the . Theatre beginning. SHORTS Henry Kolker, who a few years ago was one of the foremost actors on the legitimate stage and deserted it to enter the motion picture field as a director, has been chosen by Mr. George Arliss as the director in his screen version of “Disraeli.” It was necessary to tear down three walls of a studio to build the enormous set representing the reception room of Buckingham Palace for George Arliss’ new picture, “Disraeli,” in which he was so successful on the stage for six years. It is a beautiful set, decorated in gray and gold, and with stately col¬ umns to support the great arches lead¬ ing to the throne. JOSHUA DID IT When George Arliss was appearing before the camera, during the filming of “Disraeli” at the beautiful estate of Mr. George D. Pratt at Glen Cove, N. Y., he was obliged to work under a boiling hot sun. The star and his players, with Director Henry Kolker, were at work in the famous sunken gardens and the rehearsals for one par¬ ticular piece of business took fifteen or twenty minutes. Part of the action required Mr. Ar¬ liss to walk out of the cool shade into the hot sun. Everything was O. K. but- After the long rehearsal, and fixing the camera, it became necessary to reset the camera and to change the ground plan for the players, particu¬ larly the star, as it was found that the sun had moved. “Now, Mr. Arliss,” Mr. Kolker said, “Will you just walk to this point? We find the sun has moved.” “What! The sun has moved?” asked Mr. Arliss. “Have that stopped!” And the star bent his head under the sun’s rays while he smiled. Mr. Kolker smiled and shouted over to “props”: “Keep that sun still!” “Hold it!” called back Harmon Weight, the assistant director. “Camera!” called Mr. Kolker and a moment later: “Now you can put the sun out, if you desire.” Then Mr. Arliss enjoyed a hearty laugh. “Disraeli” will be at the. Theatre beginning .. SLEEP UNKNOWN TO ARLISS Sleep—one of the most pleasant and at the same time one of the most necessary things in the world—was almost unknown to George Arliss while he was making his screen version of “Disraeli.” Six nights and two afternoons a week Mr. Arliss had to be at the Booth Theatre in New York to appear in his stage success, “The Green Goddess.” During the rest of the time he was kept busy appearing before the camera in “Dis¬ raeli” which will be shown at the . Theatre on . DISRAELI’S FIRST SPEECH Benjamin Disraeli made his first speech in the House of Commons on December 7, 1837, on a debate relating to the Irish fund. The members did not take him seriously. Every sen¬ tence was greeted with laughter and cheers. “I shall not trouble the House at any length.” (“Hear! Hear!” Laugh¬ ter.) “I do not affect to be insensible to the difficulty of my position.” (Laughter increasing.) With the tumult wildest he said, “I wish I really could induce the House to give me five minutes more.” (Roars of laughter.) * * * “I am not at all surprised, sir, at the reception I have met with.” (Continued laughter.) “I have begun several times, many things, and have often succeeded at last.” (Question.) “Ay, sir, I will sit down, now, but the time will come when you will hear me.” How little they supposed that the defeated Jew would become their Prime Minister and that they would indeed “hear him" and be governed by him! “Disraeli,” with George Arliss in the title role will be at the . Theatre beginning . KEEPING “DISRAELI” IN MID- VICTORIAN PERIOD . One of the most difficult things in motion picture work is the task of maintaining accuracy when photo¬ graphing a period play of any given time, as most directors discover. When George Arliss started work on “Dis¬ raeli,” which will be the feature at the . Theatre beginning . Director Henry Kolker has gone over the possibilities of the play with a great deal of care and it was clearly understood that the cos¬ tumes were to indicate the very essence of fashions in ' England about sixty years ago—the mid-Victorian period. Everything started off fine and nobody seemed to be making the slightest mis¬ take, but there was an indefinable something that made Mr. Kolker and his assistant director, Harmon Weight, believe that something was slipping a cog every now and then. In a “breathing spell” before opening on a new set, the director and his assistant “conferred” on the point. What was wrong, if anything? After giving everything the double O they happened across a simple little detail; so simple, in fact, that unless it were detected it might prove a glaring error and the error was corrected. It was a detail of costume but as luck would dominate, the player concerned had not been called before the camera up to that moment. “It is a strange thing,” Mr. Kolke 1 - commented at lunch that day with Louise Huff sitting nearby, “When I am doing a period pl^y, I feel it very distinctly when something is wrong. My mind may be preoccupied for the time but I go back to it again and puzzle over the mystery until I am able to detect it. It was that way throughout my stage career. Here we try to maintain the mid-Victorian per¬ iod and in some unaccountable manner a simple little detail goes almost un¬ noticed for a time until we fall over it.” “Experience teaches one how to dress,” commented Miss Huff. “After years of experience a player comes to know the the costumes of the past un¬ erringly. It becomes a ‘second nature’ as Mr. Kolker points out. One feels one is wrong and that wrong must be righted before we feel comfortable. I tried to play a rough boy’s part one time and I was miserable until I had discarded silk underwear and substi¬ tuted the thing a kid .would wear. It’s the same in costumes of three hundred years ago.” Henry Carvill, the famous English actor, playing the “Duke of Glaston¬ bury” in “Disraeli” and famous some years ago for his “Beau Nash” on the stage in London and New York, added his approval. “There are times,” he said, “when the simple swing of my sword is annoying; when the feather in my hat is disconcerting—little things that require attention. If my lace cuffs need a stitch, I feel it.” So we see that at the basis of mo¬ tion picture production, as on the stage, accuracy is essential. “The authority with which Mr. Arliss dressed as ‘Disraeli,’ wears the . Order of the Garter makes one forget that he is an actor,” Mr. Kol¬ ker said. “And the greatest aid to perfection is accuracy in the costumes one is wearing. As Miss Huff explained her dilemma in one in¬ stance; even the underwear plays a part. There is a difference, as Miss Huff will point out, between silk and cotton hosiery; it all depend¬ ing upon the character a girl is playing. "If you cannot feel your part, you certainly can’t play it and make your work ring true. In ‘Disraeli’ the players have acquitted themselves with great credit. But this spirit could not pre¬ vail if we were far from correct in the matter of costumes.” Mr. Kolker speaks with authority. He achieved fame on the stage in hundreds of roles.