Page:Screenland October 1923.djvu/79

I lasted about twenty seconds. It was a trick horse. The rest you can guess. I landed a fall instead of a job.

⸿ "Iris in" on Hollywood as the film folk know it.

FOOLS
GOLD

The Diary of an Extra Girl

The Diary Continues From February 1923

Versatile Vera

"If I can't do anything else when I get to Hollywood, I'll do extra work"—I'd like to het that nine out of ten of you aspirants to movie fame have secretly admitted this to yourselves. But you little dream that what is demanded of us in extra work is ten times more than what is demanded of a star.

For one all too short period of my Hollywood career, I Ritzed about like a Jazz-Queen. Didn't I have a job at $150 a week with Gilbert Tarryton? I did—for two weeks. But Nemesis still pursued me. The "Hell's Litany" company went broke and my contract was a scrap of paper. When I found myself outside the studio doors, well then—I jumped at whatever came my way.

One day a call came from Hope Hampton's director. Was there a girl at the Studio Club who could both sing and play the piano very well, and both at the same time? Anyhow, the job was wished on me. I reported at nine A. M. on Sunday morning at a little Victrola and music store on Broadway in Los Angeles. I was to be an "ivory tickler" who jazzed off popular melodies, chewed gum and sang—over and over again, the two or three hits of the hour. This sounds easy. Try it sometime.

I sang and chewed and pounded till I was dizzy, but I felt an utter failure that night. I needed the seven fifty they gave me for the day's work, or I'd have mailed it back. I knew I didn't make the grade.

Could I Roller-Skate?

The next day the Service Bureau wanted three girls to roller-skate. Again I was pushed in on the job. This time I had no fear, because as a child I used to neglect the higher branches to improve the lower limbs. Many a time and oft, have I "hookied it" from school to roller-skate around Mt. Tom on Riverside Drive.

So, forgetting the years that have intervened, I vowed to the director that I could skate. So I was promised three days' work oh my glib assurances.

My first hours on those skates! Trying to look graceful, keep my balance, and talk naturally to the spectators made one of the most painful memories of my life. Again I barely made the grade. However, I now feel I must practice roller-skating several hours daily, so I won't feel a fool if ever (large if) another chance comes to do roller skating. I might be called on to double for a star, or I might be a star myself some day.

A girl I knew called me up and told me there was a great job coming up at Ince. Just a few girls to be used all through a picture in riding habits. She knew I'd get it if I went out all dressed up in a stunning habit. She had done this and had landed the job.

The next day the casting director called me up about this. He said,

"Put on your habit and come right out. I can promise sixty-five dollars a week for several weeks."

Scattering cats! All the money I could borrow in one's, two's and five's I gathered together, went forth and bought me a real riding habit—latest model, all wool; rented a taxi and drove in state to Culver City. They liked my looks. They led me to a path and helped me mount a horse. A trick horse. I lasted about twenty seconds. The rest you will guess. I landed a fall instead of the job, and I tore a large hole in my brand new riding breeches. They have never graced my girlish figure since