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Page 25
"See if you can hear anything about those performers," Ruth wrote to
Tom. "Get word if you can to the Chief of the Osage Indians and tell him
that his daughter is with me, and that she longs for his return.
"I should love to make her happy by aiding in Chief Totantora's
reappearance in his native land. She is so sad, indeed, that I wonder if
she is going to be able to register, for the screen, the happiness that
she should finally show when my picture is brought to its conclusion."
CHAPTER X
ONE NEW YORK DAY
That "happy ending" became a matter of much thought on Ruth's part, and
the cause of not a little argument between her and Mr. Hammond when he
came up to Cheslow and the Red Mill to discuss "Brighteyes" with its
youthful author. He had come, too, to get a glimpse of Wonota in the
flesh.
One of the first things Ruth had done when the Indian girl came under
her care was to take Wonota to Cheslow and have the best photographer of
the town take several "stills" of the Indian girl. Copies of these she
had sent to the Alectrion Film Corporation, and word had come back from
both Mr. Hammond and his chief director that the photographs of Wonota
were satisfactory.
The president of the film company, however, was interested in talking
with Wonota and judging as far as possible through cursory examination
just how much there was to the girl.
"What has she got in her? That is what we want to know," he said to
Ruth. "Can she get expression into her face? Can she put over feeling?
We want something besides mere looks, Miss Ruth, as you very well know."
"I realize all that," the girl of the Red Mill told him earnestly. "But
remember, Mr. Hammond, you cannot judge this Osage girl by exactly the
same standards as you would a white girl!"
"Why not? She's got to be able to show on the screen the deepest
feelings of her nature--"
"Not if you would have my 'Brighteyes' true to life," interrupted Ruth
anxiously. "You must not expect it."
"Why not?" he demanded again, with some asperity. "We don't want to show
the people a dummy. I tell you the public is getting more and more
critical. They won't stand for just pretty pictures. The actors In them
must express their thoughts and feelings as they do in real life."
"Exactly!" Ruth hastened to say. "That is what I mean. My 'Brighteyes'
is a full-blooded Indian maiden just like Wonota. Now, you talk with
Wonota--try to get to the very heart of the girl. Then you will see."
"See what?" he demanded, staring.
"What you will see," returned Ruth, with a laugh. "Go ahead and get
acquainted with Wonota. Meanwhile I will be getting this condensed plot
of the story into shape for us to talk over. I must rewrite that street
scene again, I fear. And, of course, we are in a hurry?"
"Always," grumbled the producer. "We must start for our Western location
as soon as possible; but the New York scenes must be shot first."
It was a fine day, and the shore of the Lumano River offered a pleasant
prospect for out-of-door exercise, and after he had spent more than an
hour walking about with Wonota, the canny Mr. Hammond obtained, he said,
a "good line" on the character and capabilities of the Indian girl.
"You had me guessing for a time, Miss Ruth," he laughingly said to the
girl of the Red Mill. "I did not know what you were hinting at I see it
now. Wonota is a true redskin. We read about the stoicism of her race,
but we do not realize what that means until we try to fathom an Indian's
deeper feelings.
"I talked with her about her father. She is very proud of him, this
Totantora, as she calls him. But only now and then does she express (and
that in a flash) her real love and admiration for him.
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