Billy Fenstow caught the sneer in her voice and turned quickly.
“You know, Miss Jackson, you don’t have to work in this picture if you don’t want to. There are plenty of blondes would jump at the chance to play this lead.”
“Oh, calm down, Billy. Just because one of the girls is Henry Thorne’s daughter, you don’t need to get on your high horse when I make a harmless wisecrack.”
But Helen had her own ideas about Bertie Jackson’s wisecrack and she resolved to watch the pallid blonde. Bertie, if it served her own purpose, was quite capable of doing any number of mean tricks.
The morning passed rapidly with costume assignments being made. There were a number of interior shots of the ranch house which would be necessary and these scenes had already been erected on stage nine.
Janet and Helen would have their first scenes tomorrow, but they remained on hand to watch the first shots of the picture and to attempt to get acquainted with other members of the company. Most of them were friendly enough, but they seemed to feel that the girls had deliberately been put into the cast through Henry Thorne’s influence and Helen voiced her belief quietly.
“We’ve got to expect that,” admitted Janet, “but we don’t need to let it spoil all of our fun.”
Whatever she might have thought of Bertie Jackson from a standpoint of personality, Janet had to admit that the actress was a thorough workman and she went through her rôle in an easy and screen-appealing manner. In makeup Curt Newsom appeared much younger than the forty years he was willing to admit.
The next morning Janet and Helen reached the lot early. Although not their first scene in the picture, the first one in which they were to be shot showed them arriving at the ranchhouse.
Simple travelling costumes had been assigned by the wardrobe department, but Roddy stepped in and quietly added a touch or two that made them distinctive. Janet could almost hear Bertie Jackson hissing. It was an unheard of thing for Roddy to pay any attention to the costume worn by a minor character in a western or any other character in a picture of that type.