Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1931)

594 NELLA R. CALVIN NOVEMBER 1931 Packing with Mrs. Pepys Her jottings on the travail of traveling the tripod trail Dear Diary ■ Up at the milking hour against journeyings to Manhattan. In rebellious mood at the decree of the Spouse that the Child and I travel by motor car. Amazed at my forebearance in accepting such dictum, gave scant attention to packings of necessities. In fact, threw things into the Oshkosh. Thence, with quickened interest, below stairs to the studio. Reconnoitered 'mongst movie equipment with calculating eye as to the number of pieces the Offspring would tolerate en route. Rejected the screen, as, perhaps, too cumbersome. Howbeit, would fain make trade for a new one. Used mine will power in selection of the smaller of the two tripods. A diplomatic, if inadequate, choice. And packed a neat satchel of gadgets for filmings of rare views of the Greate Metropolis. Saved space therein for a few extras I hope to acquire. Set out the cameras, one to be fitted to a precision lens, the other, mayhap, to go in bargain for a late model. Realized, in some trepidation, that the projector is scheduled for servicings and thus, of necessity, to accompany us. Nice, tho, to have it to while away long lone hours in an hotel room. Made mental note to insist upon quarters with plain white walls. After several round trips, arrived at the carriage entrance with my garnerings. Sat me down on the projector case to catch my breath, meanwhile entertaining lurking fears of difficulties at wayside inns. Mused, wrathf ully, over the workings of the male mind which had planned our mode of transportation and had brushed lightly aside my preference for the comforts of train and trunk. And so, failed to note the return of the Child. She in fine fettle over purrings of a motor, but newly armoured with gasoline, oil and aqua. "Where are you going with all that stuff?" demanded She. "What was it Ruth said to Naomi? 'Whither thou goest I will go — ' " quoth I, in brave jocularity, but the Child merely gazed at me as at one slightly daft, if not yet entirely bereft of reason. How drab life must be to one bereft of a sense of humor. The Child, alack, leans, at a forty five degree angle, toward the paternal seriousness. In fact, she announced, in no uncertain tone, that she had at no time seen need for me to travel o'er the country loaded down like unto a surveyor. That, so accompanied, I would have no need of her society. I had not deemed it a purely social problem. Unabashed by my silence, she barraged on — machine gun questions, begin ning, "Where? What? Why? and How? Oh, for the days," she rasped, "when we traveled with a handbag apiece." "And on the train" I supplemented. "Have you, by any chance, forgotten the years I journeyed light and was thus enabled to tote your overflow of hat and candy boxes, books and what not? That's gratitude!" E'en so, there was a modicum of truth in her statement that we might be crowded but I briskly set about to prove that, with ingenuity, the picture puzzle process of fitting bags to storage could be accomplished. Talking to myself, as is my wont, I bewailed my lack of observance, at the time the car was purchased, of the meagerness of said storage space. She suggested that, perhaps, it had escaped my mind that the car had been bought before I took up movie making. Decidedly waspish, methought, so ignored her jibes. We all talk too much and, besides, it was necessary to direct my attention to the precision process of placement of luggage. Lost my balance, at this juncture, and dropped a camera upon the kitty who had crept, unbeknownst, into the reserved space. The feline's voluble remonstrance was in no way assuaged by the Child's overdone display of sympathy. Whilst rubbing my scraped elbow, I suggested she take the cat as he fitted the cavity better than did the camera. Laboriously removing my bags, et cetera, burdened as I was, I managed to walk with fairish dignity and aplomb toward the house. "Mother," called the Sprout, "Why can't you send the outfit by express? Every bit of it came that way." What need to repeat to so perverse a mind what I had oft told her, that I feared damage to delicate adjustments? Inhaling a quick retort and additional deep breathings, the better to insure poise, I remarked gently that it would be much simpler to pack and ship a trunk, thus assuring the arrival of our raiment in adequate and freshened state. I was shocked beyond measure by her reaction to the suggestion, out of all proportion to the small stint of transferring apparel from cases to trunk. Surely a more orderly and complete an assembling. Then, too, I would thus have a drawer therein for films. Necessary for showings in the City. Shocked, too, at the violence of her protest. After all I am a mother, if but hers. Entering the house, I sought solace in my Movie Makers and gazed longingly at the fascinating gadgets displayed within its covers, things which I had hoped soon to see in the flesh, as it were. The Child approached and spake, "You won't travel by motor without the equipment; you say you cannot travel in a Pullman section with it, so, if you are willing to part with that ten dollar gold piece you've been hoarding, we'll take a compartment. I, of course, will make up the difference. Altho," she appended, "what you really need is a baggage car." True there are goadings, [Continued on page 615]