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16 Yes, Mr. DeMille hedges. Our offices, most of them quite small, opened into a narrow hallway that ran the length of the building. At the far end, like a jeweled crown on a stick, were Mr. DeMille's quarters. In Hollywood, differences in position or influence were re- flected with great sensitivity in the d£cor and furnishings of one's office. It might be generally said that paneled walls began on the assistant-producer level, though a number of what were nimbly called "top" writers enjoyed similar appointments. In the bungalow, however, below DeMille, all was equality. There were titles among us, but these were apt to fade in the common assault upon everyday problems. The dozen men and women who comprised Mr. DeMille's personal staff had daily, if not hourly, communication with him, lunched with him and at least two or three nights a week sat beside him in the projection room at his home to see movies for pleasure or business. Life flowed down the corridor past our cubicles toward the fount of authority. Everything that was important moved in that direction, and we were wont to gauge the importance of a visitor by the degree of his penetration down the corridor. My office as "personal representative" was at the entrance to the corridor, across from the writers' conference room, and thus occupied what might be charitably described as a lower level in the hierarchy. A visitor whose mission stopped at that point was not likely to arouse more than passing curiosity, but the temper of studio life being what it was, it appeared a matter of some necessity to ascertain the identity of those individuals who achieved audience with Mr. DeMille. While little of this daily commerce would directly affect a staff member, one had to reckon with the fact that permanence in a movie studio could hinge rather heavily on knowing who was seeing whom and, if possible, what was said. It seemed that a good part-of our time was devoted to speculating on what so-and-so was doing in so-and-so's office. A DeMille visitor naturally set into motion resourceful and subtle inquiries designed to elicit the