The House That Shadows Built (1928)

152 THE HOUSE THAT SHADOWS BUILT between two eras. After the sensational rise of the filmtrained Mary Pickford, after Zukor entered this third and last stage of his programme, critics said that it all came about accidentally; that Zukor, working the thin placer streak of the legitimate stage, stumbled upon the mother-lode. From his old confidants of this brainridden period, I know better. He planned it from the first. It would take money, more money than any producer had ever dreamed of spending on the films. To get Broadway stars he must pay better than Broadway prices. He intended, of course, to kill the old anonymity of screen actors, to advertise and exploit them after the fashion of Broadway managers. That would involve big overhead charges. Night after night he covered his scratch-pad with figures. He must throw in everything he had — and more. He planned to form at least a temporary partnership with some Broadway manager whose prestige would draw the star actors and give the stamp of respectability. He could hardly expect this partner, taking chances with his reputation, to add to the obligation by investing money. There remained only the banks. Ever since he entered the amusement business, he had deposited with the Irving National Bank; Vice-President Lee, who attended to loans, had become in the course of years his esteemed personal friend. This credit expert, skilled in weighing the honesty and ability of