They arrived at six o’clock. Judith didn’t offer them a drink. She received them in Gregory’s den and told them the entire story. Then she said, “If one word of this gets out, I shall deny it, and as his wife, I will dismiss you both. Since he is unable to make any decisions, I have his power of attorney.”
“No one is arguing that,” Cliff said quietly. “I think your decision is right. The stock would drop ten points in one day if word got out. And in a very minor way, I am also a stockholder.”
“Then we’re in full accord.” When both men nodded, she went on. “I want Robin Stone to be given full command. Cliff, I want Dan informed of this tomorrow. He is to be told that Gregory will be vacationing for an indefinite time, and that he is to report to Robin. Robin’s decisions will be final.”
She refused to meet the expression of disbelief in Cliff’s eyes. She stood up as a signal that the meeting had ended.
“Robin, if you can stay, I’d like to talk to you,” she said.
Cliff hesitated at the door. “I’ll wait outside, then. There are certains things I want to discuss with you, Mrs. Austin.”
“Can’t they wait until tomorrow? I’m very tired.”
“I’m afraid they can’t. You’re leaving tomorrow at midnight, and there are some urgent matters that need your attention now.”
Robin walked to the door. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Mrs. Austin. How about lunch?”
“Yes. Will you come here? I’ll be terribly busy packing.”
“One o’clock all right?” When she nodded, he left the room.
The moment the door closed, she turned on Cliff. She didn’t try to hide her antagonism. “What’s so urgent?”
“Does Gregory know about this move?”
“Gregory scarcely knows his own name! Can’t you understand? He’s lying there paralyzed. He’s a vegetable!”
“Mrs. Austin, do you realize what you are doing?”
“I’m doing what Gregory would do.”
“I don’t agree. He put Robin in to control Danton’s power. Now you are not only giving all the power to one man, but you are making him autonomous.”
“If I divided the power, the network would crumble. Danton is jealous of Robin—he would fight any ideas Robin might have, then nothing would be decided. There has to be one head.”
“Then why not Danton?”
“Because Gregory doesn’t trust him.”
“What makes you think he can trust Robin?”
“I had a D & B on him. Robin is a millionaire in his own right. That means he can’t be gotten to.”
Cliff shook his head. “Power is an acquired taste. Once you get it, you find you like it. Also, I happen to think Dan is better qualified for the job.”
“Dan’s a lush.”
“But not on the job. He’s brought some good shows to IBC. He also knows how to run a network. And how do you think Dan will take the idea of Robin being put over him?”
She shrugged. “That’s his problem.”
“His position will be intolerable,” Cliff said. “He’ll have to quit to save face.”
“Will it be easier for him to face the loss of a job?” she asked.
“When someone makes an emotional decision, they rarely take time to logicize. Anger often breeds false courage.”
“Well, that’s his problem,” she said with finality.
Cliff Dome made the announcement at a full-scale meeting the following morning at nine. At nine thirty Danton Miller handed in his resignation. Cliff tried to talk him out of it: “Stick it out, Dan. This will blow over. Gregory will return. I thought you were the one man who was born with a built-in survival kit.”
Dan managed a faint imitation of his normal smile. “Sometimes to survive, one must retreat. Don’t worry about me, Cliff. Meanwhile, who are you planning to put in my place?”
Cliff shrugged. “George Anderson is the logical choice, but Robin has already sent for Sammy Tebet.”
“Fight him on it!” Dan stated. “Sammy is a good man, but he’s cut from the same cloth as Robin. Harvard, a society background—he’ll go along with all of Robin’s thinking.”
Cliff smiled. “I have to survive too. And my idea of survival is being on the scene, keeping an eye on the store. At the moment I can’t fight Robin. I can only watch him.”
Robin was aware of Cliff Dome’s hostility. But he wasn’t out to win any popularity contests. He worked well with Sammy Tebet, and after a few weeks most of the personnel at IBC had forgotten there had ever been a man named Danton Miller. Vice-presidents put their black suits and black ties in storage and began to emulate Robin’s Oxford gray.
Robin worked hard. He watched television every night, and made only rare appearances at the Lancer Bar. Gradually he lost all contact with the world. Nothing existed but IBC and the competitive shows. He read every program idea and had a dozen new pilots lined up to view on the Coast.
He was just leaving for the airport when Dip called. He had forgotten about Dip in the frenetic activity of the past few weeks.
“How’s my buddy, the big executive?” Dip’s cheerful voice blasted through the wire. “I was going to call and congratulate you, but I’ve been so busy helping Pauli.”
Robin smiled. “Seems the last time we spoke you were on your way to kill her.”
“You know me, pal—I burn fast, then cool off. Besides, she can’t get along without me. I cue her, work with her. It’s a cinch that the way Diana Williams is hitting the sauce, Pauli will get a chance to play the part after it opens on Broadway. How’s about coming to Philly with me tonight and catching the show?”
“I’m on my way to the Coast, Dip. I have to look at some pilots for next February’s dropouts.”
“Okay, and while you’re out there, drop the word around that I’m up for something big.”
“Are you?”
“Nah, but say it anyhow. They believe anything out there.”
The flight to the Coast was tedious. He found himself thinking about Judith Austin. Their last lunch together had been all business, until the very end. Then she had looked into his eyes and said, “Ciao—for now.” His first inclination had been to ignore the intimate urgency in her eyes, but she had seemed so helpless and vulnerable in that large house. For some crazy reason she had made him think of Kitty, and he had pressed her hand, forced an easy smile and said, “Yes, ciao for now.”
Well, Gregory would be away for a long time, and Judith would probably find plenty of European companions. He pushed her from his mind and tried to watch the movie. And when it ended, he studied the presentations for the pilots he was going to view.
He was eager for the goddam plane to land, eager to stretch his legs, but most of all, he was eager to see Maggie Stewart.
He called her when he checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel. She was surprised to hear his voice and agreed to meet him at six o’clock at the Polo Lounge.
When she walked into the bar he realized he had forgotten how beautiful she was. She smiled as she slid into the booth. “I thought you’d never talk to me again, after that fire.”
He reached out and squeezed her hand. “Are you kidding? I thought it was very funny.”
“How is Diana’s show doing?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen the lady except on business-it seems someone turned our budding romance into ashes. How is your new picture, by the way?”
She grimaced. “I saw a rough cut of it last week.” She drained her Scotch and ordered another.
He looked at her curiously. “Is it really that bad?”
“Worse. If I didn’t have a contract for three more pictures, I’d be out of the business. It won’t even get a first-run release—they’ll open it at the showcase theaters.”
“Anyone can do one bad picture.”
She nodded. “I have a chance to bail out with the next. Adam Bergman is directing it.”
“He’s excellent.”
“He sure is. He even makes m
e look like an actress.”
“What’s the hitch?”
“He won’t give me the picture unless I marry him.”
He was silent.
“I’m going to refuse. Oh, don’t look guilty. I refused him before last Christmas.” Then her eyes blazed as she turned to him. “Yes, maybe you should feel guilty. You son of a bitch! You’ve ruined it for me with any man.”
His grin was easy. “Come on, now, I’m not that wonderful.”
“You’re damn right you’re not. It’s me—just like you said, I’m a nut. Anyway I’ve been going to a shrink and I’ve just learned that I like myself.”
“A shrink? But what’s liking yourself got to do with marrying Adam?”
“I refuse to slip into a Hollywood-type marriage, at least the kind Adam wants. When I lived with him on the beach, I found myself doing things I never believed I’d do. Funny, isn’t it? When I’m on the couch, I say, ‘Where did everyone go? Where is the Maggie who lived in Philadelphia and loved and hoped? This girl doing the crazy things, she isn’t me—’ “
“What sent you to the couch?”
“The fire. When I realized that people could have been killed, it terrified me.”
“Well, I’ve got a brand-new bed,” he said. “With an asbestos bedspread.” He took her to Dominick’s for dinner, then they went back to the Melton Towers. He spent three days viewing tapes, and three nights making love to Maggie. The day he was to leave, they met at the Polo Lounge for a drink. She handed him a little box. “Open it,” she said. “It’s a present.”
He stared at the little gold ring in the velvet box. “What is it? It looks like a tiny gold tennis racket.”
She threw back her head and laughed. “It’s an ankh.”
“A what?”
“It’s an Egyptian tau symbol—Cleopatra carried one. It means enduring life and generation. And that’s you! You endure—no girl can forget you, and I think you’ll go on and on. It’s a sex symbol to me, eternal sex.” She slid it onto his little finger. “Slim and bright and beautiful, isn’t it? Just like you, Mr. Stone. And I want you to wear it. In a way I’m branding you. Of course you’ll toss it away as soon as you leave me—but I’m going to pretend you’re wearing it, and every girl will look at it and ask what it means. Maybe you’ll have guts enough to tell them.”
“I never wear jewelry,” he said slowly. “Half the time I don’t even wear a watch. But I’ll wear it, I really will.”
“You know something?” she said slowly. “I’ve heard of love-hate relationships, but I never knew what they meant till I knew you.”
“You don’t hate me. And you don’t love me.”
“I do love you,” she said quietly. “And I hate you for making me love you.”
“How long have you got until you start the next picture?”
“Ten days.”
“Come back to New York with me.”
For a flash her eyes brightened. “You mean that? You really want me to come?”
“Sure. I have my own private jet, courtesy of IBC. There’s even a bed on the plane—we can hump our way across the country.”
She was silent.
“Come on, Maggie. We’ll catch all the shows, even go out to the Hamptons if the weather is mild enough. Can you get away?”
“Robin, I’d dump my whole career if I thought you needed me. I’m not even talking about marriage. I’m talking about needing. God, I’d follow you anywhere.”
He looked at her oddly. “Who said anything about needing? I asked you to come to New York. I thought a change of scene might do you good.”
“Oh, a little pleasure junket?”
“That’s what life is about, baby.”
She stood up with such force that the drink spilled on the table. “I think I’ve just about had it with you. Oh I don’t say I won’t take your call when you come back. I’ll probably even fall into bed with you. Because I’m sick. But my shrink will straighten me out, and one day you’ll need me—only I won’t be there!”
His eyes went cold. “I think you’ve got it all wrong, baby. I don’t need anyone. But maybe you need Adam Bergman. It’s a cinch you need him to help you make a decent picture.”
She leaned over and looked into his eyes. “To use a phrase from my newly developed show-business vocabulary, Mr. Stone, I dig you—oh Jesus, how I dig you—but you’re the prize shit of them all!”
Then she walked away. He finished his drink slowly and went to the airport. He was about to toss the ring in a refuse basket, but it was tight and wouldn’t come off. He smiled. Maybe she really had branded him after all.
When he returned to New York he learned that Diana Williams had withdrawn from the show, Pauli had gone on in Philadelphia and received such an ovation that Ike Ryan was chancing coming into Broadway with her.
Dip commuted to Philadelphia and besieged Robin with daily bulletins. In an effort to salvage the Diana Williams Happening, Robin took a crew to Philadelphia and taped Pauli. When he viewed the tape he was amazed to find it had tremendous impact. The first half was Diana at rehearsal, Diana talking about her comeback, then the newspaper headlines about her “illness.” The second half showed Pauli going on, the interview with Pauli as she took over the star dressing room. It sounded like a soap opera, but he knew it would draw ratings.
The show opened in New York and Pauli’s reviews were fantastic. Yet oddly enough she received no film offers. Dip was outraged, and refused to accept her agent’s explanation that Pauli was a stage personality, and would become a Broadway superstar. He was crushed when he learned that Hollywood had signed a movie name to play her role in the picture.
Robin ran the Happening in May. It came across exactly as he had predicted, and outrated everything in its time period.
It was a good summer for him. The replacements were going well. He dated some of the girls in Pauli’s show. He even tried to be nice to Pauli, but her back always went up when he was around. He ignored her antagonistic attitude and sat in Sardi’s with whatever girl Dip brought along. He was getting to like Sardi’s but as the legend of his power grew, he stopped going there and holed up more than ever at the Lancer Bar. In order to avoid contact with agents, agency men or stars, he also stayed away from “21” and the Colony. He had quickly learned the value of a decisive “No,” accompanied by a firm smile, when he rejected a show. He had made a pledge that he would never allow himself to get angry or lose his cool. He never said, “I’ll think it over.” It was always a clear-cut “Yes” or “No.” Soon word went around that he was a cold-blooded son of a bitch whose nod could make or break a man. The rare times he did go to “21” he was amazed at the aura of fear his presence caused.
However he found that a curious phenomenon accompanied his new fame. For the first time in his life girls were hard to come by. Starlets were out—he couldn’t afford to be “held up” for a job. He stuck to airline stewardesses, but he didn’t keep them long. They’d arrive in their best dresses, expecting to go to El Morocco or Voisin, but soon learned that his social life was confined to the Lancer Bar, a movie, or his apartment.
If it hadn’t been for Dip he would have had no sex life at all—Dip kept a steady stream of young girls on tap. However Robin’s work took up most of his time, and as long as he wound up with a girl two or three times a week, he wasn’t concerned. And he wore the ankh ring. When a girl questioned him about it, he’d say, “It means I’m in love with all women: it’s the symbol of eternal life, of eternal sex.”
He received cards from Judith twice a week. Cliff Dome meticulously saw to it that items appeared in various columns mentioning successive laps of the Austins’ world tour.
The day before Labor Day, Dip Nelson tore into his office and said he was positive that Pauli was having an affair with her leading man, Lon Rogers. At the same moment, Cliff Dome called and announced that Ethel and Christie Lane had welcomed the birth of a nine-pound baby boy.
He told Dip it was all just “Broadway talk
,” and he called Tiffany’s and sent Christie’s baby a silver orange-juice cup. That night he walked down Broadway alone and went to a dreadful movie starring Maggie Stewart.
TWENTY-NINE
ROBIN sat in his apartment waiting for The Christie Lane Show to start its new season. For the past few days the newspapers had hinted that the public was in for a big surprise on the opening. Robin’s guess was that Christie was probably going to introduce his newborn baby to his public.
Without speaking, he handed his empty glass to Dip Nelson for a refill. “Make it a light Scotch, Dip.” His eyes narrowed as Dip obediently went to the bar. He knew there was growing speculation about their friendship. Robin had smiled and offered no explanation when Jerry Moss told him the word around was that Dip procured for him. Actually he let Dip hang around because he felt sorry for him. He sensed that despite Dip’s exhilaration about Pauli’s success, he couldn’t really enjoy his new role as “husband of the star.” Yet Dip never complained.
Robin had booked Dip on two guest shots on an IBC variety show. Each appearance had drawn murderous reviews. One columnist even began carping about Dip’s pull with a certain Mr. Big at IBC. Robin didn’t give a damn about columns or rumors. If Dip had any talent, Robin would have seen to it that he worked on every IBC show. But Dip was God-awful on television: a handsome face was not enough. There were guys doing shaving commercials who were better-looking.
“Why Scotch tonight, buddy boy?” Dip asked, as he handed him the drink.
“Opening of a new season. I like to be sober when I view a show. We’ll go to the Lancer Bar later and really tie one on.”
“I wish you’d go to Danny’s Hideaway with me, it would do me a lot of good.”
“Why?” Robin asked as he tried to get the green out of the color set.
“Well, J. P. Morgan once said to a guy, ‘If I walk through the stock exchange with my arm around you, that’s the best collateral you can have.’”
Robin smiled. “Okay, we’ll go there after the show.”
Dip’s eagerness was childlike as he dashed to the phone. Robin smiled as he heard him make detailed arrangements to get the proper table. Then he turned up the sound on the television set as The Christie Lane Show came on the air.
The Love Machine Page 46