Duncan’s cross - How did Sanford acquire Minutes ? From whom ? -dammit, expected this - Quandt’s name comes up. Also, Quandt’s unsavory record as pornographer - So Sanford had to go to professional pornographer to acquire book? - Sanford valiant here. Says Quandt felt book too tame and literary for him to publish, and so Quandt never ‘ published it - Duncan discusses reputation of Sanford House, reels off a selection of firm’s best titles - Were you the head and publisher of Sanford House when those books were brought out? - no, but I was working in the firm then - Were you responsible for buying, publishing them ? - no - Who was ? - my father, Wesley R. Sanford - But today you are the head of firm? - yes - Since when? - two years ago, almost - Your Honor, prosecution wishes to introduce exhibits - Introduces clippings NY Times, Wall Street Journal, showing shaky financial position of Sanford House in last two years, Wesley R. Sanford considering selling off to big industrial bidders who seek diversification - Are these news accounts substantially true? - yes - In short, since you took over, Sanford House has not fared as well as in past? - Sanford hems, haws, says depends what you mean by doing well, admits firm’s book sales have gone down - Then Duncan, bastard, slips it to him - Perhaps, Mr
Sanford, you were desperate, desperate enough to ignore your father’s previous good taste, and try to save your position in firm by undertaking publication of an obscene work? - Zelkin objects, Upshaw sustains. But it got over to jurors.
Score - maybe a draw.
DR HUGO KNIGHT:
Zelkin’s exam - Witness’s credentials impressive, teaching and UCLA professorial background, but manner unfortunate - supercilious, know-it-all, talked over jurors’ heads, literaryjargon incomprehensible as Sanskrit - says Jadway’s gifts limited, but used them well - book excellent example of interior monologue - used Cathleen as oracle for own feelings
- book realistically pornographic but not obscene - pornography only a device - Can you be more explicit, Professor? - The Seven Minutes not about sex at all - Poor Abe. Not only jury but he, himself, appears astounded. Knight never used that answer in briefings. Abe resumes, tries
- Not about sex? - No, because the sex is merely symbolism, the means by which the author inveighs against The Seven Deadly Sins, or The Seven Mortal Sins, namely pride, wrath, envy, lusty, gluttony, avarice, sloth - each of Cathleen’s seven minutes is symbol of a mortal sin -Zelkin attempts divert witness from symbolism kick, but idiot keeps labeling everything symbolism - and sure enough enter Leda and the Swan.
Duncan’s cross - Dr Knight, if you will enlighten us further about J J Jadway’s hidden meanings, pray tell, is ‘cunt’ symbolism ? -Laughter.
Score - disaster. The witness is our eighth deadly sin. Duncan’s round easily.
DA VECCHI:
Zelkin’s exam - da Vecchi a cheerful little Italian singing out answers like a gondolier - an art student in Paris in the 1930s - met J J Jadway in Montparnasse, in the Dome, used to see him at Brasserie Lipp, got to know Jadway quite well in period he was working on Minutes - Did you ever hear him speak of his work then in progress? - ah, yes, yes -Did he speak of it as a commercial undertaking ? - no, never never, only as an artist, he said, ‘It is my opus, the work of my life,’ always proud
- Did you feel that Jadway was a man of esthetic sensibilities? - you mean what ? - I’m sorry, I mean did he have an understanding of art? -ah, yes, yes, of writing, of painting, of what is in the Louvre, of what is in my studio when I paint him - Do you believe Jadway’s book is obscene ? - never, never, it is from the sou of an artist. Effective witness, so far.
Duncan’s cross - The cookie crumbles fast - So you knew Jadway quite well. Were you friends? - yes, friends - How many times did you see him in Paris? - many times - By ‘see him,’ Mr da Vecchi, I do not mean see him pass in the street or sitting in a caf6, but rather, how much time did you spend with him alone? - alone together? oh, now and then
- Were you alone with him more than three or four times ? -I cannot
remember - Perhaps you can remember where you were after Jadway’s death, when the Second World War began? -I was in France still, in the maquis underground near Marseilles - Doing what? What was your occupation in the underground ? -I was an artist - Painting pictures ? -no, no, I make forged passports to help refugees - Did you pursue this same occupation after the war was over? - forge passports, never, no, I am a painter - Yes, you are a painter. I’d like to explore some of your more creative activities. I have evidence from Italy that you have painted under several names. One name you used was Vermeer, another was Raphael, another was Tintoretto. There is an old quip to the effect that, ‘Of the 2,500 paintings done by Corot in his lifetime, 7,800 are to be found in America.’ According to the police dossier in Rome, you painted at least eight Corots and sold them as authentic Corots. Now, of course, having once served a prison sentence for committing forgeries and perpetrating hoaxes need not necessarily impugn your honesty as a witness, but considering this record - Damn Duncan and that son-of-abitching witness. Why couldn’t he have told us? He wanted a free trip, publicity. Now look at him. Smile gone. Shifty, cunning, scared. Goddammit. Score -Duncan has it by a knockout.
SIR ESMOND INGRAM:
Zelkin’s exam - Better, much better right away - celebrated Oxford don - celebrated literary critic - cranky, but pixie-charm, witty, an impressive sage -jury very attentive - Sir Esmond, you once wrote in The Times of London that The Seven Minutes was ‘one of the most honest, sensitive, and distinguished works of art created in modern Western literature.’ Do you still hold that view? -I do -Then you do not hold it to be an obscene book ? - there are no obscene books, only obscene men with obscene minds - Later: Then you feel it was honest and valid for Jadway to tell his story as he did? - it was the honest approach, the courageous one - many authors can denude the human body, but few have the nerve or genius to denude the human spirit - a French publisher once wrote that the most interesting thing about eroticism was not that there were thirty-two coital positions, but rather ‘what goes on inside people’s heads, the way in which lovers react to each other,’ and this mystery Jadway penetrated and exposed completely - Do you believe that Jadway’s book has redeeming social value? - It is a work of considerable social value. Jadway attempted to give sex its natural and proper place in the spectrum of human behavior. The editor of Les Lettres Nouvelles, Maurice Nadeau, once asked, ‘Why should love -which forms the principal or subsidiary subject of eight novels out of ten - stop at the edge of the bed, around which the curtains are then drawn ?’ After all, the function of literature, he said, was to explore the human heart, to explore every manifestation of being. And then he added, “The way in which people make love may tell us more about them than any searching analysis could. It, too, reveals a form of truth which
is interesting becauseit is usually concealed.‘With this book, Ingram says, Jadway did humankind a service.
Mike Barrett had finished reviewing his notes of the afternoon’s testimony. When he looked up, he saw that Sir Esmond Ingram was still in the witness box and was now submitting to Elmo Duncan’s pressing crossexamination.
‘… and because of this background, Sir Esmond, you consider yourself an arbiter of what is good literature or bad?’
‘It is not I who consider myself an arbiter of art, but my readers who regard me as such and who depend upon me to help them form their own judgments.’
‘But you do consider yourself qualified to advise readers what is of literary value and what is simply scatological ?’
‘I believe that I am highly qualified.’
‘Because of your erudition alone, Sir Esmond?’
‘Heavens, no. Because of my experience of life, my empathy for and understanding of my public.’
‘Then you feel, Sir Esmond, your life has much in common with that of your average reader?’
T would say so, yes.’
‘Sir Esmond, how many times have you been married?’
‘Three times, sir.’
&nb
sp; ‘Have you ever been in jail?’
‘Two times, sir.’
‘Do you eat meat, like the average reader?’
‘I am a vegetarian, sir. May I add, counselor, the line you are taking is quite clever, and altogether naughty, yes, extremely naughty.’
Goodbye, Sir Esmond, Barrett thought.
Barrett looked over his shoulder. He would just make it back to the office in time to meet Maggie Russell.
He folded his notes and shoved them into his pocket. He glanced at Abe Zelkin. ‘I’m leaving now, Abe.’
Zelkin closed his eyes and shook his head mournfully. ‘Bring back Cassie McGraw,’ he said. ‘We need her, Mike. We’re dead and buried without her.’
‘I’ll find her,’ said Barrett. ‘I won’t come back without her.’
Then, quietly slipping out of his chair, he left behind him the scene of carnage - determined to return with the only ally alive who might save them and their cause.
For Maggie Russell, it had been a wonderful afternoon.
Her relief over Jerry’s escape from the crossexamination, her affection for Mike Barrett in making this possible, had been so great that she had been in a maniacally festive mood throughout her drive from downtown Los Angeles.
Wanting some kind of celebration, she had stopped in Beverly
Hills, and at a table in Leon’s restaurant she had indulged in a martini and a high-caloric lunch and her fantasies of the future. After that she had driven to Saks and shopped for a new dress there and at I. Magnin’s down the block. The dress had been less a celebration than an investment. Intuition had warned her that by now, certainly by five o’clock, Mike Barrett would have had second thoughts about having by passed his questioning of Jerry no matter what he expected in return. The best way to soften a man’s regrets over what he had given up was to remind him that he may have gained something more. The dress, a short sheath, low-cut, soft, supple, silky, might help a little. Maggie hated women’s games. By nature she was direct. But the situation warranted an extra effort. When she saw him, she wanted her appearance to remind him that if he had lost something important he had also gained something more lasting. That is, if he was still interested in her.
It was after four o’clock when she had returned to Pacific Palisades, and to her surprise Frank Griffith was home. He was at the telephone in his study, and his voice was booming cheerfully and Luthering all over the place, so she knew that he was speaking to that horrible Yerkes. Upstairs. Aunt Ethel was napping, and the door to Jerry’s room was locked from the inside, but she could hear his record player. She had changed quickly into the new sheath, a smasher, and then she had brushed her hair and freshened her make-up.
Now she was hastening down the stairs, just as Frank Griffith, his beefy sunburned face aglow with some kind of self-satisfaction, emerged from his study.
Seeing her, he waited at the foot of the staircase.
‘Hiya, Maggie girl. I heard you were in court this morning.’
She reached the bottom of the staircase. ‘How did you know?’
‘That was Luther Yerkes on the phone. Some of his lieutenants were in the courtroom, and they spotted you. I had no idea how we made out this morning until just now. I wanted to be on hand there, give Jerry some support, see for myself what was going on, but Dr Trimble vetoed it. He felt my presence would make Jerry too self-conscious. So I agreed to pass. Doctor’s orders. Anyway, I had some important business in San Diego. I was in conference down there all morning. But the second I was through, I thought I’d come straight back and find out what happened. I got home just after Jerry did, but that little snot son of mine wouldn’t tell me a thing. Just clammed up and locked himself in. How do you like that for gratitude - with all we’ve done for him? Once this trial is over, and his own case is settled, I’ll attend to him, straighten him out, teach him to show some respect.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means we’ve been too lax with him, coddling him, and you can see what results that brings. Never mind. He’ll be made to toe the mark in due time.’
His big country-club face had become ugly during the last, but the transformation was brief, for he was still reveling in his triumph. His exhilaration over the public victory quickly restored his good humor. Oh, Lord, Maggje thought, how I hate that man.
‘Anyway, first things first,’ he boomed. ‘We won, and that’s what counts. Luther Yerkes just gave me a complete rundown on what happened this morning. I knew we’d make those shysters on the defense fold up, and sure enough, they did.’ Jubilantly he put an arm around Maggie’s waist and began to steer her into the living room. ‘Come on, Maggie, you were there. Now I want to hear what you think of it. I can’t hear enough of it.’
Maggie resented his grip, but not until they reached the middle of the living room was she able to free herself from him.
‘What do you want to hear?’ she asked.
‘How Elmo made them cry Uncle, and how Jerry handled himself. Was my name mentioned?’
‘I don’t recall. As for Jerry, he stood up wonderfully. I was proud of him.’
‘I told you he would. From now on you’ll listen to me. All these weeks, you and Ethel fluttering around him, whining about keeping him off the stand, treating him like some invalid, when from the start I knew there was more in him, plenty of gumption like his old man. Now you’ve got to admit I was right in the end, don’t you?’ ’
‘I’ll admit nothing of the sort, Uncle Frank. It was a terrible ordeal for Jerry. You should have seen him. He only survived it because - because Mr Barrett didn’t cross-examine him.’
‘Hogwash. He’d have put down your friend Barrett too. Why do you think Barrett closed shop and ran ? Why do you think he quit ? He quit because he knew Elmo Duncan and our side had him whipped, and we’d prepared Jerry for him, and he couldn’t get anywhere. So he waived the crossexamination - trying to make a bid for public sympathy, as Luther put it - but the fact is, and I’m sorry if this offends you, Maggie girl, but you’ll find out for yourself sooner or later, the fact is your friend Barrett was gutless and afraid. That’s why he backed away from the crossexamination.’
She had listened to Griffith with incredulity. For a person in his position, the degree of his stupidity and insensitivity was beyond belief. Hatred of his dumb arrogance almost gagged her. All these weeks of pent-up, repressed resentments pounded inside her, demanding to be heard. What was it he had said? That Mike was gutless, afraid?
She found her voice. ‘It wasn’t because Mr Barrett was afraid that he didn’t cross-examine. It was because he was - he was decent and kind, among other reasons.’
‘Decent and kind ?’ Griffith threw back his head and gave a roar of laughter. “That’s the best one I’ve heard yet. A shyster attorney, working for a fee, refusing to try to score a point because he’s -what was it ? - ho! - decent and kind.’ He wagged his head. ‘Maggie
girl, you know as little about human nature as your mother did. Less, maybe. Listen to me, young lady, and grow up. I’m in the business of knowing about people. And you’ll thank me one day for warning you in time. That shyster friend of yours hasn’t got an ounce of guts in his whole body.’
‘He’s got as much guts as you have,’ she flared. It was all too much. She’d had enough. It was time to let go. ‘If you want the truth, the reason Mike Barrett didn’t cross-examine Jerry was that /asked him not to, and there were other reasons, and one of these was that Mike understands your own son better than you do. He was ready to sacrifice a part of his case, his trial, because he agreed with me that Jerry’s future was at stake, and that’s more than you were ready to do or understand.’
Frank Griffith’s face grew ugly again. ‘Look, young lady, you’re getting a little out of line there. Don’t you go comparing me to that stud of yours. He didn’t cross-examine Jerry because you asked him not to ? You expect me to believe that ? Why should he listen to you when his whole career’s riding on this trial ? Or maybe - no, I got
it - maybe you have a way of making men listen to you, eh Maggie? Maybe some men will do anything for a little piece of nooky?’
The last had been spoken viciously, and Maggie wanted to strike him. Had she been a man, she would have had him by the throat. But it was precisely because she was a woman that he had tried to degrade her.
‘That’s rotten of you,’ she said, ‘really rotten.’
He was not through. ‘Even if I can see what’s in it for Barrett, what I want to know is what’s in it for you, Maggie girl ? What would you be after?’
‘How can I speak to you?’ Her voice was quavering. ‘You won’t try to understand. Both Mike and I are essentially out to win one thing. A chance to live at peace with our consciences. No matter what else I might have offered Mike Barrett, his final decision had to be based on the one thing I haven’t seen around here lately - a sense of decency.’ Oh, she wanted to destroy that big, smug, smirking, filthy-minded goon. ‘You want to know how it happened ? I’ll be glad to let you in on it. I went to Mike Barrett and I told him that you and your upper-bracket-Mafia friends were going to force Jerry to stand in the witness box, even though Jerry begged you not to force him. But you were determined to make him do it, to put the blame for Jerry’s condition on the book. And I told Mike Barrett what he already was aware of, that Jerry was sick and suicidal, and that if he managed to survive Duncan’s examination he’d never be able to come through Mike’s crossexamination. I reminded Mike that he had seen Jerry try to kill himself once, and now the defense investigators had learned Jerry’s secret, that he had tried to kill himself another time, before that book came out, and now, in his condition, if the ordeal in the court was too much, he’d try to kill himself again - and this time he might succeed.’
Frank Griffith had turned livid. ‘What kind of bullshit is that?’ he bellowed. ‘Where did you pick up that line of crap? From your pornographer friends?’
(1969) The Seven Minutes Page 60