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"SOLDIERS OF THE CROSS" by Denzil Howson

A Lion's Rear Aspect

Lions have played a major role in the "flllums" ever since the first flickering images flashed on a white sheet.

Mack Sennett loved to use them in his comedies, and Leo, in various forms, has been the Metro Trade Mark for
as long as we can remember. But before MM and before Mack Sennett, lions - or at least one lion was making
his mark in the movies right here in Australia - in fact in Murrumbeena.

He was the lion in the Colosseum in the Salvation Army production "Soldiers of the Cross", much of which was
shot in 1899 on the tennis court at Belgrave House, a Salvation Army Home for delinquent girls, which is still
standing on the comer of Belgrave Road and Dandenong Road, Murrumbeena.

A lot has been written and said about "Soldiers of the Cross" - whether it could be described as a film, when
quite a bit of it was coloured slides, between 100 f. film segments, and so on. We won't go into that now. It is
the Colosseum lion that we are scrutinising here.

Although the Christian maidens (all from the Salvation Army Girls Home) looked suitably terrified as this King
of the Jungle approached them, he was really a papier-mache/cardboard replica activated by two sons of
producer/director Joseph Perry.

Some time ago in Perth, I interviewed an elderly Reg Perry, who when a boy, played the rear aspect of the lion.
Reg has this to say: "l was the rear end of the lion. My brother Orrie put on the head and I got into the rear
portion. Orrie had two strings- one moved the eyes, and the other brought the lower jaw up. I had the job of
wagging the tail." Reg added that he may have wagged the tail too vigorously because he said that during one
shot the lion broke into two pieces- the front wandering off in one direction, the rear in the other, thus adding a
bizarre twist to the spectacle not envisaged by Director Perry.

Reg Perry also told me that the Roman river, the Tiber, into which some of the Christians were thrown had tiled
surrounds, and looked very much like the Richmond City Baths, probably because it was!

But despite these minor anomalies, "Soldiers of the Cross" was a great success. The Melbourne "Age" at the
time said: "It is a thrilling, novel and instructive event" and the Melbourne "Argus" said: "The illustrations are
daring" -which begs the question: just how daring is a delinquent girl from a Salvation Army Girls' home!

Christians Meet A Fiery Fate

The production "Soldiers of the Cross" suffered an untimely and mysterious demise. In 1901 , Commandant
Booth of the Melbourne Headquarters of the Salvation Army, had a difference of opinion with his co-workers
and metaphorically frothing at the mouth, skipped off to America taking the film "Soldiers of the Cross" with
him. There, all trace of it was lost. But did Commandant Booth take all the film?

Ron Blaskett, well known Melbourne ventriloquist, believes not. Ron's father was a Salvation Army officer
here in Melbourne around the turn of the century. Amongst other things, Mr. Blaskett senior was a projectionist
and until the day he died carried scars on his arms- the result of a fire which erupted one night when he was
projecting some of the highly inflammable nitrate film of the time.

Ron's father told Ron that he had left a print of some of "Soldiers of the Cross" at a house in Elan Street,
Coburg, where Ron's grandfather lived. In 1931 , Ron and his sister discovered these rusted cans of film, and,
as children, had no idea of their significance or value. All they knew was if you rolled up pieces of the film, tied
it with string, lit it and then trod on it, it made a very effective smoke bomb. Ron and his sister made a lot of
smoke bombs around about 1931 .

So it would appear that as the scriptures fore-told, some of the hapless Christians- Soldiers of the Cross- met
a fiery fate; but not at the hands of the Roman Centurions- rather at the hands of an embryonic ventriloquist
and his sister.