Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-05-29

WLOuIS JOSEPH VANCE,

linger and overhear the quarrel be-
tween father and son, in the course
of which 1t was to t%ranspire that
the former had once offered to
wager the latter that he could make
tho girl his mistress within a given
period OF time. Whereupon, in re-
vulsion of feeling. Nelly was to con-
front the w and. while confessing
she had planned deliberately to
marry either n or the other of
them for his money. assert herself
either.
Nolan proceeded now to act out
in his OWL person the business which
he conceived to be in character for
a girl of Nelly's quality in circum-
stances so contrived as to make
voluntary eavesdropping on her part
seem constructively d~efensible. And
Lucinda looked on with earnest at
tertion and puckered brows. eager
to catch every hint that would help
her become a better actress. Her
distruct Of Nolan extended only to
his abilities as a constructive builder
OF storytelling pictures and a judge
of pictorial values. For the very
considerable amount Of raw power
as a pantomine which he indubita-
Wy pOSocSScus sHt Hdu IuuCu TeSptCf.
This enthusiasm was running
away with him now, he was build
ing the solo scene which IAicinda
was to play on lines of broad emo
tional melodrama widely inconsist-
ent with the situation. Forgetting
that, while the conversation assumed
to be going on beyond the door was
one we'll calculated to annoy and
disgust her whom it concerned, its
revelations were after all hardly of
a character to break her heart.
Nolan was. as Nelly, ranting and
raving in the angle, like one gone
half-mad with shock and grief. Yet
such was the fire he infused into
the performance that for the time
being he truly succeeded in pervert-
ing Lucinda's grasp OF the scene.
Having exhausted his repertoire OF
emotional artifce, he stepped out of
the camera lines. consulting Lucinda
with a glance and the s~tereotyped
inquiry. See what / want, dear?'
she nodded without thinking-"You
make 1t most real. I'll do my best
and stepped into character and
the set as the lights blazed on, the
cameras began to tick, and Nolan
seized his baton of authority. the
megaphone which he invariably
used while directing. though he had
as much need of it now as the cam
eras had Of telescope lenses.
Now, dear" he blared through
this instrument-"go TO 1t and show
us all you've got. Don't be afraid
this is your Big Scene, biggest you've
got in this story. your one grand
little chance to put it over that
you're a s~ure-enough actress . . .
Now you put your a to the crack
in the door and hear your name.
Give a big start and look Mortified.
You never dreamed men could talk
about women like that, you know.
Show US horror, dear, and make i.
strong. you can't make 1t too strong.
Remember you're just realizing the
man you love is such a rotten cad
he could make a bet about your
virtue. 1t just makes you feel sick
all over
Great snakes! What's that for?
What's the matter?"
For of a sudden Lucinda laughed
outright, suddenly the h~eartrending
tremolo of Nolan's voice as he de-
tailed the awful offense Richards
had committed against Nelly in the
play tickled irresistibly her sense of
the absurd; and her laugh followed
naturally, inevitably, uncontrollably.
I'm sorry, Mr.. Nolan" she
gasped. Forgive me. II didn't
know I was going to laugh till-till
till it struck me as so funny"
Her voice rose and broke in an
other peal OF hysterical merrimenr,
her words became unintelligible,
while Nolan literally ground his
teeth.
What struck you as so funny?"
he exploded. Show me anything
funny about this scene and I'm
eat my megaphone. What's so damn
funny?"
"Oh, I am sorry" Lucinda was
doing her utmost to sober herself.
but still her voice shook and her
body rocked with recurrent spasnn
of idiotic mirth. "You see-when
you said that-what you said about
Richards being a rotter-all at once
it struck me-Im sure I don't know
why-as funny. too awfully funny
for wordsi"
well. why?" Nolan insisted. all
but dancing with rage. Hell, Give
a reason. Why's it funny?"
NA-..-I l. E-..