Part 10 (1/2)

”Well, that's very good, so far,” said Mr. Pertell, when there came a lull in the taking of the preliminary scenes of the marine film. ”A little more life wouldn't have hurt any, but the conditions aren't just the best. It was fairly well done.”

”Huh! Fairly well done!” exclaimed Pepper Sneed. ”I wonder what he wants, anyhow? I nearly broke my neck scrambling over those rocks, and the skin is all gone from the palms of my hands, and all he says is that it was 'fairly well done!' I wonder what he wants, anyhow?”

”Ha! He vants dot you shouldt altogedder preak your neck, ain't it?” put in Mr. Switzer. ”Dot vould be a real funny picture, alretty yet!” he went on in his favorite character of a Dutch comedian. ”Preak your neck, Mr. Sneed, und let Russ make der picture.”

”Ha! I think I see myself!” exclaimed the ”grouch,” as he looked for a seaweed-cus.h.i.+oned rock whereon to sit. ”There's been a lot of trouble today, but, mark my words, there'll be more before we have finished.

That's all I've got to say,” and by the sour look on his face anyone would have thought that he rejoiced in his prediction of trouble to come.

”What is the matter now?” asked Ruth, coming up in time to hear part of the discussion.

”Oh, Pepper is sure the world is going to come to an end before the public has a chance to see him in his great rescue act of 'Out on The Deep,' I guess,” replied Paul Ardite. ”Cheer up!” he added. ”The worst is yet to come.”

”You're right there,” agreed Mr. Sneed, darkly. ”There'll be an accident before this day is over, mark my words!”

”Oh, Alice, are you hurt?” asked Ruth quickly, as she saw her sister limping toward her, for the little scene in which Alice had slipped and hurt her ankle, had taken place when Ruth was busy in another part of the play, farther down the sh.o.r.e line.

”It isn't anything,” the younger girl answered, bravely keeping back an exclamation of pain.

”Will you be able to go on?” Mr. Pertell asked. He had followed Alice, when the scene closed, and when he had stopped Paul in time to prevent the photographs from being spoiled.

”Oh, yes, I can go on, of course,” Alice said, with an effort.

”Because you have some important parts yet to do,” the manager continued. He was not as heartless as this sounds. Really he was most kind and considerate. Yet he knew the pictures must be made and the present was the best time. If there were a delay, there was no telling what might intervene.

He knew that Alice herself realized this. She would not give up unless positively unable to go on. The general public little realizes how often those who entertain them do so under positive pain and suffering. Of course moving picture scenes can be postponed more easily than can those in a real theatre. But the general rule holds good for the movies, as for the legitimate. ”The show must go on!” That is the watchword of manager and player alike. ”The show must go on!”

”I have a bottle of arnica with me,” said Mrs. Maguire, the ”old lady”

of the company. ”I heard we were to do some rock-scrambling today and I brought it along. I'll rub some of it on your ankle,” she said to Alice.

”Yes, doctor her up a bit,” advised Mr. Pertell. ”She's too important to be left out of the film, for a while at least. I don't want to force you, Miss DeVere,” he went on, ”but really----”

”Oh, I'll be able to go on,” Alice bravely said. ”It is only a little wrench, I think.”

Behind a screen of rocks Mrs. Maguire removed Alice's shoe and stocking, and the motherly old lady and Ruth bathed the injured foot. It was not as bad as Alice had feared, and when it was bound up again she found she could use it by ”favoring” it slightly. She would not have to take part in a scene for nearly an hour, and she took advantage of the rest afforded by the wait.

Meanwhile Mr. DeVere and some other members of the company were going through their parts. An old fisherman's hut had been found, a little way down the beach, and for a small sum of money the grizzled old salt had agreed to vacate for the morning, and allow the moving picture actors to use his home as the background for several scenes.

”It isn't just what the scenario calls for,” said Mr. Pertell, ”but we can switch things around at the studio later, to make it fit.”

This is a secret of more than one film. The producer takes advantage of things as he finds them. Often, after a film has all been planned, and the pictures are being taken, a chance accident, or incident, will suggest an advantageous change, and it is made on the spot. Later the film is ”cut” or added to, so that the change fits in.

Again, on going to the outdoor scene called for in the scenario, the manager may see a background that suits him better than one he intended using. On the spot he will stop and have the act take place there, altering, or adapting, the plot of the story to fit. And many an accident has been turned to good account in making a film. But these are secrets known only to the initiated, and the public that sees the finished picture in some theatre little realizes how much chance had to do with its making.

Scene after scene was ”filmed,” Russ and his camera a.s.sociates grinding away at the machines. It was not easy work, for the wind and spray often interfered with the clearness of the picture. But of course that only added to the reality of it when the finished picture was shown.

”Now for that scene on the far rocks,” called Mr. Pertell when he had brought to a satisfactory conclusion a difficult part of the drama. ”Are you able to go out there, Miss DeVere?” and he looked anxiously at Alice.

”Oh, yes, I'm much better,” she answered.