bjgreen
By Betsy J. Green
The “Flying A” film studio was not the only game in town. The Fine Arts Film Company came here in 1915 to film scenes for their production of “Don Quixote.” According to the local paper, “The story is laid in Spain, and Santa Barbara probably comes nearer than any other place in this country to offering the real thing in the way of setting.”
The actor playing the lead role put on his makeup in his room at the Potter Hotel, and frightened a number of the guests and staff. One day, he remembered, “In waiting for my call, I returned to bed to read the morning paper . . . I gradually fell into a sweet slumber. The chambermaid suddenly entering my room . . . mistook me for a corpse, and her shrieks awakened me – as they might have the real dead.” (A copy of this movie survives in Paris.)
