When the movies were young (1925)

128 When the Movies were Young Robinson, and myself. And little Mary Pickford whom our director had engaged with Pippa in mind (?). When the day came to shoot Browning for the first time, it was winsome Gertrude Robinson with black curls and dark blue eyes who was chosen for the role of the spiritual Pippa. David thought Mary had grown a bit plump ; she no longer filled his mental image of the type. When at last we started on "Pippa Passes," things went off with a bang. Each of the four themes — Morn, Noon, Evening, Night — would be followed by a flash of Pippa singing her little song. It was "Morn" that intrigued. To show "daybreak" in Pippa's little room would mean trying out a new light effect. The only light effect so far experimented with had been the "fireside glow." The opportunity to try a different kind so interested Mr. Griffith that before he began to "shoot" Pippa, he had a scheme all worked out. He figured on cutting a little rectangular place in the back wall of Pippa's room, about three feet by one, and arranging a sliding board to fit the aperture much like the cover of a box sliding in and out of grooves. The board was to be gradually lowered and beams of light from a powerful Kleig shining through would thus appear as the first rays of the rising sun striking the wall of the room. Other lights stationed outside Pippa's window would give the effect of soft morning light. Then the lights full up, the mercury tubes a-sizzling, the room fully lighted, the back wall would have become a regular back wall again, with no little hole in it. All this was explained to the camera men Billy Bitzer and Arthur Marvin, for the whole technical staff was in attendance on the production of this one thousand foot