The Paper Dragon

"I did. At Fort Benning."

"And were you then sent to Korea?"

"I was."

"Would you consider this a fair description of Lieutenant Cooper in your noveclass="underline" he is twenty-one years old, six feet tall, with blue eyes and dark hair. He is drafted into the Army from Pratt Institute, is sent to O.C.S. and then shipped to Korea?"

"I would consider that a fair description."

"Did you once live on West End Avenue?"

"I did."

"Did your fictitious character Lieutenant Cooper live on West End Avenue?"

"Yes."

"Did he attend Music and Art High School, as you did?"

"Yes, sir."

"Was he an art major, as you were?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did he later receive a scholarship to the Art Students League, as you did?"

"Yes, sir."

"And then went on to Pratt Institute, as you did?"

"Yes, sir."

"I probably need not even ask this question, Mr. Driscoll, but would you please tell the Court upon whom you based the character Lieutenant Alex Cooper?"

"On myself, sir."

"Was he based on Lieutenant Roger Mason in Catchpole?"

"I had never heard of Lieutenant Roger Mason until last month when you showed me the play."

"Then your character was not based on him?"

"Definitely not."

"Mr. Driscoll, I show you these pages and ask you what they are."

Driscoll took the pages and studied them briefly. "They're a preliminary outline for the first several chapters of The Paper Dragon."

"I offer the outline in evidence," Willow said, and handed the pages to Brackman.

"Any objection?" the clerk asked.

"None," Brackman said.

"Mr. Genitori?"

"No."

"Defendants' Exhibit J received in evidence," the clerk said.

"Please," Willow said to the clerk, "I'd like to refer to it." He took the extended outline, glanced at it, and then turned to Driscoll again. "Is this a detailed outline, Mr. Driscoll?"

"It is."

"Does that mean you followed it precisely when you were writing the first hundred pages of your book?"

"The first ninety-eight pages," Driscoll said. "But no, I didn't follow it precisely."

"You made changes as you worked?"

"Yes."

"As you went along?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Well, I didn't want to feel too tightly restricted by the outline. I wanted to leave some surprises for myself."

"Did you expand upon his outline at any time?"

"Yes. This covers only the first portion of the book. When I sent the completed portion to Mitchell-Campbell, it was accompanied by a longer outline, a less detailed outline, but one covering the remainder of the book, the full book as I hoped to complete it."

"And you sent your completed portion together with an expanded outline to Mitchell-Campbell?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you know anyone working at Mitchell-Campbell?"

"No, sir."

"Why did you send the book to them, rather than to another publisher?"

"They seemed like good publishers."

"Upon what did you base this judgment?"

"They seemed to do a lot of advertising for the books on their list," Driscoll said, and McIntyre burst out laughing.

"I believe this is the standard writer's gauge, your Honor," Willow said, laughing with him. "Did you address the book to anyone's attention, Mr. Driscoll?"

"No, I simply sent it to the Editorial Department."

"With a return envelope?"

"Well, no, I sent the book in a box. But I accompanied it with a money order for the return postage. If it was rejected."

"Did you expect a rejection?"

"It was my first novel, I don't know what I expected."

"What happened next?"

"I received a letter from Mr. Danton, asking if I would come in to discuss the book."

"When was this?"

"I don't remember exactly. Either July or August."

"Of 1962?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did you in fact meet with Mr. Danton?"

"Yes, I went up to his office."

"Can you tell us what happened at this first meeting?"

"Chester wanted to know what my plans were for finishing the book, and I expanded verbally upon the outline I'd submitted. He then told me that the feelings of himself and another editor at Mitchell-Campbell were that the squad, and particularly Colman, should be given a stronger motivation for their hatred of Lieutenant Cooper. He suggested that I use the idea of a previous commanding officer being killed in action and my hero replacing him."

"Did he suggest how this officer might have been killed?"

"Yes, he suggested that a sniper kill him from ambush."

"Did he make any other suggestions?"

"Yes, I believe he was concerned about the book's profanity even then, and he suggested that it be toned down during the writing of the remainder. He also thought we should begin thinking about another title."

"Was that the substance of your conversation at this first meeting?"

"Yes, sir."

"What did you do then?"

"I went home to finish the book."

"What procedure did you follow?"

"Well, first I outlined the next four or five chapters in greater detail. And then I began writing them."

"Was this your standard working procedure?"

"Yes. I would outline several chapters at a time and then begin work on those chapters — the actual writing of them. When I'd finished those, or was close to finishing them, I would outline the next several chapters, and so on."

"Until you completed the novel?"

"Yes."

"You used your general outline as the basis…"

"Yes…"

"… and then outlined in closer detail as you went along?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I did."

"Now here are some pages, Mr. Driscoll, with the words 'Chapter 7,' on the first page, and on the last page here, we have 'Chapter 15.' Are these pages part of your actual working outline?"

"Yes, sir, they are."

"The detailed outline?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now page 5 is torn, do you see that?"

"I see it."

"Only part of the page is here in the outline."

"That's right."

"Is this exactly how you found this page in your files?"

"It is."

"Do you know why a portion of the page is torn off?"

"I have no idea. The page following it is marked 5A so I imagine I didn't like what I had outlined and simply tore it off and put in another page called 5A. Yes, I probably tore off the bottom of this page, and then replaced it with a '5A.' "

"I offer the outline in evidence," Willow said.

"Have we seen this before, Mr. Willow?" Brackman asked.

"No, sir, you have not."

"I'm not objecting, but I would like to know why this was not previously shown to us."

"Because we only received it just before the trial began."

"Nevertheless, withholding it was in violation of the court order directing—"

"Your Honor, we have assiduously respected the court order, and have turned over to the plaintiff any papers received from Mr. Driscoll. He did not locate these until just before the trial began, and I did not have the opportunity to turn them over. May I say, however—"

"I think you might have found the opportunity, Mr. Willow," Brackman said.

"May I say that my friend has fallen prey to his own gambit. Had he chosen to serve Mr. Driscoll as a party to this case, he could have examined him before trial. He chose not to, in the hope—"

"I don't think we need go into Mr. Brackman's tactics," McIntyre said. "Are you objecting to this going into evidence?"

"No, your Honor," Brackman said. "Nor did I dream of offending Mr. Willow."