YES, MR.DEMILLE (1959)

1. TWO framed cartoons hung for a time in the office of a staff assistant in the DeMille bungalow, one showing the crisis that occurred when, according to the caption, An assistant says NO to Cecil DeMille. Actors appear to tremble like aspen leaves, secretaries are fainting and crewmen leap from high towers as if preferring suicide to the director's wrath. The other cartoon depicts a fleecy scene in heaven, with the cele- brated showman wearing an outsize pair of wings, of the sort properly reserved for epic-makers. He is chestily facing up to a shaft of light, presumably emanating from the Creator, and delivering an edict promptly upon arrival: "One of us has got to gor Rival producers would not be apt to regard the sym- bolism as even a trifle overdrawn. Having observed what DeMille had accomplished on earth almost singlehandedly, they would be willing, however irreverently, to classify this exasperating man as a potential dark horse on the celestial scene; at least they would expect him to give the Incumbent a good stiff battle. As might be expected, DeMille often found himself in fetters to the tight little world within the bungalow, which frequently trembled under his mastery. He considered himself hobbled by mediocre minds incapable of rising to heights reached by his own imagination. He felt his trouble was with people who kept him from moving steadily toward his objectives. 137