, 1923-04-08

oAA9 VIII ~ llTtt w lIOrl ONtT-
head.
The wind machine was set IN mo
ton and this air was filled with
sheets Of driven rain. The lightning
machine added the thunder OF It's
ieapins sparks to the turmoil.
Kcndrick, IN high boots and q
trench coat he had worn IN France,
went to the porch to test tho storm.
In his hand he carried IN electric
button with a cable TO tho lightning
machine. This rang a bell for the
man in charge of it. The noisy wind
machine was controlled by wigrwag
signals.
The director was a god in little.
He coulG bid tho rain rain. the wind
road, and the lightning blaze. He
rode upon tho storm he created.
AT first the storm was too mild for
his taste. At his command It was ag-
I gravated until he could not stand up
before It. Gradually he achieved the
exact magnitude of violence. and tho
men In control Of thu forces of imi-
tated nature understood that thus
far they must go and no farther.
Under a vast umbrella, and be-
hind shields of black flats calleci
"niggers.'' the battery of camera
men stood arranging focuses and
lights. Two of them used lenses tina
would make close-ups, while the 9th
ers caught the long shots. for there
would be no chance of taking spe-
clal closeups.
After an hour or more OF harrow.
ing delay the army was ready fer
the battle. Mem climbed up the scat
folding back of the palatial front
door and porch. The assistant direc.
tor explained the signal he was to
relay from the director. and the
storm was ordered TO begin.
A gentle rain fell from the pipes.
The fire hose. aimed up in tho air.
added its volume. The wind ma
chino set IN its mad clatter. The
rain became n deluge of flying wn.
ter and the lightning filled it with
shattering fire.
Then Mem was called forth. She
clutched her cloak about her and
thrust into the tempest. 1t was like
driving through n slightly arefied
cataract. she hardly reached the
pillar at the edge of the porch,
clutched 1t for a moment, caught n
fbAth bAtoAA aiiN Lung uONH llb
steps. And that was that. All this
preparation for one minute of action
save for a brief return to the
porch to pose for still photographs.
She was dripping and SO lost that
she ran into n OF the property men
who checked her. Kendrick came to
her and gave her an accolade OF ap,
proval. He patted her sopping
shoulder and said.
"Finei But in the next scene hold
your cloak about you a little tighter
The wind was so stormy and your
clothes so wet hat there wasn't
much OF you left TO the Imagination
In some OF the states the censors
may cut the whole scene out. Blu,
We won't retake IT."
When. two days later. Mem saw
h rushes in the PROJECTION room
h could hardly believe that the
storm was a matter of such clumsy
artifice. The reality of 1t fairly ter
rified her. The rain-swept porch an6
the fury Of lightnings about the pill
lars gave no hint of human devils.
ing.
She felt n surge Of pity at the
bravery of the little figure she made
plunging into the wrack on her er.
rand of rescue. The gale flung her
cloak n her skirts about her in
fleeing sculptures OF Grecian beau.
~. But when h paused at the
steps and staggered under the buff.
fets Of the wind, she was aghast to
see herself modelled in the least de.
tai, like the clay of a statue, all the
more nude for tho emphasis OF n
few wrinkles in n framing drapery.
She felt her first sympathy for Miss
Bevans' prudery and blushed in the
dark projection roomL She did not
at all approve the groan Of tho d.
rector.
Wonderful It's like an ivory
statue on an ebony background. To
think that the dirty-minded censors
win call /. indecent tho black
guardsr'
Mem hoped that the company's own
censors would excise It before the
outside world saw It but she said
nothing. She belonged to her art,
body as well as soul.
But his revelation was for a later
day. For the present. the directors
caution to keep her cloak about her
was alarming enough
She was taken to a warn room
M wrapped in blankets while the
next scene was prepared. This was
n matter OF another hours delay.
Rain pipes had already been erect
ed. but the lights had to be trun.
died into place. the cameras placed
and protected. and a hundred details
made ready before she was called
out ngain.