38 



THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



room, two property men 

 were at work, one on an 

 eskimo igloo, the other 

 stuffing a dummy to be used 

 in a death leap scene. 



The Solax Company 

 specializes during the win- 

 ter months on Alaskan and 

 Siberian pictures. To these, 

 the rigors of the Jersey 

 winters and the ruggedness 

 of the Jersey landscape 



Above: The Solax Finishing Plant, 

 Which Is One of the Most Com- 

 pact and Efficient in this Country. 

 At the Right: A Daylight Studio 

 Which Might Well Be Taken for 

 a Huge Flower Conservatory When 

 Viewed at a Distance. 



Champion know each other by first name 

 only with the exception of Mr. Ditten- 

 fass, who demands respect not only as 

 the visible tie that binds the Champion 

 to the Universal system, but as the pater- 

 nal head of the Champion family. 



They were staging a rural scene on the 

 road leading towards the Solax studio 

 when I last saw them. Harry, in his 

 bright red skull cap, was giving Charlie, 

 the placid cameraman, instructions, .while 

 Rose, the leading lady, from her perch on 

 a fence rail, was laughingly advising sev- 

 eral wide-eyed Coytesville school girls 

 just how to become movie actresses. 



Siberia a la Jersey 



The Solax studios were indulging in a 

 brief rest between the reels of a lengthy 

 film-version of Service's poem, "Danger- 

 ous Dan McGrew." The huge crystal- 

 roofed studio was nearly empty. A bank 

 of flaming arcs, unlighted, stood in one 

 corner with a camera on its brawny 

 tripod, while, at the other end of the 



lend a surprising amount of assistance. 

 An escape from Siberia, which we saw 

 the projecting room, was realistic 



in 



enough to satisfy the most doubting 

 of audiences. 



A Stage that Follows the Sun 



Probably the most ingenious feature of 

 the Solax plant is an outdoor revolving 

 stage. The platform is pivoted in the 

 center to a block sunk in the ground. It 

 revolves on wheels on a circular steel 

 track. By the use of this stage for a 

 long act, the sun, as it moves in its path 

 across the horizon, can be followed, and 

 the usual undesirable shadows are thus 

 avoided. 



Near the revolving stage was a large 

 wood box which appeared to have been 

 at one time a swimming tank in minia- 

 ture. A smaller box was connected to it 

 by a large pipe, and elevated a few feet 

 above the ground. These tanks, so the 

 director explained, were recently the 

 "props" for a prison picture in which a 



