The House That Shadows Built (1928)

288 THE HOUSE THAT SHADOWS BUILT Players-Lasky.They had films of his, mostly unreleased, representing more than a million dollars in cost of production, much more in potential profits. Zukor did not hesitate even for a day. “Withdraw them,” he ordered. “Permanently?” asked his office force. “Yes; kill them,” said Zukor And they were withdrawn, though the transaction destroyed most of the year’s earnings. Zukor, looking as usual into the future, had formed a plan to meet such an emergency if ever it rose. He approached the executives of the other great companies; within a month. Will H. Hays, politician and church warden, had left the President’s Cabinet and sat enthroned as moral dictator of the American moving picture — Cato of a voluntary censorship. A successful administrator, Zukor has, of course, his skill in picking men, his art in managing them. He likes long-term service. He will reach out and grab a star actor as quickly as any manager; for what a star can do he has already learned from that screen which is the only test. He is slower in selecting an executive; he keeps his prospect under observation for some time — as he did, for example, in the case of Sam Katz. For “what a man does to-day he will do next Monday,” he says. Once employed, Zukor likes to keep him for life. In managing men, he conceals the iron hand under the velvet glove. Now and then, in face of utter stupidity or treachery,^