Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 28 December 1912, page 6


W0T10N PICTURE JOYS.

ME,. BOY REDGRAVE'S EXPERIENCES.

Mr. Roy Redgrave, leading man of the' William Anderson ' Dramatic Company. at the Theatre Royal, has . had. -an : exerting time since, he last appeared in Adelaide. 'When I left Mr, Andersoni' .said. .Mr. Redjrrave, in the course of a chat -with- a representative of 'The Mail' on Thnrsday,- 'I went into vaudeville as. a .sketch artist; but like a good many AtberB I found : that 'it mt^ant too much work arid too much idleness. Of cbiirse.. the-rnqney is jrood, 'bat one loses too ; much time. , I went back into drama again' after' a while,but as the compaty I .was associated jwith went on a Ions tour of 'the'.backblocfcsrl decided to becctaie a motion picture. actor.. I had heard that it. was not .^uich', of 4. profession, and I found, it so, especially

where! .was concerned, as the, .pictures wer*- taken' up in North Queenslana. AM. what a time I had. I had to drive four-: in-hand coaches, down hills; slide. ?down -precipices, drive motor cars; and '^.^fidB. horses. Although I am not theTK^vest of actors I did not object to ' risking -toy. life .so . much as . I did. spouinR several' suits of clothes. At tlie salary I'w3e-*ft-; ceiving I decided it was' better- to be; out of work than -be a motion Dictnre aptor; in Queensland, £p when ' Mr. Aidersoii wired me to re join him it did ' not ; take me lbni; * to make' up 'my 'mind 'about 'It.-Yet 1 bad -a very pleasant time ron i&e whole-,' 3fa \-lueensland, as i£ ^^b:' -wry: healthy 1ifa*if you have a. Dig Srafdrobe yon want to have torn to nbbons :.by sliding down hills and rocks. Two of ^hebest pictnres in which I essayed principal parts were' entitled 'He Girl -iad tfieGaaim' aad 'Ob! .What **&&& '!&£?-'-? '?' . ? '' - ' ?-??.'*;.'? .'-*^ -*??-'',.

injj of picnics reminds me that -when ;I was produdHK 'The Christian' for - picfure, Mrs. Anderson, who. wa3 playing XO&ptzr ? Quayle, ' with her usual generosity, gave all the' company a picnic at Wonderland .Gty,' jBondi, where the principal ecertes were enacted. Unfortunately the artiste wanted to- have lunch before, we began work. As Sirs. Anderson's- lunch' ?was -fit for a regal^party. I managed to persdade' tbeai to; leave it alone, as I was ^afraid j of- 'the results. - Eventually we compronuEed. We commenced there and ifeik.-»ad 'finjsheii^siftet laijph. As the picture was not taken as played on the stage; but joined together, afterwatds in proper .order; the Tnost critical could not telj. which-' past .was enacted before or af?teT luncheon, as I took good care to. have '£h/e liKht^1 scenes after. I had a very strenuous time producing this picture, as

I had also. to play John Storm, the while I Tvas telling the members who were act-, ing in the scenes what to do. All the time I was doing this I thought that when ''^The, Christian' was thrown upon the white' screen John Storm would be mistaken for a ventriloquist. It turned out -to the satisfaction of all concerned, although the .operator forgot to put his spool in after lunch, and it had to be taken again. As yet 1 have not seen, the Queensland pictnres, but. am looking forward. .to.' them with interest. ' Acting on the stajre and -aeiinfr '^. { or pictures are TJHj'hty.Jjff»ent things. Everything has to be* cut snort -wi|rh the latter. Pantominia la abspkoteTy fetecntial. There, must be plenty of gesticulation, eye-play, act! byplay. That is wiy£b many actors fail before the camera. Thcj-'t&ink when on the stage ; that if another character had a fairly long speech, that they have only to wait for- him to finish- his say before they do anything. It -jnite -escapes them that a character 'does :not stand perfectly still aft-' the .time ah-other character is talking. While a character is.ic sight of the audience it is in their mind. I remember on one -Occasion -a -company of artists were portraying «. silent drama with the idea that it did not matter what they said. Gonsetjuently they said all manner of thipBE. 'Strange as it may seem, the picture was shown at a deaf and dumb institution, with the result that the entire audience -got up and -walked out of the hall.. They could not stand the strong language.'