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The studio was bristling with activity. Roscoe
Arbuckle ... was superintending the construction of a set, aided by Ferris Hartman, his co-worker, and a dozen prop men; Elgin Lessley, the intrepid camera man, who has the reputation of turning out the clearest films of any Keystone crank turner, was
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Once
Arbuckle moved to feature films in 1920, Keaton took over the old Comique studio, renamed Buster Keaton Studios, and retained Lessley as his cameraman. Lessley shot all 19 of Keaton's shorts, and six of Keaton's feature films. It was in his work for Keaton that Lessley pushed the limits of
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Filming was done entirely outdoors, including interior scenes which were shot on sets built outside and topped with cotton screens to control the sunlight. Thus, Lessley got his start in cinematography in outdoor settings, ideal for working later with
Arbuckle and Keaton, who preferred location
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He built a shuttered box for the camera, with nine slats
Lessley could open one by one. Lessley would open the first shutter, film Keaton's performance on the first mark, then close the shutter and back-crank to the starting point. He would then position Keaton on his next mark, open the next
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in 1921, Keaton was recovering from a broken ankle, and thus was unable to perform his usual death-defying and physically punishing stunts. He decided to focus instead on special effects. He and
Lessley went to work on seeing how many Keatons could appear simultaneously using
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The rough and tumble atmosphere on an
Arbuckle shoot likely went far in preparing Lessley for his later work with Buster Keaton, who had standing orders for his cameramen to keep filming his risky stunts no matter what, until he either yelled "Cut" or was killed.
556:, with cinematographer George Peters. The cameraman would mask half the lens, film half of the shot, then back-crank, switch the masking, and film the other half of the shot. Keaton and Lessley used this tried-and-true method to film two characters at a time for
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Elgin
Lessley was born on June 10, 1883, to Orpha (née Brooks) and Shelton Lessley, joining a household with sisters Annette ("Nettie") and Ora, uncles Herbert and Claude Brooks, and grandfather Burton Brooks. Another sister, Bindy, also joined the family.
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Lessley was on the payroll for $ 55 per week (compared to
Normand's $ 500 weekly salary, and the head carpenter's $ 35.), and Arbuckle evidently worked him hard for his money, shooting 10,000 - 15,000 feet of film for a single two-reel comedy.
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Lessley joined
Keystone Studios in 1913. Since most early silent films are lost, and cameramen often weren't credited on-screen anyway, it's impossible to determine for certain which films Lessley shot. His first screen credit is for
227:, Lessley's careful positioning of camera and actor in various locations produced the effect of a man stuck in a movie where his location keeps changing as he struggles to keep up. Lessley retired from filmmaking after shooting
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in April 1913. He worked there briefly on short documentaries. Again, lacking screen credits, it is difficult to determine exactly which films
Lessley himself shot, but likely candidates include
223:, through use of a specially shuttered lens and repeated back-cranking and re-cranking, Lessley allowed Keaton to appear as up to nine characters simultaneously, interacting with one another. In
295:. American Midwest made one-reel Westerns, most of which are now lost. Lessley isn't known to be credited on any of these films, so it is difficult to determine which ones he worked on.
560:. At first Lessley balked at the idea of filming more than two Keatons in a single frame of film. Keaton turned his mechanical mind to work and provided Lessley with a workable system.
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shutter, and crank the second character's performance. They used a metronome and a banjo player on the set to help Keaton keep the rhythm and match each performance to the others.
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Méliès wound down the tour and sent his crew back to the United States on May 10, 1913. Lessley returned to Los Angeles, near his sister Nettie, and went to work for
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in 1917. Lessley wasn't part of the original Comique crew, but was busy on other Sennett films. He shot a number of movies starring Arbuckle's nephew,
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Lessley possibly met his wife, Blanche Olmstead, in Colorado. They married in 1918, and at some point the couple settled in
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Lessley filmed Arbuckle, Keaton, St. John, and Arbuckle's dog Luke in the subsequent Comique films,
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loading his magazines. A dozen rough and ready comedians were practicing falls down a stairway.
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Though busy with Comique, Lessley also continued to work with Gloria Swanson, filming
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Multiple exposures were nothing new. Keaton had used them as early as 1918, in
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writer Will Rex described the workaday life Lessley was part of:
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Keaton as nine members of a minstrel show in the opening of
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in 1916, but Lessley was seen (and photographed) working on
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and Asia in the summer of 1912. Lessley joined them in
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Will Rex, "Behind the Scenes With Fatty and Mabel",
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269:Culver City, California
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423:The Dangers of a Bride
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88:Glendale, California
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164:(also credited as
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441:The Comique Years
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285:Star Film Company
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67:(1944-02-08)
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407:Al St. John
247:Confederate
245:Shelton, a
219:(1924). In
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491:Irish Eyes
471:The Garage
435:Ben Turpin
304:South Seas
237:Early life
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47:1883-06-10
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