Movie sets in the classic Hollywood era were very different from what we see today.

While the current film industry is known for its strict safety measures, back in the day, the movie sets were a wild west of sorts.

The producers and directors often put their cast, crew, and even animals at risk, engaging in dangerous and sometimes illegal activities.

In this article, we take a closer look at some of the events that took place on classic film sets that would not be tolerated today.

The MGM studios, during the golden age, had a mandatory brothel visit policy for its male stars.

According to Marc Eliot’s biography of Jimmy Stewart, the brothel was a short walk from the MGM studio gate and was compulsory for all male contract stars.

The legendary Louis B. Mayer, who was a known homophobe, introduced this policy to differentiate the straight actors from the gay ones.

This resulted in famous actors like Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, and Clark Gable being forced to frequent the brothel as part of their studio duties.

Refusing to go was grounds for dismissal.

The 1974 horror classic, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, was known for its on-set antics, which were wild and dangerous.

The cast and crew were known to engage in drug use during filming, which led to some dangerous incidents.

For example, on the final night of filming, Leatherface actor Gunnar Hansen had to perform a chainsaw stunt while high.

The producers handed out pot brownies to the cast and crew, including Hansen, before filming his final chainsaw stunt.

Hansen, who had never used weed before, had a bad trip and had to chainsaw through a door while dizzy, but managed to complete the stunt without injury.

The 1936 film The Charge of the Light Brigade, based on the Crimean War, resulted in the death of many horses during filming.

A device called the Running W was used to recreate the massacre, which involved attaching piano wire to the front legs of a horse and having a stuntman ride at high speed until the horse hit the end of the wire and had its feet yanked away.

The Running W was known for killing horses, but the use of the device in The Charge of the Light Brigade resulted in the death of over two dozen horses in a single shot.