brassplyer
Well-known member
I just ran across this and thought it was interesting - I'd never heard of her before. Per the article she was the first professional film stuntwoman.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hollywoods-first-professional-stuntwoman-jumped-from-planes-and-swung-onto-trains-180982036/
There are YouTube videos of her doing her thing - "The Hazards of Helen" (1916) starring Helen Gibson where she first jumps from a horse onto a moving car, then she jumps from a bridge onto a moving train. That would be a pretty good fall just onto pavement let alone onto the top of a moving train.
Another is "The Governor's Special" (1916) - Helen Gibson where she leaps from a railway utility cart grabbing onto the side of a moving train.
In both cases things could have easily gone sideways and what she was wearing wasn't exactly athletic wear.
The Hazards of Helen
The Governor's Special
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hollywoods-first-professional-stuntwoman-jumped-from-planes-and-swung-onto-trains-180982036/
There are YouTube videos of her doing her thing - "The Hazards of Helen" (1916) starring Helen Gibson where she first jumps from a horse onto a moving car, then she jumps from a bridge onto a moving train. That would be a pretty good fall just onto pavement let alone onto the top of a moving train.
Another is "The Governor's Special" (1916) - Helen Gibson where she leaps from a railway utility cart grabbing onto the side of a moving train.
In both cases things could have easily gone sideways and what she was wearing wasn't exactly athletic wear.
The Hazards of Helen
The Governor's Special
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