"Don't bring religion into it!" Norman held up a warning hand. "You know my policy. Everybody's the same as everybody else. Somebody wants to see me, they talk to my number-three girl, she talks to my number-two girl, my number-two girl talks to my number-one girl.
My number-one girl thinks it important enough, she talks to me and the next thing you know, you're in my office!" He snapped his fingers. "Like that!
But don't come sneaking around in the night, looking at confidential papers!
Now go!"
"O.K." David started for the door.
He should have known better than to try to do anything for the old bastard. "I’m going," he said bitterly. "But when I walk out this door, you look good – real good, because you're throwing out a million dollars along with me!"
"Wait a minute!" his uncle called after him. "I like to be fair.
You said you had something important to tell me?
So tell it. I’m listening."
David closed the door. "Next month, before the picture opens, Nevada Smith and Rina Marlowe are getting married," he said.
"You're telling me something?" His uncle glowered.
"Who cares?
They didn't even invite me to the wedding. Besides, Nevada's finished."
"Maybe," David said. ''But the girl isn't.
You saw the picture?"
"Of course I saw the picture!" Norman snapped. "We're sneaking it tonight."
"Well, after the sneak, she's going to be the hottest thing in the business."
His uncle looked up at him, a respect dawning in his eyes. "So?"
"From the papers, I see nobody's got her under contract," David said.
"You sign her this morning. Then- " His uncle was already nodding his head. "Then you tell them you want to give them the wedding. As a present from the studio.
We'll make it the biggest thing ever to hit Hollywood.
It'll add five million to the gross."
"So what good does that do us?" Norman asked. "We don't own any of the picture, we don't share in the profits."
"We get a distribution fee, don't we?" David asked, his confidence growing as he saw the intent look on his uncle's face. "Twenty-five per cent of five million is one and a quarter million dollars.
Enough to carry half the cost of our whole distribution setup for a whole year.
And the beautiful thing about it is we can charge all our expenses for the wedding to publicity and slap the charge right back against the picture.
That way, it doesn't cost us one penny. Cord pays everything out of his share of the profit."
Norman got to his feet. There were tears in his eyes.
"I knew it! Blood will tell!" he cried dramatically. "From now on you're working for me. You're my assistant!
I’ll tell the girls to have the office next door made ready for you.
More than this I couldn't ask from my own son – if I had a son!"
"There's one more thing."
"There is?" Norman sat down again. "What?"
"I think we should try to make a deal with Cord to do a picture a year for us."
Norman shook his head.
"Oh, no!
We got enough crazy ones around here without him."
"He's got a feeling for pictures. You can see it in The Renegade."
"It was a lucky accident."
"No it wasn't," David insisted. "I was on the set through the whole thing.
There wasn't anything in the picture that he didn't have something to do with. If it wasn't for him, Marlowe would never be the star she's going to be.
He has the greatest eye for cunt I ever saw in my life."
"He's a goy," Norman said deprecatingly. "What do they know about cunt?"
"The goyim knew about cunt before Adam led Eve out of the Garden of Eden."
"No," Norman said.
"Why not?"
"That kind of man I don't want around," Norman said.
"He won't be satisfied just to make a picture. Pretty soon, he'll want to run the whole thing.
He's a balabuss, he's not the kind who would work with partners." He got up and walked around the desk toward his nephew. "No," he said. "Him I won't do business with. But your other ideas I like.
This morning we'll go out and get the girl's signature on the contract. Then we'll tell them about the wedding.