Actors waiting for their cues at the Selig Studio.

"Most of the principals are trained actors," he replied. "There are always enough of them idle in the city who are willing to earn from $5 to $10 dollars by rehearsing a few days, then going through the pantomime seen in the pictures.

We obtain some very good actors too, always incognito of course.

We also draw on the professional supers for our crowds. There are several agencies in New York , where if we telephone to them , these supers--fifty, seventy-five, or a hundred, as we wish--can be supplied on twelve hours notice."