Frisco Kid (Warner Bros.) (1935)

RISC( Brave Movie Extras ‘‘Die’’ For Five Dollars A Scene 1,000 Men Face Film Death In Thrilling Episode In “Frisco Kid”’ By CARLISLE JONES A thousand men, armed with rifles, shot-guns, clubs, flaming torches, knives and stones, faced a battery of cameras one night during the filming of riot scenes in the Warner Bros. picture, ‘‘Frisco Kid,’’ which comes to the .................... Theatre eee pee eee The scene was taken on the back lot of the studio in North Hollywood. Standing before the group, staying the rush they seemed anxious to make, stood Big Jack Sullivan, stout lunged assistant director. He wasexplaining, through a public address system, just what Director Lloyd Bacon expected them to do in the next scene. ‘¢You march down this street,’’ he yelled, ‘‘toward that building. You’re mad and you’re going to burn it and all the rest of the Barbary Coast. When you get here,’’ (he drew an imaginary line across the street) ‘‘you are fired on from the balcony up there. ‘Then you start running forward. Those with rifles return the fire. All of you charge forward until you are out of the camera range. We will pick the scene up there from another angle.’’ He paused for a moment for breath. ‘‘Now,’’ he continued, ‘‘you men who are to die come forward.’’ Nine men pushed their way through the tightly packed mob and faced Sullivan. ‘‘Dean,’’ he said, ‘‘you drop right here, as soon as you hear the first shot. ‘‘Trainer, you fall three steps further on. Mix and Bucko, you fall at the same time, here. The rest of you die between this spot and the walk in front of the building. Do you all understand??? ‘“Yes,’’ said one of the men about to ‘die,’ ‘‘do we get adjustments?’’ ‘‘Sure,’’ agreed Sullivan, ‘‘you get adjustments, usual rate.’’ Artistry In Dying The men moved back to their places in the crowd and waited for the signal which would start the scene. It came shortly and a thousand men started marching toward the camera. A shot rang out. A man stumbled and fell headlong into the dust. More shots. Two others dropped grotesquely. The mob broke into a dog trot. Firing as they advanced, the men moved swiftly down the street toward the cameras, their flaming torches forming weird shadows on the buildings they passed. At each volley of shots from the balcony of the building they were charging, two or three men fell, rolled and lay still. ‘“Cut,’’ yelled Bacon. The firing ceased, the torches were rolled in wet sacks and the dead men got up, dusted themselves off and walked back with the others into their first position. ‘““That was good,’’ said Bacon, ‘“put we can do it better.’’ ‘Same men die,’’ ordered Sullivan. ‘‘And whoever it was rolled into that curb, be careful. It looked great — but don’t get hurt. Watch it.’’ Four times the mob charged down the street of Old San Francisco, howling vigilantes, bent on destroying the Barbary Coast. Four times the nine appointed men fell in their tracks, apparently lifeless bundles which the mob tramped under foot as it rushed forward. ‘‘That’s all for tonight,’’ said Sullivan at last. ‘‘ Adjustment men can get their slips from the seript clerk.’’ For dying in the movies an extra receives from two to fifty dollars additional pay. The rate for this peculiar service varies according to the violence of the death and the distance the victim has to fall. Extra Pay For Death This additional pay is called an ‘¢adjustment.’’ The men report to work as regular extras at the usual rate and those who are chosen to ‘‘die’’ in a scene have that rate ‘‘adjusted’’ the following day at the casting office. To fall from a _ baleony or down a flight of stairs after being ‘‘killed’’ for picture purposes, may be worth twenty-five to fifty dollars. But ‘‘death’’ on a battlefield or during a mob _ scene when a man has only to fall his own length, brings an average add. ed dividend of five dollars. Barton MacLane with James Cagney in ‘““HRRISCO KI ripe at the Strand. Mat No. 108 10c There are many men in Hollywood who are ready and willing to ‘‘die’’ for a very little extra money. A list of these is kept in every studio casting office and some of them are always called when violent scenes are to be made. Some of these men ‘‘die’’ much more realistically than others. They take pride in their work and talk about particularly excellent deaths they have died in various pictures. In the course of a year a ‘‘dying extra’’ can make a considerable amount of extra money. In this respect the extra has an advantage over the star, or featured player. Ricardo Cortez, Barton MacLane, George E. Stone, Joseph King, Robert MeWade and Fred Kohler of the cast, all ‘‘die’’ in ‘‘Frisco Kid,’’ but none of them was paid a cent extra for it. No Extra Pay For Star James Cagney, the star, fights a terrific battle with Fred Kohler in an early sequence of the same picture, using fists and chairs as weapons and, although he received a severely sprained ankle and many scratches and bruises during that fight, there was no ‘‘adjustment’’ in his pay check. Cagney, in fact, has ‘‘died’’ in many pictures, but always without extra pay. He agrees with the extras, however, that the man who dies for his art, deserves some special compensation. ‘<Frisco Kid’’ is a stirring drama of San Franciseo’s colorful Barbary Coast in its wildest days when gambling dens and shady dance halls with their gilded vice ran wide open; when robbery, arson, shanghai-ing and murder were rife and nothing to check the lawlessness but the avenging hand of the vigilantes. Others in the cast include Margaret Lindsay, Robert Strange, Lili Damita, Joseph Sawyer, Edward McWade, Claudia Coleman, Joseph Crehan and John Wray. The screen play is by Warren Duff and Seton I. Miller. What ts claimed to be the fiercest film battle ever screened is waged between James Cagney and Fred Kohler in Warner Bros.’ drama of San Francisco vigilantes fight against the underworld, ‘‘ Frisco Kid’’ which opens at the eae an en an’ Theatre on In the cast are Margaret Lindsay, Ricardo Cortez, Lili Damita, Barton MacLane and a thousand others. Mat No. 301—30c Actress Wants To “Do A Cagney” For The Movies Margaret Lindsay wants to ‘‘do a Cagney.’’ Tired of sweet-young-thing roles she longs for a chance to play the feminine counterpart of the roles that have made James Cagney famous. She told this to Cagney and others while working on the Warner Bros. production, ‘‘ Frisco Kid,’’ which comes to the ............ Se Parte RGA tLO=* ON —satereeternscccxs ‘¢Want to sock somebody, do you?’’ asked Director Lloyd Bacon, thinking, perhaps, that he might work in some such scene in his present picture. ‘“‘Tf necessary that’s all right too,’’ hedged Miss Lindsay. ‘‘ But it wouldn’t be necessary. It’s the kind of character I want to play, not any particular scene.’’ He’s The Tops James Cagney becomes cock-o-thewalk of the wickedest mile on the face of the globe in ‘‘ Frisco Kid,’’ the Warner Bros. picture coming 40: GRE ax. oho Theatre ON ...........006 Mat No. 105—10c Cagney Now Ready To Try New And Different Roles Star Of “Frisco Kid’? Through With Saying, “’'m Not The Type” James Cagney who has the stellar role in the Warner Bros. production, ‘‘Friseco Kad, which comes to the ................ PUBNIPC OY Go eta. is , is through with saying, ‘‘I’m not the type.’’ By actual count, according to Jimmy, there were no less than forty-three scenarios, story suggestions and synopses sub mitted to studio executives during the last year, with notes appended that they were “Cagney types.” “T believe seven of the lot were selected for conversion into film plays,” red-headed Jimmy recalled. “I did three of them. The rest were played by other actors.” Cagney more than once has felt that casting executives erred in putting him in some particular film. Later, however, he has discovered that their uneanny ability for predicting mass audience reaction seldom misses. “There was a question in my mind when they assigned me to the lead in one of my recent productions,” the Irish actor remarked. “I wondered at the time if the public would accept that guy” —Cagney invariably refers to himself as “that guy” — “as a tough mug of the U. S. Department of Justice. Casting executives deemed to think movie-goers would like the idea. That was “G-Men” and it turn ed out to be one of the most suc- cessful Cagney pictures. Prior to “G-Men,” they gave the stormy red-head the role of “Bottom” in Max Reinhardt’s production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” When Cagney first heard of the assignment, he did a considerable amount of head scratching. “How will the theatre public accept this guy in a Shakespearean role?” he asked himself. “Especially in a comedy role that requires him to wear a donkey’s head through the picture?” When “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” finally got into production Cagney confesses he found the part to be one of the most fascinating he has ever played. “T know I have never enjoyed a film assignment quite so much,” he said. Cagney thought something vas absolutely wrong when they handed him “Footlight Parade,” but the fans justified the judgment of casting executives by expressing their written approval to the studio. “And I'd like to,” he declared. Cagney was doubtful again when they gave him the leading role in “The Irish In Us,” which is a story of a New York Irish family but again the public approved Jimmy in the role. Now Cagney is playing a part like nothing he has ever done before; that of a hard-boiled, two-fisted overlord of San Francisco’s once-famous' Barbary Coast. It is said to be his greatest role to date. The only type of role that Cagney even feels reasonably certain will please is that which he played in the first years of his sereen career, the grapefruit pushing, woman slapping type of gangster of “The Public Enemy.” “Frisco Kid” is a stirring drama of San Francisco’s colorful Barbary Coast in its wildest days. There is an exceptionally strong cast which includes besides Margaret Lindsay, Ricardo Cortez, Lili Damita, George E. Stone, Donald Woods, Barton MacLane and Joseph Crehan. Lloyd Bacon directed the picture. Page Five