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58 Yes, Mr. DeMille tions as to just how such a sum was being spent in view of the fact that a single man, Noerdlinger himself, comprised the entire research effort within the bungalow. When Gloria Grahame agreed to allow an elephant to poise a foot within inches of her face in the circus picture, DeMille was enchanted, and began beating the drums publicly in trib- ute to her courage. "That was no child's play," he would tell the press. "That was a 10-ton elephant hanging his foot over Gloria's face/' Ten tons struck us at the time as a lot of ele- phant, even for a DeMille production. Henry checked the books and found that it was certainly not of conventional size. P. T. Barnum's great circus giant, Jumbo, weighed 6 tons, con- siderably under the weight of Mr. DeMille's imaginary beast. Henry made reference to the point, and DeMille did reduce the poundage to seven tons on most occasions but was always well over the legal elephantine limit. Another time DeMille was looking for a spirited, but not jazzy, musical number to use in a sound sequence. Several were tried and rejected. He then ordered the musicians to try "Dixie." "Sorry, Mr. DeMille, we don't own the rights to the song," said an assistant. A lengthy discussion over proprietary rights ensued, with the boss finding every legal avenue closed to him, until finally he exploded, 'TPlay "The Star-Spangled Banner' and wire the President!" These were natural exuberances with which even his severest critics could find no real fault. One New York newspaper critic editorially summarized this part of his character as a "mag- nified prestige, in its engineering one of the greatest promo- tional feats of all time. It was the selling of a cult, as well as a culture." Typical of this strong facet was the occasion we had suggested that a picture, then in rough form, should not be shown to the press until it was completely edited. It was a needless caution, but DeMille pounced on it to voice one of his little saws of showmanship. "Never in your life say a DeMille