‘Thrill-A-Minute Stunt King’ at Ausable Chasm

The Schroon Lake Band provided the music as three segments of “Hurricane Hutch,” billed as “probably the most thrilling and exciting picture of its kind” were shown at the opening of the new Strand theater in Schroon Lake on Nov. 18 and 19, 1921.

The serial action drama, produced in 15 segments, was one of at least five silent films starring “Thrill-A-Minute Stunt King” Charles Hutchison that were filmed in Essex County, N.Y., with scenes filmed at Ausable Chasm, a natural wonder tourist attraction.

The plot of “Hurricane Hutch” involves a paper mill, a mortgage and an attempt to steal the formula for making paper from sea weed.

Hutichison wrote the screen play.

“Nearly all the picture was taken in Essex County, mostly at Ausable Chasm and Port Henry, during the taking of which Charles Hutchison and (leading lady) Lucy Fox several times narrowly escaped with their lives,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported.

Actually, stunt doubles did most of the male leads’ feats of skill in this picture, as Hutchison was healing from an injury in a previous picture.

Joe Cuny stood in many times, being paid $5 a stunt, far less than than the $1,000 per week — the equivalent of $15,362 in 2019 dollars — salary Hutchinson received in “Go Get ’Em Hutch,” filmed at Ausable Chasm and Saranac Lake in 1922.

Other Hutchison films shot at Ausable Chasm and the surrounding area were “The Great Gamble,” a 5-hour-and-10-minute thriller in 12 segments released in August 1919, “The Whirlwind,” released in January 1920, and “Double Adventure,” released in January 1921.

In a “risky stunt” for “The Whirlwind,” Hutchison crossed Ausable Chasm riding a motorcycle across a two-foot wide plank.

“The machine could go across at only 15 miles an hour and it was with difficulty the actor kept from going off the edge of the plank,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported.

For “The Great Gamble,” Hutchinson re-shot a swimming scene at Ausable Chasm that originally was filmed at Great Falls, Wash.

“Despite the warning of the natives that the undertaking was fraught with peril, Hutchinson plunged into the Ausable rapids and permitted himself to be swept over the falls,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported. “At the base of the falls he found himself in a powerful whirlpool, the presence of which was not indicated by the surface of the water. He was whirled round and round and was unable to extricate himself. Finally a rope was thrown to him and he grasped it and succeeded in getting out of the rapids.”

Hutchison starred in 56 films over a 40-year career spanning from 1914 to 1949.

The Pittsburgh native died at age 69 in Hollywood in 1949.

Sources: Ticonderoga Sentinel, Oct.9, Dec. 11, 1919;Nov. 3, 1921; silenthollyood.com; imbd.com.