OCR Text |
Show I BPlHBrBflflflflyfllfli!flPBBflMflMflflPijflflflfl I H iEb B SfSBi I I "gPMiMnWIBIIBKiiBifl ili Hi S jhbjISHBS bI iWTuMig Ik- Br HiH bL wA Wk Va HP m b m m HHH bH B JH HH 1 9 I ISWEErWflP""??11" ilH BBBBBBBBBBBBBflL lllflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflflBBBBBBBBBBBBBSBBBBBl tSBBBBBBBflflrSMSBBBSBI JflBBBflBBBBBCBflVSKSBrcfcfRKSiTcBsiVflMBMflH F w BBflBMirilflflflflflflfllllllllllllHfl9lflflflflflM BflH 'BBBBBHBBBBBk. IBiBBlBBlglglglglglBlglMBfc iflMB,BBBBlEBtfr BflMlBfllflMflBflBflBflWillfKTi A ibIi " J iH fl "M JBflflflflflMBBB JiH flfliilBBBSSBHiiBiSiBBHSBBBBSBB"'HHHBiBBBBBHiHBB BBBfl Letters from a Correspondence I School Actor f ' By A. H.Giebler. DEAR DAVE I'll bet you'd never guess all I've' got to tell you In this letter until un-til you've read tho letter acted in another bis picture pic-ture since you heard from me, and I had a chance to play the part of a captain of a big ship, but didn't do It on account of having rheumatism that winter that I drove the hack for d man Lester, when he kept tho Union Hotel: ou remember how I was all atovo up with tho j leumatism that winter I drove the hack, "don't J ou, Dave? i This other big picture I acted in. though, f ")ave. is called the Silent Caravan. A caravan s a lot of people dressed up Uko Arabs riding Campbells, but don't you let anybody tell you f riding on a campbell Is like riding on a horse or a mule, Dave, "cause it ain't, ' The little girl that was with me on the ship when T got sick from eating thorn bananas and y-rdines and drinking that Pacific Ocean water, vas in that caravan picture, too. and that's , the reason I took a part, to kinder please her. because she said to mc. "You'd better grab off t anything you can get a chance to do In the I inv of work, while you're waiting for that president of the studio company to come back from New York so ho can read your diploma, I because It's going tq get to raining out here r pretty soon, and even actors like Charlie Chap- ( Jin and Francis Ford can't do much acting then." j But just as soon as they saw me they knew 3 was a good actor, that's how they como to k -want me to play tho part of a captain of a j ship. I had to wait a long time because there wore so many poor extras waltin to get to play , j etra parts because they had never look a I J course from a correspondence school of how to I ( be a movie actor by mall, like I did, and so I says to myself: "An actor like me can't afford 1 to be standing out here with a lot of extras. ' and, besides, all them extra parts will be gone," j and so I glvo a fellow 52 that was up at tho i head of the line, and as soon as I got up to thf director that was takin' down tho names, he said, "How tall are you?" And I said. "Six feet two inches and a half with my shoes on " He 1 "Grab this one for a captain." ipotted me right away for an actor and hollered I out to a fellow In tho other room, "Grab this I one for a captain of ono of them desert ships of yours, Dan." I When you go to get on a campbell, you don't put your foot In a stirrup like you would a horse or mule. Tho campbell knoels down and you get on. I must have got a hold of an awmul mean campbell, Dave, becauso when wo got out two or three miles she took a notion I to kneel down, and I got off to strotch my legs i and she wouldn't kneel down no more, and I couldn't got on her back, and I had to walk the rest of tho way. I felt like turning tho old thlujr looso, but then I guess a campbell Is worth a lot of money, and I didn't think It was much fun riding a campbell, anyway, they are t so unsteady. I felt just like I did after eating them sar dines and bananas when I was acting on that Bhip after I'd rode a little bit on that campbell. i What do you think, Dave; when wo got out to that place whero they were going to mako them pictures, they wasn't going to let me play I no part at all. I; Tho director said: "Who told you you was an actor? You waB hired to be a valet to one of them droms" that's what they call a campbell camp-bell in tho movies, Dave. And I said: "All the same, I've got a diploma from a correspondence school that teaches you how to bo a movio actor by mail," and tho director enya. "The- Hyouhave! let's bco it." j 1 told him it was at tho boarding house, and he said: "Well, I can't give you no part unless ! you've got the paper to show you're an actor, F Just you take care of your drorn." I thought, well. I'm all stove up from brlng- II Ing the campbell out hero and It'll be all right. But that little girl I met on tho Bhip, she's go-"8 go-"8 to play the part of a dancer that dances f l" front of an Arab 'chief and gets him so ln- Crested In her dancing that he forgets all j about tho white girl ho has taken captive and ! 8"o escapes while the other girl Is dancing, she wys to tho director: ( "Hero, this boy's got to learn the business; ;l 5-ou giVQ hJm B0m6 klnd of, an extra part to "si play or I'll crab the show and take tho next boat back to town only she couldn't havo taken a boat, Dave, because there ain't enough water to drink, 'let alone enough water for a boat to run on, and tho director says to her: "Whero did you get on at?" And she says, "I was working in big time whon you was shifting scenes In a 10 and 20 cent house In Pittsburgh." He says to me, "Go over to the property man "Here, this boy has got to learn the business." and get a Bedouin costume. If they've got anything any-thing to fit a telegraph pole, and get up on the drom and don't bo nfrald to run her, we've got to get some speed In this set," and I said: "No, sir. I don't want to rldo no campbell no more." and he said. "All right, you're fired." I knowed how hard it would be for them to gdt actors out there, where there was nothing but sand and not any water to drink except what we Jiad brought with us, and I didn't want to put them in bad on account of not having hav-ing enough actors, and I said: "All right, I'll ride tho campbell this time," and me and another an-other actor, we made them Campbells hump thpmselves in a kind of race we pulled off, and the director yelled, "You ain't as green as you look." And when a lot of people como out from a little town In automobiles to see us movie actors ac-tors making pictures, a fat man got In the way of my campbell when she was running, and I hollered, whoa' and everything like you would to a horso to make them stop, but she nevor stopped, and the fat man fell down and she stepped right onto his stomach, and ho Is going to sue the company for damagos becauso a campbell stepped on his stomach. And maybe I'll get sued, too, and have to pay a big fine or lay It out in Jail and not get any more good parts for some time. Mr. Macolllni, he's the father of that llttlo girl, the ono I hit on tho boat when ho trlod to tako ?5 away from her that sho got for acting act-ing on the ship the time I nearly got drowned In the Pacific Ocean, he says they can't do anything any-thing to me, because It wasn't my fault, and I guess that's all right, Dave. Tho little girl hasn't como back from making them caravan pictures yet, so I can't tell how it will all turn out, and mayDo I will have to pay a big fine or lay It out in Jail, only Mr. Macollini says I won't. I got real well acquainted with them Macol- -S$ fa ' m "And she wouldn't kneel down no more." llnl people that day her father tried to tako the money away from her on the boat, and I klnda slapped him a little. After wo got oft the boat I said: "i-o you think he'll bother you any more?" And she said: "I don't caro If ho does after I've paid the doctor and get somo . more medicine for my sister." and I went along with her to where they lived, and when wo got there-she's got two more sisters, Dave, and they're all actresses, vaudeville actresses like you used to see at the Walnut Street Theater , in Cincinnati, whon you worked there and used to tell mo about It. And her llttlo sister, Tot-tle, Tot-tle, got hurt In a theater In San Francisco by falling from a trapeze and hitting her back on a chair, and that spoiled their act. ILucy, that's tho one's name I got acquainted with first, sho trhd to get a job In the movies and send the other kids to school, but sho couldn't got work at nothing but extra parts, and Mr. Macdllinl couldn't get any parts, and ho took to drink, and when he's drunk, Dave, he's Just a plumb fool. While wo were talking he come In and says to me: "Who told you to come here?" And I said: "That's all right; what" arc you going to do about it?" Ho says: "Throw you down stairs." T leave It to you. Dave, you know me. 1 could see that somebody Just had to do something some-thing for them girls, and take care of them, klnda, and so 1 throwed him downstairs Instead, In-stead, and he went away and didn't come back no more, and Tottle cried and was mad at mc becauso I'd hurt her father, and LII, that's the second-sized one, onys: "Stuff, you can't hurt father by throwing him downstairs, he's too good an acrobat to let a thing like that hurt him." Well, good-by, Dave. Lucy will bo back tomorrow to-morrow from working In that caravan picture and then I'll know all about It. and whether I will have to be sued. TOM. |