Movies Way Back When: An Icy February Swim
bjgreen
February 3, 2024, 9:00 am
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Dateline: February 1916
The “Flying A” studio sometimes ventured outside of the Santa Barbara area to find some variety in the landscape. For the silent movie “Snow Stuff,” they headed up to Truckee in Nevada County in search of some snowscape. As expected, the February weather made some stunts even harder to perform.
“[An actor] was called upon by the script to fall into the Truckee River, which was cold enough to make the bottom drop out of a thermometer. He did the stunt once and was rejoicing that it was finally in the past when [the director] added insult to injury by calling for a ‘retake.’ As a result, the rotund character man had to take two more immersions in the icy water before the proper effect was obtained. [The actor] says that from now on wild animals, autos, railroad trains and explosives will have no terrors for him.”
The cameramen who were shooting this scene were also having a hard time. “Both of them were standing up to their waists in the river in order to ‘shoot’ the tumble from the best angle.” – Santa Barbara Morning Press, February 20, 1916
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Written by bjgreen
