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About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1929)
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1929. PAGE THREE Mr BY FRANK EABAJW rPIttU5TRATED BY FRANK B. PRVEW Second Installment WHAT HAPPENED BO FAB Tom BUbeck is the narrator. He in a iat newspaper writer who drives a tumble-down car he calls Grandmother Page. He la In love with Maryella, his rival being Jim Cooper. The three are members of an amateur dramatic group. Plans for a play at the Old Soldiers' Home are under way. Grandmother Page has engine trouble while Mary ella is out driving with Bilbeck, and Cooper. Daasintr In a hie ronHHtpr taunts him. After Maryella has left Bilbeck Is able to start his car again. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY CHAPTER II. Rhanul Our version of "Pygmalion and Galatea" would doubtless surprise you if you are at all familiar with the original, In which Pygmalion is the artist and carves the lady in the sketch out of a block of mar ble. We started out to rehearse it that way, but ran into difficulties when the matter of costumes came up for discussion. It seemed advisable that the statue should wear white tights and white grease paint on the face in order to carry out the illusion. All the ladles of the club were quite content that it should be so, but when it came to assign ing the parts each and every one refused to be Galatea. For a time It looked as if we would have to fall back on some little sketch of Shakespeare's until Maryella made the practical sug gestion that we change the story. Her idea was to make Galatea a sculptorlne who hammers a hunk of stone into a beautiful male statue by the name of Pygmalion. Can you imagine an anti-feminist thinking up a thought like that? Maryella's suggestion carried. As the literary man of the organization, I was appointed to doctor up the manuscript to fit the change of characters. Later, much to my sur prise and in spite of my protests, the stellar role of Pygmalion was forced upon me. To-night was to be the dress re hearsal and on the following eve ning we were scheduled to give a trial performance in the barn at the Old Soldiers' Home. The trial per formance was for the double pur pose of getting easy in our parts and of making the old soldiers real ize that war is not so terrible after all. When I returned to my bachelor rooms in town I had only time to change to some dry clothing and hurry over to the rehearsal without getting anything to eat Food did not appeal to me anyway. Neither did anything else least of all re hearsing a lot of fool love-talk. My own romance had suffered such a disheartening set-back that I was In no mood to enact the role of a hand-hammered Romeo of myth ology. But I went just the same. You know how hard it is to step out of the routine business of your life Just because some disaster has be fallen you. Your perceptions be come numbed and you wonder vaguely why the sun Is shining, but you go on doing the things that are expected of you just as you have al ways done. "Business as usual" is not the motto of an exceptional nation. It is the underlying principle of the progress of the human race. The Sheridan Dramatic Club had borrowed for rehearsals the stage of the local opera house, which was vacant that week. It was there that I wended my disconsolate way. I was late, but it didn't make much difference, as all during the first act the statue of Pygmalion was a papier-mache figure. Be tween the acts I was supposed to take the place of the statue in the same pose so that a little later I could come to life In response of Galatea's wish. When I came in they were re hearsing with the dummy. Every thing appeared to be going very well. Maryella looked absolutely ravishing in the Greek drapery, and Jim Cooper was doing the best he could to impersonate a skinny Greek warrior. He was even thinner than I had suspected. As a Highlander he would never be a conspicuous suc cess. Any one could tell that at a glance. The part of a young sculptur's ap prentice was taken by Mrs. Hem mingway, a dazzling blond who was worth going miles to behold in a Greek tunic and sandals. She wouldn't have fooled any one but a blind man into thinking she was a boy, but nobody minded that. She had talents enough to get into a Zlegfeld chorus any day. There were a dozen other parts played with Intent to kill in the good old amateur way. I discovered former male friends hidden behind bushy beards that dropped off oc casionally at a critical moment, leaving the actor bald-faced and speechless; and ladies I used to know disguised as Hellenic maidens by doing their hair into a Psyche knot and trimming their best night ies with a Greek key-design and an occasional swastika. Off stage, doing a piece of em broidery while she waited for her cue, was Mrs. George P. Lillielove, the wife of the most popular under taker in town. In Greek robes Mrs. Lillielove looked almost exactly like a haystack with a tarpaulin over it I slipped into my dressing-room unobserved. My costume was there. I had not seen it before, so I was a trifle surprised at the bulk of it. The whole thing could have been put in the pocket of a dress waist coat without spoiling the shape of it any. It was silk and white, but it seemed awfull thin. I played safe by wearing my underwear be neath it There was no full-length mirror In my room, so I could not get the entire effect, but it looked all right as far as I could see. It was easy to make up my face all white and put on a white wig which was pro vided for me. I slipped on my over coat over the costume to step up on the stage. The curtain was down between the acts. I took my place on the pedestal, slightly nervous but deter mined to get through somehow if the seams of the tights did their part. The stage was dimly illum inated with blue moonlight. Just before the curtain rose I dropped the overcoat behind me. I stood motionless during the In troductory music. There was a nutter of surprise among the mem bers of the club who were not on the stage at that moment and had stepped out into the auditorium to steal a look from the other side of the footlights. It must have been beautiful. I know I was conscious of looking well in that pose and lighting. I flexed my muscles to make them stand out better. Galatea entered. She was dressed in a gold-trimmed robe. On her neck was a single strand of beau tiful pearls. I recognized them as Mrs. Hctnmingway's. Maryella had borrowed them because their owner couldn't wear them for the perfor mance, as she was playing the part of a boy. It is Astonishing -what an improvement can be made in a plalnj house by the magic of saw and hammer, boards and paint. The old house is transformed. A' new porch some better windows a dormer or two and you would scarcely know the old house.' The shifting of a partition a new oak floor, built in kitchen cabinets or a window seat wilT often render the interior home more inviting and comfortable. A few hundred dollars spent for material in improving an old house frequent ly adds a thousand to its selling price. Come in and let us tell you how reasonable, remodeling costs are just at this time. Remodeling Books With "Before and After" Pictures At Your Service. Galatea's eyes were on the floor, pensive. She came slowly to the pedestal on which I stood. She knelt She looked up. She held her pose for a long time without saying a word without ex pressing even a whispered wish that I would came to life. Maryella was wordless. "What's the trouble?" inquired the coach, who stood, book in hand, just over the foot-lights "Miss Waite, your line is, 'My dearest wish' " "No," she stopped him impatient ly. "I know my lines. It's the statue." Her tone was full of vexation. "What's the matter?" I inquired, without abandoning my attitude. "This is the same pose I've been taking every night at rehearsal ever since we began." "It isn't that' You are bow-legged." She spoke accusingly, as if I had made a blunder of some sort on purpose. "Oh!" That was a sensitive subject with me. "I didn't know there was any thing criminal in being slightly curved. It really comes from strength. Lots of men are." "But no one ever saw a bow-leg ged statue before," she argued pet ulantly. "I don't care personally. I suppose that lots of really estima ble men have personal peculiarities; but can you imagine a sculptor cre ating a statue intentionally bow- legged? Why didn't you tell me?" "Well," I temporized, "I didn t think I knew you well enough for that." 'The play is ruined," she declared. "Not at all," I said with as much injured dignity as I could command in white tights. "You can easily get someone else to play this part. If you look around the club you can doubtless find someone with legs like bean-poles." She knew whom I meant without my explaining more particularly. "Come, people," interrupted the coach pleasantly. "We mustn't waste time. Remember there is a lot to do before we leave here this evening." "Don't be silly," she replied. "No one else could learn the part in time." "Why not try Btanding sideways to the audience all the time," sug gested Jim Cooper, who with his nose-glasses on and a cigarette in his mouth was the beau ideal of a Greek warrior. "I know what to do." Mrs. Hemmlngway came to the rescue with a practical suggestion. "You can buy a pair of those things that chorus girls wear some times symmetricals, I think they are called." "Oh!" said several of the ladies at once, looking pointedly at Mrs. Hemmingway's shapely substruc ture. "No, I don't wear them myself," she assured them in response to the unspoken question, "but I've heard that there are such things." "All right," said the coach. "Go on with the dialogue." The balance of the act was plow ed through somehow. I had to play several love-scenes with Maryella, but I was so acutely conscious of her criticism that I did them very badly. The only scene that I played with any enthusiasm was one in which I was supposed to wrestle with Jim Cooper in the role of the Greek warrior. Even that turned out ill for me because it made his head ache where I bumped it on the stage, and Maryella hovered over him like a hen with chickens all during the intermission while they were setting the stage for the third act I got tired of listening to her sym pathizing with him and went out in the auditorium by myself. I did not care to talk to any one. To criticize my acting was one thing, but to make personal remarks about the shape of my legs was go ing too far. I made up my mind to withdraw from the Sheridan Dramatic Club as soon as the performance of "Pyg malion and Galatea" was over. I would not leave them in the lurch now, as I might do and wreck the entire performance; but as soon as it would not be conspicuous I would assert by dignity and resign on the ground that it took too much of my time. I admired Maryella, but she could hardly expect me to stand for being made .fun of before Jim Cooper. "I think it is an awfully funny play, don't you " inquired a voice behind me. I looked around. In the aisle stood Mrs. Hemmlngway, a plump sylph in the half-light of the audi torium. She apparently wanted to sit down, so I made room for her beside me. "You think it is quite funny?" I repeated interrogatively. "Yes. I didn't realize it so much until I saw the costumes. I didn't know you were going to be a clown." She pointed to my white face. I suppose she would have laughed herself sick at the Venus de Mllo. Mrs. Hemmlngway Is a movie fan, and her sense of humor must have been curdled by this comic-fall stuff. Here I was gotten up to represent a beautiful work of the sculptor's art and she had missed the idea entire ly and thought I was meant to be funny! "The best scene, she went on, in nocently endeavoring to flatter me, "is where you tell Maryella you love her there in the garden. It was bet ter than Charlie Chaplin." And that scene was pure poetry! I wrote it myself, so I am sure of it 'Thank you very much for your appreciation," I said, wishing that she were a man so that I could say what I really thought. "You've no idea how your praise makes me feel." "I'm glad. I thought you were sort of blue over here all by your self so I decided to cheer you up." Then she added hastily for fear she had ruined the effect of her praise! "I really meant what I said though about your being funny. The dear little featherhead was trying to make me feel good! She was prompted by the instinct that makes one woman try to heal the hurts inflicted by another. I was a bear not to accept her tribute in the spirit in which it was offered. "Thanks ever so much," I assured her, and reaching over carelessly I patted her hand, which lay idly on PHONE or leave orders at Phelps Grocery Co. Home Phone 1102 HEPPNER TRANS FER COMPANY Oh, Boy! They're Good! Have you tried our delicious ice cream so das, Sundaes, or milk shakes? Ice cold drinks of all kinds at all times at our fountain. AND A GOOD ME At ANY TIME ELKHORN RESTAURANT ED CHINN, Prop. Ullllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!lllllllllllllllllllllll i FELT RUG i I SPECIAL i I 9 x 12 Feet $5.99 I I 3 x 6 Feet . . . 99C I I 15x27 Inches.. 9C I I CASH PRICES ONLY I I Case Furniture Co. riiiiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiR her knee. As I did so a strong hand came down on my shoulder and, heavy man though I am, I was hoisted bodily from my seat to the aisle. "I caught you, didn't I?" hissed an angry voice. 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