When the movies were young (1925)

CUDDEB ACKVILLE 1 1 9 to stop. Mr. Griffith and Mr. Bitzer and a few other of the important personages took their places in the automobile — the second in the county — the "Red Devil" we afterwards called it. The actors straggled along. Caudebec Inn was no towering edifice — just a comfy place three stories high, with one bathroom, a tiny parlor, rag-rugged, and a generously sized dining-room whose cheerful windows looked upon apple orchards. It was neat and spotlessly clean. On two sides were broad piazzas. The inn faced the basin at the head of the old D. L. and W. Canal, and the canal took its pretty way alongside for a mile or more until it spilled itself over a busted dam (Mr. Kennedy's I opined — it was the only one about), making lovely rapids which later we used in many a thriller. It was extremely fortunate that we were the only guests. We filled the place. Such a thing as an actor having a room to himself, let alone a bed, was as yet unheard of in those vagrant days. Mr. Powell doubled and sometimes tripled them. Some actors got awfully Ritzy, resenting especially the tripling, and at night would sneak downstairs hoping to find a nice vacant hammock on the porch. But that had all been looked into. The hammock would be occupied by some lucky devil whose snores were being gently wafted on the soft summer breezes. Three in a bed, two in a cot, or two in a hammock — the stringy old-fashioned kind of hammock — which would offer the better comfort? Immediately after lunch, the boss and Billy Bitzer, with Mr. Predmore at the wheel, would depart in "The Red Devil" on a location hunt. The carpenters must get right to work on their stockade. The actors were soon busy digging out costumes and grease paint boxes, and getting made up and costumed ; for as soon as the chief returned,