Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-10-08
CHAPTER \LJ

M tIhSI Impulse WAS To ruSh oNtI
A'1 and speak 20 Derry, but on second
thought drew back further into my
corner. II would hardly do for me To
run 10 him now. when ! needed help;
after | had turned from him. as he had
thought. when he couldn't help me. So |
drew down my veil and stepped in
behind two women, hoping that h"
wouldn't 50" mc.
"We'rc going down 70 tho docks. he
told the crowd There arc som" mo-
tortruCkS outside, and !ou'll go in
those, Go down and get into them,
please.
And thcn he pushed his way through
the crowd and ran down to n" street.
lie haT changed. even since Ia seen
him. Aftcrward | learned that he had
actually been directing, the first tim"
that he had had everything in his own
hands. Ard il was like It is with 1"
H"Lng doctor IN II small town. lou
know h"W pcopl" feel when boy
they vr GIwuHs known grows nr ana
studies mrdirlnc aud comes home :" look
uttpr rhom; they always remember thht
hc's little Willie Jones, and son"hoW
they cunt take orders from him. That
vas the way it had been with Derry.
In the studios where he was Known,
and had been an actor. pc"pl" Cou'dn
let him get away with much authority
/ But when hc got with people b" dIdn
know. and announced that he d direct.
everybody stood around for him. I've
heard proplc say that half II director :
Job is making people think he knows
What he's doing perhaps that's so.
| could have slipped away in tn"
darkness when We got down {" tho
street. hut somehow | didn't want 10.
7 was eager to sec how Derry would
GO about his work. And by that tim"
Tho crowd had grown so that ! was sure
ned never notice me, especially rs b" d
never recn me in tho clothes that | was
. wearing Then, too, ! still had no
place in which to spend the night, and
! no money, 50 it bPhoovcd me TO stay, ,
whether | wanted to or not.
I There was n good deal Of grumbGng
among rhc people in the motor in which
| went down town; extras always
grlmblc about something, believe.
These people. though they were being
paid extra for working at such AN hour
and in such weather, kept saying TINT
,rhc scenes could just as well have been
shot in Il studio. where a set could
have been built, and that IL was silly
To take a crowd out on such an errand.
or course there was man there "hC
had worked with Mary plcktord-th"rf
nlwavs is. And there were scvcra,
who had always been with Grihth' ana ana
Of course, knew more than Mr.. tr!hltE
himself. By the time We climbed Out
! down on the dock, they had rippel
Derry to pieces many times.
We we're TO make some scenes On tht
docI; bc,idc%in ocean liner; it was sup
posed 20 have come in after rrNcuins
The pnsscngerS of wrecked steamship
and We were the relatives Of those Whc
Ind bcrn rescued, and had to rush abou
and try 10 get on the deck OF the vessel.
Sow. from seeing crowds on tho
screen YOU cant have any Idea ct tho
difirulting Of directing one. There are
alwnys some people VINO wit I"HE
sirAIght into the camera. ana some ar,
likely to laugh, or be "It'r"n''louS'
'rhcn. too. there will be some who want
bo,, ou Tho screen. | have known NJ
IrcnnIr who played in mob scenes fU
Itun veors without ever showing on TIC
srrecn-whO played often enough, too
:, that they earned a good living at j.
A rule the extra Is path"tiCaIIj
onvinus 10 sec himself on the screen
if no screens well he can call III
,ocnt's attention TO the fact. And, q
cnnrep sometimes an extra shows NJ
sn we'll in the picture that ne get
something better to do as result
Dorry went at0ut things in YER
r,so way. one rnrer then than It is now
Directors used to bully their pcopl
much more than they do now; rccaI
onn % who never spoke below yell an
who used language that was nothin
short of vile. The modern director
likely to tell people what he wants, an
treat them Ike human beings.
That's what Derry did.
! you'll come running along there