When the movies were young (1925)

236 When the Movies were Young anything be wrong with the scene this last time, to pay Mr. Bell's fare to Washington and his expenses if he would stay in New York over Sunday. "Wildly extravagant, these picture people/' thought Mr. Bell, as he departed for Washington with the company. But no sooner was he nicely settled in his hotel, "static" and "being run over" quite forgotten, and all set for his opening — when a long distance came. Mr. Miles on the wire: "Awfully sorry, Gaston, but there was more static and we will have to take you out and run you over again." And before Gaston had time to recover from the shock, the movie director and his camera man were right there in Washington ! "Good night," said Gaston, despairingly, to himself. But to Mr. Miles he said, "Now I'll tell you what you have to do, you must have another actor handy to go on for me to-night, for I cannot take any more chances." Well, they took the scene another time, ruining neither Mr. Bell nor his grand new suit, and as this time the scene was static-less, the day was saved for Gaston. But "never again" vowed he. And "never again" vowed the director. David Miles kept good his promise and when Gaston's season in Washington closed, he joined Reliance. There he and George Loane Tucker soon became known as the "Hall Room Boys." For in an old brownstone they shared a third floor back — also a dress suit. And if both boys happened to be going out into society the same night, whoever arrived home first and got himself washed up and brushed up first, had the option on that one tuxedo. The hall-room days of George Loane Tucker were brief. "Traffic in Souls," the white-slave picture that he produced for Universal, put him over. An unhappy loss to the