She and Wylie waited in silence occasionally addressing a remark to Miss Doolan. Every few minutes Reinmund, the supervisor, called up from his ofifce, where he and Broaca, the director, were waiting. After ten minutes Stahrs button went on, and Miss Doolan called Reinmund and Broaca; simultaneously Stahr and the actor came out of Stahrs ofifce with Stahr holding the mans arm. He was so wound up now that when Wylie White asked him how he was he opened his mouth and began to tell him then and there.
Oh, Ive had an awful time, he said, but Stahr interrupted sharply.
No, you havent. Now you go along and do the role the way I said.
Thank you, Monroe.
Jane Meloney looked after him without speaking.
Somebody been catching flies on him? she asked a phrase for stealing scenes.
Im sorry I kept you waiting, Stahr said. Come on in.
* * *It was noon already and the conferees were entitled to exactly an hour of Stahrs time. No less, for such a conference could only be interrupted by a director who was held up in his shooting; seldom much more, because every eight days the company must release a production as complex and costly as Reinhardts[61] Miracle.
Occasionally, less often than five years ago, Stahr would work all through the night on a single picture. But after such a spree he felt badly for days. If he could go from problem to problem, there was a certain rebirth of vitality with each change. And like those sleepers who can wake whenever they wish, he had set his psychological clock to run one hour.
The cast assembled included, besides the writers, Reinmund, one of the most favored of the supervisors, and John Broaca, the pictures director.
Broaca, on the surface, was all engineer large and without nerves, quietly resolute, popular. He was an ignoramus, and Stahr often caught him making the same scenes over and over one scene about a rich young girl occurred in all his pictures with the same action, the same business. A bunch of large dogs entered the room and jumped around the girl. Later the girl went to a stable and slapped a horse on the rump. The explanation was probably not Freudian; more likely that at a drab moment in youth he had looked through a fence and seen a beautiful girl with dogs and horses. As a trademark for glamor it was stamped on his brain forever.
Reinmund was a handsome young opportunist, with a fairly good education. Originally a man of some character, he was being daily forced by his anomalous position into devious ways of acting and thinking. He was a bad man now, as men go. At thirty he had none of the virtues which either gentile Americans or Jews are taught to think admirable. But he got his pictures out in time, and by manifesting an almost homosexual fixation on Stahr, seemed to have dulled Stahrs usual acuteness. Stahr liked him considered him a good all-around man[62].
Wylie White, of course, in any country would have been recognizable as an intellectual of the second order. He was civilized and voluble, both simple and acute, half dazed and half saturnine. His jealousy of Stahr showed only in unguarded flashes, and was mingled with admiration and even affection.
The production date for this picture is two weeks from Saturday, said Stahr. I think basically its all right much improved.
Reinmund and the two writers exchanged a glance of congratulation.
Except for one thing, said Stahr, thoughtfully. I dont see why it should be produced at all, and Ive decided to put it away.
There was a moment of shocked silence and then murmurs of protest, stricken queries.
Its not your fault, Stahr said. I thought there was something there that wasnt there that was all. He hesitated, looking regretfully at Reinmund: Its too bad it was a good play. We paid fifty thousand for it.
Whats the matter with it, Monroe? asked Broaca bluntly.
Well, it hardly seems worth while to go into it, said Stahr.
Reinmund and Wylie White were both thinking of the professional effect on them. Reinmund had two pictures to his account this year but Wylie White needed a credit to start his comeback to the scene. Jane Meloney was watching Stahr closely from little skull-like eyes.
Couldnt you give us some clue, Reinmund asked. This is a good deal of a blow, Monroe.
I just wouldnt put Margaret Sullavan in it, said Stahr. Or Colman either. I wouldnt advise them to play it
Specifically[63], Monroe, begged Wylie White. What didnt you like? The scenes? the dialogue? the humor? construction?
Stahr picked up the script from his desk, let it fall as if it were, physically, too heavy to handle.
I dont like the people, he said. I wouldnt like to meet them if I knew they were going to be somewhere, Id go somewhere else.
Reinmund smiled, but there was worry in his eyes.
Well, thats a damning criticism, he said. I thought the people were rather interesting.
So did I, said Broaca. I thought Em was very sympathetic.
Did you? asked Stahr sharply. I could just barely believe she was alive. And when I came to the end, I said to myself, So what?[64]
There must be something to do, Reinmund said. Naturally we feel bad about this. This is the structure we agreed on
But its not the story, said Stahr. Ive told you many times that the first thing I decide is the kind of story I want. We change in every other regard, but once that is set weve got to work toward it with every line and movement. This is not the kind of a story I want. The story we bought had shine and glow it was a happy story. This is all full of doubt and hesitation. The hero and heroine stop loving each other over trifles then they start up again over trifles. After the first sequence, you dont care if she never sees him again or he her.
Thats my fault, said Wylie suddenly. You see, Monroe, I dont think stenographers have the same dumb admiration for their bosses they had in 1929. Theyve been laid off theyve seen their bosses jittery. The world has moved on, thats all.
Stahr looked at him impatiently, gave a short nod.
Thats not under discussion[65], he said. The premise of this story is that the girl did have dumb admiration for her boss, if you want to call it that. And there wasnt any evidence that hed ever been jittery. When you make her doubt him in any way, you have a different kind of story. Or rather you havent anything at all. These people are extraverts get that straight and I want them to extravert all over the lot. When I want to do a Eugene ONeill[66] play, Ill buy one.
Jane Meloney, who had never taken her eyes off Stahr, knew it was going to be all right now. If he had really been going to abandon the picture, he wouldnt have gone at it like this. She had been in this game longer than any of them except Broaca, with whom she had had a three-day affair twenty years ago.
Stahr turned to Reinmund.
You ought to have understood from the casting, Reiny, what kind of a picture I wanted. I started marking the lines that Corliss and McKelway couldnt say and got tired of it. Remember this in the future if I order a limousine, I want that kind of car. And the fastest midget racer you ever saw wouldnt do. Now He looked around. shall we go any farther? Now that Ive told you I dont even like the kind of picture this is? Shall we go on? Weve got two weeks. At the end of that time Im going to put Corliss and McKelway into this or something else is it worth while?