Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

62 Pictures end P/c/~\jre,puer MAY 1924 THE MANUSCRIPT GIRL {Continued from page 21.) And the manuscript girl had to write in the whole scene as it had happened. When Viola Dana sustained some deep scratches on her face driving a motor car into a ditch — all part of a scene in her new film The Good Bad Girl — she dived into her First Aid box and returned to the scene of action in a few moments with her face swathed in bandages ready to continue work. " But," protested Oscar Apfel, her director, " the scenario doesn't call for you to appear decked up like that !" " I know," replied Viola, quite undaunted, " but I can't see why not. Surely it's natural that I should don a few yards of bandages after this " — and she pointed to the overturned car in the ditch. So, instead of work on the film being held up while the scratches healed, it was actually improved by the plucky little actress working in her lint and plaster. The manuscript girl, of course, had some extra work to do recording the change. There are some scenes which cannot possibly be made just as they are written. Nobody can tell exactly how a house will burn; how a ship will sink; how an aeroplane will crash ; or precisely how a motor car will act when it meets an express train head on at full speed. And it is during the making of such thrill scenes that the manuscript girl works her very hardest. She must describe the scenes exactly as they occur and must have such pen agility that not a detail is omitted. When the " Sarah Jane," an old river steamer which plays an important part in the story, came to the rescue of the anguished populace the script had also to be annotated with great haste, for the crew naturally was forced to rescue the marooned villagers with regard to their respective danger though, of course, keeping to the actual scenario as far as possible. In a fire scene in Gaumont's Lights o' London, Nigel Barrie was supposed to run up the blazing staircase of a slum tenement house and hammer on the door of a room at the top thus giving the alarm to those within the room. The fire spread beyond expectations, however, and by the time Barrie arrived on the staircase the flames were shoulder high. In the next few moments the whole set became a blazing furnace and the rafters above commenced to crash down. Then the stairs sagged and Barrie was forced to jump back down the stairs for his life. He had only just landed clear of the set when the whole staircase collapsed in a shower of sparks. The cameras obtained a most effective length of film though it differed somewhat from the scenario requirements, but the manuscript girl recorded the difference. Again in The Midnight Alarm the crash between the runaway motor car and the express train gave the girl with the pen a busy time. And after each screening of a riot scene in Scaramouche the manuscript girl had aching fingers for an hour or so, although it is said there is hardly another director can handle crowds and make them obey like Rex Ingram. Whenever animals play an important part in films the manuscript girl works at top speed. Even the owner or keeper cannot guarantee that the animal in question — cat, dog, lion, monkey or whatever it may be — will act according to schedule. It may take it into its head to perform some extra stunts of its own invention which, if they add to the picture, are left in. In the recent picture The Leopardess the player of the title role acted byond her reputation and attacked Montague Love with far more spirit than the scenario demanded. It was some little time before the animal's keeper, using unusually stern measures, could save the actor from being mauled to death. The whole of the leopardess's attack was caught by the cameras while the manuscript girl, although terrified for the actor's safety, heroically recorded the scene. Hoot Gibson and his horse in " The Rambling Kid." HOLLYWOOD {Continued fromp. 34) At a quarter to eight Horace set out for the home of Pola Negri. It was dark, and he was furtive. It was indeed, too dark for him to notice an even more furtive figure that crept in the shadows behind him. At two minutes to eight, unseen by the rest of the company Angela deftly slipped a card under the great director's plate and waited for the startling developments that must surely follow. When the plate was removed the card was seen and the great man took it up in some surprise. He needed to look at it but once to appreciate its message. ' Beware The Avenging Hand !" it said, and as he read the words De Mille dropped back like a limp rag into his chair. This was the cue. At this moment the window flung back and into the room dashed Horace Pringie, a gun in each hand, and yelling like a maniac " Beware the Avenging Hand ! ! !" He sprang down the room towards De Mille, but before the amazing incident could work to its logical conclusion in through the window came the furtive shadow who had followed on Horace s heels. The gun was dragged from Horace's hand and Horace himself was tossed out through the window. Then the shadow sprang to Angela's side. " Come home with me at once !" Len commanded. " Not likely," said De Mille. * Why, you're the very type I'm wanting for my next great super." And so in Centrevillc, only yesterday, at the dear old " Sparkler " it was released to send the town delirious with joy. Centreville's own famous ones come home, per shadow, to the old town where they knew and were known by every one. The star was Lemuel Lefferts, idol of a million fans, supported by Joel, Margaret and Grandmother Whitaker. Success, Centreville had never known anything like it. But — what of Angela? Well, she featured in something else. There was a news reel after the big film, and one of its incidents was a scene at the Los Angeles wedding of the great star Lemuel Lefferts to Miss Whitaker, of Centreville, granddaughter of the well-known Joel. To-day Whitaker Lodge is one of the showplaces of Hollywood. Whitaker Lodge and the Lefferts twins. . . Mary and Doug, they call them. Every morning Joel, Grandma, Margaret and Lem go off in their cars to the studio, while Angela stays at home with the twins. Yesterday a messenger came out from one of the studios to engage the twins for a special part in a picture. His name was Horace Fringle. " We could find room for the parrot too," he said. " Take them all," laughed Angela, " and then the whole family, except myself, will be in the pictures ." " Ah, well" said Horace with a sigh, " you are lucky, after all, not to have tc work in the studios." And Angela agreed.