Robert Milasch

At six and a half feet tall, Robert Emmet Milasch might have made a great circus performer. In fact, early in his career, that's exactly what he was. Born April 18, 1885, in New York City, Milasch ran away as a youngster and joined a circus, becoming a contortionist. He then joined another circus which toured South Africa. When he joined his last circus, in England, he performed as a clown. Returning to the United States when he was about fifteen years old, he got a job with the Gaumont Film Company, earning a few dollars a day. He then joined the Edison Company. Some sources claim his first film was "Babes in a Barrel," a 300-foot short produced by Edison around 1900. He was paid three dollars to appear as a brakeman and a train robber in the famous 1903 Edison film The Great Train Robbery (1903). In the early days of films, Milasch would write scenarios, erect sets, handle props, and even cast the parts. Often he would find extras in neighborhood saloons, offering customers five doll