Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

Every Tuesday Meanwhile, in the Sunshine Drug- Store, Egbert and Tommy, arrayed m white overalls, were dealing with quite a flock of customers. The high chairs beside the bar were nearly all occupied by early lunchers, and Mrs. Talley was working at high pressure in the kitchen. Egbert, having disposed of a purchasc-r, helped himself to some jellied beans from a glass jar on the bar before deal- ing with a handsome but ponderous lady who had wandered towards the book counter. Egbert became aware of a pois^ old gentleman with enormous white whiskers who had entered the shofj and was star- ing about him. " 'Twas the night , before Christmas, and the childi-en were all " declaimed Egbert, struck by the resemblance of the old gentleman to the traditional figure of Santa Claus. "Will jou pardon me a moment, madam?" "Yes," said the ponderous lady, "I'll just browse among your books." Egbert went over to the old gentle- man, who took off his iiat, exposing a semicircular baldness of head with a few little sprouts of white hair sticking up on top, and inquired almost jovially: "Are you going to wait on me?" "Sir," said Egbert, toying with the right-hand portion of the luxurious whit-j wliifikers, "I'm not going to beat about the bush with you—1 am certainly going to wait on you." "I want a toothbrush." "A toothbrush—yes. sir—a toothbrush. How many in your family?" The old gentleman smiled and held up four fingers. "Four," nodded Egbert sagely. "Then yoM want the large size." Ho opened a drawer and pulled out a tray full of assorted toothbrushes. "Look," he said, holding one up. "Non-skid bristles from Brussels." "How much are they?" "Fifty cents—and one dollar. But the fifty cent ones are all sold." . The old gentleman decided to liave the toothbrush, and departed with it in a neat little cellulaine bag. Egbert scurried over to the bar, where hungry customers were clamour- ing for attention, and Tommy advanced upon a man who was toying with a per- fume spray, wasting its contents. He took the spray away and set it down on its show-case, whereupon the man presented a slit) of paper. "I want this filled," said he. "What is it?" inquired Tommy blankly. "It's a prescription." A prescription! Tommy knitted his brows, this was extremely awkward! "I'll notify the prescription depart- ment immediatelj'," he said. He sought Egbert in a fine state of alarm. "Something terrible has happened," he gasped. "This is a prescription! No, you can't read it—it's written in pig Latin. Question is, what are you going to do about it?" "What am I going to do about it?" said Egbert calmly. "I'm going to take it to a drug-store, of course." Exchanging places with Tommy, he went over to the customer. "I'm sorry, sir," he apologised, "but this is going to take a little time. You see, the compound spirits of salamander must first be absorbed by the tincture of Will you wait?" The customer decided that he would wait._ "You're wise, my dear sir," Egbert informed him. "Our prescription de- partment is unique—there's nothing like it in the world." He rctiied to the shop-parlour, where BOY'S CINEMA he removed his overall and put on his hat. then made his way out at the back door, crossed a yard, reached an alley, emerged from the alley into Allison Avenue, and sought a drug-store at the far end of it, where he had the pre- scription made up. The Plot Succeeds. TWO minutes after Egbert had disap- peared, Peggy walked serenely into the Sunshine Drug Store, walked to the bar, and perched herself on one of the high chairs. She had been a fre- quent visitor ever since that first day when she had changed her mind about telephoning the police; and the more she had seen of Tommy the less she had seen of Harry Watters. The luncheon bar was not so crowded now, and Tommy delightedly turned his full attention to her. "Gosh, I'm glad to see you, Peggy!" he e.\claimed. "Look!" And he pointed to a neat little hanging glass sign: "Peggy Special." "It's a new drink," he explained proudly. "I invented it myself, and named it after you. Try one!" NEXT WEEK'S THREE COMPLETE FILM STORIES. BUCK JONES ■in- " BRANDED." Arrested for a hold-up of which they are innocent, Tom Dale and his Swedish henchman, Olaf, escape from gaol by a trick—and Tom enters into possession of a ranch bequeathed to him by an uncle, only to encounter fresh trouble. A stirring drama of the West, full of un- expected twists and turns. "BAD COMPANY." Two rival gangs, hated and feared by the police, warfare of a fiendish nature and behind the scenes the law waiting for a chance to clean up the city. Starring Ricardo Cortez and Helen Twelvetrees. "THE nOHTING TEST." Suspicion falls on a daring cowboy for the robbery of a pay-roll and he fights hard to clear his name. Starring Buffalo Bill Jan., and Joan Jaccard. ALSO The fifth episode of our thrilling serial : "DANGER ISLAND." SPECIAL NOTE. Owing to the Christmas Holidays, next week's grand issue of BOY'S CINEMA will be on sale SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19th. Make sure of your copy by ordering NOW ! 9 He picked up a long tumbler and pro- ceeded to mix a beverage in it. "It's awfully nice of you to name a drink after me," said Peggy, watching him with admiring eyes, "Why shouldn't I?" said he fondly, and, having completed the blending, handed her the glass and feasted his eyes on her beautiful face, "Some time I'll name something after you," she told him. "Gee!" he e.xclaimed, putting his elbows on the bar and his chin in his hands. "I hope you will." She found the concoction palatable and asked him of what it was composed. "Everything that's sweet!" he assured her. "First I took the sweetest syrup— that's your disposition. Then I added those two cherries—those are your Upi<. Mint leaf-grecn—that's the way I turn when I see you look at somebody else. And "—pointing to the two straws in the glass—" there are your two pretty little " "Oh, Tommy, they're not that thin, are they?" she laughed. "Malted egg flip!" barked an im- patient man beside her. "Yes, sir," said Tommy obediently, and, still talking to Peggy, proceeded to mix what he imagined to be the de- sired drink. In his absent-mindedness, however, he poured peppermint into the mixer with the egg he had broken into it, and. reaching to a shelf, added castor oil instead of liquid malt. The man watched with growing horror. "You know, when I look at you," said Tommy to Peggy, "I don't know what I'm doing." "No!" rasped the man, and pulled his hat down over his eyes, slid from lis chair, and went off in haste. "He's gone!" exclaimed Tommy. "He loesn't know what he's missed!" The glass stood neglected on the ( oiintor wlulc the two conversed. Egbert returned with the proscription made up. after he had removed the rival chemist's name from the bottle in the kitchen and substituted one of the "Sunshine" variety. Rather breathlessly he handed it to the waiting customer, charged two dollars, and took out a handkerchief to wipe his brow. "The customer departed, evidently quite satisfied. I']gbert went to the bar. "Whew'" he exclaimed. "Boy, that was a close shave! How are you, Peggy?" Mrs. Talley, immediately Peggy had arrived, had issued from the kitchen to help serve. She smiled across at the three, "Here's a drink for you," said Tommy, pointing to the neglected glassful of alleged malted egg flip. "It'll buck you up." "Believe me, I need it," proclaimed Egbert, and he drained the glass. "Gosh. that's good!" he exclaimed, fanning him- self with hie handkerchief. "Don't neglect the business. Tommy." Harry Watters and his thin-faced com- panion, Clarke, had reached Allison Avenue and had paused in a doorway only a few yards from the drug-store. "Now you know what to do, don't you?" said Watters. "Sure," nodded Clarke. "I go into the store, see you, look surprised, and say, ' Hallo, Mr. Watters, I haven't seen you for an age '!" "That's right. And then I a>k what you've been doing lately, and you tell me about the lemon extract. You've got it straight?" "Straight?" chuckled Clarke. "Why, it's fifty per cent, alcohol." "Never mind the wise cracks," grunted Watters. "I'm going on in— December 19th, 1931. '