Communist infiltration of Hollywood motion-picture industry : hearing before the Committee on Un-American activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-second Congress, first session (1951)

COMMUNISM IN HOLLYWOOD MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY 2083 get a backer whom he knew, and whose name I don't know—you will have to get it from him if necessary—to supply the money and for which we would all share in the company. We decided that since we wanted to make the big profits that I would hire a writer and be very fair, pay him the salary he would be getting at the studio, not cut him down as independents very often try to do, get them at a cheaper price because they weren't working. I said, "I will find out what this writer's last salary at the studio was and I will pay it to him so that I have no obligation to him if I sell a script at a great deal of money and he says it is not fair.'' I had no obligation, he was paid his regular salary just as he would be at a studio. It sounded good but some of my friends were very dubious about it. Milton asked me how much I thought I needed and I said, "Milton, to go along for a year to buy stories, because I don't know how much stories would cost, novels, I can work on some original ideas, but I had some things to sell the studio and I couldn't. I liked them. I felt I could produce with a writer a very workable script which would sell," I said, "to do that we have to count on the fact that maybe we won't sell a script for a year. We need $50,000," which was going to pay me partial salary so I could live, pay the writer his salary, and naturally we were going to work at a very minimum. We were going to get writers for $250, $300 a week. Unless there was somebody I was so crazy about that I would be willing to give him a piece of the picture. Since we didn't want to spend money Milton suggested that he would talk to Nat Goldstone about giving me a room that I could use. And he said to Nat, "If you let her maybe she will let you sell the scripts for her," because I didn't want to be a salesman, I didn't want to be an agent. I told Milton at the time that he must not promise this to Nat definitely, but if things worked out maybe I would let Nat sell it for me. I got an office, I got a writer who was not a Goldstone writer. I was working on a story that we were trying to sell. We finally cut it down to $25,000 because Milton said he couldn't get it. I said, "Milton, I will try it." Then he came to me, after giving me his own checks for the writer at $250 a week, and he said, "I can't get the money." He even had the lawyer there, who is a lawyer and accountant, who was going to draw up an agreement. I said, "Milton, I am going to can this writer, you haven't any money and I am not going to ask him to work for nothing." Mr. Wheeler. Who was the writer you had ? Miss Ettinger. The writer was, I think, a fellow by the name of Bill Roberts and his agent was the JafFe office. Mr. Wheeler. Bill Robarts is not the same individual as Stanley Roberts? Miss Ettinger. No, no. William Roberts. Mr. Wheeler. Did George Willner have anything to do with this business deal ? Miss Ettinger. Nothing. He didn't know the writers I hired, he didn't know the story, but he was working Mr. Wheeler. Did you have any business contact with him ? Miss Ettinger. None. But he knew I was working—he was work- ing for the Nat Goldstone Agency so he knew I was in the office there. I wouldn't even let him know the stories I was working on.