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Show pLEffERS FROM A CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL ACTOR By A. H. Giebler. S -J A EAR DAVE. ( SPf i Wel1' Druc' x am about T I well of tho scratches I got when I was working in tho i s picture with them wild an- lmals, and v.o finished tho J picture, and it turned out to bo so good becauso I did ZS" such ilno actll In t tUat K ys Mr- Cropland, tho head dl- I rector, gave mo $25 extra, md I would bo 525 ahead of my regular wagc3 from working in that picture, if I hadn't got robbed like I did. There ain't any danger of me getting blood poison now frcm them scratches, and tliey aro all well except one pretty big one on mj nose, but J. J. Murphy sajs it won't spoil inly beauty I none, and I am glad of that, because ou know if I was to get mv faco spoiled all them girls wouldn't get stuck on me from seeing mo in tho rnoics and want my picture like they do from us mo lo actors One girl has already wrote und asked me for my picture, but I got it back I don't care, it will be good to send to some other girl that gets ntuck on me. I tell jou, Dave, it's no fun being an actor sometimes, when somo of tho other actors aro boars and lions, and mi bo a fat girl Hko Tlora, The Tat Girl Ev en if them animals aro not w lid, Jou aro liable to got all scratched up from a ft Ire fence Hko I did, in getting away from them, because I didn't know that the lion was tamo, Hko Charloy, the bear, and wouldn't bito me If ho got aT chance. Hut I am all right now. We suro had an awful time finishing that Suffragettes of tho Stone Ago picture, and I would Juot as leaf be chased by a bear as to bo chased by a fat girl, like I was, and sho sat down on'top of me and Wouldn't get off, and I couldn't hit a girl to make her get ofT. because that wouldn't look well, ana, besides, jou can't hit a girl or anybody any-body else when jou are lajlng down Mat of your ' etcmach and her sitting down on top of jou, can jou. Davo? My pirt in tho picture is the part of tho wild man that baa got three wIvoj, llko I told you about, and 1 figure It out that I havo got too many, and I am going to get rid of two of them bj throwing them in tho river. J. J. Murphy bays: "You'll have to carry Flora again in this tccne," and I says: "It's a good thing I am big und strong, ain't ', it?" and ho says: : "Yes, and Flora's awful strong for sou," only J I didn't know what ho meant, but I found out J after a while He meant she was struck on me, , Dave i' l Thero was no river whoie wo were working them scenes out, and, of .course I couldn't ii &&&. ilora no two miles to tho river, so I was Just to carry her a little piece in the woods, and then the next day we'd go to tho ilvor and I'd grab her up and carry her another little piece on tho river bank and then I'd throw a dummy of her In tho river, but I didn't understand under-stand that then, because J. J. Murphy didn't te'l us all that when ho explained the sceno wo wore working In JIo Just said I was .supposed to throw two of my wives in the water. All thorn other actors understood, but I didn't, becauso they act different from tho kind of acting I studied from the correspondence school that teaches movie acting by mail, and I made d little mistako I thought, if I have to carry both of them girls, 1 11 carry tho big ono first and got the worst of it over with, so 1 grabbed up Flora and started lugging her, and she sajs: "Ain't I a heap lighter than I was when you carried mo in Sapho? I've been takln' some stuff that will mako mo little" I said. "You ain't took enough of it jet." and that made her mad, and I wished I hadn't answered her at all. Then J. J. Murphy hollered, "That's enough! Drop her!" There was a big puddle of water that them bear3 had been plavlng in and had got all muddv. and as J. J. had bald to throw her in tho water and didn't say anj thing about no rher nnd no dummy, I Just throwed her in the puddle, and It splashed up all over mo, and she got up and took out aftor me. Honest, 1 never thought no rat girl, or any kind of a girl, could talk llko that J. J. sajs sho was with a circus for a long tlmo. and sho picked up all of that tough talk from tho razor-backs razor-backs that put tho tents up In a circus 1 hollered hol-lered and sajs, "Pull her off!" But tho wouldn't pull her oft of me, und they took all of that stun: with the cameta. J. J. Murphy eajs, "Tom, did jou do that on purpose, or was It another of them celebrated accidental acts of jours?" "I knowed It would make good comedy stunt to throw her In the mud," I told him, "so I Just dumped her In." And I got away with it, too. Pretty slick, eh, Dave? That's how I come to got them twenty-rive dollars that I got robbed of. When they looked over that film before they printed tho plcturos that are shown in tho thcatcra they said that stuff of me getting chased by the Hon and busting bust-ing through tho wire once and thi owing riora In tlio mud and her setting on ra was the bt comedy stuff they'd c?t &i a ya&and tfcey gavo mo and her twearfy-ftvo dollars extra. m 1 tell jou it felt pietty good to have twentj-flve twentj-flve dollars extra, and it all comes from being such a good movio actor, Dao, and when I was going homo that day I met two men and If they hadn't boon two crooks and had paid mo five dollars llko they sa.Kl they would, and 1 hadn't got robbed tho way I did, I would havo had thlrtv dollars extra. ."When I camo to a &lnd-of lonesome place there was two men, ono with a camera and tho other with a handkerchief tied over the bottom of his face.rThoy askod mo what tlmo It was, and I said r didn't havo anj watch, but it was about half past four, or majbo fie o'clock. And they told mo they was waiting for some moro actors o come and help them stage a hold-up sceno, but it looked llko they wasn t coming, and ono of them said: "You look Hko an actor. Do jou want to mako fUe dollars?" I said, "I am an actor. I've got a diploma from a coircspondenco school that toaches mo!o acting act-ing by mall " And he said I was the man they wanted. "Tako oft jour coat," ho said. "You aro supposed sup-posed to bo an honest worklngman coming homo lo auppor You get held up and loso j our wages " I walked up tho road a piece and took my coat off and carried It acrobs my shoulder and walked toward the camera, and the man with the handkerchief on ran up behind mo and threw m coat over mj' head so I couldn't sco and went through m pockets and took my twenty-flvo dollars, and tho other man sajs, "Frisk him good. BUI " Then ho told mo to fall to tho ground llko I was hurt, and I did, and he wild: "Lav still till I get some more film In tho camera " Pretty soon I unwrapped the coat from my head and both of tho mon wero gone, and tho camera was nothing but a box fixed up to look Uko one. It mado mo so mad I Just kicked it all to pieces, and then an automobile came along with two or thrco mon and a policeman In It, and I told them about It and usked the policeman to help mo catch them two crooks, and ho just laughed and said ho was a movio policeman that had been out taking pictures, but they took mo Ja tho automobllo and wo passed a saloon, and I saw them two crooks going In, and I wanted the actor with the poUseman's clothes to go with mo to arrest them, so thej' would think he was a policeman, but ho was afraid he would get Into trouble for acting llko he was a policeman, police-man, but ho loaned mo his coat and hat and I went In tho saloon whero them crooks was drinking and grabbed the ono that has tho camera cam-era when they robbed me, and tho other ono run awaj. I took tho one I got to tho station houso. about a block awa and tho Judgo said "What's all thlb? I nevor saw jou before " And tho crook sajs: "He's orazj', Judge: he's found a coat and hat somewhere and ho thinks ho's a policeman." Tho Judgo lookod at me and saw that I didn't have on no policeman's pants, and he saj's, "There's something wrong somowhere I'll lock jou both up." And they put us both In JalL Now everybody thinks I am a big boob to pull anything Hko that, all but Lucv. When I got homo thero was a letter from that girl that I sent tho plcturo to, becauso she had got stuck on me from seeing mo act. and it sajs that no mun could win her heart that would drop hor In tho mud like I did. It was from Flora, tho fat girl Lucy camo in the room whllo I was reading tho lottor, und sho says: "GotthV mash notct, Tom? I guess j'oa'H be going back on mo pretty soon " I said "Does It look like I am going back on jou when I lot jour old man got away with my $2i extra money and make me look like a big boob, Just because I don't want to hurt jour feellngs7" Lucv didn't have anv thing to say to that, but sho grabbed a hold of my arm and klnda huggod it and run out of tho room before I could say another word. "Well, so long, TOM. |