THE COWBOYS OF THE PICTURES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 65, 3 August 1912, Page 2

THE COWBOYS OF THE PICTURES.

MORE LIGHT OX FILM PRODUCT lON. "JCo, young man, we've got no plaee for you; we only employ actors," said the manager of the moving-picture troupe that I found rehearsing on a piece of waste ground on the outskirts of the city. From the cowboy outfits and the Indians, 1 knew it was a Wild West scene on which they were engaged. ''But I've been a cowboy in the Wild West itself," I protested. "Ami, as for riding—why, these fellows can't ride for nuts!" The manager smiled. "It's like this," he said; "we've got to have men who can act—who can work together, and produce the effects I want produced. As for riding, we can easily supply their deficiencies." "How do you do it?" I demanded. "Well," he explained, "suppose we want the horses to go at a great pace— I there's no sense in wearing out the poor brutes themselves and risking the lives of the company, when we can speed them up in the pictures simply enough by clip-, ping out a unit here and there. You know a film is composed of hundreds of tiny photographs registering the moving object in every stage of any action, i Cut out a picture here and there, and you can make moving objects appear to travel as quickly as you like when you throw them on the screen." LITTLE TRICKS OF THE TRADE. "Yes; I can see that," I had to admit. "Well, how about a few rope feats?" I suggested. "I can throw a lassoo " "My dear fellow," he interrupted, "however clever you may be with a rope, you can't hope to compete with our greenest hand, as we present him to the I public. The camera man simply turns the crank while he throws the rope, then stops. When we have placed the joop round the horns of a bullock or over the shoulders of a man, according to the subj ject, the crank turning starts again. The pictures are joined up neatly and imperceptibly. and there you are! "By the same simple method we can show a cowboy thrown into the air from a bucking broncfto, turn a double somersault, and land sitting again on the animal's back. The crank is turned till the man is thrown; then the rider is suspended in the air by a thin wire, in which position he is photographed doing his double somersault, and being lowered 6n to horse's back again. When we have painted out the wire, and joined up the pictures, the effect on the screen will look like life. "No, young man; these little tricks don't offer any difficulties, to us. Our real hard work is just in rehearsing ordinary effects. More often than not a single scene has to be gone over again and again for three solid hours before the company is all working together well enough to make a decent film." A GIRL OF GRIT. "There must be some risk in getting up these exciting scenes?" I hazarded, as I watched the principal girl dash by on a spirited horse. The girl, at any rate, could ride. "There are risks," said the manager, "but they're not mine. That girl's record would astonish you. In one scene she had to jump overboard into the river. The safety-rope broke, and she came near being drowned. Only the other day she was nearly asphyxiated by sulphur fumes. We were doing a fire scene, and the cottage supposed to be on fire had a number of sulphur pots in it to give out thick clouds of smoke. In the role of frantic mother, the girl dashed in to rescue her property and baby, and was overcome. We dragged her out, unconscious. "But the narrowest escape she had' was when a horse to which she had been tied by a supposed bandit band bolted. The brute got into the street, and just missed colliding with a brewer's dray, when he was stopped. When I came panting on the scene, the plucky girl was as calm almost as if nothing had happened. "'That was a close call,' she said; then added: 'lt's a good thing we were .only rehearsing; otherwise there would have been a film spoiled!' "That's what I call grit!"