Stahr said. “I thought there was something there that wasn’t there – that was all.” He hesitated, looking regretfully at Reinmund: “It’s too bad – it was a good play. We paid fifty thousand for it.”
“What’s the matter with it, Monroe?” asked Broaca bluntly.
“Well, it hardly seems worth while to go into it,” said Stahr.
Reinmund and Wylie White were both thinking of the professional effect on them. Reinmund had two pictures to his account this year – but Wylie White needed a credit to start his comeback to the scene. Jane Meloney was watching Stahr closely from little skull-like eyes.
“Couldn’t you give us some clue,” Reinmund asked. “This is a good deal of a blow, Monroe.”
“I just wouldn’t put Margaret Sullavan in it,” said Stahr. “Or Colman either. I wouldn’t advise them to play it —”
“Specifically[63], Monroe,” begged Wylie White. “What didn’t you like? The scenes? the dialogue? the humor? construction?”
Stahr picked up the script from his desk, let it fall as if it were, physically, too heavy to handle.
“I don’t like the people,” he said. “I wouldn’t like to meet them – if I knew they were going to be somewhere, I’d go somewhere else.”
Reinmund smiled, but there was worry in his eyes.
“Well, that’s a damning criticism,” he said. “I thought the people were rather interesting.”
“So did I,” said Broaca. “I thought Em was very sympathetic.”
“Did you?” asked Stahr sharply. “I could just barely believe she was alive. And when I came to the end, I said to myself, ‘So what?[64]’”
“There must be something to do,” Reinmund said. “Naturally we feel bad about this. This is the structure we agreed on —”
“But it’s not the story,” said Stahr. “I’ve told you many times that the first thing I decide is the kind of story I want. We change in every other regard, but once that is set we’ve got to work toward it with every line and movement. This is not the kind of a story I want. The story we bought had shine and glow – it was a happy story. This is all full of doubt and hesitation. The hero and heroine stop loving each other over trifles – then they start up again over trifles. After the first sequence, you don’t care if she never sees him again or he her.”
“That’s my fault,” said Wylie suddenly. “You see, Monroe, I don’t think stenographers have the same dumb admiration for their bosses they had in 1929. They’ve been laid off – they’ve seen their bosses jittery. The world has moved on, that’s all.”
Stahr looked at him impatiently, gave a short nod.
“That’s not under discussion[65],” he said. “The premise of this story is that the girl did have dumb admiration for her boss, if you want to call it that. And there wasn’t any evidence that he’d ever been jittery. When you make her doubt him in any way, you have a different kind of story. Or rather you haven’t anything at all. These people are extraverts – get that straight – and I want them to extravert all over the lot. When I want to do a Eugene O’Neill[66] play, I’ll buy one.”
Jane Meloney, who had never taken her eyes off Stahr, knew it was going to be all right now. If he had really been going to abandon the picture, he wouldn’t have gone at it like this. She had been in this game longer than any of them except Broaca, with whom she had had a three-day affair twenty years ago.
Stahr turned to Reinmund.
“You ought to have understood from the casting, Reiny, what kind of a picture I wanted. I started marking the lines that Corliss and McKelway couldn’t say and got tired of it. Remember this in the future – if I order a limousine, I want that kind of car. And the fastest midget racer you ever saw wouldn’t do. Now – ” He looked around. “ – shall we go any farther? Now that I’ve told you I don’t even like the kind of picture this is? Shall we go on? We’ve got two weeks. At the end of that time I’m going to put Corliss and McKelway into this or something else – is it worth while?”
“Well, naturally,” said Reinmund, “I think it is. I feel bad about this. I should have warned Wylie. I thought he had some good ideas.”
“Monroe’s right,” said Broaca bluntly. “I felt this was wrong all the time, but I couldn’t put my finger on it[67].”
Wylie and Jane looked at him contemptuously and exchanged a glance.
“Do you writers think you can get hot on it again?” asked Stahr, not unkindly. “Or shall I try somebody fresh?”
“I’d like another shot[68],” said Wylie.
“How about you, Jane?”
She nodded briefly.
“What do you think of the girl?” asked Stahr.
“Well – naturally I’m prejudiced in her favor.”
“You better forget it,” said Stahr warningly. “Ten million Americans would put thumbs down on that girl if she walked on the screen. We’ve got an hour and twenty-five minutes on the screen – you show a woman being unfaithful to a man for one-third of that time and you’ve given the impression that she’s one-third whore.”
“Is that a big proportion?” asked Jane slyly, and they laughed.
“It is for me,” said Stahr thoughtfully, “even if it wasn’t for the Hays ofifce. If you want to paint a scarlet letter on her back[69], it’s all right, but that’s another story. Not this story. This is a future wife and mother. However – however —”
He pointed his pencil at Wylie White.
“ – this has as much passion as that Oscar on my desk.”
“What the hell!” said Wylie. “She’s full of it. Why she goes to —”
“She’s loose enough,” said Stahr, “ – but that’s all. There’s one scene in the play better than all this you cooked up, and you’ve left it out. When she’s trying to make the time pass by changing her watch.”
“It didn’t seem to fit,” Wylie apologized.
“Now,” said Stahr, “I’ve got about fifty ideas. I’m going to call Miss Doolan.” He pressed a button. “ – And if there’s anything you don’t understand, speak up —”
Miss Doolan slid in almost imperceptibly. Pacing the floor swiftly, Stahr began. In the first place he wanted to tell them what kind of a girl she was – what kind of a girl he approved of here. She was a perfect girl with a few small faults as in the play, but a perfect girl not because the public wanted her that way but because it was the kind of girl that he, Stahr, liked to see in this sort of picture. Was that clear? It was no character role. She stood for health,
Specifically – (
So what? – (
That’s not under discussion – (
Eugene O’Neill – Юджин О’Нил (1888–1953), американский драматург, нобелевский лауреат (1936)
couldn’t put my finger on it – (
I’d like another shot – (
you want to paint a scarlet letter on her back – (
