This is the Upland Bridge at Race St. over Chester Creek that was blown up for a movie in February of 1915.
OLD BRIDGE TO BE BLOWN UP
Wooden structure in Chester Township Made the Scene of a Climax in a Thrilling Moving Picture Play
The old covered bridge, which
for years has furnished a crossing over Chester River, between Upland Borough
and Chester Township, is to be the settling for a thrilling moving picture
photo play. According to the plans of
the Lubin syndicate of Philadelphia, the climax of the story, which has been
woven about the scene, requires the actual blowing up of the structure, which
will be accomplished, it is expected on Saturday, by the use of dynamite.
Under the supervision of Edgar
Jones, leading man and general manager, two camera men were busy yesterday
taking preliminary views, and this morning seventy-five people were brought to
Chester to take the various parts of the play that it to be enacted. They went to the bridge shortly after 9
o’clock, directly from the Imperial Hotel, in auto cars. In the party are actors who have appeared in
hundreds of reels on the market today.
Two young women are in the cast.
The Lubin management heard but a
few days ago that a new concrete structure is to be erected across Chester
River, and at once arranged with Frazer Brothers, contractor for the work, for
the privilege of taking views, and gave them the contract to do the
dynamiting. A picture of the old
structure was taken and sent to the company’s scenario writer, who in about
three hours had woven a pretty little love story around the old crossing. The author is Emmett Campbell Hall of Glen
Echo, Md., and the title is: “On Bitter
Creek.” The story will involve also the
new structure that is to be erected.
UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY – Mr. Jones,
the chief in charge, told a Times man this morning that it is not often that an
opportunity is offered where the syndicate can come across such an old
discarded structure. “If we wanted such
a story, however, we would build a bridge for the purpose and blow it up.
“The work today,” he continued,
“will involve some of the love scenes, but a real Kentucky feudal battle will
take place on the bridge this afternoon.
We shall be here Friday and Saturday, making scenes, but I do not think
the bridge will be blown until Saturday as that is the climax of the story.”
Before leaving the hotel those
who were to take the parts in the plan, “made up” in their costumes at the
hotel. They attracted widespread
attention, and scores of people were attracted to the old covered bridge that
is seldom used in winter except by the farmers and those having necessary
business through that section.
STORY OF THE PICTURE – “On
Bitter Creek,” opens with the somewhat well-to-do Youse family and the less
fortunate Kirby clan residing on either side of the river. The Youse’s built the bridge and opened it
free to the public. A sister of the head
of the former household falls in love with one of the Kirbys; they meet at the
bridge, in a dignified manner of the olden time and exchange notes, by placing
them in the love box hidden in the bridge.
The two become engaged. Youse demands a kiss to seal the bargain, when the girl
discovers her brother has heard the entire conversation. He demands an explanation. A feud ensues shots are exchanged, men and
women are wounded. After the Youse’s
erect a toll gate and declare that the toll thereafter shall be a kiss from any
of the Kirbys who desire to pass over the structure. The grand finale comes when some of the
opponents of the Yauses are crossing and the bridge is destroyed by
dynamite. Twenty years later the two
principals meet in college and are married later, and return home to old scenes
and find a modern structure erected on the site of the wooden viaduct.
David Wills and A. L. Lewis of Philadelphia
are the two official camera men.
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