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172 ¥es, Mr. DeMille sensational novel, Feet of Clay. The post-bellum tale of the hero who lost half of a foot in battle was first published serially, and in book form quickly reached a sixth edition. Several parties were interested in the movie rights. The gos- sip indicated that substantial offers had been made, one re- portedly as high as $25,000, another $50,000. DeMille instructed a Paramount spokesman in New York to telephone Mrs. Turtle and offer $2,500, but not to divulge his name. The spokesman began by asking Mrs. Turtle what she would sell the movie rights for. "What will you give?" asked the author. "Twenty-five hundred dollars/' Her reply was typically feminine but irrefutable. <e Why should I accept $2,500 when I've already been offered $25,000?" The caller asked who had made such an offer and Mrs. Turtle replied that she could not say. It was a straight-forward reply; at that point the $25,000 offer had also been made by an agent for an undisclosed principal. The maneuver revealed two things to DeMille—the highest offer and the possibility a matching offer would buy the movie rights. The following morning DeMille's agent called again, this time offering $23,000. Mrs. Turtle again referred to the $25,000 bid. The caller said he would contact her again tomorrow. The third proposal was in combination—$25,000 and Cecil B. DeMille. Mrs. Turtle gleefully accepted, recalling in later years that though she had never seen a DeMille movie up to that time she "did remember he had written the Peter Grimm story, which I admired extravagantly." Readers were beguiled by Mrs. Turtle's story-a hero with half a foot, and it was that feature that aroused Hollywood's interest. But DeMille felt there was not enough bounce in a loss of toes by shell bkst. His film version, with Rod LaRocque