NEW CLEOPATRA

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 September 1934, Page 8

NEW CLEOPATRA

MOVIE MAKER’S RESEARCHES. i , 1 . When a, historical picture of the pretentiousness of “Cleopatra ’ is undertaken, a tremendous amount of research mus.t be done before a camera turns a crank. Cecil B. De Mille, who directs the picture, had a competent research staff working for a year before actual production began. This sort of film is De Mille’s metier, and the research work confronting him seems only to spur his enthusiasm. There have been many famous plays and stories written about the glamorous Egyptian queen, but De Mille preferred in his screen presentation to have < an original story’ prepared after alll available data on Cleopatra had been obtained. The famous library and museum at Cairo, Egypt, and every famous library in the world with data on the subject has contributed its bit. Writers of the period, from Plutarch to Djon Cassius, were wrung dry for fqcts. The year’s, research was followed by approximately two months; Of actual filming. This research has exploded some of Hollywood’s ideas of Cleopatra’s conduct with the men in, her life. For instance, according to the version, Qleopatra was anything but a loose woman with a score of lovers, who wasted her time in extravagances, riotous living and cruelties. She had two lovers, according to recorded Antony and Caesar, was mqrried, to each of them, was widowed by death, and was a loving and wise mother to her children. Her extravagances were mainly for political purposes, to impress enemies of her country. That she succeeded is history, for both Caesar and Antony came as enemies of Egypt and left as friends. Much has been made of the legend that she tried out poisons on her slaves. This is a half truth, according to- the research reports. Criminals condemned to horrible death by torture,' by crucifixion and other customary punishments of the time were offered by- her the choice of taking poison, which they eagerly accepted as a mercy. As the first enlightened vivisectionist, so to speak, Cleopatra was attempting to perfect a painless poison. Her wicked reputation Cleopatra acquired as the result of propaganda started at Rome by enemies of Caesax* after- he had fallen in love with and married the cultured and beautiful queen. These stories were spread to make it- appear that Caesar was unworthy- to rule Rome. After Caesar’s death, when Antony met Cleopatra, he, too, believed these stories and was quite surprised to find her quite different. She was better educated than anyone of her time. She spoke 26 languages and dialects. Popular opinion holds Cleopatra to be dark, even swarthy, with possibly negroid characteristics. Actually she was a blonde. However, Claudette Colbert in the film will portray a brunette Cleopatra. . History further records that with the exception of the Egyptian court dress that she was obliged to wear as queen, Cleopatra favoured the Greek styles. Other facts were discovered by the Hollywood researchers. Cleopatra was -taken for a ride” by a bunch of double crossing Egyptian politicians who wanted to get rid of her so they could- “sell out.” Egypt to emissaries of Rome. The fellow delegated to put ] her “on the appt” weakened and < merely tossed her out of a chariot in 1 the middle of the desert with the - warning that she wo.uld be slain if she ever showed up in town again. This

all took place because Pothinos, Prime Minister of Egypt, was trying to “muscle in” on her territory, using her brother Ptolemy as a “front.” Cosmetics have had little added since those days. There was red paint for the finger and toe nails; there was rouge, eyebrow plucking, hair waving, with elaborate irons nearly as complicated as those of our time, creams and oils for the complexion, massage, hair bleaching, hennaing and dyeing, and even the use of gold dust to scatter in bleached hair to make it glitter. The upkeep of a blonde came high in those days. The Romans were one up on the Greeks; they had soap, invented by the Gauls, whom they had conquered. A magnificent throne with a background of ostrich plumes shading from white to deep rose is one of the spectacular sets of the film. The plumes make a huge half-circle with a 20ft radius behind the throne on the royal barge. On the set, an even temperature, rather warm, had to be maintained to keep the plumes in condition. SILVER-MOUNTED OARS. The luxury of the barge is thus described by Geigall in his “Life and Times of Cleopatra”:— “The royal galley was rowed by banks of silver-mounted oars, the great purple sails hanging idly in the still air of the evening. The vessel was steered by two oar-like rudders, controlled by helmsmen who stood in the stern of the ship under a shelter constructed in the form of an enormous elephant’s head of shining gold, the trunk raised aloft. (Note: The elephant’s head I describe from that seen upon the queen’s vessel shown upon the coins). “Around the helmsmen a number of beautiful slave women were grouped in the guise of sea nymphs and graces; and near them a company of musicians played a melody upon their flutes, pipes and harps, for which the slow-moving oars seemed to beat time. “Cleopatra herself, decked in the loose, shimmering robes of the god-* dess Venus, lay under an awning bespangled with gold, while boys dressed as cupids stood on either side of her couch, fanning hex* with coloured ostrich plumes of the Egyptian court. Before the royal canopy brazen censers stood upon delicate pedestals, sending forth fragrant clouds of exquisitely prepared Egyptian incense, the marvellous odour of which was wafted to the shore ere the vessel had come to its moorings. “The company was led down to the banqueting saloon, where a dinner of the utmost magnificence was served. Twelve triple couches, covered, with embroideries and furnished with! cushions, were set around the room, before each of which stood a table whereon rested golden dishes inlaid with precious stones and drinking s ex Q l -iisite workmanship Returning once more to the deck, the elated guests, now made more impressionable by the effects of Egyptian wine, were more amazed to find themselves beneath a marvellous kaleidoscope of lanterns, hung in squares and circles from a forest of branches interlaced above their heads.” Typical of other information unearthed by the De Mille researchers ?y as J' hat concern ihg amusements in the Egypt of Cleopatra. Blind man’s buff was a popular game on the palace sward. So was hop-scotch. Visiting statesmen took part in this; and it was considered excellent sport when they were bumped over—by accident, of course partimilariy if they were pompous. . Courtiers of Alexandria were fond

of kite flying. They lent a perilous touch to this innocent sport by tying themselves to large kites and thus taking miniature flights. Sometimes, it is said, they had to be rescued from trees. There were great hobby horses, intricately built, which reared and plunged fearsomely. And there was quail fighting. Apollodorus, Cleopatra’s tutor, himself fed the champions in the queen’s pens. On the shaded stone piazza of the palace Cleopatra played knucklebones —dice to you devotees of backgammon—another game, incidentally, at which the queen was adept. Checkers was another favourite game.—Rosalind Shaffer in the “Chicago Tribute.”