The Photo-Play Journal (Jul 1919-Feb 1921)

28 Photo-Play Journal IT was just eight o'clock when the youngest member of the scenario department breezed into the Christie Studio. As he passed the exchange department he caught a glimpse of "Steve" who was already settled at his desk with his sleeves rolled up ready to send out another batch of Filmfollies Beauty photos. "Whassa matter, Bug?" Steve called, pretending to be surprised at the early hour. "Sick or sumthin'?" The Bug stopped and, putting one foot inside the office, leaned against the door-frame and began to tap a cigarette against the back of his hand. It was plain to see that he was in a very amiable frame of mind. "Bug nuthin'," he said as he lit a match. "Look me over once again. I'm a livin', walkin" germ, yessir, the germ of an idea for the best two-reel Christie Comedy that's ever been turned out. Yessir, boy, this here comedy I'm alludin' to starts out with a bang and — " "Well, don't practice it on me," Steve growled a bit testily and made a movement that would indicate he had loads of work to do. "Tell it to Al Christie, he's the man." "You said it, boy — that's why I'm here so early. I'm going to grab that bird the minute he sets foot in the studio. I'll let him see that there's one scenario hound on this lot that does things with a bang and — what'rya laughin' at?" "You're just about an hour late to catch Al coming in. You'll find him over in the cutting room." "How cum? I heard him call his company last night for nine o'clock this morning. Well, anyway, I think I'll run over and tell this story to him while he's tearing up film. S'long." The latest addition to the editorial department picked his way jauntily through a maze of sets on stage one, passed through the cavern-like dark stage and down a boardwalk that gave entrance to the dressing rooms of the extra girls and arrived at the door to the cutting room. Al Christie was at the bench when he entered, running rapidly through roll after roll of film, tearing off pieces here and there and handing them to Bessie, the head cutter, who was clipping them together and winding them on a reel. His feet were enveloped in what looked like a hopeless tangle of film and his day-old straw hat was perched perilously on the back of his head. " 'Lo, John," he sang out as the Bug entered, "anything new and novel this morning?" "You jus' bet!" the Bug replied; "I've got a humdinger of an idea for Fay Tincher. Opens up with — " He was cut short by Christie snapping at Jimmie, assistant. "Where's that insert I told you to have made of note, James?" "I'm looking for it, Mr. Christie, but I don't see it." "Well, look some more, darling — you're holding up production. Yes, John, go on. You open up with — " "You open up with Fay as a clerk in — " his the Al Christie Decorations by C.E. Millard "Here it is, Mr. Christie," Jimmie cut in, handing the boss a ten-foot roll of film. "See if it's all right." "Great! Wonderful! Marvelous!" Al was squinting at the first few frames. "But where in H did she get the beautiful pink note paper and ink?" "Geewhiz ! I never thought — " Jimmie was getting red and trying hard to think of an alibi. "Couldn't she have — " "My eye ! She tore the fly-leaf out of a book and scribbled it in pencil in the scene, didn't she?" "Yes, but couldn't she have — " "NO ! She couldn't ! I've got to do every ding dang thing myself if I want it done right around this studio — go on, John — we open up with Fay in a department store — " "Who said anything about a department store?" The Bug was getting a bit nettled. "She's a clerk in a cleaning and dyeing establishment and — " "My boy, you offend my delicate sense of the aesthetic and so forth — who wants to play two reels of comedy around a cleaning and dyeing shop ?" "But you don't — you only have about five scenes altogether in the place and then you go to — " The telephone jangled and one of the cutters answered it. "Aleck has got your dailies ready to run in the projection room," she announced. "All right, tell him I'll be right over," the boss replied. "Make another insert, James, and have this reel patched so I can see it tonight — and have the children ready on the set — I want to start shooting when I've seen the dailies. See you on the set, John, and you can tell me the rest of it between scenes." The Bug wandered over to open-air stage number two, and found the electricians and property men busy getting things ready for the first shot. Two waiters from the Alexandria Hotel were busy setting a table for twenty that had come, with all its trimmings, right from the hotel dining room. A number of the girls were practicing a dance number on a miniature stage that formed part of the set. A jazz orchestra that was to furnish the music for the scenes was exercising itself. Xagy. the veteran cameraman of the Christie Studios, was tinkering with his camera and directing the placing of the lights. On a large sofa that