From under my hat (1952)

From under my Hat McCormack was wild. Finally he lunged out of his seat, strode up the aisle, and left the theater. I laughed. At least he was too full of wrath to see that it was Hedda Hopper who had baited him. Doug and Mary? They came in through the stage door. The great lover had stolen their glory. By this time I had received several picture offers from the Coast, so back I went to the mines. In short order I was in so many that I now forget their titles. I do remember The Teaser and Dangerous Innocence starring Laura La Plante. She later married our director, Bill Seiter. Laura, a cute blond bundle of loveliness, decided to have one small fling in New York before her marriage to Seiter and asked me to go along. Always ready to tip my lid to the Big City, I accepted. Attractive men buzzed around Laura; important ones, too. Among others, Bobbie Lehman, of the banking family, was caught by her charms. At this time Edgar Selwyn was preparing to produce Anita Loos's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Laura was pretty, fresh, and I thought just what the doctor ordered for Lorelei, so I introduced her to Selwyn. Although she'd never been on the stage, he offered her the star part, but she was wiser than he. She turned it down, returned to California, and married her Bill. After a while they were divorced; then Laura married Irving Asher, a Metro producer. Not long ago she told me an incident involving Irving and his boss, Louis B. Mayer. Irving was all set to undergo some minor, but painful, surgery, and went in to say good-by to his boss. "Where are you going?" asked Louis. "To the hospital to have a little surgery." "For what?" asked the great man. He was told for what and given the name of the doctor. Mayer pushed a button. "Oh no," he said to Irving, "the greatest surgeon for that ailment is Dr. So-and-So. I'll get him. He'll operate on you. He'll do it for me." 144