Director James Colin Campbell — Ne’er Do Well in Panama (1915) 🇺🇸
An interesting interview in which he relates his experience in directing the “Ne’er Do Well,” in the Panama Region.
by James S. McQuade
James Colin Campbell, among the foremost directors in the making of photoplays in America, and the dean, in that capacity, of the Selig [William Nicholas Selig] forces, is dominated by a spirit of reticence that has kept him in the background thus far, so far as publicity is concerned.
He has evidently been satisfied to let his work speak for him, and is still so disposed, as was discovered by me last week when he stopped over for a short stay in Chicago, on his way back to the Edendale plant, by way of this city, from the Panama region, where he has been directing the big exterior scenes in the The Ne’er-Do-Well, with Selig’s leading western company.
In a very interesting way Mr. Campbell entertained me, during a call, with an account of his work and experience in the Panama zone and adjacent territory; but, when I broached matters biographical, there was “nothing doing,” to use the ordinary vernacular.
Mr. Campbell has a most pleasing personality, particularly so to his friends, and the accompanying engraving of his features will strengthen the statement. He is a reader, thinker and student, and possesses a fine imagination and love of art. He is thoroughly wedded to his calling as a director of the production of moving pictures, and his numerous successes bearing the Selig brand afford testimony to his fine ability and popularity.
Mr. Campbell is just as averse to having his engraved likeness appear in print as he is to a published biography. This is positively the first time a cut of him has appeared in a publication, moving picture or otherwise, and, in this instance, it makes this article more worth while. I do not thank Mr. Campbell for the photograph either, and how I secured it will remain a secret. Now will you be good, Jim?
Over five weeks were spent on the canal zone and in the state of Panama making exteriors. Some of these imposing backgrounds were taken in Panama City among the magnificent ruins of old Panama, the wreckage left by John Morgan, the famous buccaneer in the days of the old Spanish main. Mr. Campbell believes that this is the very first time that these ruins were used in moving pictures.
Other exteriors were taken on Toboga Island, about twelve miles off from Panama in the Pacific Ocean. Here street scenes, quaint in their oddity, were taken in the small town named after the island. “These scenes are very primitive, as Toboga is the only town in the world of its size, perhaps, that has not got a Ford car,” said Mr. Campbell humorously.
Still other exteriors were taken in Colon, on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, chiefly street scenes showing riot calls, the Panamaian police and fire scenes.
Of course, it is understood that acting was in progress all the time in front of these backgrounds, and Mr. Campbell said that about four reels in all were taken, about one-half of the entire story.
It was the very first time that the natives of Panama ever saw a moving picture company or the operation of a camera. As a result the crowds were so great that police protection was always required to keep them within bounds. Very well behaved crowds they were, Mr. Campbell said, although they were greatly excited by the novelty of the occasion.
Nearly a riot was created in the little town of Toboga, owing to the old Spanish costumes worn by several of the actors, including Frank Clark, Syd Smith [Sidney Smith] and Jack McDonald, the latter of Slap Jack fame, and others. The small boys who saw these strangely garbed men coming out of the woods, shrieked wildly and rushed into the town and gave the alarm that wild men were coming out of the woods. It took nearly two days to convince the populace that these men were modern human beings and thoroughly harmless.
It was laughable, Mr. Campbell said, to watch the small boys in Toboga imitating his company in the taking of moving pictures, including the camera and camera man. Every small boy was engaged in this manner and each company was provided with its own improvised paraphernalia.
The first night of the annual carnival in Panama City, which is similar to the Mardi Gras of New Orleans and lasting throughout the four days before Lent, there was a serious riot in Cogo Grove, a disreputable quarter of the city. There American soldiers got intoxicated and started a riot. The Panamaian police, or “spiggody cops,” as they are called by Americans, were brought out to quell the disturbance, and volleys of shots were fired by them. This resulted in a well populated hospital the next morning. Several natives were shot dead by their own police and about thirty American soldiers were badly beaten up and wounded. Mr. Campbell stated that if it had not been for the fearless bearing of Brigadier General Edwards, commander of the American forces on the zone, the outcome would have been quite serious. The general appeared on the scene all alone, without firearms or a guard, and quelled the whole disturbance in a short time by sheer force of his personality.
Mr. Campbell said that the members of the company were splendidly received by the highest military officers and the best native people in Panama. They were entertained most hospitably, whenever opportunity offered, by the best families. Governor Goethals, of the canal zone, just arrived from the United States the day before the company left. The governor, however, though absent, had arranged that the company could have the use of his private car and given carte blanche to all points on the canal zone.
The company partook of only one Panamaian meal, as prepared by the natives, during their stay. All considered that this was quite enough. The meal consisted of a kind of hash that looked like Mulligan stew, only it tasted a great deal worse. There was very good food at the Tivoli Hotel in Ancon, which adjoins the city of Panama. This hotel is run by the United States government.
At Culebra cut large forces of men with dredgers are now employed in cutting down the mountains of shifting earth on each side of the canal. This is a gigantic work, but it must be accomplished before the slides can be thoroughly controlled. The maintenance force on the canal at present is about 1,500, whereas formerly, when work on the canal was in progress, 85,000 men were employed.
The military authorities are now engaged in depopulating the zone. They are buying up all the groves and small plantations with a view of making the zone a strictly military reservation.
The weather was beautiful most of the time, Mr. Campbell said. The nights were cool and the middle of the day was very hot. At that hour everybody took a siesta. It began to rain the week before leaving and the rain simply fell in sheets, leaving the atmosphere reeking with moisture. The rainfall in one day was sixteen inches.
A visit was made by the company, under Mr. Selig’s guidance, to San Jose, Costa Rica. Here the many sights were hugely enjoyed by the party and moving pictures of various scenes were taken, although not for use in the Ne’er Do Well.
In Los Angeles the making of the interiors will be immediately undertaken, Mr. Campbell said. He expects that the entire subject will be completed in about three weeks. The length of the Ne’er Do Well films, when trimmed, will be about nine reels, the same length as “The Spoilers.”
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“Snobs” Nearing Completion.
The photodramatic production of George Bronson-Howard’s famous American satire, Snobs, which is soon to be released by the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Co., Inc., is nearing completion. It is in this picture that the famous Broadway comedian, Victor Moore, is to make his initial appearance on the screen. The story is founded on the experiences of a milkman who suddenly inherits an English title, combined with affluent wealth, and who finds himself out of place in a world of snobbery.
Collection: Moving Picture World, March 1915