“Yeah, okay.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll share the best-picture Oscar with you.”
Leo laughed out loud. “From your lips to God’s ear.”
“Carve out some stuff for Glenna to be in charge of; costumes would be good. A couple of other things: she’s smart, and she’s a good organizer. I’ve told her that if she does a lousy job you can fire her, so don’t take any crap from her. Also, don’t ride her because she’s my wife.”
“You give me a thin line to walk.”
“I want you to treat all the people who report to you decently, and that includes Glenna. You’ve been here for one picture, so by now you should know that’s studio policy.”
“Sure, I do; don’t worry. I’ll get along with Glenna, but what happens if she comes to you, complaining about me?”
“I’ll send her right back to you.”
“How about our star? Is he going to be a handful?”
“Vance is too smart for that. Go out to the back lot and introduce yourself. Get to know him and help him in any way you can. If he works out he’s going to make a lot of money for the studio over the next few years, maybe even longer.”
“I’ll do that. By the way, for what it’s worth, I hear the locations are good.”
“We’ve got sixteen thousand acres to choose from. The owners of the place, Mac and Ellie Cooper, are sweet people, and you treat them with kid gloves. Between you and me, Eddie Harris bought the place from them this weekend, but they’ll still be living in the ranch house.”
“Where will I be living?”
“Work that out to your satisfaction with Manny; there won’t be room in the main house.” There would be room, Rick knew, but he didn’t want to live with Leo.
“Speaking of casting, what are we doing for extras?”
“When you get up there go into town and take a look at the locals, especially the men, the guys who hang out in the saloon. They’re a salty-looking bunch, and, sober, they’d look great on camera. Don’t mess with the ranch hands; they’ve got four thousand head of cattle to deal with. If you need anybody from L.A., call casting, and they’ll scare them up for you.”
“Okay, anything else?”
Rick stood up and held out his hand. “This will be the first time we’ve worked together, Leo; let’s do it right.”
Leo grinned, shook his hand and left.
Watching him go, Rick hoped he had been firm enough with him. Leo reminded him of a touchy bull he had seen at the ranch, all muscle and no finesse.
15
Rick was near the end of his day. Casting had nearly been completed and the various contracts issued. Just before five, his secretary buzzed.
“Jed Crawford from the extras union is on the phone.”
“Okay,” Rick said, pushing the button. “Jed, how are you?”
“Not so good, Rick; I hear you’re about to start shooting a western, and I haven’t heard anything about how many extras you want to use.”
“We’re shooting out of state, Jed; we probably won’t need any L.A. people.”
“That’s unfriendly, Rick.”
“I’m sorry you think that, Jed; I certainly don’t intend for it to be. In fact I don’t anticipate using more than half a dozen extras, and we’ll hire them locally, as much for their cattle-handling skills as for anything else.”
“We’ve got plenty of guys who can ride horses and handle cattle.”
“So, you want me to hire here, then transport them to the location, then feed and house them for a month, so that we can use them in two or three scenes, is that it?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“Jed, have you read the contract lately? I mean, we signed it only a couple of months ago, both of us, and it excludes out-of-state extras.”
“It would be nice if you used a few of our people, and it won’t be nice if you don’t.”
“Do I hear just the hint of a threat in that sentence, Jed? Because if that’s what it is, then this conversation is going to take a different turn.”
“Take it easy, Rick; you’ll have a heart attack.”
“Not over this, I won’t.”
“Be seeing you.” Crawford hung up, and Rick went back to work.
Five minutes later his secretary buzzed again. “A Mickey Cohen is on the phone.”
“Put him on hold.” Rick thought about this for a minute. Mickey Cohen had stepped in and taken over many of Ben “Bugsy” Siegel’s responsibilities after Bugsy had had an eye blown out of his skull while sitting in his girlfriend’s living room, and those responsibilities, apparently, included using the extras union for the purpose of extortion. Rick picked up the phone.
“Rick Barron.”
“Hi, Rick. This is Mickey Cohen.”
Rick waited a couple of beats before replying. “Who?”
“Come on, Rick. You wouldn’t have taken the call if you didn’t know who I am.”
“I’ve heard of you.”
“What have you heard?”
“I’ve heard you’re the new Bugsy Siegel.”
“Ben wouldn’t like to hear you call him that name, Rick.”
“Okay, I’ll wait for his call.”
“Consider this his call.”
“What do you want, Mr. Cohen?”
“I understand you just had what could be interpreted as an unfriendly conversation with Mr. Crawford of the extras union.”
“I had a business discussion with Mr. Crawford; he was what I interpreted as unfriendly. Are you an official of the extras union?”
“Not in a formal way; I’m sort of a counselor to them.”
“Well, you can counsel them all you like, but this studio is a signator of a contract with the extras union that doesn’t say anything about my having to deal with counselors. Crawford knows that; if you have any questions about it, get him to explain it to you.”
“I’m sorry you’re taking that attitude, Rick; it would be so much simpler just to have a nice chat about this and come to an arrangement that benefits everybody.”
“Listen, Mickey,” Rick said, forcing himself to sound more conciliatory, “let me be frank with you: I didn’t deal with Bugsy Siegel or Chick Stampano, and I’m not going to deal with you.”
“Yeah, I heard about how you dealt with Stampano.”
Rick had blown off the top of Stampano’s head, after he had beaten up Glenna. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”
“Oh, I believe that story, all right. You’re a tough guy who takes the law into his own hands.”
“Only when dealing with people who take the law into their own hands.”
“You’re an ex-cop, aren’t you?”
“I still carry an LAPD badge,” Rick said. And he did. Eddie Harris had paid a hundred and fifty bucks for it to a corrupt former chief of police, and Rick was actually listed on the rolls of the department as a detective lieutenant.
“That doesn’t concern me, since I never do anything illegal.”
Rick couldn’t suppress a short laugh. “That doesn’t really concern me, Mickey, because you and I are never going to do anything together that doesn’t involve a lot of cops and lawyers.”
“Listen, you want to place a bet, call me.”
“Not even that.”
“Well, I’m sorry you can’t take a more flexible view of our contract terms,” Cohen said. “But pretty soon, you’re going to need extras for something shot in California, and that could get rocky.”
“Mickey, if you and Jed Crawford want your names and the union spread all over the front pages of the trade papers, then do your worst. I can promise you this: I will never lose so much as a day’s shooting because my extras don’t show, and if you ever interfere with our business I’ll see you in federal court. You do know that interference with a trade union is a federal offense these days, don’t you?”