Screenland (Nov 1935-Apr 1936)

14 SCREENLAND FOREV YOURS By Margaret :. Sangsfer PART I f | V-» M KILDARE glanced thoughtfully down the length of the room. It was crowded with girls, and they were all pretty. All, that is, except one — for the girl who stood in the corner nearest the door possessed small claim to prettiness. She was tall beyond the average, and gawky, and badly dressed, and had large hands and larger feet. There was no apparent reason why Tom's errant gaze should have come to rest upon her — nobody else had given her a flicker ! When he said — "I want the girl in the corner — the big girl with the eyes," everyone laughed. The laughter persisted until Tom raised a commanding, authoritative hand. "I'm not kidding," he growled, "hush your noise, you half-wits !" Somebody murmured, sotto voce, to somebody else : "It's given the boss a turn having Lila Bell walk out of the picture. I've heard that certain minds behave that way — crack up, I mean, under pressure." Tom's manager, Monte Feinberg, moaned, "Gosh, Kildare, this is a comedy you're making. That girl will be as out of place in slapstick as a fur coat in a Turkish bath. Comedy ! She looks as if she were going to burst into tears any minute. Have a heart !" Tom Kildare never minded what people said to him or in front of him or about him or how they said it. He was always ready to take a suggestion and make the most of it. He was a regular person — a grand mixer, according to the studio — and a studio can be a star's severest critic as well as his best friend. But despite his amiability he knew his own mind, and when he did the talking he was head man. Now he might have been deaf for all he answered Monte Feinberg's perorating. The hand that had been raised for silence made another gesture — a beckoning gesture. "Come here, kid," he called to the girl in the corner. "I've got things to say to you." The girl emerged from her shadowed niche. The other girls in the room — -there must have been at least fifty of them — stared at her, and a giggle ran across them the way wind runs over a field of wheat. But Tom, watch A tall, gawky girl emerged from the shadows when Tom Kildare said, "I want you, the big girl with the eyes." A ripple of giggles swept across the room, but ceased suddenly when the others observed that Kildare was in earnest. ing the sway of the girl's body as she moved forward, didn't join in the mirth. When she paused directly in front of him and focused her sombre gaze on his face, he spoke. "Get this, baby," he said, and his tone was not ungentle, "I'm casting for a comedy and I need a new leading woman. My old one — Lila Bell's the name — has gone crazy with too much prosperity and left me flat. Not that I mind the exodus — I'm tired of leading ladies and I ought to know ! I've made plenty of them — " Laughter surged again through the room, and Tom — exhibitionist of sorts — grinned his famous grin. "To cut the story short," he said, "I'm going to try a different racket. I'm going to use an extra, a completely unknown girl, opposite me. I think" — once more his tone was gentle — "that maybe you'll do. What about it?" The girl answered in a hesitant voice. "I do not spik th' English veery well," she told Tom, "an' I haf had no expeerience. But I weel do ever'thin' you ask of me." Tom's manager grunted and spread his arms wide, embracing a deal of emptiness. "No class," he said, briefly, "no figure, and no conversation. I guess she's out, Kildare. Better use your head. There's other fish — " But Tom — his grin quite vanished — was staring at the tall girl. As if he saw a ghost — or didn't. "Suppose," he said to Monte, "you leave that to me.