The Moving Picture Girls in War Plays | Page 4

entered.
"Come on!" he cried. "No time to lose."
"What's the matter? Is the place on fire?" asked Ruth.
"No. But there's got to be a retake in that last scene of 'Only a Flivver,'
and Mr. Pertell sent me to get you. It won't take long, but they're in a
hurry for it. Come on! Paul is waiting outside in the machine and I've
got the camera. Hustle!"
CHAPTER II
OFF FOR OAK FARM
"What's that, Russ? A retake?" asked Alice.
"Yes, of that auto scene in the park."
"Is that the one I'm in?" Ruth inquired.
"Yes. You're both in it, and so is Paul. It's the scene where Mr. Bunn is
struck by the auto mud-guard--not hurt, you know, and you, Ruth, jump
out to give first aid."
"What's the matter with the scene?" asked Alice. "I certainly struck him
all right with the mud-guard."
"Yes, that part was all right," Russ admitted. Alice had been running
the automobile in the scene.
"And didn't I do my first aid business well?" Ruth demanded.
"Yes," Russ acknowledged. "Your part came out perfect. But just at the
critical moment--you know, where Mr. Bunn was supposed to think he
was dying and wanted to right the wrong he had done in cutting his
daughter off in his will with only a dollar--some boys got in the way of
the camera. They were outsiders, butting in, the way they always do

when we film stuff in the park. It wouldn't have been so bad, only one
of the youngsters began to pull off some funny stuff right in range of
Mr. Bunn's agonized face. I didn't see him at the time, or I'd have
stopped the running of the film. It was only when we got it in the
projection room that we discovered it.
"So Mr. Pertell ordered a retake of that one scene, and it's got to be
done in a hurry. It won't take long. Mr. Bunn will meet us in the park.
Be sure and wear the same things you had on that day. It won't do to
have you get out of the auto in one dress, Ruth, and, a second later,
kneel down beside Mr. Bunn in a gown entirely different."
"All right, Russ, I'll be careful."
"Oh, dear! But my packing!" sighed Alice. "I'll never get it done, and
we must start for Oak Farm----"
"Mr. Pertell will have to make allowances," said Russ, quickly. "Come
on--move the boat! You won't be needed in the real war scenes for a
couple of days, anyhow, though I suppose there'll be rehearsals. But it
can't be helped. This retake is holding up the whole film, and it's to be
released next week."
Delaying only long enough to put on the proper dresses and to tell their
father where they were going, Ruth and Alice DeVere were soon on
their way to Central Park, where the scene was to be filmed, or
photographed over again--a "retake," as it is called, the bane alike of
camera men and directors.
And while the girls--the moving picture girls--are on their way to do
over a bit of work, I shall take the opportunity of telling my new
readers something about Ruth and Alice DeVere.
I have called them just what they are: "The Moving Picture Girls," and
that is the title of the first volume of this series, which depicts them and
their adventures.
Their mother had died some years previously, leaving them to the care

of their father, Hosmer DeVere, at one time a talented actor in the
legitimate drama. But a throat affection forced him to give up his acting
and, at the opening scene in the first volume, we find him and his
daughters in rather straitened circumstances, living in a second-rate
apartment house in New York.
Across the hall dwelt Russ Dalwood, with his mother. Russ was a
"camera man." That is, he took moving pictures in the big studios and
out of doors for the Comet Film Company, of which Mr. Frank Pertell
was manager and director.
It was Russ who suggested to Mr. DeVere a way out of his troubles. He
could not act in the "legitimate," as his voice was gone; but no voice is
needed to appear on the films for the movies, since a mere motion of
the lips suffices, when any speaking is to be done. The "silent drama"
has been the salvation of many an actor who, if he had to declaim his
lines, would be a failure.
At first Mr. DeVere would not hear of acting before the camera, but he
soon came to know that greater actors than he had fallen in line with
the work, especially since the pay was so large, and finally he
consented. An account