Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

MAY 1924 Pictures and Picf~\jre$uer 31 ;JOHIN FLEMING Centreville ! Of all the places on the map, it wasn't one. . . There was a Main Street and some houses and the Picture Palace and that was about the end of it. Nothing to do there, but sleep. The sleepiest little spot on earth. And yet it bred the famous Whitakers, a whole family of them, a family so eminent, so gifted, so obviously destined never to tread the common rut, that they were absolutely without peer and even without equal in all the length and breadth of Centreville. A most noteworthy family. You can imagine the eagerness of Lem Lefferts to marry into it, via Angela, whom all Centreville declared would put Mary Pickford right out of it one of these fine mornings. Eager? Well, he never let a day pass without asking; but Angela had the most irritating way of holding up the answer. A coming movie star who is one fine morning to put the World's Sweetheart right out of it must be very careful in the choice of her husband-to-be. Lem was only a trousers-presser. Pressed almost everybody's in Centreville but his own. " The Sparkler " was Centreville's best and only movie show, and every Wednesday and Saturday the Whitaker family could be seen there, getting used to Angela's future atmosphere, Angela receiving the helpful advice of all her neighbours, who told her again and again (every Wednesday and Saturday) that she should not delay another moment, but should take the very next train out of Centreville that went to Los Angeles and take the " Hollywood plunge." " You were just made for it, Angela," they said, " and one day we're going to see you featured on the old screen here at the ' Sparkler.' Sec if we don't !" And so, one day (so do the gods look after their favourites) the Whitaker house in Centreville caught fire and was burnt to the ground, and the happening gave grandpa Joel so much of a shock that the local doctor declared his only hope of survival was to get at once to the coast and settle there in the dazzling sunshine and life-giving air of California. Enough. He went. And, as an old gentleman of grandpa Joel's age could not very well be left to travel and live alone, it fell out that Angela went with him to look after him. Right to Los Angeles. . . . The beginning of a notable career? It certainly was. . . . Angela's first impression of Los Angeles was that of the great station hall, framing a monstrous square of bewildering sunlit sky, and teeming with laughing care-free humanity. At least they appeared care-free. " We must find out the way to Hollywood," she said to old Joel. " Your little bit of money will soon go, and we shan't bo able to live on air. I shall go to the studios and be a star. Oh, grandpa, it was Destiny burnt down the old home in Ccntrevil'e ! I see it all. This move is going to make our iortunes and then none of us will have to work again. Wait here, and I will ask the bookstallclerk if I can buy a map. If only we could sec a real movie star, and ask th-; way first-hand. . . ." She made her way to the bookstall, where a jolly, twinkling-eyed man was handing out chocolate to a host of laughing children who crowded round him and clung to his coat and climbed upon .his back and did unthinkable things to his hat. She asked the bookstall man if he sold maps showing the way to Hollywood, but he shook his head and said " No." And at this the man with the twinkling eyes turned round and twinkled more than ever. "You're going to Hollywood?" he said. " Why, that's the easiest thing in the world — once you know how ! Look — " And he took an old envelope from his pocket and most obligingly sketched upon the back of it a simple map. " There," he said, " you just follow these wiggly lines and you'll be right there." "Oh, thank you!" said Angela, and before his bright smile she backed away shyly. Who could he be? She was positive she had never met him before and yet — And then there flashed back to her the memory of innumerable releases at the old " Sparkler " in Centreville, and at once she knew her rescuing knight. It was