Reel Life (Sep 1914 - Mar 1915)

Twenty REEL LIFE DARK CLOUD, Indian star with the Majestic, loses none of his picturesqueness. Civilization cannot corrupt the venerable chief. To-day he is. perhaps, the most important factor in America in the making of authentic Indian pictures for the screen. He and his wife, Dove Eye, write scenarios from Indian legends or adapt them from miracle plays and tribal ceremonies of the Redman. Dark Cloud designs the costumes from the genuine dress of the various clans and nations, distinguishing to the least detail between the customs of the Ojibway, the Cherokee, Sioux or Creek. It was during his experience "under the big top" that Dark Cloud first became interested in motion picture work. He used to find a great fascination in watching moving picture views in the old "black tent" days, when the films were projected in a darkened side-show tent by the circus people. But not until half a dozen years later did he discover in the developed photoplay the educational and artistic opportunity which he sought. Dark Cloud says that the greatest dramas ever presented on the screen are the "Passion Play" and "Hiawatha". He spends nine hours a day in the Hollywood studio contributing h i s expert knowledge to the production of Indian subjects, staging scripts of his own, or going before the camera in dignified, dramatic Indian roles. Dark Cloud, Famous Maj Indian Star, with estic Henry Otto, director of Flying "A" dramas, says that the insects of California are an astonishingly intelligent portion of creation. In the Santa Barbara section, he declares, they can read, and possibly talk. Director Otto, whose first rule of life is order, after planting his garden this year, as usual posted the empty seed package at the end of each furrow in order to label the rows. He was surprised to notice, with the first green shoots above the ground, that these placarded the beds were the only ones at tacked by the insects. "Being of a high order of intelligence," says Mr. Otto, "they will not use other than well advertised goods." In Bobby's Bandit, a recent comedy of the Majestic, Bobby Feuhrer does a ridiculous small boy part, abetted by the always entertaining "Teddy" Sampson. "Tedd y" doesn't look a day over ten in the picture and Bobby displays all the braggadooio of the lad just entering his teens. They make an irresistible little pair. The snap-shot here reproduced shows Bobby defending his timorous lady from a tramp in the underbrush. Elizabeth Burbridge, youthful leading woman of the Broncho, Kay Bee and Domino films, rarely betrays timidity, no matter what dangerous stunt she may be asked to do. But, recently, during the production of The Bride of Guadeloupe, there was found something, as in the old fairy-tale, which actually had power to make the pretty heroine shudder. The incident took Miss Burbridge by surprise. In the role of the jilted Spanish girl, she was handed a vial, which once had contained cyanide of potassium, and told to commit suicide. As the obedient actress lifted the bottle she read upon it in big, red letters "Poison". Throwing back her head, she put the vial to her lips, apparently intent upon swallowing the fatal fluid. Then, she quivered from head to foot, her cheeks blanched, and the bottle slipped to the ground. Bobby Feuhrer and "Teddy" Sampson as They Appeared in "Bobby's Bandit," a Recent Majestic Release Lloyd Ingraham, the new producer at the Reliance-Majestic studios at Hollywood, is eminent as a stock director all over the country, and especially well known in the West. His acquaintance with the stage dates back to 1889 when he became an actor. Almost immediately he made himself felt as assistant director and soon was handling productions himself. For twelve years he was connected with Majestic stock in San Francisco, the Liberty in Oakland, and Bush Temple in Chicago. Then for two seasons he directed before the camera. The Mutual presently will release some of his photoplays. While up at El Capitan ranch, where some of the scenes for The Truth of Fiction were filmed by the American company, Pete Morrison was seized with a violent toothache. After a visit to the veterinary of the ranch, who is also local tooth-snatcher, Morrison said that his experience completely had cured him of his dread of city dentists.