The Dream Merchants Part 23

He looked at her, surprised at the gravity in her tone. "I think he'll try his darnedest, sweetheart. Why?"

"Papa is very unhappy about it. He still has relatives in Germany, you know. And there is that picture that Joe wants him to make."

"I know about it," he answered. "We spoke this morning. He's going to do it."

They walked a few more steps before she answered. He could see she was thinking. At last she sighed. "Then he's made up his mind."

Johnny nodded.

"I'm glad," she said simply. "At least he won't be tortured by all these doubts any more."

"That's right," Johnny said.

They had walked another few steps before another thought struck her. She stopped and faced him. "But if there is a war, Johnny, will you have to go?"

He looked at her, startled. He hadn't thought about it. "I suppose so," he said as first reaction; then: "That is, I don't know." He laughed quickly. "But there's no use in thinking about it now. When the time comes we'll know soon enough."

She didn't answer. She took his arm and silently they walked the rest of the way back to the hotel.

4.

Johnny looked up from his desk. "You sure that Doris said she'd be here before we went to the train?" he asked Jane for the fourth time.

She nodded her head wearily. "I'm sure," she replied. She wondered why he was so anxious about it. If the girl didn't come here, she knew what time the train was due in and she could get there herself to meet her mother and father. It wasn't like Johnny to be so nervous.

He busied himself signing a few more memos, then he looked up at her again. "What's the name of the man that George wants to manage those three theaters uptown?"

"Stanley Farber," she answered.

He looked down at the letter on his desk again. It was a note thanking him for confirming his appointment to the position. He was surprised by it. He hadn't confirmed that job yet; he generally didn't confirm anyone's appointment to a job until after he had talked with the person involved. And he hadn't even spoken to Farber. He tossed the letter to Jane. "Check this with George," he told her, "and let me know what he says."

He pulled his watch out of his pocket and looked at it impatiently. It was only two hours before the train pulled in. He wondered what was keeping her.

The door opened before he could put the watch away. It was Doris. She came into the office.

He got up from his seat and walked around the desk to her. "I was beginning to wonder where you were," he said, taking her hand.

She smiled at him. "I missed the fast train down from school and had to take the local," she explained.

Jane looked over at them in surprise. For a moment she sat very still, a sort of numbness in her. It wasn't that she was in love with Johnny, but that she felt she could be if he wanted her. She had long felt that he was capable of great emotional depths and some day they would rise within him. But nothing he had ever said or done had led her to think that he would turn to her. Now she knew he never would, and with it came an inexplicable feeling of relief.

Doris turned to her and said h.e.l.lo.

Automatically Jane asked how she was.

Doris replied and Johnny led her to a seat.

"Now if you'll be patient and wait just a minute for me to clean a few things up," he said, smiling down at her, "we can grab a bite before we meet them."

"I don't mind waiting," she answered softly.

Jane looked at Johnny as he went behind his desk and sat down. It was the first time she had ever seen him excited in just that manner. He was like a boy with his first love, she thought, he didn't even know what he felt yet.

She looked at Doris sitting demurely in the chair Johnny had placed for her. She was taking off her hat, and her hair shimmered in the office lights. She looked happy and pleased and her heart was in her eyes as she looked at Johnny. She didn't notice that Jane was watching her.

Impulsively Jane got up and walked over to her. She bent over Doris and took her hand and smiled. Her voice was low, so low that Johnny couldn't hear what she was saying. "It's like a dream, Doris, isn't it?"

Startled, Doris looked up at her. She saw the warm kindliness in Jane's eyes. She nodded her head without speaking.

Jane took her coat and hung it up on the rack. She smiled again at Doris and went back to her chair and sat down.

The door opened again and Irving Bannon came in. His face was ruddy and excited. "Something big is coming over the ticker, Johnny. You better take a look at it!"

"What is it?" Johnny asked.

"I don't know," Irving answered. "The tape just said: 'Important announcement to follow.' AP says it's a big story, I checked with them before I came in here."

Johnny got up and walked round his desk to Doris. "Do you want to look at it?"

"Yes," she answered.

They followed Irving to the newsreel office. On the way there, Johnny introduced them. The newsreel office was a small room at the end of the hall. Inside it was a desk at which Irving sat when writing up his t.i.tle cards and a work-bench where he edited the reel. In a corner next to the desk was a news ticker-tape machine. Bannon had persuaded Johnny to install it so that if there were any special items of news the reel could give it coverage.

There were a few people gathered around the machine as they walked toward it. They made room for Johnny to walk through when they saw him. Doris stood next to him, Irving and Jane opposite him. The machine had been silent as they came into the room, but now it began to tick.

Johnny picked up the tape and began to read aloud from it.

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 12 (AP).-BY EXECUTIVE ORDER PRESIDENT WILSON TODAY ORDERED THAT MERCHANT VESSELS BE ARMED TO PROTECT THEMSELVES AGAINST THE FURTHER WANTON DEPREDATIONS OF GERMAN SUBMARINES. THIS ORDER WAS ISSUED JUST EIGHT DAYS AFTER CONGRESS HAD FAILED TO Pa.s.s A BILL GIVING MERCHANT SHIPS THIS PRIVILEGE. THE COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRESIDENT'S ORDER WILL FOLLOW AS SOON AS AVAILABLE.-MORE WILL FOLLOW.

For almost a minute there was a complete silence in the room while the import of the news sank in. Bannon was the first to find his tongue. "This means war," he said flatly. "n.o.body can stop it now. Looks like the President finally made up his mind."

Johnny looked at him. War. The United States would have to go to war. Suddenly he galvanized into action. He turned to Jane. "Get Joe Turner on the wire at the studio, quick!"

She ran back to his office.

He turned to Bannon. "Get a special reel out on this as fast as you can, then get down to Washington with a full crew. I want pictures of everything important that might happen and I want you on the train within two hours!"

He turned and went back to his office, Doris following him. He had forgotten about her for a few seconds; now he felt her hand on his arm. He stopped and looked at her.

Her face was pale and her eyes wide in the yellow light of the corridor. Her voice was small and still. "If war comes, Johnny, what are you going to do?"

He smiled rea.s.suringly at her and avoided the question. "I don't know, sweetheart," he said. "We'll see what happens first."

They went into his office. Jane looked up at them. "Your call will be through in about fifteen minutes, Johnny."

"Good girl," he said, and walked over to his desk, sat down, and lit a cigarette. If war came he wondered what he would do. He didn't know and yet he did. There was only one answer when your country was at war.

He couldn't sit still. He fidgeted in his chair restlessly. At last he got up. "I'm going down to Irving's office," he told them. "Call me there when you get Joe on the wire." He walked out.

Doris followed him with her eyes. She said nothing; she could see his restlessness, and something inside her seemed to shrivel and tighten until she could hardly breathe. Her face grew paler.

Jane looked at her sympathetically from a new-born freedom. She got up from her chair and walked over to Doris and took her hand. "Worried?" she asked.

Doris nodded her head. She fought hard to keep tears from coming to her eyes, but she could feel them trembling just beneath her lids.

"You love him," Jane said.

Doris's voice was husky. "I've always loved him," she whispered, "from the time I was a kid. I used to dream about him and not know what it meant. Then one day I knew."

"He loves you too," Jane said softly. "But he doesn't know it yet."

The tears stood clearly in Doris's eyes now. "I know. But if war comes-and he goes away-he may never find out."

Jane squeezed her hand. "Don't you worry, he'll find out."

Doris smiled through her tears. "Do you really think so?" she asked.

"Of course he will," Jane rea.s.sured her. And all the time she was thinking to herself: "The poor kid, it's as bad as that."

The phone rang, startling them. Jane picked up the receiver on Johnny's desk.

"I've got that Los Angeles call for you," the operator's voice told her.

"Just a minute," Jane replied. She held her hand over the mouthpiece and spoke to Doris. "Would you mind going down the hall for him, honey?"

Doris was glad to be doing something. She had felt so completely out of things before. She smiled at Jane and nodded. She left the room.

A minute later she was back, following Johnny into the office. He took the phone from Jane's hand.

"h.e.l.lo, Joe?" he said.

He could hear Joe's voice booming on the other end of the wire. "Yes, Johnny. What do yuh want?"

"The President's putting guns on merchant ships," Johnny said tersely. "It looks like war for sure."

Joe whistled. "It's sooner than I expected." He was silent for a moment. "What do yuh want me to do?" he asked.

"You got that war picture finished yet?" Johnny asked.

"The last scene got into the can this morning," Joe answered proudly.

"Then ship it to New York right away. If we get it out now, we'll clean up," Johnny said.

"I can't do that," Joe replied. "It's got to be edited an' the t.i.tle cards have to be made up. That's a couple of weeks' work at the least."

Johnny thought for a moment. "We can't wait that long," he said definitely. "I'll tell you what we'll do. Get your best editor and two writers to get on the train with you tonight. Take along some reel-winders and reserve two adjoining compartments. You edit the film on the way in and have them write up the cards. Have everything ready when you get to New York. We'll make up the cards here and insert them. Then we can start duping prints and rush 'em out into the theaters."

"I don't know whether we can make it," Joe said. "It's short notice."

"You'll make it," Johnny answered confidently. "I'm notifying all the distributors and salesmen that the picture will be ready next week."

"Jesus!" Joe exploded, "you haven't changed a bit. You can't wait for anything!"

"We can't wait," Johnny retorted.

"What does Peter say?" Joe asked.

"I don't know," Johnny replied. "He isn't here yet."

"All right, all right," Joe said, "I'll try to do it."

"Good," Johnny said, "I know you'll do it. Have you got a name for the picture yet?"

"Not yet," Joe answered. "We've been working it under the t.i.tle 'War Story.'"

"Okay," Johnny said. "It'll have a name when you get here." He hung up the phone and looked at them. "Some good may come out of this yet," he said.

"Johnny," Doris cried out in a voice filled with anguish, "Johnny, how could you talk like that? Saying some good will come out of the Germans making war against all those innocent people? How could you?"

He stared at her. He never even noticed the reproach in her voice. He grabbed both her hands and pumped them excitedly. "That's it, Doris, that's it!" he shouted.

"What?" she asked, more bewildered than ever at his actions.

He didn't answer her question; instead he turned to Jane and spoke rapidly. "I want you to get this notice out to all distributors and salesmen. Have the advertising department start working up material and getting out stories on it. Put this down." He paused for a moment while Jane got a pencil and paper ready.

"Magnum Pictures announces the immediate release of its latest and greatest production, The War against the Innocents. It will be ready for immediate showing next week. This picture will expose all the terrors and b.e.s.t.i.a.lities of the Hun that we know so well from our daily papers."

He stopped for a minute and looked down at Jane. "Tell you what," he said, "send it down to the advertising department. Have them rewrite it and get it out."

He turned back to Doris. There was a big smile on his face. "Grab your coat, sweetheart," he said. "We don't want to be late in getting to the train!"

5.