Indecent Exposure (83 page)

Dialogue was reconstructed (except in a few instances when the author was present taking notes) by the same methods used to gather and check the facts in general, and is set forth on the same nonattributed basis. That is, the dialogue was reconstructed from many sources and the reader should not assume that the speaker of a line of dialogue is the author's only source, or even among the sources, of that line of dialogue. While the sources often include the speaker, they also often include other participants in the conversation, and in a few instances they include people who did not participate in the conversation but were reliably informed on it.

The author of course does not claim that the dialogue represents the exact words used by the characters at the time of the events described. He does assert, however, that the dialogue represents the best recollection of the most accurate interviewees, that it captures the essence and spirit of the conversations that are reconstructed, as well as the personalities and styles of the characters, and that it does so
more
accurately than paraphrase would. Human beings do not speak in paraphrase.

It is appropriate that sources and documentation supporting certain portions of the narrative be cited in specific detail. Those portions
are
delineated below.

epigraphs

John Huston: Lillian Ross,
Picture,
Rinehart & Company, Incorporated, New York, 1952, pp. 11-12. David Chasman: Interview with the author.

chapters
1-5

The author has examined the Cliff Robertson check and all related correspondence and documentation, including memoranda prepared by the police departments of Los Angeles and Burbank, California.

Information on the
Red Baron
episode is contained in the files of
Cinerama Inc.
v.
Cliff Robertson and Robertson Associates. C
17875, Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles. 1972; Begelman affidavit. May 13, 1971; Robertson deposition, August 28, 1973.

chapters
6-9

Columbia's hit pictures of the 1970s: The studio also made some commercial failures such as
Nickelodeon
and
The Fortune
during the Hirschfield-Begelman era.

"Hollywood is a state of mind." The author does not claim exclusively to have conceived that phrase and notion. Explicitly and implicitly, others have stated the same or similar themes on occasion over many decades. It is attributed, for example, to Wilson Mizner, described as a wit, promoter, and gambler in the Hollywood of the 1920s, and quoted by Griffith, Mayer, and Bowser in their pictorial history,
The Movies.
In a broader sense, too, while the author accepts full responsibility for the analysis and reportage contained in this book, he gratefully acknowledges his debt to other writers who have helped shape his thinking. Strangely, those who write best about Hollywood seem to write least. A relatively small number of essays and articles by Joan Didion and Marie Brenner contain more insight into the subculture of the picture business than any nonfiction book of which the author is aware with the exception of Lillian Ross's
Picture
and John Gregory Dunne's
The Studio.
As for fiction, little of value has been published since the last novels about Hollywood by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathanael West, who have been dead for many years, and by Budd Schulberg and Norman Mailer, who fortunately
are
still with us.

L. B. Mayer and Nicholas Schenck: Article on Loew's Inc.,
Fortune,
August 1939, reprinted in
The American Film Industry,
edited by Tino Balio, University of Wisconsin Press, 1976; Dore Schary,
Heyday,
Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1979.

Beverly Hills statistics: Business licenses and other data on file with the Beverly Hills City Hall and Chamber of Commerce.

The most detailed explication of the Peter Choate transaction is contained in David Begelman's SEC testimony and accompanying exhibits.

CHAPTER
10

Herbert Allen's
relationships with Jennifer O'Neil and Barbara Rucke
r are documented in several interviews and newspaper clippings.

Origin of "The Rabbit" as R
ay Stark's nickname: Eugenia She
ppard interview with Fran Stark,
New York Herald Tribune,
reprinted in the
Los Angeles Times,
April 6, 1964; quotes reaffirmed by Sheppard in 1982. Fran Stark did not return a phone call seeking her confirmation.

Ray Stark's college career and early employment: Stark's SEC testimony; outline of Stark's biography released by Columbia Pictures, February 17, 1972.

Charles Allen and Serge Semenenko's role in the affairs of Warner Bros, and Jack Warner:
The Wall Street Journal
(hereafter
WSJ),
May 10, July 2, and 12, 1956; and March 21. 1957. Although Charles Allen technically was not a member of the
original group headed by Semene
nko that purchased Warner stock, Allen was an important financial adviser and subsequently did buy stock, owning 145,000 Warner shares by early 1957. Allen and Semenenko became Warner board members in July 1956.

Serge Semcnenko's controversial and questionable role in the affairs of Warner Bros.: William M. Carley, "Unorthodox Banker,"
WSJ,
July 17, 1967. Se
menenko's departure from the bank.
WSJ,
July 18. 1967.

Warner Bros.'s sale of its film library to Associated Artists Productions:
WSJ,
March 2. May 10, and July 30. 1956.

Chesler's association with Meyer Lansky and other gangsters and bookmakers, dating back to the 1940s: Hank Messick,
Syndicate Abroad,
The Macmillan Company.
New York. Collie
r-Macmillan Ltd., London. 1969, especially pp. 64, 66. 74. 123, and 126. Further references in Messick,
The Beauties and the Beasts: the Mob in Show Business,
David McKay Company, Incorporated, New York, 1973. e.g., p. 208. (Neither book's authenticity was ever challenged by any person for whose background it is cited here as verification.) Further information on Chesler's relationships to Lansky is contained in the
Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Operation of the Business of Casinos in Freeport and in Nassau,
Nassau, Bahamas, published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1967, p. 86 and other references.

Schwebe
l's criminal record:
WSJ,
February 16, 1961, May 1 and June 8. 1964; also Securities and Exchange Commission, Form 10. General Form for Registration of Securities, Seven Arts Productions Ltd., April 29, 1965, as amended, Item 11, p. 20, where Schwebel also is identified as the company's largest shareholder with 230,765 shares, or 10.14 percent of the common stock.

Associated Artists Productions board of directors:
Film Daily Yearbook of Motion Pictures.
1957.

Stark's association with Associated Artists Productions in 1957
The New York Times
(hereafter
NYT),
July 28. 1957.

Stark's association with Seven Arts Pr
oductions in 1957 and 1958
NYT,
April 4, 1958, reporting that Seven Arts Productions was founded in December 1957, as an "offshoot" of Associated Artists Productions.

Seven Arts officers and directors, 1961: Seven Arts Productions Ltd., annual report, year ended January 31, 1962.

Allen investment in Grand Bahama Port Authority Ltd.: Stanley Penn, "Meet Charlie Allen,"
WSJ.
August 4. 1970, and previous articles by Penn.

Groves criminal record:
NYT,
February 22. 1941, and numerous subsequent
WSJ
and
Time
magazine articles; Messick,
Syndicate Abroad,
pp. 49-51.

Investments in Grand Bahama Development Co. by Stark, Hyman, Chesler, Seven Arts, and the
Allens
: Mentioned in opinion letter of Professor Louis Loss of the Harvard Law School to Eliot Hyman, June 4, 1964, filed as Exhibit 15.2 (a) with
Seven Arts Productions Ltd.. Reorganization and Sale of Subordinated Notes, 1964.

Agreement between Chesler and Stark that Chesler would purchase Seven Arts stock from Stark under certain conditions: Seven Arts's SEC Form 10 as amended, p. 13.

Seven Arts Productions Ltd.'s purchase of a 21 percent interest in Grand Bahama Development: Seven Arts annual report for the year ended January 31, 1962.

Graves's and Chester's secret payments to Bahamian government officials:
Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry,
1967, numerous references;
WSJ,
several articles, e.g., August 4, 1970; Messick,
Syndicate Abroad,
several references.

Staffing the casino with Lansky associates after meeting with Lansky and other mobsters in Miami Beach:
Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry,
p. 86 and other references; Messick,
Syndicate Abroad,
several references;
WSJ
report of Chesle
r's testimony to the royal commission, April 19, 1967.

(None of the foregoing should be construed as indicative of illegality or wrongdoing by Charles Allen. Ray Stark, or Eliot Hyman.)

Origin of
Begelman
and Stark's relationship; the clash over Streisand's contract: Both men's SEC testimony.

Luft testimony about
Begelman
and Garland: Luft deposition, April 16, 1969, taken in the case of
Judy Garland el at.
against
David Begelman et al..
Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, No. 16634/68. March 15. 1968.

Begelman
's promise not to lie to Sam Cohn: Mark Singer, "Dealmaker,"
The New Yorker,
January 11, 1982, p. 78. Begelman later claimed that Cohn had made the request of Begelman and Fields, not just of Begelman. Cohn said the exchange had been "jocular."

Chcsler's departure from Seven Arts and the reorganization of the company are fully documented in Seven Arts's SEC Form 10 as amended, filed in 1965, and in related material collected under the title
Seven Arts Productions. Ltd., Reorganization and Sale of Subordinated Notes, 1964.

chapters
11-12

Alan Hirschfield's college activities:
The 1957 Sooner,
Yearbook of the University of Oklahoma.

Television and motion-pi
cture audience statistics: Cobbe
tt Steinberg,
TV Facts.
Facts on File Inc., New York, 1980, and
Reel Facts, The Movie Book of Records,
Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, New York, 1978.

The SEC's allegations against General Host, Allen & Company, Inc., and other defendants, and the settlement of the cases:
WSJ,
December 14, 1973, April 10, 1975, September 6, 1977.

Allen & Company Inc. performs services for Commonwealth United:
WSJ.
May 12, 1971.

SEC cases involving Kleiner, Bell & Co. and Burt S. Kleiner:
WSJ,
December 1, 1970, February 6, 1980, and Oct. 15, 1981.

The activities of Allen Manus:
WSJ,
May 2, 1979 and Oct. 15, 1981.

SEC charges against Del Coleman and others associated with Parvin-Dohrmann and settlement of the case:
WSJ,
October
17, 1969; December 16, 1970; Me
ssick,
The Beauties and the Beasts,
pp. 237-241.

Controversy between Ray Stark and Seven Arts over Stark's relationship with Barbra Streisand: Information circulars and proxy statements for the mergers of Seven Arts and Warner Bros. (June 16. 1967, p. 43) and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts and Kinney National Service (May 16, 1969, p. 89). The "controversy" was settled "amicably," according to the 1969 document. Information in the two documents was supplemented by interviews.

CHAPTERS
13-22

Federal Trade Commission sanctions aeainst the J. B. Williams Co.:
WSJ.
January 14. 1976.

SEC investigation of James Wilmot:
Time.
August 21, 1978.