The House That Shadows Built (1928)

THE LOW SPOT 187 bankruptcy — his old personal devil — or a receiver. Himself, he would be squeezed out altogether or reduced to a minor position. The control would pass to bankers, who could never understand what Famous Players was trying to accomplish. “Well, I’ll see if I can do anything,” said Frohman as he left the office. Adolph Zukor took this sombrely. He was inured to hollow reassurances. Frohman started to the Lyceum. On the way his intense human sympathies and his ardent belief in the business came together in a benevolent resolution. When he made his first success in theatrical management he had segregated from his earnings enough money to insure him against poverty in his old age; for he knew well the speculative nature of his business. This he invested in first-class bonds, which he tucked away in his safety-deposit box. Through all his vicissitudes he had held this reserve secret and sacred. Suddenly, Frohman changed his course, walked to the bank, to the safety-deposit vaults. . . . That afternoon, he returned to the studio, and laid on Zukor’s desk a check for $50,000. “It’s a loan, not an investment, Adolph,” he said. “ Pay me when you get out of the woods.” Fourteen years later, Adolph Zukor, dwelling on the virtues of Dan Frohman, came out with this story. He who heard it met Frohman next day and mentioned the incident. Frohman blushed like a girl.