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' HOCLVWOOO CALIFORNIA
^ Are the blazing arc lights of the studios literally burning out the eyes of our screen stars? This article explains why film actors dread "Klieg Eyes" as an ever-present menace.
ovie Actors Going Blind?
By Athene Farnsworth
Wallace Reid Threatened With Blindness ! Film Idol May Never Act Again!
HUS the newspaper headlines, blaring forth the rumors that were being buzzed up and down Hollywood Boulevard and around the studios. What tragic fate had overtaken this youthful screen star, at the very height of his career?
"Klieg eyes,'' said the wise ones. "Klieg eyes," the dreaded menace that always hangs over the head of those who work within the circle of the flaming studio lights, had once more hit Wally, the debonaire.
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HERE is more, a very great deal more, to this business of being a screen star than dressing up in fine clothes and strutting before a camera. And none know this better than Wallace Reid.
Three times before the last attack have the great Klieg lights that flood the studio sets literally burned out Wally 's twinkling gray eyes. Only absolute quiet and darkness tould restore to the actor his sight. . . . Even then there was a chance that the damage had been done. . . . Wherefore Wally was packed off to a sanitarium where he could rest.
Now the vacation has cured the poor, abused eyes, it is said, and
Wally is to return to w7ork. Until the next time. . . After that, what?
EvERY person on the set stands in constant danger from the spectre of "Klieg eyes." The powerful arcs may mean blindness to whomsoever
<1 Three times have the powerful Klieg lights rendered Wallace Reid temporarily blind. One more attack and then .... what?
rashly exposes his precious eyes to the burning brilliance of the lights.
These mammoth Klieg lights, manufactured by Kliegl Brothers of New York, are used in the "shooting" of all indoor scenes. Often the most exquisite effects of outdoor scenery are obtained by sets built in the studio and illuminated by the Klieg flood lights or naval searchlights. These great arcs and sunlights often throw a radiance of two million candle-power. They consist of burning carbon set in a great polished metal reflector, often three feet long and two and one-half feet in width. The light is then thrown onto the set through a lens.
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HERE are two theories as to the cause of Klieg eyes. Some believe that it is the carbon dust, minute particles of which get into the eyes of the people on the set and as the fine dust is practically red hot it burns the eyeballs of the victim.
Another point of view is that it is the intense heat and the volume of light from the reflectors that do the damage. At any rate, Klieg eyes are dreadfully painful. This malady causes the eyeball to become inflamed, the eyelids to swell and burn and the tears to flow in streams of hot liquid.
Sometimes, only ten minutes on
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