Great was the crowd that gathered in the vicinity of the main entrance of the Hotel St. George shortly before ten o'clock this morning as the big cast of Fox's "Thunder Mountain" was preparing to embark in a caravan of automobiles for the first day's actual location work near the summit of the Big Basin Road.

A motley crew? Yea Bo. Overalls,--dirty,--in abundance. Torn tan shirts. Torn blue shirts. Old buckskin shoes--unlaced. Ragged pants. Unclipped hair and growths of beard ranging from three days to a month.

No less a luminary than Director Victor Schertzinger appeared on the sidewalk all overalled. Leslie Fenton, the mountain youth and male lead in the production, appeared in tatters, though smooth faced. It's going to be tough work,--this four week's filming of the scenarioized "Howdy Folks" of John Golden. The players, true, are costumed in keeping with their roles, but the technical and directorial staff are necessarily attired roughly because they're going to hit "rough going" in the various nooks of our forest primeval.

The big cast is fairly brimfull of screen notables and there's going to be considerable said about many of them by way of introduction to Santa Cruz in these columns during their stay here.

Talked a few minutes with Ralph Yearsley this morning. Mr. Yearsley explained that he "hasn't much of a role in the present production." He, by the way, will romp through the sequence as a member of the villainous crew of Arthur Housman, the story's "heavy." You've all seen Richard Barthelmess' "Tol'able David." Remember the youngest member of the "Buzzard family" of Ernest Torrance,--the "Baby Buzzard" who shot David? That was Ralph Yearsley. Remember, also, "Anna Christie" with Blanche Sweet,--and the degenerate son of the sea captain? That, too, was Ralph Yearsley.

ZaSu Pitts and Madge Bellamy will arrive either tomorrow night or Sunday morning. ZaSu's friends are planning a reception on this homecoming, that, mayhap, will quite outdo her welcome at the time she appeared here personally with "Greed."

Billy Tummell, assistant director, is very busy. He gets called first at the hotel these mornings--at 5:30 a.m.. It then devolves upon him to see that the balance of the crew hit the deck no later than 6 o'clock (Pacific Coast Time). Not a bad job.

Starting with the caravan this morning in the machines of the Santa Cruz Cab Company were included among others, Alec B. Francis; Bryan Foy, "gag man"; Glen McWilliams, Teddy Tetzlaff, Carl Maus, A. A. Ugrin, J. Miehle, camera crew; Hazel Bruster, Ruth Overton, orchestra; Larry Fisher, Arthur Housman, heavies, and Charles Dudley, who handles make-up and things like that."