Evening star., 1924-12-07
Mack Casting With the Cool Eyes,

talk that way to anybody that was
big enough to hit back; directors,
stars, leads, assistant directors
anybody at all.
Another thing I noticed was that
she seemed to have the idea that
there was only two kinds of people
around the studio; the kind that was
all wrong and needing spanking. and
the kind that was all Wronged and
needed mothering. A lot of the time
she was mothering some sad-eyed
mistake that had wandered onto the
lot, but she never was too busy doing
that to stop and spank some spoiled
darling that riled her. / begged her
to lay off of 1T. l knew that sooner
or later she would spank somebody
who would tell mamma, meaning the
Old Man Himself-and then look
where she'd be at! But, no. She
wouldn't listen. and then come the
day when she tried to spank Adolpho
Antonio.
Adolpho, who had been borrowed
from the Ne Plus Ultra for one pic
ture, had more kinds of temperament
than an onion has layers.
Boy!-Yes! Well. on the second day
he worked he came on a scene and
found a character there wearing a
pie was the one color that made his
soul-stuff jen, and he Topped down
on bench and covered his eyes with
a trembling hand. Take that man
off" he moaned. Take him out of
my sight or | won't be able to do a
scene. O-o-oh,"
Mollie happened to be sitting on the
same bench he Topped on, and she i'm
mediately lifted her voice in long
wall: Mamma-mamma." she howl
ed. That blue sky! Take 1t away
take it away and make it cloudy. If
you don't. l can't cry a tear!"
That little stunt cost exactly nine
thousand dollars, for Adolph flew
away home and stayed there until
everybody from the Old Man Himself
to Yours Humbly had kissed his
hands and wept on his feet. The
Old Man called me into his office after
Adolph went back to work, and told
me just what he thought of Mollie.
He also told me to go tell her as
much OF 1t as l dared, and then fire
her. Yes. me!
ORDERS being orders. of course
~ went But knowing Mollie like ]
did, | decided it might he best to
be kinda diplomatic. SO at lunch in
the studio cafeteria l began moaning
to her about my lack of success in
the movies; then l switched to her.
And you, too, Mollie-look at you
You've got brains and nerve
and you're something of a type, but
where are you after two years of the
game? What do you say. Mollie-
let's chuck it? You're a cracker jac k
stenographer and you could do a
whole lot better as secretary to
some big business man, and maybe !
could tie up with some big distribu-
tor What's the use of plugging
along here and eating our hearts
out?"
why the we stuff, Mack?" she
asks, dry-like. IF you're sick of the
game. go on and break away. Me. I
like it, and I'm going to linger
longer"
But what are you getting out of
it?"
She drew a deep breath and looked
really serious. "A chance. See
here. Mack! We're pretty good pals,
aren't we?"
We must be. You treat me just as
brutal as II we was married. and we
both seem to like it."
Then here goes Mack!
was a preachers daughter. She
stopped like she expected some kind
Of an outburst. but l registered SYM
pathy, and she went on And
such a preacher! A spiritual being
if there ever was one, but he had
many crosses, among them being
nine kids that just would be human,
and a stomach that had to be doc
tored all the time. He did all he
could for us, but / guess we were
hnno1oSS Onnd
When 1 was IS l ran away-to
New York. thought New York
probably wouldn't care how depraved
was, and l found out that they
didn't. / also found out that they
didn't care how hungry l got. Not
New York. l cared, though, so l
wept myself into a job-pearl-divin
in a Greek restaurant. Somehow my
rustic beauty must have touched that
bunch at Popolinkatos. for they start
ed in on me while 1 was still hun
CRY. My score the first day was one
cook, one bus boy and one waiter.
The boss complained about the cas-
ualties. but good New England dish
washers-the kind that wash 'em on
both sides, you know-were scarce.
After the first day the boys didn't
have so much trouble making their
hands behave, and j stayed there for
six months-going from dishwasher r
to waitress, and waitress to cashier.
After being compelled to make good
on a counterfeit bill that had been
slipped to me by a regular customer
l hoped off into trade. You guessed
it-five and ten cent.
We'll, that got eight months of
my life, at least eight years of my
patience and practically all of my
love for the more or less human
being. Next it was business A year
and half of it, with night school as
light diversion; then the front
office as steno.' And that's where
I got acquainted with these big busi-