The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF HOLLYWOOD "Did he open a vein next morning, Darryl?" enquired one of the producers. "He just up and left — and left us all sitting there like fools," said Zanuck again with astonishment. Everybody — except melancholy Mr. Mason — roared at this story. At the time I missed the point of it, but it became apparent to me afterwards. The idea of the mighty Zanuck sitting in a dark private theatre at i a.m. in the morning waiting for the film to start and then finding that he could not see it because the projectionist had gone home to bed was thought too incredible for words. To appreciate the story, you must realise that Zanuck (who was head of Warner Brothers and at twenty-four was responsible for making stars like James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson) has enjoyed a Tzar-like power in Hollywood (in fact he has been called the "Tzar of All the Rushes"). He would cake it for granted that if he expressed the wish to see a film in the Turkish bath someone would have a screen fixed up and the film would be running before he had even begun to sweat. A man like Zanuck has lived with power so long that he would expect other people to implement his wishes as automatically as if they were all a part of his own reflex mechanism. I have talked to many of the people who have worked for Zanuck — to his daughter Susan, to his son-in-law Andre Hakim. The overwhelming impression I got was of an outstanding man of Hollywood : a man who had the guts to take decisions. Perhaps he is not all that well-read but he has a flair and instinct and personality and fire in his belly. He is a man who will take big risks. He took risks when he made films like Gentleman's Agreement and Pinky (about racial prejudice). And he took a fantastic risk when he decided that all 20th Century-Fox productions would in future be 1 86