The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood

4 Purchase of The Plastic Age

Chapter 4 PURCHASE Of THE PLASTIC ACE SHORTLY AFTER MY RETURN from the West Coast. Universal decided to come up in the world. The company opened up spanking new offices on fifth Avenue near fifty-seventh Street in a brand-new thirty-some-story buildingwhere Universal occupied the ninth and tenth floors. The only flaw in this arrangement for me was that the new offices were no longer within walking distance of the Algonquin Hotel on West forty-sixth Street. The Algonquin was where Hortense Schorr. Virginia Morris. Regina Crew Cruickshank. Radie Harris. and I-all working gals in story and publicity departments. movie periodicals. newspaper and movie columns-had a special table right next to the famous Algonquin Round Table. where wits such as George S. Kaufman. Dorothy Parker. Robert Benchley. and Edna ferber met every day for lunch. I had to take a taxi there and back. and that was a nuisance. especially in inclement weather when taxis were hard to nab. But I was not about to abandon the Algonquin and my cronies. most of whom had started at the bottom of the ladder a few years back and climbed to jobs of prominence in the industry. Hortense Schorr became publicity director for Columbia Pictures. Virginia Morris was publicity director for United Artists. Regina Crewe was the eastern rival of Louella Parsons of the Hearst newspapers. These women were my pals. my closest friends. and remained so through the years. 41 42 The Shocking Miss Pilgrim As time went by, I became less and less elated with my job as story editor. Covering plays several nights a week. both in and out of town, plus the reading I had to do while responding to the incessant telephone calls, wasn't easy. There were other irritants. I was forced to hire readers at the whim of my superiors, but the readers' judgment was so suspect that I had to review their work myself or rely on my young secretary, Edith Cohen, who took the books or galleys home and reported to me in the morning. For instance, there was Mrs. Guthrie, a widow of excellent breeding and background who, unfortunately, had no story judgment. She got the job through her sister, Alice DuerMiller, a writer for the Saturday Evening Post who knew RH. Cochrane personally . Cochrane was also responsible for my hiring Richard Cobb- "Red" because of his flaming hair. He was a dropout from college with nothing but the fair sex on his mind. His father was a U.S. senator from Vermont and an old college mate of Cochrane's. Sally Morris, mistress of Al Lichtman, was also on my payroll to try to learn how to become a reader. She was attractive, but reading obviously had not been one of her favorite pastimes. Shortly after I hired her, Lichtman called to say he had received two front-row seats from Al Jolson, a personal friend, and would like me to accompany him to opening night. It proved an interesting evening. We had dinner at the Plaza Hotel. I wore a black velvet evening gown, cut low in the front and back. and a band of sparkling rhinestones and pearls in my hair, quite an expensive piece that had set me back several hundred dollars. At dinner, Lichtman confided that he was leaving Universal and forming his own company with BenSchulberg. Al would again be in charge of sales and distribution. The company was to be called Preferred Pictures. Lichtman had not yet broken the news to Universal but expected to do so in a day or two and then leave. I felt badly because I had always counted on his moral and intellectual support . and it would mean the loss of an important ally. I worried about working with RH. Cochrane, who would now be the only one left to whom I could go with special material. I always felt awed and inadequate in his presence. Al Jolson was not a singer I especially liked. He did his famous "Mammy" song, which brought down the house. Throughout the performance Mr. Lichtman, sitting beside me, kept rubbing his leg against mine. After the show. we had supper withJolson and some of his friends Purchase of The Plastic Age 43 and ended up in Al Lichtman's apartment near Central Park West. As expected from what had transpired in the theater, he was bent on...