Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

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"Dan shot the first few scenes in that light with grave doubts. Fie shot them because there was nothing else to do. But when the negatives reached Hollywood we got word the stuff was practically perfect — as sharp and clear as could be. "So, we hurdled that headache only to have the imps, themselves, give us an even bigger one. The children, you see, continually rewrite the story! It's lucky we brought Lou Breslow, one of the authors, along with us. Otherwise we might be up against it." "How do you mean — rewrite the story?" I wanted to know. "Come on out to the set," Perrett said, "and I'll show you." THE crew was working on an interior — a tiny room that seemed to be full of people, a room that looked something like a clinic, inasmuch as everybody was dressed in a white surgical gown, and everybody's nose and mouth were covered with surgical gauze. No, not everybody, I noticed at second glance. The quints were there, unmasked. So was Jean Hersholt. He was sitting at a table. The quints appeared to be waiting on him. "Everybody who goes into that room," Perrett explained, "must first have his throat sprayed. Dr. Dafoe is taking no chances on germs. And everybody but the actors must be masked and robed — that means the camera men, too." I lingered for a moment, watching Hersholt and the children, then felt Perrett nudge my ribs. "Sorry," he said, "but you better come away before the babies see you. If they spot you they'll forget what they're supposed to do They'll stop and stare and yell hello to you. They may even rush forward to greet you. They don't know they're working. They think they're playing a game with Hersholt. And if they bust up this scene — and we have only one hour a day — you see?" I sat in Dr. Dafoe's office until the hour was up. The doctor was there, and Joe Moskowitz of the Fox New York office, and Nora Rouselle, the children's pre-kindergarten teacher, and Marion Byron, who plays the role of a nurse in the picture. Herbert L. Leeds, the director, and Lou Breslow, the author, came into the room for a minute between takes. They removed their masks, sat down to smoke a cigarette or two, and talked of the progress made thus far. "They're going great today," Leeds said. "They've given us some wonderful stuff." "And they're still rewriting me," said Breslow. "And how!" "In this story," Leeds explained, "Jean Hersholt takes the part of Doctor Luke. 'Docta Loot,' the quints call him. He's just come home after a hard day. He's tired and discouraged and hungry. He asks Emilie for a cup and saucer. "Now, in the script, Emilie is supposed to run to the cupboard like a good little girl and get the cup and saucer for him. And her sisters are supposed to get the sugar and the cream, and to pour the coffee, and to bring him all he wants to eat. "We had explained the action to each of the children, and thought they understood perfectly. These are very intelligent youngsters. You have to tell them only once what you want them to do and then they do it — in their own way. They follow cues better than a lot of grown-up men and women in Hollywood — but, of course, they don't learn any lines by heart. They say their own lines — " "And sometimes," put in Breslow, "they are a lot funnier than the lines I thought up for them." "Well," Leeds went on, "we started the cameras rolling and Hersholt asked Emilie to bring the cup and saucer. Emilie didn't understand because she didn't know the English words. But (Continued on page 87) Seen 9hh "'%£ is sp*