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Show Letters From a Correspondence School Actor j BY A. H. GIEBLBX. ! ( "" Ku DAVE Well, Dave. I k "v guess ou'll see a lot of ( B pictures with me actln' In I tt 'em down at the Dream- 8 R land fiom now on, I am i A 1 going to wprk in a lot of J B B moic pictures, and 1 guoss i B I I'll play the star In most S I of them. Dave, that la, if , 8 I that fcllow Strongheart J $ 1 don't cut up too much and ( j sS? y think i am beating him out J V S of his Job. , Mr." Ciossland says: ( You hang around, Tom. and yon 11 get some , more acting to do." and I asked him houMnuch j w . trninir to Day me a week so I could , send back the word and you could put a little piece In the paper about It. Dave, and Mr. Cross-land Cross-land says: "We'll pay you for each picture you appear In." A lot of theso actors out here get paid that way, Dave. They work ; in a picture that takes ; n week to make, and get about $50 or 5100 for It, and then thcy say thcy are getting $50 or $100 a week, and about every two weeks they don't work In any picture, but live off of what they mado the other weeks, and Mr Crossland says: "If you'll got your hair cut and stop llft- LOOK HERE, T WHO'S THE 5TAR . fW OF THIS , fe if COMPAMV NvV ou're walking like you was stepping over, 'com rows, wo may teach you to be a pietty good actor In two or thieo years." , I told him they couldn't learn me nothing about movio acting, because I had a diploma J from a correspondence school that teaches ( movio acting by mall, and ho says- "Did thcy J toll you not to look at the camera man all tho , time you was making a scene?" And I said no, j thev hadn't said anything about that. , He said. "Tliey don't teach tho kind of act- j Ing that wo do. and I'd not be surprised if you'd ( have to learn all over again." What do you think of that, 'Dave? Just be- cause that camera man Is shy and don't like for folk3 to look at him when he's taking tho j pictures, i inuj mv. . learn all over again, but I guess it won't take mo long with the start I've got, eh Dave? That actor, Strong-heart, Strong-heart, don't like me at all, Davc. I guess he thinks I'm going to beat him out of his job being a star for this compan. and so mo and the dl-l dl-l cctor, Mr. Crossland will not make a big feature fea-ture out of that pictuie whero Lucy Jumps from tho train and I caich her, and hero is the reason, Davo. When wo aro talking about how wo will llx it, tho scenario editor, he says: "That's easy, hero's the dope. Stiong-hcart Stiong-hcart Is the telegraph operator at this station ACClDErTTALL STAPHS JaL, l"A HALF -BReEDS HATE? : I 2. a gang of hold-up men suck up tne pi.ix, - ( Strongheart Is tied up on the floor while they ciack the safe then we'll cut back to Tlllle on j tho train this big guy, Tom, is a tramp he hears tho plot to rob the station and goes to the J jescuc gets thcie Just as Stiongheart fiees ( himself from his ropes and inns up to catch j T-,lljeTom thinks he is ono of the hold-up men and dashes him to one side and grabs her " Tlllle recognizes him as her long-lost brother , that she hasn't seen In fifteen, or maybe six- teen ycais, and he tells hor of a gold mlno ho knows about In the desert, and he goes away as a tramp because he's been disappointed In i lovo on account of a girl going back on him, and he won't ever b anything but a tramp $ . .l Pnnir1innrt fl 1 1 1 1 R - JI1U OH Willi -" - M opoiatlng on the telegraph tele-graph line, and him and Tlllle gets married 1 tell you. Dave, that Bcenailo editor Is some hot wiitcr, and he weats glasses mado out of tho same kind of stuff that thcy make side combs out of. Why don't you got some of them kind of specs, Dave, If sou insist on writing? When me and the scenario writer and Mr. Crossland got all this doped out, Strongheart Eays: "Look here, who's tho star of this company?" com-pany?" and Mr. Cross-land Cross-land says, "You aie. Don't wo pay you star wages?" "Yes," ho says, "but After wo got through talking about that rall-) rall-) load picture, Mr Crossland says to me: "Tom, ( can jou ride"" and I said, "Can a duck swim? Only I don't want to ride on no camel." Camel Isn't spelled llko the namo of Francis ) A. Campbell & Co , that used to have the Jow-( Jow-( ciry store back home, but the kind of camol ) you ride Is spelled e-a-m-o-1, and so you'd bot. ter quit spoiling It the other way, Davo, or folks will think you're kinda Ignorant. I told Mr Crossland I didn't want to ride on no camel, because they won't stop when you say who? to them llko you do to a horse or a mule, ahd when thcy kneel down and you get oft of their backs you can't get back on their backs without a stepladdcr. and if lf3 goJng J to bo a desert plcturo again, I'd rather rldo a hnrc And ho said idJllfc UOMe FOLKS $Z&n "f" 15 SWEET WITH-4 S ' OUT no Honev y . -J SPILLED OVETF? , . T? -.11 .1. . 1.1... . .. .!..,!... ( wnoovcr uut'a uic tuitii bcia an inu uig am.., : and then he does tho sclf-jacrlflco act by glv- ing up tho gold mine. Wheio do I como in?" j And the director sayj: "You'ro right, thero J nln't no jninch In it for you." ' ( So we arc not going to make a big picture out 5 of It, Daye, but a littlo onc-icol pictuie, and wo s will look over the dim when It's finished, and If J thcy can cut out Mr. Maccolllnl whore ho is dressed up to look llko Strongheart thcy will ; Just mako It a plcUro with mo and Lucy In It. c Because you know, Dave, it wouldn't do to i havo this company loao money on account of c Strongheait not being In a plcturo for tho girls S that are crar.y about him to look at, because I don't want them to loso any money, so they b can pay mo a lot of wagoa for acting when tho ? girls will all get crazy to look at mc in a pic- S tufw. Pretty slick, eh. DavT ) "But can you ride a horse?" I said: "i can rids anything but a camel." He said: "All right. You and Miss Maccolllnl. como tomorrow, and I'll have the circus people bring them bears over, and we'll make a picture I've been wanting to make for a long time." Of course, I never told them that I'd never rode on a bear, but a tall, long-legged guv like me ought to rldo a bear easy, because you can almost step right over a bear if you're tall and got long legs like mo. Tho next day I went over there with Lucy, and whpn f jm-nr tVmw. ) bears didn't hne any muzzles on them, and J that maybe they might bite Lucy, I thought ) maybe I'd bettor not lide on them, and I was J feeling kinda like I was goln' to be stovo up l with tho rheumatism again, like I was when I J got sick from working In the picture where I Jumped Into the Paclflo Ocean, and I thought: j "What if one of the bears starts to bite Lucy! , and tho bear I was on ttarts to bite mc at the j sarno time?" I wouldn't bo nblo to do much If I was all stove up with the rheumatism. j You know it would bo pretty hard to fight two bears at tho same time, Davo, and I told Mr. Crossland that maybe ho'd better put a muzzle on them bears or else cut their toe nail's o they couldn't pcratch. And ho said: "los been stringing string-ing you?" And they didn't want us to ride them bears at all, Dave, but they was to be in Hie picture, I Played tho heavy Part in that picture. I bet you'll think that was because I was so big, Davo, but it ain't that at all. I am tho biggest ono in this company com-pany except a girl that used to be a fat girl in a circus. She ain't no rogular movio act jess, but she takos care of tho clothes and things the actors wear. She Is heavier than me, but outside of her. I'm tho biggest But tho heavy ..-art means the villain part, Dave I'll bet you didn't know that. j i in me villain in i..,. plaj, and Mr. Crossland ( sajs 1 am tho best accidental actor he ever saw.. I have to bo awful mean to Lucy In this here picture, and if Mabel sees that other plc- lure down at the Dreamland whore I'm looking kinda loving like, and says anything, you Just i bay: "Walt till you see tho next plcturo with J him and her In it, maybe ho won't bo ao lov-) lov-) Ing," and then sho'll sco this one, and it will bo all right. Pretty slick, eh Dave? I This play Is called Tho Halfbreed's Hate, and I am mad at Lucy and her father because l want to mairy Lucy and they won't cither ono of them look at mo because I am a half In- dian and half white man, and I hato them so i that I steal Lucy and turn her ovor to the TmI li-k . t '"uio.ua, who tire maa at hor father becauso they think h0 has mado it stop raining, but ho didn't, he's only a professor pro-fessor that is atudylng tho stars. And Strongheart, who Is a real Indian, but one that has gone to school In Pennsylvania and is educated, rescued Lucy ftom his tribe and fights nearly all of them single-handed and takos her back to her fathor, and Lucy likes him so well she wanta to marry him, and he says: "No, I will not marry you and mako an Indian out of you," and ho goes away and Jumps In tho river and diowns bo-uauao bo-uauao he can't go back to his own people. lVl V.I1I J 1 T 1 men l went uu" v.. u,u, .wm wnen i got close to where tho other actors wero working i I saw Lucy run to a tree and climb up It as fast as she could, and thorn two bcaio right i after her. "Jump, Jump," I told her, and I grabbed her, and the limb of the tioe busted and ono of the boars fell on to tho horse's back. Mr. Crossland said: "Tom, you aro the best accidental actor I ever saw. That was a bono-hcad bono-hcad play you made, but It will bo great stuff in tho film." Lucy said, "I'll havo to keep away from them bears with all that honey on mc, becauso I'll bo so sweet," and I said. "Somo folks is swoot without no honey splllod all over thorn-," and sho said, "Who, Mabel?" I wonder whero oho got hold of Mabcl'a namo, Dave? W1L so long. -4 TOM V |
