Page 174

By Jack Joseph Smith

of children, dogs, and ducks. He walked to the cen-- ter of his hobo courtyard, and then crossed over to step and place his right foot on a large white paint- ed rock just before his pond of ducks. The windows around were empty of faces or figures. He spoke alound briefly; in a calm deep resonance, "Great actors lived their art first, so that when they put their talents into the workings of drama they were sure of their projection. If the-business of these agents is to convince people that it is worth it to pay for images, then why do they not understand that his stubborn intelect from a beginn- ing on the street would bring people into believing that fame was an identifing part of their own dream?" The intellectual had flattered him about his hair, while the physiologist had asked him what he thought of having his teeth filed and caped. The master of ceremony's, or the P.R. man had told him of the star- let he would do a scene with as his first set before a screen test. Standing alone at the white rock for the white ducks in the pond sometimes with slime, that too, the phrases and it's, made him laugh into a passing thoughts of scores of places, different in there levels, but alike in there motive; where he had gone to approach Hollywood machine men about the

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Standing among ducks and yard-stone props, Jiven Joe argues that the true actor has already lived the role before Hollywood tries to package it.

The irony is that he gives this speech to an empty courtyard. That solitude deepens the page: he is simultaneously ridiculous, moving, and convincing, because his case for authenticity is addressed to no one but still urgently needs to be spoken.

Claude

In his 'hobo courtyard', foot on 'a large white painted rock' by the duck pond, Jiven Joe declaims to empty windows his aesthetic creed: 'Great actors lived their art first', so why can't the agents see that 'his stubborn intelect from a beginning on the street' would make audiences believe 'fame was an identifing part of their own dream'? Against this he sets the indignities offered - the intellectual flattering his hair, the physiologist asking about 'having his teeth filed and caped', the P.R. man promising 'the starlet he would do a scene with'. Standing alone for 'the white ducks in the pond sometimes with slime', he laughs at 'scores of places, different in there levels, but alike in there motive'. The backyard stages a genuine argument about authenticity versus manufacture.