three o'clock in the morning
Then you smooth the ones I hand you into good talk , and we 'll have a show here by sun-up that you 'll be proud to invite your Christian lady friends to attend . And we 'll keep all the ` pep ' too , Vandeford , that you paid Howard to write into it , only we 'll take the Hawtry dirt out of it . On , Betty Carrington , and the curtain 's up . '' Then from three o'clock in the morning until almost noon the machinery of `` The Purple Slipper '' was overhauled and adjusted to the new cog . Mr. Rooney lashed and rubbed and polished and oiled with never a let-up on anybody , and beside him sat the author , with her head up and the bit in her mouth . For every line that rang untrue in the reconstruction she had a true one or she took a crude bit from Mr. Rooney and polished it into place . Fido sat crouched in a front seat and transcribed every word into his prompt copy so as to be a veritable first aid .