Death’s Share

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 660, 11 May 1929, Page 27

Death’s Share

j Tragedy Intervenes | When Stunts Miscarry RECENT FILM ACCIDENTS 1 ' 1 Death took a share in the making of a Pathe news reel when Charles Traub, cameraman, was killed during the late Lee Bible’s attempt to break the world’s motor speed record. I This tragedy, now being depicted on an Auckland screen, recalls other recent accidents during film production. ■ N March a giant Gotha bombing airplane being piloted by A 1 Wilson, stunt flyer, for a scene in “Hell’s Angels,” crashed, killing the mej chanic, Phil Jones. ! Several men were drowned in Alaskan rapids during the filming of scenes for “The Trail of ’98.” “Old Ironsides” was one of the most costly j pictures to human life and limb ever i made. Only recently the suits of five persons crippled or killed in scenes for “Old Ironsides” were decided in court for £6,500. Into The Sea During the making of “Bride of the Storm,” Dolores Costello’s first starring picture made three years ago, Otto Matiesen, who played the idiot, was obliged to jump into pounding waves. Because of the violence of the storm, two men in a boat could not get it into the specified spot to rescue him and by great good fortune Matiesen was able to drag himself out before he was pounded to death on the rocks. During the making of “Wings,” Dick Grace, stunt aviator, broke his neck, though it did not prove fatal. A flying cadet from the flying field at San Antonio, by the name of Wisely, was killed in a flying mishap. Richard Arlen, the star, was slightly injured s “What Price Glory” brought a damage suit in its trail, due to an accidental explosion of powder. Death of Double Tom Mix’s picture, “Silver Valley,” was marred by a tragedy, when a girl j doubling for Dorothy Dwan was thrown so violently against a rock That she drowned before she could be rescued. Recently a girl stunt parachute jumper of Chicago, named Leta Wichart, was killed in a Hoot Gibson picture while doubling for Ruth lDlder. For some reason she failed to pull the string releasing the parachute. During the filming of “The Godless Girl” two extra girls were given orders to run across the flaming roof to the other side, where a ladder and firemen were to await them. They ran across and found to their horror that no one was there. The girls felt their way back through the flames to safety. During the filming of “Noah’s Ark” a flood of water that was let loose,

proved to be of greater power than had been foreseen. George O’Brien, who was chained to a plank, received painful injuries. A year or two ago Jack Miller, an Indian stunt man known as Chief White Eagle was killed in an

attempt to make for the news reels a high drop with four successive parachutes. Over a Cliff Fred Osborne rode a motor-cycle over a 100-foot cliff for another news reel and was permanently injured. During the making of John Barrymore’s “The Beloved Rogue,” an English actor, Henry Victor, was thrown down a flight of stairs so violently that he received concussion of the brain. In the making of “Hell’s Angels” Clem Phillips was killed in a crash during a mimic battle. A 1 Johnson, another aviator in this picture, was killed when he ran into electric power lines while landing. Howard Hughes, the young millionaire who backed “Hell’s Angels,” had a narrow escape in a crash. When A 1 Wilson’s mechanic was killed, the pilot escaped in a parachute. It is said that 25 aviators refused to pilot the Gotha and go into the dangerous tail spin that the script demanded.