Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Star-dust in Hollywood Having run through his lesson, he began over again. Jo was well aware that when she wished to impress a thing on her charwoman she always told her three times, but objected to finding herself rated at the same mental level. So when she saw the third round of rote developing she changed the conversation . " What did you do before this ? " she asked. "Eh?" he asked, rather startled, and eyeing her for the first time. Jo repeated her question. The man bridled. By this question the woman had evidently been impressed by his personality. He spread his chest and tried to look as sheik-like as driving a Ford will allow, and with a few throaty preliminaries said : "Why, before this I was . . . ahem ! . . . a Wild West rider working for the pictures." Jo looked at his flaccid face and pretended to believe. " But why did you leave such an interesting job for this? " she asked. Taken aback, he stammered, and muttered rather incoherently of the solid and marvellous future for those who succeeded in the real estate business. " Anyway, here," he went on, with evident relief, " is the Maori hut." The Maori hut struck a very flat note. It was a circular, straw-thatched barn standing off a road, and was in a deserted quarter surrounded by desolate-looking lots and advertisementboards — the last place to be frequented by pampered movie stars in search of either sensation or convenience. In the gloom Jo at once recaptured all the sensations of a Sundayschool treat. Long trestle-tables were arranged round a platform with a blackboard. Shabby negro waiters were offering the assembled victims thick mugs of tepid coffee and slab-like sandwiches of spongy bread containing a lettuce [58]