"CHRISTCHURCH STEPPED UP!"

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2671, 27 December 1928, Page 5

"CHRISTCHURCH STEPPED UP!"

♦♦♦♦ FILMING AN "ELECTION." A camera man, perched on the balcony at Warner's Hotel shortly after noon on Friday, invited the crowd to "step up and have their picture taken," and with visions of a palatial home in Hollywood and fabulous wages (says the Lyttelton Times), Christchurch stepped up and into the film. The movie man had it all his own. When he said "Cheer" the crowd yelled and waved hats and handkerchiefs, and when the directorial order to "boo" came through the red megaphone, the ■ crowd, with angry faces and threatening gestures, obliged. Cecil B. de Millo never worked with a more willing lot of supers, but it is doubtful if Mr de Mille has ever photographed a scene with so many bicycles in it. It was the message boys' day out. "This," explained the movie man, "is supposed to be election night in Christchuch. When I introduce the winner of the election I want you to cheer," and about 500 messenger boys squeaked delightedly. Tho boys were not the only ones to enjoy the unusual position. Elderly men and decorous matrons stood on tip-toes in an attempt to come prominently into the camera's field of vision. Flappers there were in plenty, giggling and pretending to dislike figuring in a movie, but the bulk of the crowd was boys, all with their bicycles. Thrilling scenes were then run through, the crowd evincing much interest in the meeting of the hero and the very charming heroine, the arrest of the hero, and other parts of the story. But by 1.15 the Square was no longer a movie "location," and was just the plain Square again.