That credit certainly suggests Rottjer, who was 29 years old at the time, had considerable experience driving Pain's replicas of the two-wheeled ancient vehicles, along with experience performing in Pain's summer Vesuvius-Pompeii shows and in other grand productions staged by the company. His chariot and show experience made him an ideal choice to act or "pantomime" in the role of the lead character in Kalem's short. Although Rottjer would continue to work for Pain's for several years after the film's release, he would later establish a career in the film industry. Federal census records show that in 1910 the German-born Rottjer continued to reside in Brooklyn with his wife and three daughters and was still employed at the local "Firework Plant", presumably Pain's; however, by 1917 he was working as an "explosion expert" in Brooklyn for Vitagraph Studios, which that year purchased Kalem Company. Contrary to information given in other sources, Rottjer did not die in 1917. Later census records further document that by 1920 he had moved with his family to Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, but he was still employed in the motion-picture industry as a "Pyrotechnical" specialist. Filming at Sheepshead Bay Race Track Although Kalem initially planned to use props and "standing scenery" from Pain's, the studio acquired most of its production needs elsewhere and opted, perhaps due to budget and scheduling constraints, to film the project's chariot race and other scenes at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, which was located close to Manhattan Beach. The track by October 1907 was closed for the season and was immediately available for Kalem to use. The film's credited screenwriter or "scenarist", Gene Gauntier, described the film's setup in her series of autobiographical articles for Woman's Home Companion in 1928: To enhance the status of "The Most Superb Motion Picture Spectacle Ever Produced in America", Kalem would later state in its advertisements that the film's costumes were from the wardrobe collection of the Metropolitan Opera House on 39th Street in New York. In reality, the "Elliott's" screenwriter Gauntier identifies as the source for the cast's attire, was Gus Elliott, an "old German" prop and costume supplier, whose business was located at St. Mark's Place in Manhattan. Chariot race While Rottjer was credited as the film's "Chief Chariotier" and likely drove Ben-Hur's chariot in the staged race at Sheepshead, the other charioteers were off-duty soldiers of Brooklyn's "3rd Battery" of