Nita’s eyebrows raised. “Billy said he employs him as a chauffeur and man of all work.”
Thelma shook her head. “Billy doesn’t employ Murphy. The studio employs him.”
“Really? But then Billy owns part of the studio.”
“The big share is owned by Hammons no matter what Billy’s told you,” the other girl told her. “And Hammons hires Murphy to police Billy.”
“To police him?”
“Yes,” Thelma said grimly. “Hammons has a lot of money tied up in Billy’s career and he’s not about to lose it.”
“But I thought Murphy was employed to help Billy,” Nita said, bewildered.
“Don’t be a child,” the other girl remonstrated with her. “You don’t know much about Hollywood yet, I can tell that. Murphy is hired by Hammons to keep an eye on Billy and make sure he doesn’t drink too much.”
Nita said, “I haven’t seen him drink much of anything.”
“I know,” Thelma said. “I lived with him. He’s a solitary drinker. What do you think happens when he locks himself up in his house away from everyone?”
“He does that because of his headaches!”
“No,” Thelma shook her head again. “I’m sorry, kid, but that’s when Billy dips into the booze. He drinks himself unconscious and it’s Murphy’s job to look after him and have him ready to work in the morning.”
Nita listened, realizing that it was all very likely true. She had noticed an oddness about the house and the way Murphy and Billy related to each other. So Billy was an alcoholic, as Marty had been.
She sighed, “I guess I’m naive. I should have guessed it.”
“Well, you know now. Murphy runs the place. And he answers to Hammons, not Billy Bowers.”
“It’s a shame. I mean that he drinks as he does.”
Thelma said, “He’s always been a heavy drinker. That’s why he’ll not get beyond the two-reelers. He’ll die from his drinking one of these days.”
“I wish I could do something to help him, he’s so nice,” she worried.
“I tried to help him,” the other girl said. “So have a lot of others. It didn’t work. He wants to drown himself in drink. It’s hard to stop someone from trying to kill himself if he’s made up his mind to do it. And I’d say he did that the morning he learned that his wife had taken her life.”
“That probably has a lot to do with it,” she agreed.
“So let me be your friend,” the blonde said. “You need some new clothes, I can see that.”
“Not until after I get my first paycheck.”
“You should do it right away.”
“I can’t,” she protested. “I haven’t the money.”
“I can let you have some,” Thelma said. “You can pay me back.”
“Sorry. I make it a rule not to borrow.”
“Whatever you like,” the other girl said. “Billy will likely want to fit you out with a wardrobe. He’ll need to so you’ll look good in his comedies.”
“We’ll see,” Nita said. “I suppose we’d better go back in.”
They returned to the party which was going on at an even livelier rate than before. A girl was on top of a table dancing, her short skirt was flying in the breeze showing that she wore little or nothing under it. The males were crowded around the table laughing and applauding.
“Clara Bow!” Thelma said with annoyance. “Crazy-headed! I don’t know what they see in her!”
“She’s very popular with movie audiences,” Nita pointed out.
“Not with me, she isn’t,” Thelma snapped.
It was then that Billy came towards them. He looked pale and weary and he halted before them with a look of curiosity. “What are you two conspiring about?”
“Not a thing,” Thelma told him with an arch smile. “I’ve been handing the little girl some good advice.”
“Coming from you, I’m sure it was the best,” Billy said with a wry look.
Thelma laughed. “You know me, kid!” And with that she moved on and left them.
Billy gave Nita a tired glance. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough. We’re starting work early tomorrow. And it will be a long day.”
“And all new to me,” she agreed. “I’d like to go home!”
He looked pleased. “Good! I’ll find Murphy!” And he left her in search of their driver.
Nita moved away from the excitement in the living room and went out to the reception hall to stand by the front door. She had only been there a moment when the front door opened and a distraught-looking Charles Ray entered dragging and half-supporting a slim, good-looking dark man with his hair parted in the middle. Nita thought he looked vaguely familiar.
Charles Ray halted for a moment with his drunken friend leaning on him, and said, “Are you leaving so soon?”
“I have to,” she said. “I’m working early in the morning.”
“So am I,” the big moon-faced man said with a frown. “And it looks as if it’ll be morning before this breaks up!”
“I wish you luck,” she smiled. “I enjoyed it!”
“So did I,” the drunken man leaning on the host said, coming alert suddenly and smiling at her in drunken fashion. “Who are you? I’m Jack Pickford!”
“I knew I’d seen you on the screen,” she said. “I’m Nita Nolan.”
Pickford eyed her with drunken amusement, then turned to Charles Ray laughing and said, “This is little Nita Nobody! Nita Nobody!”
“Excuse him, please,” their host pleaded and then angrily to Jack Pickford, he said, “Come along!” And he dragged him off down the hall.
Nita watched in dismay and was glad when Billy appeared with Murphy waiting in the car outside. When she was in the car she told of her meeting with Jack Pickford.
Billy sighed. “Mary has spoiled him. No matter what he does it’s funny. And the sad part of it is he has plenty of talent. But he’s throwing it away!”
They were driving through the cool night air and darkness with Murphy sitting silently behind the wheel as he headed the open car homeward. She glanced at Billy and said, “May I make a comment?”
“Why not?” The comedian asked.
“I’ve never seen so many tense and unhappy people in one place,” she told him. “I thought vaudeville was filled with strange people, but Hollywood is worse!”
“You think so?”
“Yes. Everyone was drunk and there was so much hostility! And no one really respected Charles Ray and his wife as their hosts.”
“That’s Hollywood!”
“I don’t think I’m going to like it,” she said. “All these people who’ve seemed like gods and goddesses to me are less than pleasant!”
“The party did you some good then,” Billy said with a grim look her way. “Took the Stardust out of your eyes.”
“I’m not sure I’ll want to stay here,” Nita declared.
“There are a good many decent, happy people in the town,” Billy assured her. “You won’t find them on every corner. But they are here. And some great talents as well. Thomas Meighan, Billie Dove, Lila Lee and Milton Sills. They’re all good people whom you’d enjoy knowing.”
“I think your friend Thelma is nice,” she said.
“Go easy with her.”
“Why? I thought you and she were close.”
“We were once. Not anymore.”
“She seems independent and getting ahead.”
Billy nodded. “She’s had several good parts in Wallace Reid features lately.”
“Well, what’s wrong with her?”
The comedian was silent for a moment. Then he said, “I may be wrong. But I’ve heard some strange stories lately. Someone who knows Thelma well told me that both she and Wally have been taking drugs.”
She gasped. “I can’t believe it! Wallace Reid is a fine looking man! He’d never take drugs!”
“The way I heard it he’s been addicted a long while,” Billy said in a tired voice. “And he’s been trying
to start Thelma on them. But it may all be gossip. It can be venomous in this town!”
“I’m sure that it has to be,” she said defiantly. “I like Thelma and I can’t see Wallace Reid as a drug addict.”
Billy didn’t argue with her. By this time they were only a short distance from his house. When he later saw her inside he said goodnight and gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead. She went on to her own room much confused by the unusual evening. If all she had heard was true, Hollywood was worse than the most narrow-minded bigot might imagine.
Mrs. Case came with her breakfast at dawn the next morning. And by seven o’clock Murphy was driving Nita and Billy to the small studio where the two reelers were put together. In addition to the back lot Billy explained they often went out into the Hollywood streets for location backgrounds.
Murphy drove up to gates with a small guard house and an attendant inside, who let them pass inside. Within a few minutes they parked opposite an area where camera men and prop men were already at work. It was a mock street scene with a bake shop and a police station featured in the backdrops. Some actors in comedy police costumes were standing about in groups talking gravely.
Billy stood with her a moment. “Well, here it is,” he said. “Here is where the miracles come to pass!”
She laughed. “The street scene looks familiar.”
“It should. We use it over and over. Sometimes we change the shop names. A bakery becomes a clothing store or the police station becomes city hall or a fire station.”
A nervous looking man with a tanned face and his cap on backwards came towards them. In his hand was a megaphone.
He said, “Hello, Billy! Who’s the new doll?”
“This is Nita Nolan,” Billy said. “She’s going to play the baker’s daughter.” And then to her, “This is Johnny Dale, our director. He can really help you!”
“I’m happy to meet you, Mr. Dale,” she told him.
His black eyes snapped and his thin face showed disdain. “Unless you’ve got more than a nice face and figure you’ll hate me! This comedy stuff requires talent.”
“I think I can catch on,” she said. “I’ve watched a lot of movies and I’ve worked in vaudeville.”
Johnny Dale looked slightly less disgusted. “At least you have some experience. Most of the dames they bring me are straight out of Woolworth’s!”
“I’ve never done that to you,” Billy chided him.
Johnny was studying her. “You got strong legs and lots of wind?”
“I’ve done a lot of dancing,” she ventured.
“Good,” he said. “In this comedy you do a lot of running in and out of the bakery when the fellows from the police station try to steal samples of your father’s cooking. You run in and out after them, slap them in the face with pies and such.”
Billy smiled at her. “A real art form!”
“If it makes people laugh, I’m satisfied,” she said.
“That’s the idea,” the director told her. “Keep that in your mind all the time! All of us here are supposed to be funny! And you have to make faces and not worry about not looking pretty!”
“I understand,” she said.
“Okay,” the brusque little man in the turned-around cap said. “After you’re made up, come out and be ready to work. When you’re on just do what I tell you! I’ll be shouting directions all the time. If you do anything wrong just keep on until you get it right.”
The director went on his way and Billy took her to a row of makeshift bungalows. He pointed to one, “That’s the women’s make-up room. I’ll see you on the set.”
She entered the room and found a harried looking man of middle age making up a stout, character woman. There were also two younger women waiting for his talents.
The little bald man frowned at her and groaned, “Another one!”
She sat and smiled politely though she felt very discouraged. Last night she’d been disillusioned at a Hollywood party, and now she was seeing the drab, factory-like operation the making of pictures was. She felt a great longing to be back with Sherman Kress, Madame Irma, Percy the seal and the others.
What would Marty have made of it all? If Billy were right, and he probably was, Marty would have conquered the town with his Irish charm and talent. Then no doubt he would have joined the suicide brigade to drink himself to death. Marty had wanted her to share his Hollywood chance. Now she was facing the big opportunity alone. For his sake she couldn’t give up easily.
The make-up man roused her from her reverie with a curt, “All right, you’re next!”
She went and sat on the stool which the others had vacated. He glared at her and said, “What role are you playing?”
“The baker’s daughter.”
He looked impressed. “That’s the lead, next to Billy.” He went about completing her make-up. When he’d finished and she saw herself in the mirror she thought she looked like a witch, daubed with pasty yellow. But he seemed satisfied. He sent her on to another bungalow marked “Wardrobe.”
A woman with a foreign accent was in charge there. She asked Nita her role and when she learned it was the baker’s daughter, the wardrobe mistress gave Nita a dark brown dress. She warned her, “I haff only three of these. If you get them all dirty you’ll haff to vait until they’re vashed and dried. So be careful!”
“I’ll do my best,” Nita said wanly, taking the dresses with her into the tiny cubicle of a dressing room. She removed her own dress and put on the brown one. Then she went out to sit on a canvas chair behind the cameras.
The director was already at work with Billy and the policeman. Billy was having an argument with a fat policeman and when the fat one stuck his finger in his face, Billy bit it. This sent the fat man into a dancing rage as Billy ran off. The cameraman was busy filming the scene and the lighting man was adjusting his reflectors to get the best effect.
The director had Billy and the fat man repeat the scene two or three times. Then he ran another scene where the fat policeman and a thin one conferred in front of the bakery shop. It was clearly their plan to steal some dainties from it. The thin man stood guard while the fat policeman furtively made his way into the bakery.
There was much shouting by the director and changing of pace before he was satisfied with the results. Then he shouted into the megaphone, “The baker’s daughter!”
Nita came forward and stood by him. “Ready!”
The director scowled at her. “Your eye make-up is too heavy, but we can’t wait now. It will have to do. Now I’ll tell you what your action is!”
And he did. He took her behind the store front and explained that when the fat policeman came in and stole two pies she was to follow him out shouting. He was to stop and argue with her. She was to continue accusing him. The fat man would give the pies to his doleful thin accomplice to hold and then turn to shake her like a puppy. At that moment Billy would appear, see her plight, and taking the pies from the thin policeman, slap one of them into his face and then the other one into the fat policeman’s face. After which he would take Nita by the hand and rush her to safety inside the shop.
“Okay,” The director shouted. “Let’s do it!” He came forward and gave her further instructions about her timing and facial expressions. She listened carefully and tried to follow his instructions. Her first dress was stained with pie and she had to rush to the dressing room and don another. Then the filming resumed.
It seemed an age until the noon break. Nita had been told film acting was hard work. Now she really knew it. She joined Billy Bowers with a wry smile.
“What a morning!” she said.
“A good morning,” he told her. “You were great!”
“You honestly mean that?”
“I do,” he said. “And to prove it I’ll reward you. Go change and I’ll take you to lunch at the Master Films Commissary. It’s just across the street.”
“Have we time?”
“Plenty,” he said. “And the alternative is eating sa
ndwiches her from a truck which comes in to provide food and drink for the company. We aren’t rich enough to afford to dine in style.”
She smiled. “I won’t be long!”
He called after her, “Don’t take off your make-up. Just change your dress.”
So a few minutes later she found herself strolling across the street with Billy. She felt odd in her heavy make-up but she soon discovered all the other players took their lunch breaks with make-up on. The guard on duty at the Master Films gate recognized Billy and greeted him warmly. Nita walked into the wondrous world of major film making and saw that this was a truly busy lot.
They passed a set of ancient England with castle, moat and green fields surrounding it, then moved on to where a unit was still working. She was entranced to hear a trio of musicians playing romantic background music for the scene. It was an outdoor café and a tall, handsome man and a blonde girl sat across from each other at a sidewalk table conversing in an intimate fashion.
Billy told her, “That’s Rod La Roque and Vilma Banky. They’re very big at the box office these days.”
She was awed. “I never expected to see them in person!”
“You’ll see a lot of people here,” he said, amused.
They walked on to the commissary and found most of the tables occupied. Billy led her to the rear of the room and she recognized Dustin Farnum sitting talking to an elderly man as went by. She didn’t dare look around. It seemed there were familiar faces from the screen everywhere.
“I feel I don’t belong,” she said as she sat with Billy at the empty table he’d found.
“You will,” he promised her. “After you finish the film we’re working on today people will be seeing you on the screen. You’ll be one of us.”
She laughed. “It will be a long time before people point me out on the street.”
“It can happen quickly,” Billy said. “Look at Mabel Normand. She became famous almost overnight.”
The food was served buffet style from a long counter. Nita was too shy to want to stand in line, so she told Billy what she would like and he went off to bring back lunch for her and for himself.
She sat transfixed by the chatter of the glamorous group around her. One woman dominated a nearby table with her exotic looks, pale white skin and coal black hair drawn straight back from her forehead. She was surrounded by two men and two other women, none of whom were as stunning as she.
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