Charles E. Van Loan

“ Ben Leslie, the property man and Buck's chum, a lean, loose-jointed individual with two eyes that were open most of the time, noticed all these things and many more, shaking his head over some of them.
"Nothing to it—Buck's got it bad," he reflected. "All I hope is that it ain't a widow woman with children. A ready-made family is the worst kind of a family what is, and Buck's just the particular kind of a darn fool that would fall for a widow." ”

“ What are you made up for this morning, Buck?"
"This ain't no makeup. Can't a feller buy any new clothes without getting bawled out for it? I paid for 'em; that's all you need to know."
Jack La Rue appeared, trim and natty as a leading man should always be, swinging a light bamboo cane. He was in time to catch the last sentence and his dark eyes took in the situation at a glance, twinkling mischievously as they rested upon the collar.
"Howdy, Ben! Who's your friend!... Why, as I live, it's Buck! ”

“ Huh-uh! No wedding bells for Buck! Marriage is fine, Ben, if you can pick the right party, but with millions of women running round loose and only one out of the entire bunch the right one for you, there 's an awful heavy percentage against a feller before he starts."
"Better not start then," said Leslie. "By the way, have you got to the hand-holding stage yet, Buck?"
"Not yet," said Buck; "but at that I think she'd stand for it." He heaved a gusty sigh and thoughtfully fingered a red spot on his neck where the collar had chafed him. "Georgine is certainly some woman!" ”

“ Buck's face flamed suddenly, shaming his cravat.
"I reckon I got as much right to call myself an actor as some folks I could name," said he doggedly. "It wasn't me that quit in that last stunt picture, and I didn't holler for a double in the riding stuff because I had a toothache. I can still manage to set up in the middle of a hawss without using my teeth to hang on by."
La Rue laughed mockingly and sauntered away toward his dressing-room. Buck looked after the handsome leading man with sullen eyes. ”

“ That's on the level, Ben; honest, it is!"
"You may think you haven't, Buck, but she knows better. You're probably compromised right up to your neck. You're as good as a married man this minute."
"Don't you bet no money on it!" said Buck warmly. "I'm over seven and I've been round the block several times. Nobody ain't kidnaped me yet. Georgine's all right in a lot of ways and mighty refined for a woman that works in a soap factory, but—well, I dunno, Ben. I'm a little skittish of that till-death-do-us-part thing. A feller might live an awful long time. ”

“ Montague had to double him in the scene and one of the extry men made the ride, a feller fixed up to look like him."
"I'll bet they never gave you that job," said Georgine with a laugh.
"Who, me? Say, I've doubled La Rue as many as forty times!" boasted Buck.
"It must have been at a distance," said Georgine. "And I don't see why he should be taking foolish chances. Suppose he'd get hurt or something?"
"A moving-picture actor has got to be game," said Buck, "and La Rue ain't. He's got a streak as wide as the Mississippi River!" ”

“ He's a handsome wretch, ain't he?"
"He thinks so," was the grim reply. "He's awfully stuck on himself."
"He's got reason to be," said Georgine calmly. "Any man with his eyes and his figure has got plenty of excuse. I'll bet he's a terrible flirt."
"He's worse than that," said Buck shortly.
"Oh, well," said Georgine, "it might not be the poor boy's fault. ”

“ He can't think he's pretty, so what ails the sucker?"
"I know," growled old Jennings, the assistant director. "Buck is beginning to think that he can act. So long as he was just an ordinary extra man you could depend on him to do as he was told. Then Montague went out of his way to put him on the regular payroll with the rest of us, and now, confound it, the rough-neck actually thinks that he's an actor!" Jennings, a graduate from the legitimate, could never forget that he had been two seasons on the kerosene circuit with Keene. ”

“ Right square in front of the camera too. And with my hat off and all. She couldn't very well overlook me, eh?"
Leslie sniffed and made a clicking noise with his tongue, far more expressive than words.
"Say, Ben ... do you think it would make any difference to her ... being there beside me and ... seeing me in the picture? You know how hard women fall for actors."
"Don't let her miss it," said Ben quickly. "If she knows a real actor when she sees one, it may save your life."
Buck ignored this unkind thrust. ”

“ Enjoy yourself!" said Buck petulantly. "What's so darned funny about that, hey? La Rue's friends are always coming out to watch him do studio stuff. You had a skirt hanging round for a month and I never said anything about it, did I? Georgine's the first woman I ever asked out here. I know this short-pants part ain't exactly in my line, but Georgine, she thinks there ain't anything like it. She seen a play once where everybody dressed like this and done a lot of sword fighting, and that's her notion of the pure quill in acting. Western stuff don't make any hit with her ”

“ Leslie groaned dismally and rose, prepared to abandon the field.
"Some people ain't worth saving," said he. "Go to it, Don Juan, but don't expect me to be your best man. I serve notice on you now that I won't do it."
"I ain't going to need a best man," said Buck. "Haven't I told you that she was just my lady friend? But say, Ben?"
"Well?"
"She sure is some woman!"
II On the following morning Buck was early at the studio in a soft shirt and an extremely unpleasant frame of mind. ”

“ Some say they don't make a man and some say they do, but it's the biggest cinch in the world that they don't make a marquis. At that you might be able to get away with it if yon keep your hands in your pockets and stand behind tables and things. Jimmy Montague ought to have his head examined for casting a bow-legged man in a piece of this kind. Those warped shafts of yours will register awful strong if the camera gets a look at 'em. ”

“ Most likely there's a lot of women running round after him all the time."
"Yeh, women are fools about actors, but nobody with any sense would fall for that feller."
"Oh, I don't know's I'd say that. He looks to me as if he might be right good company. He ain't married?"
"No, divorced."
"Prob'ly she didn't understand him."
"She did, though—that's why she brought suit. Say, lemme tell you a stunt he pulled a few weeks ago. We was making a Western picture and he had to ride down a steep hill and jump his hawss over a creek. It wasn't what you'd call hard. ”

“ When I was with Tom Keene I had to make up two and three times at every performance, and——"
"Yeh, in 'Richard the Third.' You told me about it before," said Buck hastily, forestalling a monologue on a favorite subject.
"I guess you're fixed now," said Jennings as he settled the periwig upon Buck's powdered brow. "I've done all that art can do for you. Try not to teeter so when you walk. They'd spot you for a cowpuncher the minute they saw you. Go out in the back yard and practice a while. Get used to that lace and stuff. Here! Look out for that coat! ”

“ This isn't 'Ten Nights in a Barroom.' These two men are gentlemen. You're all gentlemen. Don't forget it. No football tackling will go. Simply hold their arms and look shocked and drag them apart, and don't get in front of Jack's face while you're doing it. That'll be the end of the scene. We'll run through it a couple of times to get the business right. Take your places."
The action progressed smoothly to the point where Buck looked up from the letter.
"Not right into the camera!" instructed Montague. "Look beyond it. Now, then, register surprise—oh, fine stuff, Buck!" ”

“ They're only negatives, you know."
"They'll do fine for souvenirs," said Buck, putting the scraps carefully away in his pockets. "And, say, when you trim up the courtroom scene that we made to-day—the one with me on the witness stand—save me a strip of that, will you!"
"That's funny," thought Cartwright. "Buck Parvin's been working here for a couple of years off and on and he never asked me for any film before. "Wants to lug it round and show it to his friends, I suppose. A regular kid's trick!" ”

“ Simpson hung on like a burr in a cinch, and finally he had to pungle up five thousand dollars to get rid of her. Then Four-finger up and died suddenlike—got as drunk as a minister's son and was kicked by a mustang—and come to find out, he'd left all the rest of his property to found a home for the indignant poor. When I come away that ole woman was wearing black for him and lawing to bust the will. The boys was betting three to one that she'd do it. ”

“ I can't play in her yard no more unless I show her I'm a sure-enough actor, and she says there's only one way I can do it and that's to bring her out to the studio some day and let her see me act with her own eyes. ”

“ I'm going to make her say she's sorry; and then, like as not, I'll throw her down so hard that she'll bounce!"
"Look out she don't bounce into a furnished flat," warned Ben. "If a redhead can get you to forgiving her it's all off. Remember Cleopatra and Sappho and——"
"Trot 'em all out!" said Buck. "In a straightaway tongue-lashing contest I'll back Georgine to win, hands down and on the chin-strap, from the whole darn smear. She sure is some woman
III The dressing-rooms at the Titan studio are situated behind the glass-walled stages where the interior scenes are photographed. ”

“ It was then that a large figure in white swept majestically through the door and out into the yard.
"Call that acting?" said Georgine. "It looks more to me like a roughhouse. I ain't going to stay no place where people don't act gentlemanly!"
V The late marquis sat in his dressing-room contemplating a swollen nose and an angry puff under the left eye. Ben Leslie appeared to say that a piece of raw beefsteak had been ordered
"It was worth a week's lay-off to lick that smart Aleck," said Buck. "I ain't worrying none about that. I wanted a vacation anyhow. But say, Ben?" ”

“ That's Georgine!" He hastened away to receive his guest, leaving Leslie open-mouthed and dumfounded.
"'Some woman' is right!" murmured Ben at last. "She's forty if she's a day and she's big enough to lick the Mexican standing army! Poor old Buck!" ”