a "retake," as it is called, the bane alike of camera men
and directors.

And while the girls--the moving picture girls--are on their way to do
over a bit of work, I shall take the opportunity of telling my new
readers something about Ruth and Alice DeVere.

I have called them just what they are: "The Moving Picture Girls," and
that is the title of the first volume of this series, which depicts them
and their adventures.

Their mother had died some years previously, leaving them to the care of
their father, Hosmer DeVere, at one time a talented actor in the
legitimate drama. But a throat affection forced him to give up his
acting and, at the opening scene in the first volume, we find him and
his daughters in rather straitened circumstances, living in a
second-rate apartment house in New York.

Across the hall dwelt Russ Dalwood, with his mother. Russ was a "camera
man." That is, he took moving pictures in the big studios and out of
doors for the Comet Film Company, of which Mr. Frank Pertell was manager
and director.

It was Russ who suggested to Mr. DeVere a way out of his troubles. He
could not act in the "legitimate," as his voice was gone; but no voice
is needed to appear on the films for the movies, since a mere motion of
the lips suffices, when any speaking is to be done. The "silent drama"
has been the salvation of many an actor who, if he had to declaim his
lines, would be a failure.

At first Mr. DeVere would not hear of acting before the camera, but he
soon came to know that greater actors than he had fallen in line with
the work, especially since the pay was so large, and finally he
consented. An account of his success and of the entrance of his
daughters into the field is given in the initial book.

Ruth, the elder girl, was, like her father, of a romantic turn. Also she
was rather tall and willowy, as Mr. DeVere had been before he had taken
on flesh with the passing of the years; and she was cast for parts that
suited her type. She was deliberate in her actions, and in "registry."

Alice, like her late mother, was warm-hearted and impulsive, plump,
vivacious and full of fun. Both girls were excellent movie actresses. In
the company they had joined was Mr. Wellington Bunn, an old actor, who
hoped, some day, to appear in Hamlet--Hamlet in the legitimate.

Paul Ardite, who played light parts, had become very fond of Alice.
Russ Dalwood had a liking for Ruth, and the four had many pleasant hours
in e