TIRED OF COWBOYS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 197, 20 August 1912, Page 2

TIRED OF COWBOYS.

PICTURE-MAKERS IN SOUTH

SEAS,

A PECULIAR EXPEDITION

On June 24 Mr Gaston Melies, and a complete cinematograph outfit, consisting of operators, stage managers, and a complete dramatic company, set out from ;San Francisco by the Manuka for the South Seas, for the purpose of gathering fresh material in novel settings/ for moving pictures. Mr Gaston Melies was the first one to make cowboy pictures, and is a brother of Mr Georgel Melies, the father of the picture business in the United States,. He has offices in Paris and New York, and & "picture farm" at Santa. Pauia. He is to visit New Zealand next month, and' in all probability will bring the entire company with him. Mr Edmund Mitchell will write the scenario and dialogues of the pictures tovbe worked out in the Islands, and probably in New Zealand. '[:■ ■

"I believe ; the' public is getting a little tired! of. cowboys and the prairie life of America/"- said Mr Melies to a San Francisco Call reporter. "I

am going to try to get something i new. We will reproduce in moving j pictures the customs of the South Sea Islanders, the scope of our work being divided into dramatic and! educational lines. We will get pictures of a. marriage, a funeral, a, dance, a festival, and such like for educational purposes. "For our dramatic sketches I have two or three stories planned. Our actors will take the leading roles and will be aided by the natives of the country through which we are passing- ' "A great many, pictures or experiences in foreign or untravelled lands are what we call studio pictures. The public might call them fakes. I.intend to have every detail of the South Sea l&land pictures correct, and for this reason expect to spend upwards of 200,000 dollars (£40,000.)" The full troupe consists of Mr Bertram Bracken, director; Mrs Melies; Mr George Scott, operator for educational pictures; Mr Hugh s MoClung, dramatic operator; Mr ' Gustaye Henschen, photographic operator; Mr Saumel Wiel, stage manager; Mr John Urtiga, master of transportation; Mr Henry Stanley, characters; Mr William Ehfe, juvenile lead; Mr Ray Gallagher, heavy; Mr Leo. Pierson, juvenile; Miss Mildred Bracken, juvenile lead; Miss Fannie Midgley, character; and Miss Betty Tracy, ingenue. . Mr Melies intends to take a lot of pictures in New Zealand, including Native dances in suitable surroundings. ■'