Not Easy To Break Glass For Movies

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 147, 17 March 1939, Page 14

Not Easy To Break Glass For Movies

TT is not so easy to photograph break- "*■ ing glass. It takes hidden wires, putty, perfect timing and a couple of strong men, That was demonstrated on the set of “Topper Takes a Trip,” at the Hal Roach studios when Constance Bennett was called on to hurl vegetables through the etched glass doors of a swagger hotel on the French Riviera. “Breaking glass in a big way is one of the toughest of all assignments,” said the head of the studio’s special effects department. “You can’t depend upon how the glass will react. “Maybe on one occasion a rock of other object will shatter the whole pane. But more often it’ll make a comparatively small hole , and radiate a bunch of cracks. We’ve got to be sure that the whole thing smashes up when the camera is on it, and to do that requires an amazing amount of special work.” Briefly, the secret of it is that windows and doors are broken by boring a series of small holes in each pane, fastening wires in the holes, and then covering the apertures with putty. The wires are run out of the scene and attended by two assistants. Just as a projectile reaches the glass, the assistants pull on the wires and literally pull the glass apart The effect is guaranteed.