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8: Montague or Capulet
C^>f ETTING cut out of a picture is always a movie actor's nightmare. It is something over which he has no control. ^_^That man with the big scissors in the cutting room is ruthless. In the early days of pictures we would think up all sorts of dodges to stay on the celluloid. The first films were always full of faces mugging over the hero's shoulder. Even when we were just part of a mob, we extras would try to put on such outstanding performances that the cutter would notice and hold those shears. This was especially true if the picture was an important one with top stars.
I remember in 1916 I was chosen for a ten-dollar-a-day extra part in a picture with Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne. They were two of the biggest stars in the business, and the picture was a feature-length version of Romeo and Juliet. I was just one of the poor relations that joined in the fight over Juliet's yen for Romeo. But I figured that, even though I was an extra, I could give the part much subtle characterization and maybe attract the director's attention so that he would keep me working in the background.
'What am I in this scene," I yelled to him, "a Montague or a Capulet?"
He tossed a disgusted look my way and shouted back, "What the hell do you care? When I say 'action,' you just start fighting!"
A couple of weeks later I landed in a juicy plum of a picture through my friend Bing Thompson. It was one of the early Famous Players pictures entitled Nearly a King. The part was little
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