TEDDY’S SMILE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 32, 30 April 1927, Page 19 (Supplement)

TEDDY’S SMILE

ON MAGIC SILVER SHEET HISTORIC ROOSEVELT FILM Abraham Lincoln has appeared in pictures. The dandified Disraeli has also made his debut. Even Queen Victoria made a discreet “personal appearance.” Now, the latest deceased celebrity to appear on the magic silver sheet is Theodore Roosevelt, of the dazzling smile. “The Rough Riders” is built around the career of the late President Roosevelt and his regiment of SpanishAmerican war days. It is said that the actual facts concerning this body of men are presented with unusual fidelity. Scenes are devoted to the blowing up cf the Maine and other events leading up to the Spanish-American War. The aim, according to the producers, was to include in the film story as many actual happenings as could te reproduced, and to do this Herman Ilagedorn was employed. Mr. Hagedorn is Roosevelt’s official biographer. Rough Rider Veterans After exhausting certain possibilities, Mr. Hagedorn spent six months travelling through the country, looking up veterans of the Rough Riders. From them he obtained anecdotes and eye-witness descriptions of happenings. These, and the romance involving the rivalry between a cowboy and a wealthy Easterner for love of a San Antonio .beauty, form the bulk of the narrative. Descriptions of the deaths of some of the Rough Riders on San Juan Hill were also obtained, and they have been included in the film. The producers claim that no historical picture has been produced with such accuracy. Frank Hopper, a Los Angeles book agent in real life, impersonates Colonel Roosevelt. He was selected in a national contest. Prior to acting in “The Rough Riders,” Mr. Hopper had never appeared before a motion picture camera. Four of the other principals are already be seen in Broadway films. They are Noah Beery, Mary Astor, George Bancroft and Charles Farrell. Charles Emmett Mack, Fred Kohler and Colonel Fred Lindsay also have prominent parts in “The Rough Riders..’ Some of the most renowned cowboys of the West were engaged to impersonate Rough Riders for the film, and many outlaw horses were rounded up for them to ride.