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Isaac Bell was fast co to the conclusion that Clyde Lynds was shrewder than he had let on “So you weren’t surprised by Edison’s move this afternoon”
Clyde Lynds sighed and looked suddenly weary “Not surprised, but I am disappointed The Professor and I had hoped our superior machine would convince Edison to treat us like equals So I’o it alone”
Isaac Bell smiled “Not quite alone”
“What do you mean?”
“My wife pulled sos didn’t work out with Edison She’s lined it up for you tofelloho make movies outside the Edison Trust”
“That’s hty kind of her”
“Better than kind Marion’s rooting for you She intends topicture”
20
“Don’t interrupt ,” Marion warned her husband “They hate to waste the light”
Isaac Bell searched the sky for a pro hint of haze as the ferry to the Fort Lee district of New Jersey crossed the Hudson River A sultry southind suggested that clouds were in the offing With any luck, he told Clyde Lynds, the skies would darken by noon
They rented a Ford auto at a general store with a gasoline pue of Fort Lee they passed motion picture factories sanctioned by the Edison Trust Through the glass walls and roofs of barn-like structures, they could see arc lights hanging from the rafters and banks of Cooper-Hewitt ht Substantial brick outbuildings housed scenery, property, and costu laboratories, machine shops to maintain the cameras, and dynamos to power the Cooper-Hewitts
Bell kept driving, heading north on narrow roads along the top ridge of the Palisades Following Marion’s directions, he located a turnoff in the middle of nowhere that took them west, deeper and deeper into the countryside Finally, he pulled into a dairy farm barnyard, hidden fro Jay Tarses was shooting outside pictures of a troupe of players costuins
A herd of horses was skittering nervously around a corral, spooked by caathered for his Arabs From what Marion had told him, the camera operator draped over an enor an Edison-patented camera concealed inside it
Isaac Bell stopped the car at a distance to stay out of the picture An assistant, one of several petite dark-haired girls hanging around Tarses, approached with trepidation
“Don’t worry,” Bell told her “We’re not Edison bulls I’ed for me and Mr Clyde Lynds to visit Mr Tarses”