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Page 21
"Our payroll on this picture is staggering. Stella's three
thousand a week is cheap for her, the old contract, but it's a
lot of money to throw away. Two weeks when she was under the
weather cost us six thousand dollars salary and there was half a
week we couldn't do any work without her. Gordon and Shirley and
Marilyn Loring draw down seventeen hundred a week between them.
The director's salary is only two hundred short of that. All told
'The Black Terror' is costing us a hundred thousand dollars over
our original estimate.
"And now"--it seemed to me that Manton literally groaned--"with
Stella Lamar dead--excuse me looking at it this way, but, after
all, it is business and I'm the executive at the head of the
company--now we must find a new star, Lord knows where, and we
must retake every scene in which Stella appeared. It--it's enough
to bankrupt Manton Pictures for once and all."
"Can't you change the story about some way, so you won't lose the
value of her work?" asked Kennedy.
"Impossible! We've announced the release and we've got to go
ahead. Fortunately, some of the biggest sets are not taken yet."
The car pulled up with a flourish before the Manton studio, which
was an immense affair of reinforced concrete in the upper Bronx.
Then, in response to our horn, a great wide double door swung
open admitting us through the building to a large courtyard
around which the various departments were built.
Here, there was little indication that the principal star of the
company had just met her death under mysterious and suspicious
circumstances. Perhaps, had I been familiar with the ordinary
bustle of the establishment, I might have detected a difference.
Indeed, it did strike me that there were little knots of people
here and there discussing the tragedy, but everything was
overshadowed by the aquatic scene being filmed in the courtyard
for some other Manton picture. The cramped space about the
concrete tank was alive with people, a mob of extras and stage
hands and various employees, a sight which held Kennedy and me
for some little time. I was glad when Manton led the way through
a long hall to the comparative quiet of the office building. In
the reception room there was a decided hush.
"Is Millard here?" he asked of the boy seated at the information
desk.
"No, sir," was the respectful reply. "He was here this morning
and for a while yesterday."
"You see!" Manton confronted Kennedy grimly. "This is only one of
the things with which we have to contend in this business. I give
Millard an office but he's a law unto himself. It's the artistic
temperament. If I interfere, then he says he cannot write and he
doesn't produce any manuscript. Ordinarily he cannot be bothered
to work at the studio. But"--philosophically--"I know where to
get him as a general thing. He does most of his writing in his
rooms downtown; says there's more inspiration in the confusion of
Broadway than in the wilds of the Bronx. I'll phone him."
We followed the promoter up the stairs to the second and top
floor. Here a corridor gave access to the various executive
offices. Its windows at frequent intervals looked down upon the
courtyard and the present confusion.
Werner, who had preceded us into the building, now came up. As
Manton bustled into his own office to use the telephone the
director turned to Kennedy, indicating the next doorway.
"This is my place," he explained. "It connects with Manton, on
one side, through his reception room. You see, in addition to
directing Stella Lamar I have been in general charge of
production and most of the casting is up to me."
Kennedy entered after Werner, interested, and I followed. The
door through to the reception room stood open and beyond was the
one to Manton's quarters. I could see the promoter at his desk,
receiver at his ear, an impatient expression upon his face. In
the reception room a rather pretty girl, young and of a shallow-
pated type I thought, was busy at a clattering typewriter. She
rose and closed the door upon Manton, so as not to disturb him.
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