It took nine tailors (1948)

220 IT TOOK NINE TAILORS Finally they decided on a plan. Mrs. Temple left the set, supposedly to do some shopping. A few minutes later a phone call came for Shirley from her mother. Al took Shirley to the telephone and held her up to it so that she could talk. "Shirley/' said Mrs. Temple, "a terrible thing has happened. Somebody has run into our new car and smashed it all to pieces. It's ruined." Shirley started to cry. Al rushed her to the set and we started shooting the scene. She read her lines sobbing as though her heart would break. We all felt like dogs. The minute the shot was finished Al confessed that it was all a joke and that the new car was all right. Later, when Shirley had another crying scene to do, she said, "Please, Uncle Al, no more gags." Frank Lloyd tells about getting Jackie Coogan to cry while he was playing the part of Oliver Twist. The scene was in an orphanage. Jack and another boy were scrubbing the floor. The other boy asked, "Where's your muwer?" Jackie was supposed to answer, with big tears in his eyes, "My mother is dead, sir." But when he read the line, he couldn't make the tears come. "Just try to imagine that your mother really is dead," instructed Lloyd. They tried it again, but still no tears. Finally Jackie said, "Mr. Lloyd, would it be all right if I imagine that my dog is dead?" I went to the preview of Little Miss Marker at the Alexandria Theater in Glendale. Sitting with me was my friend Jim Oviatt, a man who had not cried since his third birthday; his tear ducts had been atrophied for twenty years. But in the middle of the picture he started blubbering. I knew then that we had a great picture. After the film was released I suddenly started getting a flood of fan mail. It was bigger than any I had had for years. I also got a silent reprimand from the Merchant Tailors' Association. That year they left me off the list of ten best-dressed men. It was a pleasure. One Sunday during the making of Little Miss Marker I was