Evening star., 1936-08-25
nv r de &. MELCHER.

on the eve Of stepping into
L L the cast of movie for the
first time begins to disappear after
day spent on the fringes Of the action
while awaiting your calls; ana haVng
It come the next day.
One begins to get the "feel" OF the
business and to forget the rubbery
quality which has been afIicting ones
knees.
1t suddenly penetrates conscious
ness that nothing could be as har-
rowing as that" One recalls all the
other awful testing moments OF ones
life and that when the showdown
came it never was as bad as one had
imagined.
One developed, indeed. q sort OF de-
fiant attitude of "All right, bring on
your ordeal"
There was, however. q very low
point when, at II o'clock, Director
Van Dyke. after Joan Crawford was
through with a big scene. suddenly
turned and said, "All right-you
Until that moment we had never
walked into that circle OF light, IN
front of the great monster camera
and the microphone. and stood under
lights that blazed from three direc-
tions. We had looked out into such
q scene, but never back at the ring
of spectators, who are grouped IN
punches. and when We are introduced
To three ladies from Washington.
n e friends of Mr.. Van Dyke, who
are also there as visitors, we must
admit again a curiously disjointed
feeling about the legs.
, what am I to be?" We ask MI
Van Dyke, who is busy pouring over
the script, a faint smile discerniole
at the corners Of his mouth.
Plays Reporters Role.
He looks up. You are to be re-
porter." saws he. Sit over there at
the table with the countess VINO mas
tust tainted"
We 20 over and sit plumb center
stage with the countess who mas
tainted. For q wilted countess she
looks surprisingly well. But we hadn't
.een the ammonia box which her
maid. standing back of her, gives her
a second later. We do see, however,
on the table six glasses, some ice ana
4 bottle. What's in the bottle seems
to be real.
20. K.-O. X. Now, where are the
props?" says Mr.. Van Dyke. swinging
into action. And where Is Mr.
Owen?"
The props" turn out to be pencil
and a piece Of paper for the re.
porter" After they appear, Reginald
owen makes his entrance.
"All set?"
"All set"
MAKE your speech, Reggie"
reggie" standing almost directly
under the mike" makes his speech.
"Now. when he is through" says
Mr.. Van Dyke, you" land he points
to the ''reporter"), "who have been
listening to what he's been saying and
writine copious notes about 1t, get up
and follow those two gentlemen"-the
rentlemen are also behind the table
tout of the door. When you get to
the door, bow to Mr.. Owen and exit.
Get it?"
2 The rehearsal starts. A Van Dyke
rehearsal lasts about two minutes.
You do it once. possibly again. and
then the scene Is shot. CMost direc-
tors rehearse 10 or IL timeso
Suddenly the lights come on
wham-there is dead silence. some
thing begins to hum and the scene
roes into Its stride. We write CO.
piously," chew gum furiously and
await the moment when 1t Is time to
get up and walk out. The magic word
is spoken, we rise, somehow get to the
door, and as we are about to bid Reg
gle owen bood-by, step on the heels OF
the gentleman ahead Of us and run
smack into a policeman whom we
hadn't seen.
II MIR. Van Dyke Speaks.
q That's right" says Van Dyke
KNOCK everybody down. The name oi
1.-THE picture is Love on the Rum you
sknow-not 'Melcher on the Rum"
n We try again, write, look at Mr.
jOwen, into the camera. at the countess
and her smelling salts (Heaven only
knows what it's all abouO, then rise
walk across the room, and this tims
don't step on anybody or run into thu
Fpoliceman.
! "All right-shoot It,"
j With that, q little man with q pow
der puff runs around and smackl
everybody on the nose The gets to oul
nose before we can do anything about
1T, the camera boys get busy. th'
countess pulls herself together ant
Miss Crawford suddenly sits down OF
the sidelines and, roaring with kins
laughter. says, Lets see you do you
stuff now, Mr.. NJ"
The actual taking of the scene is
as we said before, very calm ant
easy. The lights crowd out the cage
faces of the visitors. Mr.. Van DyE,
S3e visible onlv dir,lv svytnpin0 hi