Ayn Rand and the World She Made - Anne C. Heller [273]
powerful Myron Selznick agency: “Ayn Rand’s Family and Friends;” EOWTL, p. 259.
The agent, coincidentally named Nick Carter: Paramount appears to have rejected Red Pawn in 1932 but then changed its mind and acquired the script from Universal in 1934 with Dietrich in mind (“Paramount Gets Red Pawn, Maybe for Dietrich,” The Hollywood Reporter, June 20, 1934, p. 1).
According to the author: “Russian Girl Finds End of Rainbow in Hollywood.”
Gouverneur Morris: Lee Shippey, “The Lee Side o’ L.A.,” Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1936, p. A4. Morris happened to be the great-grandson and namesake of a signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. His grandfather was a vice president of the New York and Harlem Railroad.
“[Red Pawn] was the first script sent me”: “Russian Girl Finds End of Rainbow in Hollywood;” unpublished letter to Sarah Lipton, November 27, 1932; letter to Jean Wick, August 29, 1934 (LOAR, p. 14).
“From that point on, you couldn’t stop her”: 100 Voices, Marcella Rab-win, p. 41.
studios “were interested in Russian stories”: Unpublished letter to Sarah Lipton, November 27, 1932.
“The high-priced executive in Russia”: “Russian Girl Jeers at Depression Complaint,” p. 9.
Universal hired her to rewrite an unrelated project: Unpublished letter to Sarah Lipton, November 27, 1932. AR was assigned the job rewriting others’ attempts at a screenplay called Black Pearls, which does not appear to have been released by Universal.
Red Pawn was never produced: Two years later, in June 1934, Paramount acquired Red Pawn by trading a twenty-thousand-dollar property it owned, called The Great Impersonation, for the script. Paramount wanted Josef von Sternberg to direct it, with Marlene Dietrich in the starring role. AR spent four weeks at Paramount, earning one hundred dollars a week, waiting for orders to revise the script. For a second time, von Sternberg decided against the project (EOW/TL, pp. 259–60).
He was landing small parts: My thanks to David Hayes for compiling FO’s movie titles. The list appears at http://movies.davidhayes.net.
earning enough to buy his young wife: AR:SOL, DVD.
“Ayn; adorable”: Bonhams & Butterfields, The Library of Ayn Rand, auction catalog, Los Angeles, June 28, 2005, p. 40.
“a real big novel … about Russia”: Unpublished letter to Sarah Lipton, November 27, 1932.
Rand originally called it Penthouse Legend: The play has been edited and re-edited many times. The “authorized” edition appears in Three Plays.
“sense-of-life” play: Three Plays, p. 3.
Swedish Match King and con man Ivar Kreuger: Three Plays, p. 5.
her growing preoccupation with the envy: Echoing Nietzsche, she describes Bjorn Faulkner as “young, tall, with an arrogant smile, with kingdoms and nations in the palm of one hand—and a whip in the other” (Three Plays, p. 21).
She later renounced her romantic fascination with criminals: TPOAR, p. 110.
audience juries overwhelmingly found in favor of Karen Andre: “Jury in Drama Usually Votes for Acquittal,” Los Angeles Times, November 13, 1934, p. 12.
She wrote The Night of January 16th in a few months’ time: TPOAR, p. 110.
opened as Woman on Trial: Lee Shippey, “The Lee Side o’ L.A.,” Los Angeles Times, October 22, 1934, p. A4.
Critics and a star-studded first-night audience: Advertisement, The Hollywood Citizen, October 19, 1934; “That Certain Party,” Los Angeles Times, October 28, 1934, p. A1; “Window to Civilization,” quoted in AR:SOL, DVD.
at a party Lebedeff threw: “That Certain Party,” p. A1.
she had felt uncomfortable at the party: TPOAR, p. 110.
“superlatives or nothing”: TPOAR, p. 111.
for Loretta Young: Thanks to archivist Jenny Romero of the Margaret Herrick Library.
wasn’t able to write comedy to order: TPOAR, p. 111.
She had come to despise: BBTBI.
a box-office chaser: BBTBI.
advantageous to her as a writer: Letter to Jean Wick, July 19, 1934 (LOAR, p. 12).
he wasn’t earning much money: O’Connor earned about seven dollars a day as a film extra (100 Voices, Marcella Rabwin, p. 41).
Rand began to chafe under