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Motion Picture Shows Death

August 4, 2011

From the Bemidji Daily Pioneer, 100 years ago today is a story about an accidental death of an actor on a film set and an indictment of the (unnamed) company that shamelessly exploits the incident for the sake of publicity:

BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER (04 August 1911)

Little decency is wasted in this country where dollars and cents are concerned. A short time ago several actors were engaged at Brady’s Pond, Staten Island, to enact for a moving picture concern, a melodrama, in which the hero plunges from a cliff into the water to rescue the heroine battling with the villain in a boat. The actor, who played the part of the hero, was a good swimmer and made the dive beautifully, but was caught in the quicksand at the bottom of the pond and was drowned. All the time the film of the camera was reeled off and the scenes of the only too realistic drama were thus perpetuated on the strip. Now, the concern in whose service the actor lost his life, is widely advertising the film which depicts the death leap of the victim of sensationalism.

I would love to know the name of this film. Anyone know?

 

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