"Yes; there's no doubt about that."
"Well, those are all written by me. I mean, of course, all those that a certain film company requires."
"Marvellous," I said.
"I not only compose them—and it requires thought and compression, I can tell you—but I copy them out for the photographer too."
"Is that why they're always in the same handwriting?" I asked.
"Yes, that's it," he said. "It's mine."
"Then you can tell me something I have always wanted to know," I said. "I have noticed that when a letter written, say, by the Duke of Pemmican is thrown on the screen it is always signed 'Duke of Pemmican.' Why is that? In real life wouldn't he sign it 'Pemmican'?"
"He might," said my companion. "I don't know; but what I do know is that the cinema public expects a duke to call himself a duke; and we pride ourselves on giving them what they want."
"If you were making King George write a letter," I said, "would he sign himself 'King George'?"
"Certainly," he replied. "Why not? That's a good idea, anyway. A film with a letter from the King in it would go. As it is, his only place in a cinema has been to indicate—by the appearance of his portrait on the screen—that the show is over. It isn't fair that he should come to be looked upon as a spoil-sport like that. It has a bad effect on the young. Many thanks for your suggestion. I'll give him a show with a letter."