登陆注册
15290000000108

第108章

The scene with the letters followed. Clothes baskets of letters. His own work, as he opened a few from the top, was all that he could have wished. He was finely Harold Parmalee, and again the hoarse neighbour whispered, "Ain't he got Parmalee dead, though?""Poor, silly little girls!" the screen exclaimed, and the audience became noisy. Undoubtedly it was a tribute to his perfection in the Parmalee manner. But he was glad that now there would come acting at which no one could laugh. There was the delicatessen shop, the earnest young cashier and his poor old mother who mopped. He saw himself embrace her and murmur words of encouragement, but incredibly there were giggles from the audience, doubtless from base souls who were impervious to pathos. The giggles coalesced to a general laugh when the poor old mother, again mopping on the floor, was seen to say, "I hate these mopping mothers. You get took with house-maid's knee in the first reel."Again he was seized with a fear that one of Baird's staff had been clumsy with subtitles. His eyes flew to his own serious face when the silly words had gone.

The drama moved. Indeed the action of the shadows was swifter than he supposed it would be. The dissolute son of the proprietor came on to dust the wares and to elicit a laugh when he performed a bit of business that had escaped Merton at the time. Against the wire screen that covered the largest cheese on the counter he placed a placard, "Dangerous. Do not Annoy."Probably Baird had not known of this clowning. And there came another subtitle that would dismay Baird when the serious young bookkeeper enacted his scene with the proprietor's lovely daughter, for she was made to say: "You love above your station. Ours is 125th Street; you get off at 59th."He was beginning to feel confused. A sense of loss, of panic, smote him. His own part was the intensely serious thing he had played, but in some subtle way even that was being made funny. He could not rush to embrace his old mother without exciting laughter.

The robbery of the safe was effected by the dissolute son, the father broke in upon the love scene, discovered the loss of his money, and accused an innocent man. Merton felt that he here acted superbly. His long look at the girl for whom he was making the supreme sacrifice brought tears to his own eyes, but still the witless audience snickered. Unobserved by the others, the old mother now told her son the whereabouts of the stolen money, and he saw himself secure the paper sack of bills from the ice-box. He detected the half-guilty look of which he had spoken to Baird. Then he read his own incredible speech--"I better take this cool million. It might get that poor lad into trouble!" Again the piece had been hurt by a wrong subtitle. But perhaps the audience laughed because it was accustomed to laugh at Baird's productions. Perhaps it had not realized that he was now attempting one of the worth-while things.

This reasoning was refuted as he watched what occurred after he had made his escape.

His flight was discovered, policemen entered, a rapid search behind counters ensued. In the course of this the wire screen over the biggest cheese was knocked off the counter. The cheese leaped to the floor, and the searchers, including the policemen, fled in panic through the front door. The Montague girl, the last to escape, was seen to announce, "The big cheese is loose--it's eating all the little ones!"A band of intrepid firemen, protected by masks and armed with axes, rushed in. A terrific struggle ensued. The delicatessen shop was wrecked. And through it all the old mother continued to mop the floor. Merton Gill, who had first grown hot, was now cold. Icy drops were on his chilled brow. How had Hearts on Fire gone wrong?

Then they were in the great open spaces of the Come All Ye dance hall. There was the young actor in his Buck Benson costume, protecting his mother from the brutality of a Mexican, getting his man later by firing directly into a mirror--Baird had said it would come right in the exposure, but it hadn't. And the witless cackled.

He saw his struggle with the detective. With a real thrill he saw himself bear his opponent to the ground, then hurl him high and far into the air, to be impaled upon the antlers of an elk's head suspended back of the bar. He saw himself lightly dust his sleeves after this feat, and turn aside with the words, "That's one Lodge he can join."Then followed a scene he had not been allowed to witness. There swung Marcel, the detective, played too emphatically by the cross-eyed man. An antler point suspended him by the seat of his trousers.

He hung limply a moment, then took from his pocket a saw with which he reached up to contrive his release. He sawed through the antler and fell. He tried to stand erect, but appeared to find this impossible. A subtitle announced: "He had put a permanent wave in Marcel."This base fooling was continuously blown upon by gales of stupid laughter. But not yet did Merton Gill know the worst. The merriment persisted through his most affecting bit, the farewell to his old pal outside--how could they have laughed at a simple bit of pathos like that? But the watching detective was seen to weep bitterly.

"Look a' him doin' Buck Benson," urged the hoarse neighbour gleefully. "You got to hand it to that kid--say, who is he, anyway?"Followed the thrilling leap from a second-story window to the back of the waiting pal. The leap began thrillingly, but not only was it shown that the escaping man had donned a coat and a false mustache in the course of his fall, but at its end he was revealed slowly, very slowly, clambering into the saddle!

They had used here, he saw, one of those slow cameras that seem to suspend all action interminably, a cruel device in this instance.

And for his actual escape, when he had ridden the horse beyond camera range at a safe walk, they had used another camera that gave the effect of intense speed. The old horse had walked, but with an air of swiftness that caused the audience intense delight.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 唇属预谋

    唇属预谋

    一声不响消失四年的未婚夫突然出现,依旧帅得飞沙走石。夏晚决定,再拔足倒追一次!靳一城,你可以走进我的世界,但不能在我的世界走来走去!这是一个关于那些年栽手里的男神的故事。
  • 明星欧巴:该选谁

    明星欧巴:该选谁

    爱得深沉,爱到痛,爱你伤我不懂爱,我付出
  • 轩辕本经

    轩辕本经

    上古时期,轩辕皇帝大战蚩尤,蚩尤坐下大将刑天被黄帝于逐鹿之野斩其首,但其魂不灭,黄帝无法将其杀死便把其首以五行八卦阵封印葬于苍北山底,刑天失去头颅便无法走出逐鹿之野也就不足为虑,蚩尤最后以战败而终,被黄帝所杀,其身葬于殇阳关,其首镇压于不周山,而黄帝以防其日后复活为祸人间更是传下轩辕本经交由后人修炼,代代相传,而黄帝更是以大神通于昆仑山之间以二十八星宿之位建立了一所大殿交由修炼本经之人居住,于此便天下太平,而千百年后的神州大地将又会是怎样呢?
  • 听说我们的相遇很浪漫

    听说我们的相遇很浪漫

    “林越,我201314!”“乐司沅,我201314!”多年之后林越每回想起当年他们婚礼上的誓词总会忍不住的大笑,因为这是乐司沅很少展现出来最蠢最二的一面。
  • 重生之捕嫁君妃

    重生之捕嫁君妃

    穿越成丞相府的草包大小姐,脑子里多了原主前世今生的记忆,原以为可以浑个风声水起,谁知道跌落谷底。既然玩不了宅斗宫斗,那就带着包子种种田抓抓贼,可有孩子他爹却不同意……
  • 无限狂暴升级

    无限狂暴升级

    主角穿越至各个位面,无限狂暴升级,你我的狂暴升级,要不要一起来?狂暴狂暴狂暴,重要的事情说三遍,求推荐票,求分享,求评论,五星。谢谢
  • 混沌痕

    混沌痕

    一个奇妙的世界,有神秘的魔法师与缥缈的修真者,无敌的东方武者和强大的西方武士。血与泪的传说,凄美绝伦的爱情,东方神龙与西方巨龙共舞,不同的种族各显风采。。。。撞出炫丽的火花又有一颗神秘的混沌珠,引来各方强者的争夺掀起一场又一场的腥风血雨。。。
  • 你若相伴,便是无憾

    你若相伴,便是无憾

    不知是谁,让她变成了孤儿,没关系,她会自力更生,可,真的会吗?呵,可笑,没关系,幸好有他,温暖的手,提她解围。可是。。。。“这是一百万”这是谁说的话,如此的冰冷?她拖着疲惫的身子离开了之后,她竞变成了华丽丽的公主究竟为什么呢?(哈呵呵哈哈哈哈哈哈,看文就知道)
  • 工厂幽魂

    工厂幽魂

    一个工厂频繁出事故出人命,甚至有人离奇死亡,这个工厂里面肯定有鬼……
  • 丧尸档案

    丧尸档案

    公元2020年,环境收到严重破坏,大气污染,太阳辐射,以及河流污染导致,地球上的物种一一开始灭绝,人类因为有着高度的医疗技术才拥有少数的人类存活下来,,人口数量从2013年的60亿一顿减少到如今的18亿左右,而在这些人类中一半以上因为环境污染问题而带有疾病,未来在这个地球继续生存,人们开始全力回复环境,由于人类不懈努力的回复环境,使得污染渐渐控制下来。但是随着人类的渐渐死亡新一轮的疾病使医学家们束手无策。在这个时候玛雅医药公司诞生了,玛雅公司集合了全世界的药物研发者通过不懈努力,提取受放射性污染的植物以及地心不知名的物质,研发出了许多的药物,并且效果显著,很多疾病患者得到解救。