Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West

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"Were you in that picture of the falling wall?" asked Beth.

"No. We were rehearsing for 'Samson and Delilah.' But sometimes we

are called upon to do curious things. One night, not long ago, a big

residence burned down in the foothills back of our hotel. At the

first alarm of fire one of the directors wakened us and we jumped

into our clothes and were whisked in an automobile to the scene of

the conflagration. The camera-man was already there and, while we

had to dodge the fire-fighters and the hose men, both Flo and I

managed to be 'saved from the flames' by some of our actors--not

once, but several times."

"It must have been thrilling!" gasped Patsy.

"It was exciting, at the moment," confessed Maud. "One of the pictures

proved very dramatic, so an author wrote a story where at the climax a

girl was rescued from the flames by her lover, and we took our time to

act the several scenes that led up to the fire. The completed picture was

a great success, I'm told."

"Those directors must be wonderfully enterprising fellows," said Beth.

"They are, indeed, constantly on the lookout for effects. Every incident

that occurs in real life is promptly taken advantage of. The camera-men

are everywhere, waiting for their chance. Often their pictures prove of

no value and are destroyed, but sometimes the scenes they catch are very

useful to work into a picture play. A few weeks ago I was shipwrecked on

the ocean and saved by clinging to a raft. That was not pleasant and I

caught a severe cold by being in the water too long; but I was chosen

because I can swim. Such incidents are merely a part of our game--a game

where personal comfort is frequently sacrificed to art. Once Flo leaped

over a thirty-foot precipice and was caught in a net at the bottom. The

net was, of course, necessary, but when the picture was displayed her

terrible leap was followed by a view of her mangled body at the bottom of

the canyon."

"How did they manage to do that?" asked Patsy.

"Stopped the camera, cut off the piece of film showing her caught by the

net, and substituted a strip on which was recorded Flo's body lying among

the jagged rocks, where it had been carefully and comfortably arranged.

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