AMUSEMENTS.

Wairarapa Age, 21 March 1929, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

“UNCLE TOM’S CABIN’’ When the draima of “Unci© Tom’s Cabin” is shown on the .screen, at the Cosy Theatre, the audience slee a magnificent plantation estate, such as vrarc comnu'Oin. a hundred years ago. Wonder is expressed as to where such a home could be found in this day and age. Its atmosphere of authentic age and its air of having been lived in and loved by succeeding generations fix it in the memory as something fine and rare. This is the St. Clare mianision, the home of “Little Eva” and of “Uncle Tom” after he was sold down the river. When Harry Pollard was signed to direct the famous Harriet Beecher Stowe epic for Univeirsal, his first move was to gather together a staff of experts, who went with him to the locale of the .story. Every foot of ground was gone over, juogno- cabins were inspected, in short, everything that could be done to get the aomrecit atmosphere was done. A hundred miles from New Ohl-eans was found the exact replica of the St. Clare mansion described by the author. The only drawback was that the home was a hundred years older than it should have been and a 100 years of rain and sunshine in a .semi-tropical climate makes a lot of difference to a frame house. Undaunted, Pollard instructed William Schmitt, star architect, with his party, to make a rough drawing of the home and to take the exact measurements. Schmitt did and returned immediately to California to draw the complete plans. Two* months later Pollard and the rest of his party returned to Universal City to ‘find the St. Clare Mammon* completed. So’ well had Schmitt done his work that every detail was perfect:—where a tree had been on the lawn of the Southern plantation, there was a tree on the lawn of the movie St. dare mansion. It was an exact replica of the plantation homo as it looked at the time “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was written.