Evening star., 1925-10-11

| forth weren't anything exactly new
to him. Either that or the boss talk
wasn't making any indelible impress
| sion.
Before we quit work that afternoon
ruinors were crowded so close to-
Sether they were gasping for air. The
| boss had landed Il hacker. The boss
! was going to sell out. A certain oil
man, dripping with money, had guar
anteed to back the boss If he'd star the
| oil mans wife, an ex-chambermaid
| OF Tulsa. The hacker was a wealthy
broker. n married man who'd forgot
| ten IL at certain occasions while in the
society of n fading female star of the
! screen; and now the only way said
| broker could prevent the lady's self
| respect from vanishing with her Dopu-
! larity was to apply chunk of his
! bank-roll to the production costs Of
| picture.
L found who knew anything definite
| was Monty.
| Il Just remember where l saw that
fellow before he told me. 'It was
| when l was doing a picture with the
| supreme Company. Remember last
year they got into n jam--the Inter
| Word Releasing Company refusing to
| handle their picture had something to
do with it-anyway, 1t looked for a
!
! was going to smash.
| "WelI, one day between scenes a
| few of us were wondering whether
! Supreme could last long enough to
| finish the film we were on, when this
same snappy young fellow come into
| the studio. He walked around with
| Mr.. Carter, the president, just like he
walked around here today. Two days
| later the Supreme got n loan that car
4 \, hot lac
| Cass Williams, the press agent there,
| told me this young fellow was a
lawyer, the personal representative Of
the millionaire savior of the com.
pany."
Whats his name?"
| Il forget. Cass might remember" ="
That night, crawling into bed and
| lighting n pipe to ease the strain of
! reading Monty's script. l thought l
was already pretty tired. But ii wasn't
| a marker to tho tired feeling that
| crawled into every crease and crevice
of my system as l followed the weird
| adventures of Monty's heroine, Olive
Murphy, the shop girl who became the
| reigning dance sensation OF Broadway.
Madame Irene, Powerful Drama
| of Modern Life read the title page
and in the first reel Monty proved that
| Olive was no weakling. I understood
why it had taken him six months to
| write the story. He needed that time
to think up all the things that hap
pened to Olive. He hadn't overlooked
one single bit of hokum known to
melodraTna.
One right after the other Olive lost
her job. her home, her ardent but
distasteful admirer, her happiness, her
pride and all but one dream. Having
| lost everything but her beauty and
| her virtue, she drags herself to an un-
| occupied bench in Central Park where
she lolls fainting, receptive to the
| thought that life Of shame wouldn't
| be so worse If 1t would seduce a steak,
some fried potatoes and cup of coffee
| out of somebody.
There she is discovered by high
minded young millionaire named
| Blake. who stakes Olive to a meal and
| the very next day marries her to spite
! a society gal who, he has discovered,
| intended to marry Blake for his money
| while reserving her affections for the
| other man. AS Monty described 1t in
| his script, "Blake is very kind to her
and doesn't ask no unnecessary Ques
tions. Fade out
But almost Immediately after the
| wedding Olive finds out the real reason
| of her being unstigmatized. For some
| reason or other her heart nearly
| breaks to learn that the guy she's
| known about &c hours not only doesn't
| love her with n lofty spiritual pas
| sion which nothing can blot nor OBJ
| literate, but instead has married her
to double-cross another jane. And for
the same reason. when Blake sees the
| wounded-deer expression in Olives
! gazelle eyes, he decides to catch the
| 4:20 train to the West, where men are
| men. and skies are clean. and the air
is blue, and the women are either
| ladies or not.
Olive, left alone in the apartment
with a liberal allowance, of course
| starts taking fencing lessons immedi-
| ately. And soon after that, having
nothing much else to do between
meals, and no letters from her hus-
| band to answer, all by herself she
creates a new and novel dance, SO un-
| heard of that a Broadway cabaret
manager engages her to fascinate his
patrons with it.
! One night Blake comes on from
| Puyallop, Wash, and sees Nine. Irene
dance, exclaims dramatically, How
beautiful" tears around to her dress
| ing room and grabs Olive in a strain
ing clinch for the final fade-out.
THE next morning couldn't remem-
ber for minute whether I'd read
| the script or had a had dream. And
while remembering, heard the gloom
patter Of rain on the window panes.
| When l reached the studio found
| that Tom had already dismissed the
| company and was up In the Office
with the boss.
Morning, Pete" he nodded.
| whats that under your arm-the
| great American photoplay master.
piece?"
Madame Irene, Powerful Drama
of Modern Life" I quoted the title
/ page.
'5Is it powerful?" the boss grinned.
| Like limburger." l told him.
| by Montmorency du Bois," Tom
read, over my shoulder.
| whats that manner" the boss asked
quickly.
"Montmorency du Bois, with a small
d."
| The boss reached for the script: ran
his eye down the list of characters.
you've read 1t, Pete. you say"
| l nodded.
whats the best thing you can say
about it,"
After reading 1t i fell into the
soundest sleep I've had in months. "
| Instead of the grin 1 expected, the
boss frowned, as though disappointed.
HAS Monty been pestering you to
read it?" I asked.
mo. 1 don't believe ia know du
Bois II 1 saw him. 1 heard of this
story through-er, outside sources"
The natural thing to guess was that
Monty had placed his script with an
agency.
at understood" continued the boss.
"that the principal theme was the
old, sure.f1re Cinderella thing"
'It is" / started, "but--" For no
reason at all there flashed into my
mind the picture Of Monty begging