“She’ll be pleased to hear that.”
Sam gritted his teeth, then asked, “Did she have anyone else in mind to produce the picture?”
“As a matter of fact, she did,” Herman said smoothly. “Tessie has discovered a very talented young girl who she feels is ready for a challenge like this. Under the guidance of someone as brilliant as you, Sam—”
“Cut out the commercial,” Sam said. “Is that the bottom line?”
“I’m afraid it is, Sam. I’m sorry.”
Barbara Carter had a pretty face and a good figure and, as far as Sam could tell, was completely feminine. He watched her as she took a seat on the leather couch in his office and daintily crossed her long, shapely legs. When she spoke, her voice sounded a trifle husky, but that may have been because Sam was looking for some kind of sign. She studied him with soft gray eyes and said, “I seem to be in a terrible spot, Mr. Winters. I had no intention of putting anyone out of work. And yet”—she raised her hands helplessly—“Miss Brand says she simply won’t make the picture unless I produce it. What do you think I should do?”
For an instant, Sam was tempted to tell her. Instead, he said, “Have you had any experience with show business—besides being a costume designer?”
“I’ve ushered, and I’ve seen lots of movies.”
Terrific! “What makes Miss Brand think you can produce a motion picture?”
It was as though Sam had touched a hidden spring. Barbara Carter was suddenly full of animation. “Tessie and I have talked a lot about this picture.” No more “Miss Brand,” Sam noticed. “I feel there are a lot of things wrong with the script, and when I pointed them out to her, she agreed with me.”
“Do you think you know more about writing a script than an Academy Award-winning writer who’s done half a dozen successful pictures and Broadway plays?”
“Oh, no, Mr. Winters! I just think I know more about women.” The gray eyes were harder now, the tone a little tougher. “Don’t you think it’s ridiculous for men to always be writing women’s parts? Only we really know how we feel. Doesn’t that make sense to you?”
Sam was tired of the game. He knew he was going to hire her, and he hated himself for it, but he was running a studio, and his job was to see that pictures got made. If Tessie Brand wanted her pet squirrel to produce this picture, Sam would start ordering nuts. A Tessie Brand picture could easily mean a profit of from twenty to thirty million dollars. Besides, Barbara Carter couldn’t do anything to really hurt the picture. Not now. It was too close to shooting for any major changes to be made.
“You’ve convinced me,” Sam said, with irony. “You’ve got the job. Congratulations.”
The following morning, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety announced on their front pages that Barbara Carter was producing the new Tessie Brand movie. As Sam started to throw the papers in his wastebasket, a small item at the bottom of the page caught his eye: “TOBY TEMPLE SIGNED FOR LOUNGE AT TAHOE HOTEL.”
Toby Temple. Sam remembered the eager young comic in uniform, and the memory brought a smile to Sam’s face. Sam made a mental note to see his act if Temple ever played in town.
He wondered why Toby Temple had never gotten in touch with him.
13
In a strange way, it was Millie who was responsible for Toby Temple’s rise to stardom. Before their marriage, he had been just another up-and-coming comic, one of dozens. Since the wedding, a new ingredient had been added: hatred. Toby had been forced into a marriage with a girl he despised, and there was such rage in him that he could have killed her with his bare hands.
Although Toby did not realize it, Millie was a wonderful, devoted wife. She adored him and did everything she could to please him. She decorated the house in Benedict Canyon, and did it beautifully. But the more Millie tried to please Toby, the more he loathed her. He was always meticulously polite to her, careful never to do or say anything that might upset her enough to call Al Caruso. As long as he lived, Toby would not forget the awful agony of that tire iron smashing into his arm, or the look on Al Caruso’s face when he said, “If you ever hurt Millie…”