The House That Shadows Built (1928)

CHAPTER XVIII THE TIDE ROLLS ON ^OUR years — as Terry Ramsaye says, “the term of a college course.” In 1912, Adolph Zukorwas a small exhibitor in Fourteenth Street and the obscure, unheeded Columbus of a fantastic idea. In 1916, he sat by right of merit at the head of a ^25,000,000 combination. In 1912, he waited for three hours at the anteroom of the Trust in order that he might make a humble suggestion. In 1916, his world came to his door. It all happened so rapidly and yet so naturally that he could scarcely visualize it. That period in his life, as he tries now to piece the hurried events together, seems to him like one of those hot rallies in a fight when the adversary presses close and you strike and guard only on blind instinct. Major crisis had followed major crisis — the “low spot” in 1913, the fire in 1915, the struggle for control of distribution; and every week brought its minor perplexities with temperamental stars, insufficient funds, dangerous rivalries. All about him the business was growing like a mushroom, grouping and regrouping itself like a kaleidoscope. Out of this flux constantly bubbled some enterprise which might threaten not only his supremacy but his very existence. ^ 222