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"Oh, he does, does he?" snarled Fields, who was immediately put into a combative humor because Carroll thought well of him.
"Yes," said Grady simply, having gone over this road several times before.
"Well, he'll damn well pay for me," said Fields. He got a pencil and a piece of paper and figured out a list of penalties for Carroll's rash urge.
"Tell him," he said at length, "that I'll work for $6500 a week, plus substantial bonuses and percentage clauses."
Grady sat reflective a minute, then arose and said, "All right, I'll do it, but it's the most outrageous demand I've ever struck in all my years in show business."
Eying him carefully, Fields lit a cigar.
Grady called on Carroll, presented the surrender terms, and came back in about an hour. "Believe it or not," he reported, "Carroll said he would do it."
"Said he would, did he?" Fields gritted savagely.
"Don't ask me why."
"Well, you trot right back and tell him I've changed my mind," said the comedian. "There's another condition — he'll have to drop his name off the marquee and make it read 'W. C. Fields in the Vanities/ "
Grady left without comment. Somewhat later in the day he looked into Carroll's office and delivered the shift in terms. "Frankly," he added, "it's disgraceful behavior. If I were you, I'd tell him where to go."
By an unlucky chance, Grady had underestimated the producer's compulsion to employ Fields. Shortly after the agent left his office, Carroll telephoned Fields, agreed to the new condition, and relayed Grady's conversation word for word.
The meeting of Grady and Fields that evening was highly spirited. Among other things, the comedian said, "Your ten per
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