ach other's company.

Pearl Pennington was the leading lady at times, and was rather disposed
to domineer over our girls, as was her chum, Laura Dixon. Mrs. Maguire
was the "mother" of the film company. She portrayed old lady parts, and
her two grandchildren, Tommie and Nellie, the orphans, were cast for
characters suitable to them.

Carl Switzer, a German-American, did comedy parts and was a good fellow,
though occasionally he would unconsciously say some very funny things.
His opposite in character was Pepper Sneed, the grouch of the company.
But Pepper could do valuable work, especially as a villain, and so he
was kept on. As for Pop Snooks, the company could not have got along
without him. It was Pop, the property man of the company, who made many
of the devices used when the company went to "Oak Farm," as told in the
second volume, where scenes for farm dramas were filmed. Pop could use a
drawbridge in one scene, and, in the next, convert it into a perfectly
good cow-barn. Pop was a valuable man.

There were other members of the company, of more or less importance,
whom you will meet as this story progresses.

It was in the third volume of the series, "The Moving Picture Girls
Snowbound," that Ruth and Alice succeeded in getting "the proof on the
film" that saved Mr. DeVere from an unjust charge.

From the cold and frostiness of Deerfield the girls went to Florida,
where "Under the Palms," many stirring acts were filmed. It was here
that Alice and Ruth helped find two girls who were lost in the wilds of
the Everglades.

"The Moving Picture Girls at Rocky Ranch" gave Ruth and Alice a taste of
cowboy life, and though rivals tried to spoil some of the valuable
films, they were not altogether successful, even though a prairie fire
figured in their schemes.

The girls, with their father, had recently returned from a perilous
trip. This is told about in the volume immediately preceding the one you
are reading--"The Moving Picture Girls at Sea." In that Alice and Ruth
proved, not only their versatility as actresses, but also that they
could be brave and resourceful in the face of danger. And they more than
repaid the old sailor, Jack Jepson, who saved their lives, by doing him
a good turn.

"Well, life at Oak Farm will be vastly different from that on the _Mary
Ellen_," remarked Alice, as she looked from the automobile as it swung
along through the New York streets on the way to the park.

"Yes," agreed her sis