Odd picture. My father was obviously still working out front, maybe they were having trouble with this handstand?
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Tuesday, February 04, 2014
Barnett/Wallace #8
Barnett/Wallace #9
I have in my notes that "Della" had been a "vanishing elephant" with Thurston when she was small.
No big deal, I had a few vanish on me when they were big!
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Question?
We had an elephant people gathering at our place some years ago and I can't recognize the chap in the very center.
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Monday, February 03, 2014
Bannerlines #1
Pictures look dark to me this morning!.......Please Flickr hang in there!
Lord what have I done to offend thee?
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Sunday, February 02, 2014
More Ben Hur #4
"I'll have to admit, any Roman Charioteer brave enough to wear feathers, mascara and lip rouge is one tough SOB!"
Buckles
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Chariot Race! #1 (From Eric Beheim)
Although the chariot race only takes up about four pages
of General Lew Wallace’s famous novel BEN-HUR, it has always been
the highlight of the various stage and film adaptations of this classic tale.
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Chariot Race! #2
The chariot race for MGM’s 1925 silent version of
Ben-Hur was filmed on a huge Circus
Maximus set built at what is now the intersection of LaCienega and
Venice Boulevards in Los Angeles. Some
200,000 feet of film was shot for this one sequence alone. Of this, only 750 feet were actually used,
resulting in a “shooting ratio” (i.e. film shot to film shown) of 267 to 1! Most of you have undoubtedly seen this film
on the Turner Classic Movie Channel. However, the chariot race goes by so quickly
and is so action-packed that to fully appreciate it, it must be studied almost
frame by frame. Here are some frame enlargements from the race that provide a
good overview of the action.
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Chariot Race! #3
Before the chariots appear, fifty-four Roman Imperial
Guard members clear the course.
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Chariot Race! #6
Messala (Francis X. Bushman) is seen here with his team
of blacks, which are obviously eager to get started.
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Chariot Race! #9
The flags go down and the race begins.
[To obtain the crowd shots, one special day was devoted
to filming an actual race before some 10,000 costumed extras that included
such prominent Hollywood celebrities as Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Harold
Lloyd, Lillian Gish, Marion Davies and John Gilbert. To coordinate the thousands of extras, thirty
assistant directors were used. (One of these assistant directors was William
Wyler, who would later direct the 1959 version of Ben-Hur.)
Forty-two cameramen filmed the race as it was taking place. Stunt men drove ten of the chariots while
stars Francis X. Bushman and Ramon Novarro drove their own. To ensure a real hell-for-leather,
no-punches-pulled race, MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer offered a $100 bonus (a
considerable sum back then) to the winner.
By all accounts, the stunt men put on an astonishing display. During one spectacular pile-up, the crowd
responded like the audience at the original Circus Maximus in
Antioch! The production team later spent
many additional weeks filming details of the race in the empty arena.]
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Chariot Race! #10
(The white horses make it easy to keep track of
Ben-Hur throughout the race.)
(Continued next Sunday)
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Saturday, February 01, 2014
Dan Rice Circus #1
Throughout my youth I was never interested in any circus other then the one I was on.
All that changed when I started working around elephants and became curious about their background, unfortunately I remain ignorant of a lot of good shows that never owned one.
This is a good example.
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Buck Shows #1
No idea what Rice Bros. might be, neat looking sleeper tho.
Today any title including "Buck" could be challenged due to BUCKLESBLOG Copyrights!
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