Daring Woman Hunts Jungle Beasts With Both Movie Camera and Rifle

(Click graphic for a much bigger view.)

1920

BY ELLEN MARIE BAYARD.

"I'll tell you a secret," said Lady MacKenzie to me in her charming, well modulated tones, with just the slightest trace of an English accent, as I was admitted to her superbly furnished apartments in a Broadway hotel at New York City, as the special representative of The Saturday Blade to interview her. "But you'll promise that you'll keep this a secret?"

I promised that I wouldn't tell a soul — excepting the readers of The Saturday Blade.

"It's this," Lady MacKenzie replied. "Just a few days ago I was visiting one of my friends in New York, telling her of a thrilling experience with a tiger in Africa. Just at the most dramatic point of the story, a mouse ran across the room in my direction, and — "

"And you, of course, ignored — " I hastened to interrupt, feeling certain that I was showing the keenness of my powers of anticipation.

Lady MacKenzie smiled at me, that charming, friendly smile of hers.

"Far from it! I picked up my skirts and mounted a chair, just as my hostess did, or any other woman would have done."

Is Wholly Feminine.

This incident, more than any other mentioned during the short interview, seemed to be most indicative of Lady MacKenzie's character. Here was a woman who could shoot a charging elephant in the fetid jungles of Africa without a tremor of an eyelash, but who mounted a chair to escape a mouse in a luxurious New York apartment. This Englishwoman had penetrated further into the dank wilds of Africa than any other living white woman, and as a nimrod had to her credit a long list of such harmless little pets as bull elephants, tigers, leopards and lions — to say nothing of snakes as large thru as the trunk of a tree. Yet she balked at a mouse!

The answer is easy. Lady MacKenzie is wholly feminine. Tho inured to the hardships of the jungles, she dresses in dainty laces while in civilization. In the undramatic environment of a New York hotel, it is hard to believe that this charming, attractive Englishwoman has earned the admiration of the world by her contempt for danger and hardship in tropical jungles.

But it is so. Lady MacKenzie has made two long trips into darkest Africa. She is off now on her third explorative tour and hopes this time to penetrate further and learn more than on either of her previous trips.

War Interrupted Last Tour.

Her exploration of the Tana River, one of the most treacherous streams in the world, winding thru 2,000 miles of dense thicket and papyrus swamp, was interrupted by the war. Her camp at the junction of the Tana and Theka Rivers was taken over by the British as a military base.

Lady MacKenzie's tours are not for purposes of sport. She photographs specimens of wild animals for the Smithsonian Institution and for the American Museum of Natural History.

And with all its hardship and danger, she finds big game hunting an attractive life. She loves adventure and "real life," the life in the open and the thrill of the hunt. And why not? Have men in these days a monopoly on those things? Not that Lady MacKenzie knows of! She likes the ponderous silence of the inky jungles, the sense of stealthy peril ever slinking near, the sharpened instinct of self-survival. She just wonders how people can settle down to a dull, quiet life while Africa is still on the map.

Lion Didn't Like Camera.

"Tell me how you photograph 'em," I pleaded.

"I took a second too long to take a lion's picture once, and he charged me," Lady MacKenzie answered.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? I know that it did to me, as I sat in a soft divan in the New York hotel. But how it really happened in Africa, as I found by questioning the modest English woman further, was this way:

Instead of setting her camera to take a picture by pulling a wire from a convenient retreat in the rear, Lady MacKenzie got right into the thick of things, with her moving picture camera out in front of her.

The lion, of course, didn't like it. Lions often don't.

"G-r-r-r-r! G-r-r!"

Lady MacKenzie kept on turning the crank of the machine as the lion stepped in front of the lens. The animal's tail began switching furiously. Lady MacKenzie coolly adjusted her camera to get a better view. Then the inevitable happened.

Barely Saves Own Life.

The lion leaped. His tawny body describing an angry arc in the air, he met the target directly. Lady MacKenzie's, leap for safety was too late, and the shaggy shoulder of the huge brute dashed her to the ground.

But that was his majesty's last second on earth — for Lady MacKenzie always had her rifle ready and knew how to use it. There was a muffled report and the king of beasts fell with a bullet thru his brain.

"That was a narrow escape," sighs Lady MacKenzie, in recollection of the moment, "but not nearly so exciting as to be caught in a stampede of wild beasts in the heart of the jungle."

It was this way, as I learned in the next few moments. The modern Diana came upon an immense herd of buffalo one day, and was intent upon obtaining an "action picture." To get the desired action she shot the leader of the herd with her rifle. The rest of the animals stampeded.

On they came, a mighty, bellowing avalanche of hoofs and horns. There were hundreds of them, bolting directly for Lady MacKenzie and her party.

Quick as a flash milady threw herself flat on the ground and waited. At any moment she expected to be trampled to death beneath the beating hoofs. With the thought came a fleeting picture of being buried by black savages in the wilds far from home and civilization.

Then the unexpected happened — an intervention of Providence, Lady MacKenzie calls it. For some unexplainable reason the herd parted just in front of where she lay and passed around her on the right and left, leaving her unharmed, but killing several of the native guides.

"But outside of the danger, is there much else of romance in the jungle life?" I asked.

"Too much — sometimes, I'm afraid," replied Lady MacKenzie, with a whimsical smile.

African Chieftain Proposes.

Then she told how an African chieftain became enamored of her when he saw her powder her face one morning. He was curious, and when Lady MacKenzie gave him some powder he applied it to his face, and then got her mirror to see if he had achieved the desired result.

By this time he had lost his heart to milady, and immediately proposed, tho he had several score of native wives. He offered to give members of the party ten sleek cows for the Englishwoman's hand in marriage. It required all kinds of tact and diplomacy to turn down the offer without incurring the anger of the chieftain and his powerful tribe of savages.

The Masals are the most interesting of African tribes, says the huntress, but are fast dying out. They are deliberately practicing race suicide to wipe out their own race rather than endure the encroachments of the hated white man. They are a race of polygamists and have no religion.

Africa Is Little Known.

"The world probably knows less about Africa than any other country in the world," says Lady MacKenzie. "And there is so much to know. I predict that Americans will before very long get into Africa in larger numbers. Then we may expect to find out all about it. For the American has a faculty for developing the commercial resources of a new country — of any country. And there are such wonderful resources in Africa — only the surface has been scratched."

But, altho Lady MacKenzie was too modest to say so, I might add that she had contributed a mighty share toward enlightening the world about Africa. She has brought home valuable records containing the native speech of unknown African tribes and thousands of feet of moving pictures on which are forever recorded the habits of the wild jungle animals and the life and customs of the jungle peoples. She has returned with tons of educational trophies. And she's not thru yet!

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 14.

Comment: This article and Lady MacKenzie are offensive at several levels. To me, the worst has to be when she wanted an "action picture" of the buffalo, so she shot the leader of the herd and made the rest stampede. Then she was in great danger, but, thanks to Providence, she was left unharmed, but the incident killed several of the native guides! That's terrible all the way through. And check out the photo essay, as they hunted animals with "a camera."

Color-Film Lotion Is Found

1919

Russian Invents Emulsion Designed to Improve Photography.

LONDON, England. — A secret emulsion, invented by a Russian, which, it is asserted, will make color photography possible for everybody, is about to be introduced into this country. The problem of making the process capable of snapshot as well as time work is claimed to have been overcome and the exposure can be as rapid as with the ordinary emulsion, thus fitting the invention for moving picture work also.

Special cameras and plates will be on the market shortly and the cost of a colored film is expected to he only 15 to 20 per cent higher than the ordinary black and white type.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 9.

New Camera Takes Tall Buildings at Close Range

1915

Aid to Photographic Art

With a new camera, invented and patented by an Elgin, Ill., man, a tall building may be photographed from the ground showing the upper portions as plainly as the lower. Such a building will be the exact size at the top as at the base of the picture. Formerly such a thing was considered impossible and photographers have been hunting some invention for the past twenty years to overcome the fault.

The inventor has many pictures of tall buildings taken from a distance of only a few feet which prove his invention worthy. The invention is simple and requires only the turning of the lens to the proper angle, which is determined by the height of the building and the distance which the camera stands from it.

—Saturday Blade, Chicago, Dec. 18, 1915, p. 9.

Coffee Shortage After the Civil War

1920

People old enough to remember the Civil War are able to recall the fact that after the close of that conflict it was difficult and often impossible to obtain coffee.

Various substitutes were used, such as parched rye, but one that was commonly utilized in Washington and many other cities was sweet potatoes. The latter were first roasted and allowed to burn somewhat on the outside. Then they were mashed in water and boiled. The water was thus transformed into coffee, by no means so unpalatable as might be imagined.

Sugar in those days cost 25 cents a pound. But the sweet potato coffee required no sugar, and so was an economical drink.


No Need for Interpreter

Squaw Evidently Had Not Always Been One of the Ordinary "Blanket Variety."

We were honeymooning in Arizona. Of course, we had our ever-faithful camera with us. On the principal street corner of a small town I saw an old Indian squaw sitting on the sidewalk with her pottery on exhibition about her. I thought that would be a dandy picture to take back home. My wife and I stopped in front of the squaw, and, knowing an Indian's superstition about being photographed, we hesitated.

Just then the proprietor of the store in front of which she was squatting opened the door and I inquired of him: "Do you think she would object to our taking a snapshot of her?" He said he didn't know, that we might try it, and while we were discussing the situation the squaw spoke up in excellent English and with decided gestures, said, "No, I don't care to have my picture taken." — Exchange.

The Early Day of Modeling: Pretty Girls in Demand

1903

Pretty Girls in Demand

They Can Make Good Money Posing For Advertisements

"Pretty girls were never in such demand as they are today," said an advertising agent, "We need them to pose for photographs for almost every article that we advertise.

"We have found, you see, that nothing catches and holds the eye of the public like a good, clear photograph of a pretty girl. Hence, in I don't know how many thousands of advertisements you behold a charming young woman smiling at you.

"Are you advertising a camera? Then you must have a pretty girl taking pictures. Are you advertising a shoe? You photograph a pretty girl tripping daintily across a muddy street on a rainy day. Are you advertising a corset? Then you must have a pretty girl to wear it, and you are careful here to see that her arms and neck are beautiful. In fine, whatever you are advertising, the picture of a pretty girl will help more than anything else to bring you trade.

"Do you know that there is a firm in the West whose sole business is the photographing of young women, for advertising purposes? In this firm's stock are young women riding bicycles, playing pianos, skating, driving, combing their hair, bathing, doing a thousand things. Whatever you desire in their line they will send you almost immediately on receipt of your order.

"I tell you, in these days a pretty girl has no need to be short of money. If doesn't mind exhibiting her face and figure in advertising photographs she can get all the work at posing that she wants to do." — Philadelphia Record.