Popular Science Monthly 



Risking His Life to Make a 

 Motion Picture Play 



ONE of the most spectacu- 

 lar feats ever shown on 

 the films was recently recorded 

 when a horse and its rider 

 dived eighty-three feet from 

 the top of a cliff into a pool 

 of water. This performance 

 was invented by a director 

 who wished to inject realism 

 into the film version of "Car- 

 men," The results in the pic- 

 ture Avere highly satisfactory, 

 but the results to the actor were 

 unfortunate. 



The plot of the story de- 

 manded that Carmen's lover 

 should commit suicide by div- 

 ing with his horse from a high 

 clifif. One of the most daring 

 of the actors was selected for 

 the feat. After a long search 

 a suitable spot for the act was 

 found in the Adirondack ^vloun- 

 tains. The cliff chosen towered 

 eighty-three feet above a pool 

 of water, the bottom of which 

 was studded with sharp rocks. 

 The actor, when all was 

 ready for the filming, with a 

 battery of camera men waiting 

 on the opposite bank, drove his 

 horse to the edge of the preci- 

 pice and urged the frightened, 

 trembling animal over the 

 brink. The horse was wiser 

 than the actor, however, for he 

 could not be driven to make 

 the plunge. At last another 

 steed was chosen, this time, a 

 trained diving horse. 



Even the horse trained to 

 the work refused at the last 

 minute to make a clean dive, 

 and while it hesitated on the 

 edge the daring driver spurred 

 him over. The fall was not a 

 clean one, and the horse som- 

 ersaulted twice during the long 

 drop. 



The catapulting drop made 

 it impossible for the actor to 

 throw himself away from the 

 horse, and the two struck to- 

 gether on their backs and dis- 

 appeared from sight. 



65 



I Underword and Underwood 



The perilous feat of a motion picture actor and 

 his horse. The horse was not hurt by the 83- 

 foot drop, but the actor was seriously injured 



