Hamilton Beamish straightened himself. He was now in a position to see George steadily and see him whole: and the spectacle convinced him at once that something in the message he had just delivered must have got right in among his friend's ganglions. George Finch's agreeable features seemed to be picked out in a delicate Nile-green. His eyes were staring. His lower jaw had fallen. Nobody who had ever seen a motion-picture could have had the least doubt as to what he was registering. It was dismay.
(From The Small Bachelor, by Sir Pelham Wodehouse. This book was published in 1927, which was the year that the first sound movie was produced. Therefore, Wodehouse no doubt would have been referring to the over-stated facial expressions that were necessary in silent films to convey the emotions.)
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