JEALOUSIES
Alice hesitated, but only a moment, and, while Ruth was looking at
her father, the younger girl exclaimed:
"Oh, do let us try! I don't know that we could do it, Mr. Pertell,
but let us try! Won't you, Daddy?"
Mr. DeVere looked troubled. For some time past he had been watching
the growing liking of his daughters for the moving pictures, and he
was in two minds about the matter. He had seen that this new manner
of presenting plays had a great future, not only for the public but
for the acting profession. And now, when a chance came for his
daughters to get into it, he hardly knew what to say. He had made up
his mind that they should never go on the dramatic stage. But
this----.
"Something has to be done," urged the manager. "I can't hold things
back much longer."
"Wouldn't you like to try it, Ruth?" asked Alice, catching her
sister's hands. "I think it will be just fine!"
"Why, I--I think I would like it--if they think I can do it," agreed
Ruth.
"Oh, you can do it all right," Mr. Pertell assured her. "It is very
simple. A little coaching is all you need. What do you say, Mr.
DeVere? May the girls go in?"
"Why, I--er--I hardly know what to say. It is so different from
anything they have ever done. And I never expected----"
"Oh, they can do it!" interrupted the manager. "They've been around
here long enough to know how we do things. Come, it may be a good
opening for them."
"All right, I don't mind," said the actor. "I shall be very glad to
let them help you out, Mr. Pertell."
"Oh, I don't ask it as a favor. I'm willing to pay for their time. I
was to give Miss Parker and Miss Dengon five dollars each for a few
minutes of their time to-day, but they have disappointed me. I now
offer it to your daughters."
"Oh, fine!" cried Alice, clapping her hands. "Then I can get that new
hat I've been wanting so much. Come on, Ruth. What do we have to do,
Mr. Pertell?"
The manager quickly explained what was wanted. The two girls had
simple parts, with Mr. Harrison as the chief character. Alice and
Ruth soon grasped what was required of them, and, after a little
coaching and rehearsing, they were ready.
"Now stand over here," directed Mr. Pertell, who took personal charge
this time, "and don't pay any attention to the camera. Don't look at
it, in fact. Keep your eyes on Mr. Harrison, or on some part of
scenery. Just forget everything but what you have to do."
"Shall we speak the lines aloud?" asked Ruth.
"If you like. Perhaps it will be better, for the first time, to do
so," suggested Mr. Pertell. "It may help you to get the 'business'
down better. A little more light here!" he called to the electrician,
for in one of the scenes artificial illumination was used. "Are you
all ready, Russ?" he asked the young operator.
"All ready; yes, sir!"
"Then--go!"
The little section, from what was to be a two-reel play of the
movies, was under way. Though a bit nervous Ruth and Alice did very
well, and soon they were in the swing of it.
When it came time for Alice to act the part of a hoydenish character,
she was exceedingly natural in it, and her laugh at the simulated
discomfiture of Mr. Harrison was so spontaneous that even some of the
others joined in.
Ruth, too, who had a more demure part, acquitted herself well. The
camera clicked on, Russ turning the handle steadily. He nodded
reassuringly at Ruth when she had a moment's respite.
Then came a slight change of scene, and a change of costume on the
part of the girls, Mrs. Maguire finding just what was needed in the
wardrobe of the studio.
Then, just as the final strip of film had been exposed, and the
emergency work of Ruth and Alice had ended, in came the two tardy
actresses.
"You're too late!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell. "We couldn't wait for you."
"What!" exclaimed Miss Parker. "Do you mean to tell us you went and
filmed our parts with somebody else in the cast?"
"That's what we did," replied the manager, coolly. "Maybe you'll
learn after this that four o'clock means four o'clock, and not half
past."
"Well, what do you know about that?" gasped Miss Dengon, sinking into
a plush chair, and dabbing at her nose with a chamois skin, which
gave off puffs of powder like a miniature gun.
"An' us tryin' as hard as ever we could to get here!" went on Miss
Parker, vigorously chewing gum. "The nerve of some people is suttinly
amazin'! Come on, Ruby, I never did care much for movies anyhow, an'
how some folks can stay in 'em is suttinly a mystery to me!"
Then, with heads held high, and with meaning glances at Miss
Pennington and Miss Dixon, who were busy in another drama, the two
young ladies went out, looking superciliously at Ruth and Alice.
"Business is business--in the movies the same as anywhere else,"
chuckled Mr. Pertell, as he gave Ruth and Alice each a crisp
five-dollar bill. "I am very much obliged to you, in the bargain," he
went on.
"So am I!" added Mr. Harrison. "I can get my train now, and it's a
satisfaction to know that the scenes are completed."
"Oh, it was fun!" laughed Alice.
"I liked it, too," confessed Ruth.
"And I want to tell you that you both did most excellently," said the
manager. "You have a very good grasp of what is wanted, and you put
in the 'business' very naturally. I congratulate you and your
father," and he nodded to Mr. DeVere.
"I have given them a little instruction in the fundamentals,"
confessed the actor, "and of course they have been about the theatre,
more or less, since they were small children."
"I suppose that accounts for it," observed Mr. Pertell. "Well, I want
to say that I am very much pleased with you, and, if you think you
would like to try it again, I can make parts for you in a drama that
I am going to film next week."
"Oh, Ruth! Let's do it!" begged Alice.
Ruth looked at her father inquiringly.
"What sort of parts are they?" he asked.
"Oh, very much the same as they undertook to-day, only longer and
more elaborate. There will be several changes of scene and costume.
Do you think you'd like it?"
"Like it? I'd love it!" cried Alice, gaily, "Do say we may, Daddy
dear!" and she put her arms around his neck.
"I'll see," was all he would promise. "I must look over the parts,
and then--well, little coaching wouldn't do you any harm, I guess,"
he added with a smile.
"It would make them all the better," declared the manager.
"Oh, Ruth! I believe he's going to let us go in!" whispered Alice in
delight. "Won't you like it?"
"Yes, dear! It's more exciting than I imagined. And I think you did
splendidly!"
"Not half as well as you, Ruth. You are a born actress!"
"And you're a born ingenue!"
"Oh, aren't we silly to compliment each other this way!" laughed
Alice. "But, really, Ruth, I just love it; don't you?"
"Yes, dear. Oh, I wonder what sort of parts we'll get. I'd like
something romantic."
"And I want something funny--with laughs in it," declared Alice. "Oh,
say, Ruth," and her voice went to a whisper, "do you really think I'm
an ingenue--like Miss Dixon?"
"I think you're--better!" responded Ruth, kissing her sister, and
stroking her soft hair.
The work in the film studio was over for the day and the actors and
actresses were getting ready to go home. From the time Ruth and Alice
had taken the emergency parts Russ had observed Miss Pennington and
Miss Dixon casting sharp looks at them.
"Jealous!" mused Russ. And his diagnosis was confirmed a little
later, when, as the two former vaudeville performers passed Ruth and
Alice, Miss Pennington, with a sharp glance at the latter, murmured
loudly enough to be heard:
"Humph! It takes more than one performance in a little part to make
a movie actress! Some folks think they are mighty smart, coming in
over the heads of others!"
"That's what I say, too!" added Miss Dixon. "It was a shame the way
they took the parts away from Ruby and Maude!"