Elgin Lessley
| Elgin Lessley | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
June 10, 1883 Higbee, Missouri |
| Died | February 8, 1944 (aged 61) Los Angeles, California |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California |
| Occupation | Cinematographer |
| Years active | 1911–1928 |
| Known for | Special Effects |
| Notable work | Sherlock, Jr., The Playhouse |
Elgin Lessley (also credited as Lesly, Lessly, and Leslie) (June 10, 1883 - January 10, 1944) was an American hand-crank cameraman of the silent film era—a period of filmmaking when virtually all special effects work had to be produced inside the camera during filming. Though Lessley worked earlier with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and later with Harry Langdon, he is best known for the groundbreaking effects he produced with Buster Keaton, who dubbed him "the human metronome" for his ability to crank consistently at any requested speed.
Lessley's most striking effects were in The Playhouse (1921) and Sherlock, Jr. (1924). In The Playhouse, 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 Sherlock, Jr., 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 The Cameraman with Buster Keaton in 1928.
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.
Shelton, a Confederate Army veteran, farmed and operated a general store with two sons from a previous marriage.
In 1910, the family relocated to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Elgin worked as a window trimmer in the family's department store. After Shelton's death in 1911, the family relocated to Los Angeles.
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