“Not so very old. Two or three months ago Cecil de Mille gave it on the air. I thought I’d like to see the picture if it ever was revived. Last night I discovered it was showing at a neighborhood playhouse. What’s the matter, Joe?”
His inattention was gone. “You mean you heard a short radio version and then wanted to see the complete picture?”
“Why, yes. I suppose what I heard whetted my appetite for more. Is that so strange?”
“I suppose not,” Joe said slowly. “Does it happen often?”
“To me? It’s happened several times. It’s happened to my sister. It’s happened to people I know. You do think it’s strange, don’t you?”
“Strange isn’t the word,” said Joe. He shook off a hovering waitress. “No dessert; I’m in a hurry.” Miss Robb’s face showed relief as he stood up to go. He shook that off, too. Strangeness lay in the fact that this had been in front of him all the time and that he hadn’t seen it.
Royal Street swallowed him and hurried him along with the crowd. Thomas Carlin Presents To-day’s Book! He’d always felt there was a way for his father to put on a broadcast and sell books. The movies did a selling stunt every day. COMING ATTRACTIONS, and then half a dozen shots from next week’s picture. The trick was to dramatize a scene from a book and make people want to read the whole book. Vic probably wouldn’t use him until next Monday’s show. He had almost a whole week.
The Thomas Carlin store was busy with men and women from the tall office buildings, shopping during the lunch hour. One of the clerks raised a cupped hand to his lips and Joe shook his head. No; he wasn’t back on the air. His father was out.
“I want a book,” he said eagerly to Mr. Fairchild, his father’s assistant. “I don’t care whether it’s an old book or a new book, but it must be a good book with lots of action.”
“The jitterbug influence,” Mr. Fairchild smiled.