The Moving Picture Girls at Sea
L >> Laura Lee Hope >> The Moving Picture Girls at Sea"What is the matter now?" asked Ruth, coming up in time to hear part of
the discussion.
"Oh, Pepper is sure the world is going to come to an end before the
public has a chance to see him in his great rescue act of 'Out on The
Deep,' I guess," replied Paul Ardite. "Cheer up!" he added. "The worst
is yet to come."
"You're right there," agreed Mr. Sneed, darkly. "There'll be an accident
before this day is over, mark my words!"
"Oh, Alice, are you hurt?" asked Ruth quickly, as she saw her sister
limping toward her, for the little scene in which Alice had slipped and
hurt her ankle, had taken place when Ruth was busy in another part of
the play, farther down the shore line.
"It isn't anything," the younger girl answered, bravely keeping back an
exclamation of pain.
"Will you be able to go on?" Mr. Pertell asked. He had followed Alice,
when the scene closed, and when he had stopped Paul in time to prevent
the photographs from being spoiled.
"Oh, yes, I can go on, of course," Alice said, with an effort.
"Because you have some important parts yet to do," the manager
continued. He was not as heartless as this sounds. Really he was most
kind and considerate. Yet he knew the pictures must be made and the
present was the best time. If there were a delay, there was no telling
what might intervene.
He knew that Alice herself realized this. She would not give up unless
positively unable to go on. The general public little realizes how often
those who entertain them do so under positive pain and suffering. Of
course moving picture scenes can be postponed more easily than can those
in a real theatre. But the general rule holds good for the movies, as
for the legitimate. "The show must go on!" That is the watchword of
manager and player alike. "The show must go on!"
"I have a bottle of arnica with me," said Mrs. Maguire, the "old lady"
of the company. "I heard we were to do some rock-scrambling today and I
brought it along. I'll rub some of it on your ankle," she said to Alice.
"Yes, doctor her up a bit," advised Mr. Pertell. "She's too important to
be left out of the film, for a while at least. I don't want to force
you, Miss DeVere," he went on, "but really----"
"Oh, I'll be able to go on," Alice bravely said. "It is only a little
wrench, I think."
Behind a screen of rocks Mrs. Maguire removed Alice's shoe and stocking,
and the motherly old lady and Ruth bathed the injured foot. It was not
as bad as Alice had feared, and when it was bound up again she found she
could use it by "favoring" it slightly. She would not have to take part
in a scene for nearly an hour, and she took advantage of the rest
afforded by the wait.
Meanwhile Mr. DeVere and some other members of the company were going
through their parts. An old fisherman's hut had been found, a little way
down the beach, and for a small sum of money the grizzled old salt had
agreed to vacate for the morning, and allow the moving picture actors to
use his home as the background for several scenes.
"It isn't just what the scenario calls for," said Mr. Pertell, "but we
can switch things around at the studio later, to make it fit."
This is a secret of more than one film. The producer takes advantage of
things as he finds them. Often, after a film has all been planned, and
the pictures are being taken, a chance accident, or incident, will
suggest an advantageous change, and it is made on the spot. Later the
film is "cut" or added to, so that the change fits in.
Again, on going to the outdoor scene called for in the scenario, the
manager may see a background that suits him better than one he intended
using. On the spot he will stop and have the act take place there,
altering, or adapting, the plot of the story to fit. And many an
accident has been turned to good account in making a film. But these are
secrets known only to the initiated, and the public that sees the
finished picture in some theatre little realizes how much chance had to
do with its making.
Scene after scene was "filmed," Russ and his camera associates grinding
away at the machines. It was not easy work, for the wind and spray often
interfered with the clearness of the picture. But of course that only
added to the reality of it when the finished picture was shown.
"Now for that scene on the far rocks," called Mr. Pertell when he had
brought to a satisfactory conclusion a difficult part of the drama. "Are
you able to go out there, Miss DeVere?" and he looked anxiously at
Alice.
"Oh, yes, I'm much better," she answered.
"All ready then!" called the manager. "Russ, I want one or two
'close-up' views in this, so prepare yourself accordingly."
"All right," answered the operator, who was talking to Ruth. He put in a
fresh reel of film, and adjusted the camera.
A "close-up" view, I might explain, is one taken with the person, or
subject, very close to the camera, so that it appears very large--larger
than usual. For instance, it might be necessary, in some play, to show a
certain ring. The hand of the person, with the ring on the finger would
be held close to the camera, so that the resultant picture on the screen
would show every detail of the ring clearly. You have often seen such
views in moving pictures, though you may not have known what they were
technically called.
The "rock scene" that was to be filmed now was to take place out on a
little rocky group some distance from shore. It was reached by a long,
narrow rocky ledge that curved out into the bay. Alice, Ruth and Paul
were to be in this picture, and Russ would plant his camera on the rocky
ledge, between the actors and the shore.
"Can you walk out there, Alice?" asked Paul, as he stepped along beside
her, Russ walking with Ruth.
"Oh, yes," was the answer. "My ankle is much better now. It was silly of
me to slip that way."
"You couldn't very well help it," he said.
"That seaweed is very treacherous. I hope there is none on the rocks out
there."
"Why?" she asked. "Is the water deep?"
"Rather, so that fisherman said."
"Well, I'm not going to slip," declared Alice.
It was not easy work getting out to the group of rocks on the narrow
path of black stone, made slippery by the spray. But they managed it,
and finally Ruth, Alice and Paul took their places.
"All ready," called Mr. Pertell, who, with a copy of the scenario in his
hand stood back of Russ to direct matters. "You are all supposed to be
talking together, and then Paul discovers a sail out on the bay. You
register surprise, Paul."
"Very good," answered the young actor.
I might explain that the word "register" is used to indicate that an
actor or actress is to depict, or go through, the "business" of showing
certain emotions, either by facial expression, or gestures.
"And after Paul sights the vessel, you register hope, Miss Ruth," went
on the manager. "All ready now--begin."
So the filming of that scene went on.
"Very good," complimented the manager. "Just a little more force there,
Paul. Wait a minute, Russ. Do that one bit over."
The scene was started over again, but it had proceeded only a minute or
so before Russ gave an exclamation of annoyance.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Pertell.
"Spring broke," reported the operator. "I'll have to go get the other
camera, and it will take me half an hour to get it in shape."
"Well, we'll have time enough," Mr. Pertell said, with a look at the
sun, which is a sort of god to photographers. Without its beams little
can be done. "I'll go back and help you," said the manager who used to
be an expert operator himself before he rose in the ranks.
"You'll have to wait a bit," Russ called to Ruth, Alice and Paul. "Got
to fix another camera."
"All right. We'll stay here," announced Alice. "I don't want to make
that trip again with my lame ankle," and she sat down in a niche of the
rocks. The others followed her example. The minutes passed quickly in
pleasant talk, but presently Paul jumped to his feet. There was alarm in
his action.
"What's the matter?" asked Ruth, startled.
"Look!" he said. He pointed toward the shore. The path of rocks was
broken midway by a stretch of water. The tide had risen, cutting off the
retreat to the beach.
CHAPTER X
TOO MUCH REALISM
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Ruth. It seemed a silly, futile thing to say, but,
perhaps, very natural under the circumstances. Ruth arose, and put her
arms about her sister, who tottered a little as she stood upright.
"The tide has risen?" asked Alice, and her tone was questioning.
"That's what has happened," went on Paul. "Pshaw! I ought to have kept
watch of it. Russ was gone longer than I thought. But here we are now,
fairly caught."
"Can't we--can't we wade back to shore?" faltered Alice.
"I wouldn't like to have you try it," answered Paul, and he moved over
closer to the girl.
"Why not?" she asked. "I'm not at all afraid of getting wet, and it
can't be so very deep over those rocks--not yet."
"It isn't that you would get wet," Paul answered. "But the rocks were
slippery enough as they were. Covered with water, as they now are
between us and the shore, I'm afraid you'd slip off, especially as your
ankle will give you a twinge if you twist it."
"It certainly will," agreed Alice. "It hurts worse now. But oh! We must
get back to shore!" she exclaimed. "We must!"
"We--I--I think I could lift her over the place where the water is,"
said Ruth.
"But you might both slip in," objected Paul. "And the water is quite
deep on either side of this ledge of rocks. You see the ocean washes in
against them, and scoops out the sand. So that there is a deep channel,
ten feet or more, right alongside of the ledge of rocks. If you fell in
there----"
"Oh, don't speak of it!" begged Alice. "I wouldn't mind swimming if I
were prepared for it but it isn't exactly Summer yet, and with a
disabled foot----"
"It isn't to be thought of," finished Ruth. "But we _must_ get ashore
somehow, Paul. The water is getting higher every minute."
"Yes, the tide has just begun to come in," said the young actor. "I
should have noticed it before, but I didn't. Now I wonder--"
He did not finish, but gazed back toward the beach, nearly a quarter of
a mile away. To his surprise, and also alarm, not one of the members of
the moving picture company was in sight.
"That's strange," thought Paul, but he did not speak his thought aloud.
"Oh!" screamed Alice, so suddenly as to startle them all.
"What is the matter?" demanded Ruth.
"A wave splashed right up behind me! Look!"
The rising wind was sending little waves over the outer edge of the
small island of rocks on which the three were marooned. It was another
evidence that the tide was getting higher and higher.
"What _shall_ we do?" asked Ruth.
"We must get help--_somehow_!" Alice said. Then she looked shoreward, in
the direction Paul was gazing, and she uttered the single expression:
"Oh!"
But it was fraught with meaning.
"Why--they've gone!" gasped Ruth. "What--what----"
"They'll be back!" Paul interrupted. "Probably Mr. Pertell just thought
of some scene he could get, and he took them off down the beach to put
them all in it. They'll be back in a little while, and then we can
signal to them."
"If--if it isn't too--too late!" faltered Alice.
"Too late? What do you mean?" demanded her sister.
"I mean these rocks will soon be covered, and covered deep, too," Alice
said. "The high water mark is away above them."
"Is it, Paul?" demanded the older girl. She wanted the statement of
Alice disproved.
"I'm afraid it is," the young actor made answer. "And the tide, I am
sorry to say, is likely to be unusually high today. The moon has
something to do with it. But we will be taken off before then."
"Suppose we aren't?" asked Alice. "The wind and the sea are rising, and
if we are swept off the rocks----"
"Don't be so tragic about it!" broke in Ruth. "If we are to go to sea,
and be in a shipwreck, even if it is only pictured, we must learn to
face perils. And here we are only a little way from shore."
"That's right!" cried Paul. "That's the way to look at it, Alice.
There's no danger!"
"That's easy enough for you to say--you two who haven't a lame ankle,"
the younger girl said, seriously enough. "But I don't believe I can even
swim!"
"There will be no need of that," Paul said. "They are sure to come back
and see our plight soon. I can't see what's keeping Russ. He promised to
come back as soon as he fixed up another camera. It's very strange."
Later they learned that when Russ and Mr. Pertell got back to the beach,
leaving, as they supposed Ruth, her sister and Paul safe on the rocks,
Pop Snooks, the veteran property man, discovered a certain nook that
would answer for an important scene in the play. Wishing to take
advantage of it at once, while the light was good, Mr. Pertell ordered
the entire company over there to go through the prescribed "business."
He took Russ and the two other camera operators with him, to make sure
of getting at least one film.
That is why the beach opposite the rocks where the three were marooned
by the rising tide, was deserted just then. For the time both Mr.
Pertell and Russ forgot their three friends, or, if they thought of them
at all, it was to think that they were perfectly safe, and would come to
no harm by waiting a bit.
The tide rose higher and higher. In a few minutes it would lap the feet
of the three marooned ones. A desperate resolve came into Paul's mind.
"I'll swim, or wade, to shore," he said, "and get a boat."
"And leave us here?" demanded Alice.
"Yes. There is nothing else to be done," he answered, desperately.
"No, please don't go!" begged Alice, putting a detaining hand on his
arm. "I can't bear to be left here."
"But it will be only for a few minutes," Paul said, "and the tide isn't
rising so fast that it will sweep you away in that time."
"I know--but--don't go!" begged Alice, her voice trembling.
Paul looked at Ruth.
"Perhaps you _had_ better stay," suggested the older girl. "They are
sure to come back soon, and--well, we don't want to be left here."
"All right," agreed Paul. "But I think I could get back with a boat in
time."
However, there was no need for him to go. A moment later the moving
picture company, headed by Russ and the two other camera men, came
around the turn of some sand dunes.
"There they are!" cried Ruth.
"Oh, come and get us!" fairly screamed Alice.
Paul put his fingers to his mouth and sent out a shrill whistle.
It needed only a glance on the part of Mr. Pertell and the others to
show the plight of the three marooned ones.
"I forgot all about them!" the manager exclaimed. "Russ--Mr.
Bunn--Switzer--a boat--where's that fisherman--where's the life-saving
station? This is----"
"Avast there! Belay!" came the deep tones of Jack Jepson, who had come
out to do certain parts in the shore scenes. "I'll take that boat out
and get 'em. Don't worry!"
"Oh, but my daughters!" exclaimed Mr. DeVere, hoarsely.
"And Alice with a sprained ankle!" gasped Mrs. Maguire.
"Don't worry! I'll get 'em!" declared the old salt. "Come on," he called
to Mr. Bunn. "You look like you could handle an oar," and he started
toward a dory that was drawn up on the beach.
"I--I can't row!" exclaimed the old actor. "Besides, I might----"
"Yes, he might spoil his dignity," said Russ fiercely in an undertone.
"I'll go with you," he said to the sailor. "I can manage a boat!"
"Good! That's the way to talk. Come on!"
A few minutes later Russ and Jack had shoved out the fisherman's craft,
and were quickly rowing toward the rocks. The tide was now so high that
Paul and the two girls stood ankle-deep in the water that completely
covered the rocks.
"Ahoy there! Ahoy!" sang out Jack, as he and Russ sent the boat over the
waves to the rescue. "Ahoy! We'll have you safe in a minute!"
"Quick! Get that picture! Film it!" cried Mr. Pertell to one of the
other camera men. "I can work that scene in--somehow."
There was very little that was not "grist" which came to the "mill" of
Mr. Pertell's cameras. The film began to unreel and before they knew it
Paul, Ruth and Alice were being depicted in the rescue scene, which,
when it was projected on the screen, made a series of effective
pictures.
There was little real harm done save for wet feet and startled nerves.
Sufficient harm, one might think, but Ruth and Alice were beginning to
forget they had nerves, so many were the strange acts they were called
upon to perform in their moving picture work.
Jack and Russ helped the three into the boat, and rowed to shore with
them, where mutual explanations were made, and Mr. Pertell was
sorrowfully apologetic for his forgetful share in it.
"And the next time I forget about the tide, when I'm at the shore, I'll
fine myself a box of candy to be forfeit to you girls," Paul said.
"Be sure you don't forget to pay the fine," Alice warned him.
As the company had brought along several changes of costume, there were
dry shoes for the three marooned ones, and then, as it was too late to
finish the scene on the rocks, they went back to New York. Some other
day would have to be devoted, at least in part, to completing that film.
In the days that followed, work on the _Mary Ellen_ went on apace. She
was almost ready for her voyage to sea. The big motorboat, _Ajax_, was
also being put in readiness. While Jack Jepson and the others were busy
at the schooner there were also busy scenes at the studio, where Mr.
DeVere and his daughters took part in many film plays. Nearly all the
studio scenes for "Out on The Deep," had been completed.
"But we must get that river attack before we start on the voyage," said
Mr. Pertell one day. This "river attack" showed one phase of the big
marine drama. Ruth and Alice, in company with Mr. Bunn, as an old
'longshoreman, were supposed to be rowed across a river to escape harbor
thieves. To get good local color the location of the scene was fixed on
the Jersey side of the Hudson river, above the Palisades. Thither those
of the company required in the scene journeyed one day.
All went well until the time when Mr. Bunn, rather against his will, was
rowing Ruth and Alice toward shore. They were being pursued by some
rough men in a second boat. It is needless to say that the "rough men,"
were also moving picture actors.
"Go on there, Mr. Bunn! Row! Row!" called Mr. Pertell, while Russ, who
was with him in a third boat, was making the reel hum in the camera.
"I--I can't row any faster," said the old "Ham" actor.
"But you _must_!" the manager cried. "That's better," he added as Mr.
Bunn showed a burst of speed.
"Oh dear! If ever I get through this series of pictures I'll quit the
game!" groaned the former legitimate actor.
Ruth and Alice "registered" the proper business as the men in the
pursuing boat came nearer and nearer. The flight was to continue along
the Jersey shore.
"Jump out! Jump out!" commanded Mr. Pertell, giving directions from
behind a screen of bushes, where he and Russ, having landed, were now
hidden to take the land scenes.
The girls and Mr. Bunn leaped ashore. The "villains" followed, firing
blank cartridges.
"Fine! That's fine!" cried the enthusiastic manager, when suddenly, from
a road that ran along the shore, there sprang a number of country
officers. They had their clubs in one hand and had drawn their
revolvers.
"Surrender! Surrender!" cried the leading officer to the "villains," who
were pursuing Mr. Bunn and the girls. "Surrender! We've got you covered!
We seen you chasin' these parties! Surrender!" and the police rushed
toward the actors.
"Keep back! Keep back!" implored Mr. Pertell, leaping out of concealment
and waving his hands. But he was too late.
CHAPTER XI
A REVISED FILM
Just what idea the local police had in mind when they rushed forward
would be hard to say. Evidently, however, they believed they were intent
on rescuing the girls from some imminent peril, for the leader of the
officers, showing not a little fear, even in the heroic role he was
playing, fired a shot into the air, and cried:
"No you don't! No you don't! Nothin' like that there can be done while
Captain Wealson is around. Up an' at 'em, men!"
He and his men rushed toward the pursuing "villains," got right in the
way of the camera, and proceeded to attack those whom they thought were
guilty of some crime.
"There it goes!" cried Mr. Pertell. "The picture is spoiled! It will
have to be all done over again."
In obedience to a gesture of despair from the manager, Russ ceased
grinding at the crank of the camera.
"That's enough! Stop!" called Mr. Pertell, and Ruth, Alice and the
others who were making strenuous efforts (seemingly) to escape, came to
a halt. Many times before they had heard that command which meant that
something was going wrong, and that they might as well stop at once
without wasting effort.
"Why, I wonder what's wrong," said Alice, who had not quite grasped the
interruption. "Everything seemed to be going beautifully."
"Perhaps the film broke," suggested Ruth.
"It's the police," Paul said, waving his hand at the officers, each of
whom had clutched a "prisoner," and was holding him.
"The police?" echoed Alice.
"Yes, they came in when they weren't wanted," Paul went on.
"Oh, I thought they were part of the picture!" exclaimed Ruth. And so
she had. Often, to make a moving picture seem more realistic, a manager
will not tell the actors all he has prepared. Thus he gets the element
of surprise. Both Ruth and Alice, in this case, thought the local police
had been brought into the scene at the last moment to add a touch of
reality to the play. But, as it turned out, it was almost too much
reality.
"Say, what do you fellows mean, anyhow?" demanded the manager, of the
police leader. "What do you mean, I say," and Mr. Pertell strode up with
an angry look on his face.
"What do we mean? Ha! That's a good one! Listen to him, boys! What do we
mean? Why we mean to arrest these scoundrels, and we've done it, too!"
he added proudly, with a wave of his hand toward the persons his men had
made prisoners.
"Well, you've made a big mistake," Mr. Pertell went on.
"Mistake! Ha! I guess not!" cried the officer. "We don't make mistakes
up here! One of my men seen something queer goin' on out in the river,
and come and told me. Then I seen your boats puttin' off, and I knew
something was wrong. So I got my forces together, and we waited for
these fellows. We've got 'em, too! Every one of 'em!" he added proudly.
"Lock 'em up, men!" he ordered. "We'll show these fellows what Jersey
justice is like. Take 'em away."
"Hold on!" cried Mr. Pertell, and this time he allowed a smile to show
on his hitherto glum face. "You don't seem to understand."
"Oh, I think I do," said the police officer calmly. "I understand a
great deal more than you think I do. Come on."
"Wait! I'll explain!" cried the manager. "It's for the moving pictures!"
he added. "This is only a pretended attack and pursuit. Ask the young
ladies themselves," he said, motioning to Ruth and Alice who were now
smiling. Certainly they did not seem to be in any great alarm or
distress over their recent adventure. Their appearance must have caused
the officer to doubt the wisdom of his course.
"Weren't these fellers chasing you?" he demanded, motioning to the
prisoners. "Now don't say they wasn't, for I saw 'em."
"Oh, yes, they were pursuing us," admitted Ruth, "but it was all in the
picture."
"The picture?" questioned the officer.
"Yes. We are moving picture actresses and actors," she went on, and her
father, coming up then, though he had had no active part in the chase,
confirmed what she said.
For a moment the police captain maintained a silence, and then, as he
could no longer doubt what was said, since Mr. Pertell exhibited certain
credentials, the representative of Jersey justice said:
"Well, this certainly is one on me! We'd better go back, boys," he added
to his men, "and we'd better keep quiet about this thing. But I sure
thought this was a kidnapping case."
"And you spoiled my picture," groaned Mr. Pertell. "Now we've got to go
back to the middle of the river, and do it over from there."
"Hold on a minute!" exclaimed Pop Snooks, who, as property man, was also
a sort of assistant manager. "Maybe this will turn out all right after
all."
"How do you mean?" asked Mr. Pertell.
"Why, the police. We could have them try to stop the pursuers but get
worsted in the encounter, and the roughs could keep right on after the
girls. In that way we won't have to waste much film. Just go on with the
picture from the point where these policemen came in."
Mr. Pertell thought for a minute.
"That's the idea!" he suddenly cried. "It will make a better picture
that way. Say!" he went on to the police officers: "You're in on this!"
"In on what?" asked the captain.
"On this scene. I can use you and your men. You won't mind a little
rough and tumble work, will you?"
"What do you mean?"
Thereupon the manager explained that he would turn the police to good
advantage, and have them interfere in the attack, only to be outdone by
the "villains."