Dusty rode a beautiful tan horse with a white mane…his personal horse and one that looked totally out of place on a working ranch. Darby was only beginning to understand that being a film star gave someone a lot of leverage against the director’s desires.
The small herd of cattle milling about in the large corral made the horse nervous but Dusty had her well under control. With a flick of his wrist he set the rope lariat in motion and lassoed one of the young heifers as it tried to escape.
The horse came to a halt and backed up, pulling the rope tight as several cowboys rushed the heifer and brought her down. Dusty slid off the horse and retrieved his lariat. The capture of the beast had been observed by Sarah who had been leaning on the rails of the corral and now she smiled as Dusty approached her.
He tilted his hat back on his head and then wound the rope back up before sliding it up on his shoulder. Sarah’s body position, and that pearly white smile, left no doubt that she was enamored of the cowboy, and Dusty returned the adoration.
“Cut,” Billy yelled. “That was good.”
“Reposition the camera?” Alex asked.
“Yes,” Billy responded.
It had taken three attempts for Dusty to lay that rope around the heifer’s neck and complete that initial scene. Now Alex could move in for the close up between Dusty and Sarah. She looked very much the ranch girl in denim pants and a work shirt, although Billy had initially wanted her in a gingham dress and a sun bonnet. That had led to some heated discussion.
Sarah knew what a working girl wore and knew the frilly look would be all wrong, but she promised to wear the dress in a future scene. It was a small point she won, but no one mentioned that Dusty didn’t look like a working cowboy either. On that horse he looked like they belonged in a parade.
It had been a day for problems but Alex laughed it off. The cattle didn’t cooperate, the corral gate wouldn’t open, and their Indian Chief was knocked off his horse when he hit his head on the lintel of the barn door. Fortunately none of this occurred while the camera was rolling so precious film wasn’t wasted.
Taza had just stood there shaking his head as some of the crew picked Marty up off the ground. Only a few of the cowboys needed some pointers about their riding, but Saul and Marty needed the most help. Billy was no fool and had Marty checked out by the doctor who pronounced it a mild concussion.
Saul was upset but only to a point since he knew the accident was Marty’s fault. Less of a horseman than the others, Marty had been sitting up straight when he was told to duck his head before they went out on a practice ride. Marty was never good at taking direction so now he had paid the price.
The cattle were finally corralled, the gate fixed, and the scene with the Indians was put off to the following day to give Marty a chance to recover. Saul was just happy he didn’t have to wear that costume or the silly wig which itched like hell.
The other four “Indians” followed Saul back to the bunkhouse to enjoy the respite provided by Marty’s mishap. Billy had found these men down in the Jewish Quarter of central Los Angeles. Known as the Fairfax District, it was only a few square blocks of downtown with some of the best restaurants around. Saul had suggested a Jewish man might look Indian enough with the right makeup and costume. Darby just thought he wanted some of his friends around for an afternoon card game.
During the lunch break Alex had led Darby and Taza up in the hills overlooking the site to find a good camera angle. The ranch looked pretty real from up here and Alex was pleased. “Won’t be long before the city expands out this way and we’ll lose the possibility of these remote looking scenes.”
A glance to the left confirmed Alex’s words as Darby could see the tall buildings in downtown Los Angeles in the distance. But to the right beyond the ranch was still a pastoral scene of wooded slopes and grazing land.
Alex pointed. “Burbank is starting to fill up and beyond the trees that Hollywood township is destined to merge with the city. I don’t know where we will find open space for films like this when all that happens. Maybe we will have to move further north, or heaven forbid we might actually have to film cowboy pictures in Arizona.”
“Would that be so bad?” Darby asked.
“You know the limitations of the equipment and the film we have now. Maybe in twenty years all those problems will be solved. You understand we are not alone in this film business.”
“Billy has competition in town, I know that,” Darby said.
“Several studios will be making films in the next few years, but the key to making a profit is in distribution. Theaters will eventually make an investment in projection equipment if there are enough quality films in distribution.” “Do you mean there is a possibility that this film will be made and no one will see it?”
“No,” Alex laughed. “Billy was in vaudeville and knows a lot of theater owners, the film will get seen…well, everywhere but in New York. Edison has been trying to monopolize the industry and he claims proprietary patents on cameras which is absurd. The motion picture camera has been in development for decades all over Europe and Edison stole many of his ideas there.
“But his company has lawyers and although they cannot reach us here they will try to foil distribution of films by taking us all to court. My grandfather warned me Edison has a passel of politicians in his pocket and it will be one hell of a fight. But we also have lawyers if necessary and it’s going to get dirty I’m afraid.”
But Alex smiled. “In the meantime…we have a film to make.”
They spent the afternoon filming Sarah and all the domestic scenes around the ranch house. She fed the cowboys a breakfast meal that was supposed to allow their affections for her to show, and the camera ate it up.
But then there was the general melee of men and horses as they saddled up for the cattle drive. Finally the bovine herd was pointed in the right direction and Sarah stood on the porch of the ranch house watching them leave with some well-placed emotional waves of her hand.
This was an important scene for the audience to grasp the idea that poor Sarah was left alone at the ranch. There were several old hands left behind to mind the animals but the ranch was now vulnerable for what was about to happen next.
Darby helped the crew pack up the cameras for the day as the dust from the moving cattle floated off in the afternoon breeze. The wranglers would take the herd up into the hills and out of sight for the following day’s filming sessions. But at least Dusty and the other cowboys would have the day off as other characters took their turn on film.
The Mexican vaqueros were in a boisterous mood that afternoon as they would become the stars tomorrow in the guise of bandits. The final fitting of their costumes had been mostly a show and tell of the items they had brought with them from Tijuana. Billy sat in a rocking chair on the porch of the ranch house as the men paraded their finery.
Sombreros and vests, shiny boots and decorated shirts abounded, as did the huge selection of pistols and rifles. Alex and the Spanish speaking crew members walked among the vaqueros checking the weapons and confiscating any live ammunition they found. Several boxes of blank ammunition awaited the start of tomorrow’s filming.
Billy seemed pleased at the image these men projected, although as Darby recalled the real bandits that accompanied Perez’s attack on the Apache village were a scruffy looking bunch. But even though these were real Mexicans they had to project the audience’s stereotype of what was expected so reality had nothing to do with it.
The vaqueros were show offs on their horses, animals that had made the trip north with them. It only reminded Darby that Branna was back in Arizona and he hoped Indigo was taking good care of her. If they decided to stay in Los Angeles he knew that Branna and Mosh would have to be brought here, as well as Taza’s favorite mount.
Although Taza had left his horse behind he was now riding one of the Appaloosa mares in the film and he had spent considerable time getting to know her. So now even as they watched the vaqueros demonstrating their riding skills on horseback with tricks and games, Taza went and saddled his horse.
From the time they arrived these Mexicans had taken to Taza, as if they recognized the Indian roots many of them shared with the Apache boy. Taza and Darby had taken to eating dinner in the bunkhouse because although Billy provided the groceries the vaqueros had brought their own cook for the traditional food they liked to eat.
A cowboy, no matter his nationality, was more comfortable in the saddle than any other place. Taza on the other hand liked to ride bareback. He watched the vaqueros perform their tricks, like riding while standing on the saddle and spinning around to ride backwards. Taza was itching to join the men with a few of the skills he had learned, and they finally invited him to show off.
What followed was an amazing display of horsemanship that brought Billy to his feet. Riding bareback gave Taza a better feel for the horse under him so with the slender reins in his hands Taza stood up on the horse’s back just like the vaqueros. But even as the horse trotted across the yard Taza jumped down to the ground, took a few quick steps and grasping the mane pulled himself back up on the horse.
He reached the end of the yard and did the trick again off the other side. Then as they reached the middle of the yard Taza dismounted off the rump of the horse. It occurred to Darby that somewhere along the line Taza had been training this horse since it trotted to the end of the yard and turned around.
Taza let the horse pass him and then mounted the animal over the rump in a leap that must have taken him five feet off the ground. It looked spectacular and all the vaqueros whistled and applauded as Taza turned the horse back towards the porch on the ranch house.
Billy walked down the steps and patted the horse on the neck. “Very impressive, young man…but please don’t do that kind of thing again until the film is completed. You get hurt and I will lose my trainer and a good actor.”
“Yes, sir,” Taza said.
“Still, that running mount on the horse might be something we can use in the film,” Billy said, and that made Taza grin.
After dinner, as the sun settled onto the horizon, Darby and Taza returned to their tent. If they were supposed to be roughing it here on the filming site the reality of the campsite was filled with luxury. Billy had commanded bathrooms and showers for the cast and crew, a dining hall and a building with card tables and several pool tables.
No alcohol was served on the site, but that didn’t prevent people from bringing in their own. Billy looked the other way only because his wife wasn’t present. She had some rather strict ideas about men indulging in strong drink and Billy bowed to her wishes.
But Taza and Darby had discovered a secluded cove on the river where they could swim in private at day’s end. It was well upstream from where the cattle took their water and left behind a mess.
“You didn’t tell me you could do all those tricks,” Darby said as they stood in in the cool water above the Narrows.
“Chappo said a man must be humble unless there is a good reason to show strength and skill. But this horse has learned much from me in a short time. I am pleased with her.”
“Tomorrow is your first day on film…are you excited?”
“Will I feel anything as the camera works its magic? I think not, no. I am worried that Marty will fall off of his horse again. These Israelites must be a poor tribe if they do not know horses,” Taza said.
Darby almost laughed, but decided against it. Taza had been learning so much these past few months and the boy made him proud. His lack of knowledge about the Biblical land of the Jews would never be an issue, but if they kept up on Taza’s reading skills perhaps one day he would understand.
Of course they had been very careful with displaying any obvious signs of their relationship. The silent trips to the river and the quiet nights in the tent had allowed some display of affection, but even then they were cautious.
Hugs and kisses as they stood in the flowing water brought back memories of how this had all begun, and from Darby’s point of view this would only get better with time.
“Alex says film will finish by end of next week,” Taza said. “What shall we do then?”
“I don’t know,” Darby said. “They have much work to do before anyone sees this motion picture in a theater, but I don’t think they will need us here. Do you want to go home?”
“This is home…Darby is my home. But I would like to visit my mother and tell her of all these things.”
“We can take the train back to Tucson and then down to Tombstone. If we pick a time I can send a telegram so Indigo can meet us at the railroad station.”
“Then let us return for a while. I am curious about my family,” Taza said.
They awoke before dawn and dressed, Taza in his native costume for the morning’s work. The dining hall was already filling up and Taza sat down with Saul and his Indians while Darby sought out Alex.
“Good morning,” Alex said. “You missed all the fun last night after the rodeo in Billy’s front yard.”
“Missed what?”
“Billy rambled on about what he wants to do in the future. New projects, new film ideas, and new money to be made.”
“I wasn’t sure Taza and I would have a role with Polyscope once this film is done,” Darby said.
“Are you kidding? Don’t run away now…things are just starting to get interesting around here.”
“I have no idea what Billy has planned,” Darby said.
“In confidence I’ll tell you that he’s looking for a real cowboy star. I mean Dusty is a nice guy, but he doesn’t have that star quality. I believe that westerns will dominate our schedule for a few years, but Billy is looking at other types of stories.
“Audiences will flock to the theaters for anything unusual. Billy even wants to do a jungle movie but he will have to obtain a whole zoo of wild animals before that can begin. He will need help, backers, and he might even hire a director to do the work. Polyscope is going big and by the time he finishes building that studio we’ll have lots of elbow room.”
Alex gave Darby the once over. “This has all been so new for you and Taza…it must be mentally exhausting. Sarah and I are going to Paris next month, why don’t you take Taza home for a while and then come back at Christmas.”
“We were already making plans,” Darby said.
“Good, good. By the weekend we will have some results to look at. Poor Fritz, he’ll be in the darkroom for quite some time. Did you know we shot a thousand feet of film yesterday?”
“Oh…why so much?”
“We did several takes on Dusty and that rope trick, then the damn cows. This is how it all works, but Fritz will develop every bit of it and make a print we can show in the projector. Once Billy sees it we can cut the negative and save the good parts.”
“You mean you don’t even know what it looks like?” Darby asked.
“Not yet. All I get is my view through the lens on top the camera. That was a good idea by the way. Did you see how Fritz linked the two lenses together? I would bet every scene is in perfect focus. But every day is a new adventure, and today we get what will probably be the longest shot in the film.”
And he was right. From atop the hills behind the ranch, Alex and his camera captured the panorama of the pastures and trees beside the river. For the first time they were using the cart and sections of the track for a shot Billy was sure would be a first class introduction of the Indians.
As Alex finished his pan of the ranch the crew slowly pulled the cart back and into the lens appeared three Indians on horseback siting on the ridge of the hill. Taza and the costume people had done wonders with the Israelites and they almost looked like Apache warriors.
Darby thought it a shame that the film was in black and white because there was an abundance of color. The crew had tied feathers to the manes of the horses which moved in the breeze as a contrast to the stoic posture of the Indians sitting on their mounts.
Saul, Marty and Taza gazed down at the ranch as the camera moved in behind them and then reached its final position. After a thirty second freeze Billy yelled “cut” and Alex yelled “wahoo.”
“That looked fine, Billy,” Alex said.
“I believe you. Let’s shoot the close ups and climb back down the hill.”
All seven Indians posed for the camera as a group, and then Alex refocused to present them individually. “The Apache in war paint will lead the audience to believe that an attack on the ranch is imminent,” Alex said,” but they will be wrong.”
“The Apache are Sarah’s friends,” the title card would read. And in a bold move, Billy was going to film a scene where Sarah helps an Apache family who are sick. The outcome of her tending these poor folk would be a friendship with the tribe who now kept watch over the ranch.
To this point film stories had been presented in a straight forward timeline, one event following another. The use of title cards had given Billy the idea that they could do a flashback without confusing the audience. But for now they would keep moving forward because it was time to introduce the bandits.
For these scenes Billy was prepared to use two cameras so that they did not have to stage the attack more than once. The action inside the ranch house would be filmed with a fixed camera set in the back of the main room with a view of the front windows and the door. It was here that Sarah was going to make her stand against the bandits.
Outside in the large open space Alex lay down every bit of the cart track they had in a long gentle curve from the tree line almost to the side of the ranch house. The bandits would attack from the trees and cross the open space towards the house with guns blazing as Sarah and the two older ranch hands made their defense.
The vaqueros were in place, the crew ready to move the camera cart, and Sarah took her position near the ranch house door. Billy had decided to let the scene roll out with minimal direction. Everyone knew what they were trying to accomplish.
There had been two rehearsals for what Billy hoped would be a ten minute scene. Bandits were given a starting position, a place to stop forward motion, a spot where they would seek cover after they dismounted, and a place to fall dead. Alex made notes of these positions where his camera would capture the actions.
From where Darby stood behind the barn with the Indians he could just see Billy near the camera track holding his megaphone and ready to call out to the actors. With all the gunfire they had planned Darby doubted anyone would hear the man but he was there to cue the Indians to ride into the battle. And so it began. “Ready,” Billy yelled.
“Rolling film,” Came the response from inside the house.
“Rolling,” Alex answered.
“Action,” Billy yelled and the gun battle ensued.
The vaqueros whooped and hollered as they wheeled their horses towards the ranch house, firing their pistols in the air. Across the open yard the two old ranch hands grabbed for their rifles which had been leaning on the rails of the corral and began to shoot back.
Alex tracked the bandits from his position and slowly panned the camera in time to catch the two ranch hands run for the cover of the house. Sarah could be seen at one of the windows giving them covering fire with a rifle.
Darby could only imagine how loud it was inside the house but Sarah kept banging away. She had the use of three rifles since there was no time for her to reload. Her shots soon filled the house with gun smoke as the scene outside began to become chaotic.
The bandits’ initial charge broke up as one of the men fell from his horse and then crawled to his assigned position behind the watering trough for cover. Darby could see Alex motioning for the crew to pull the cart further along to keep up with the action.
The bandits scattered, now shooting directly at the house as Sarah returned their fire. Most of the vaqueros dismounted and sought cover behind an old wagon and several barrels near the barn. This was Alex’s cue to roll the camera closer to catch the faces of the bandits as they fired and reloaded their rifles.
One of the bandits made a run for the porch of the house but was cut down and fell by the porch steps. The scene was a mess of runaway horses and the gunfire that spooked them. But out of sight of the camera some of the crew herded the loose animals into the open doors of the barn to clear the yard. Darby kept his eye on Billy until the man waved and yelled for the Indians.
Alex was in just the right place to capture the whole yard and the group of warriors that rounded the corner of the house. They galloped past the bandits and wheeled to take them from the rear. A further exchange of gunfire and only one Indian fell from his horse. That would be Taza who had assured Billy he was probably the only one who wouldn’t get injured with such a move.
Bandits started to fall and several of them ran for the barn to retrieve their horses, but the Indians shot them down…and then there was silence.
“Cut,” Billy yelled, but everyone’s ears were ringing from the gunshots and they were slow to react while the smoke from all that shooting slowly rose like a mid-morning fog.
“Good heavens,” Alex yelled. “That was exciting, my ears are still ringing.”
Darby stood in the yard while Sarah and the other actors walked out on the porch.
“How did it go?” Sarah asked.
The vaqueros were standing up and dusting themselves off, but they had big grins on their faces.
“I think the boys enjoyed that,” Darby said. “It sure was loud.”
Taza approached and smiled. “Almost like real thing,” he said.
Billy walked over and Alex joined them. “Everyone did a wonderful job, it looked so real,” Alex said, clapping a hand on Darby’s shoulder. “Don’t you agree?”
“Too bad the audience won’t hear any of that, but they will get to see what a gun fight looks like.”
“I have question,” Taza said.
“Yes?” Billy said.
“Shoot many bullets…no damage. In real fight many bullets hit my father’s house, make holes in wood.”
Billy looked at the ranch house. “He has a point, Alex…do we have any film left?”
They moved the camera from inside the house to the yard and cleared everyone out of the area. While the film rolled two of the vaqueros loaded their rifles with real bullets and proceeded to shoot a few holes in the frames around the door and windows of the ranch house. Billy would cut those images into the final film.
“All right. I would suggest we are finished for today,” Billy said. “Everyone did a wonderful job, but now we can clean up the mess.”
More footage would be taken tomorrow and show the cowboys’ return from the cattle drive. Sarah and Dusty would reunite, there would be a scandalous on screen kiss, and that would provide the film with an ending. But Billy wasn’t done yet.
They had the scene with the sick Indians to film, some close ups of the bandits shooting and dying, Billy had a whole list. Alex didn’t seem the least bit perturbed.
“Why is he stopping now?” Darby asked.
Alex looked up and pointed. “The sun is too high. We will have to start early again tomorrow to make the exposure on the film look the same as it did today. It would be terrible to splice images together only to discover that one frame is brighter than the next.”
Darby looked up…well, that made sense. Without a doubt there were so many factors to consider other than just turning on a camera. Now he understood that making films was like reading a book, the more pages you turned and the more words you read the greater your knowledge became.
Just this one film with these people had shown Darby what was possible. It seemed the right combination of creative individuals brought Billy’s ideas to life. Alex and his photography crew would only get better with experience and allow the studio to keep making films.
But even as Darby watched the crews packing up for the day he realized what Billy had been talking about. He might be directing this film because he had figured out all the images he wanted to present, but it didn’t stop there. Billy and Alex were already thinking about the next film and how they could make it better.
Taza walked by leading two of the horses back towards the barn and gave Darby a nod and a smile. He loves this, Darby thought…and so do I. Alex had wanted to make sure they would be back after taking a break because they were a part of all this, they belonged.
No matter that the company might be making western movies for the next twenty years, they would be good at it…the best. But Alex had said that Billy had other ideas in mind to tantalize audiences and bring them to the theater. If all these budding film studios began producing popular films then it was only a matter of time before someone would start building theaters just to present movies.
Darby had to smile because it seems that might be a good investment. His knowledge of making films might be small but there had to be room for people with good ideas and money. It would be something he would have to keep in mind until the opportunity arose.