Hazards of Motion-Picture Acting: 

 Real and Faked 



By E. T. Kevser 



SOME people maintain that a camera 

 will not lie. They are correct. A 

 camera shows exactly what happens; 

 but if you place the wrong construction 

 upon what you find in the picture that 

 is entirely your own fault. 



If, in a screen comedy, an automobile 

 proceeds casually to ascend the front of 

 a skyscraper, don't miss the remainder 

 of the reel by rushing to the box office 

 to enquire the make of the machine. 

 Perhaps it has not such a very good hill- 

 climbing record after all. Had you 

 watched the filming of that particular 

 scene you would have observed that a 

 representation of the skyscraper's front 

 elevation reposed flat on the floor and 

 that the automobile traveled over it in 

 the usual manner, while, above it, and 

 with lens pointed downward, the motion- 

 picture camera was recording the fact. 



A most wonder- 

 ful exhibition of 

 athletic prowess, as 

 evidenced by a 

 swimmer's ability 

 to jump from the 

 water to a spring- 

 board ten feet 

 above, was pro- 

 duced by the simple 

 method of having 

 the aquatic Sam- 

 son run backward 

 along the board and 

 jumpofi^backwards. 

 Then the film was 

 run through the pro- 

 jecting machine re- 

 versed, presenting 

 indisputable evi- 

 dence that the fly- 

 ing fish of the trop- 

 ics had found a 

 human rival. 



Speaking of 

 jumping, have you 

 noticed the effort- 

 less manner in 

 which comedy char- 



Helen Gibson playing the leading role in 

 a breathlessly exciting railroad drama 



885 



acters lightly vault to the top of a wall 

 which would have baffled the crack pole- 

 vaulter of your old college team? The 

 actor is photographed while making a 

 short jump from the ground. The 

 cameraman ceases grinding while the 

 jumper ascends the wall via a ladder, 

 placed out of range of the lens. Then the 

 actor jumps down. The second "take" 

 is reversed and joined to the first, there- 

 by showing the superiority of knowledge 

 to training. 



But it is not in comedy alone that the 

 ingenuity of the cameraman and of the 

 cutter is . show^n. Nellie, the little 

 daughter of the engineer, wearied by a 

 long day's quest of the elusive buttercup, 

 goes to sleep on the railroad track, with 

 her downy cheek pressed close to a fish- 

 plate. Papa, driver of the crack flier, 

 with the Limited in tow. rounds a curve 

 and sees with hor- 

 ror his angel in the 

 path of the iron 

 monster. To stop 

 the train is impossi- 

 ble. Must Nellie 

 die! Perish the 

 thought. With an 

 agility bespeaking 

 long practice in sav- 

 ing little Nellies, 

 papa climbs for- 

 ward on his engine, 

 reaches the cow- 

 catcher and, just as 

 its cruel bulk is 

 about to crush out 

 the fair young life, 

 leans over and tri- 

 umphantly raises 

 his child in his 

 strong right hand 

 and out of harm's 

 wa>'. 



Before complain- 

 ing to the S. P. C. 

 C. of the reckless 

 manner in which 

 children's lives are 



