intolerable.”
Mrs. Lasker gave her testimony at the Hollywood-Griffith Hotel on May 28 to Congressman Curtis P. Kingman and Committee Investigator Horace Marlow.
The article continued with excerpts from her testimony. Seeing her words in print surprised Dinah. She didn’t remember what exactly she had said, only the bad air, the sweat growing cold in her silk dress, Marlow picking at his neck, Kingman’s revolting handkerchief.
“Mrs. Lasker named as fellow Communists the screenwriters Norman Metzger, Anatole Klein, and Guy Bergman,” the article said, “as well as the well-known actors’ agent Renna Schlossberg. She referred to the possible Communist Party membership of former screenwriter Dorshka Albrecht and the late European director Stefan Ventura. However, she unequivocally affirmed that her sister, the actress Genevieve Milligan, was a member of the Communist Party in Los Angeles from 1936 until the departure for Europe of Miss Milligan and her then husband, Mr. Ventura, in early 1939. Miss Milligan, who has retired from the screen, currently lives in France and is married to the American writer Michael Albrecht. Said Congressman Kingman, ‘Mrs. Lasker’s willingness to testify about her past association with the Communist Party is an encouraging sign of loyalty and patriotism. We hope other former Communists will come forward and cooperate with us as fully as she has, and help us root out this blight on our American way of life.’ ”
Dinah grabbed the newspaper, her coffee cup and Camels, and raced up the back stairs to Jake’s office. There was something she had to do at once, and she had no time to lose.
She locked the door and sat down at Jake’s mahogany desk, with its worn, tooled-leather trim. A gray steel typing table was at a right angle to the desk, and held a big black Royal typewriter, the keys marked with gold letters. Feeling suddenly hesitant and frightened, Dinah forced herself togo on. Opening a drawer, she saw a single sheet of paper with the typed heading “Random Notes.” She picked it up and read. It contained lines, some heard, some made up, that Jake had collected, thinking they might be useful someday in his work. There were names in front of some of the lines. After the name “Pop”—her father—her husband had written: “If you see a Jew or a Negro coming down the street, cross over to the other side, or you’ll lose ten percent.” Having heard her father say that repeatedly during her childhood, she was sixteen when she finally said to him, “Ten percent of
what
, Pop?”
“Who made me a judge?” Jake had typed out. “You’re askin’ me, and I’m the judge.” That was Gussie’s, from one of their conversations about baseball.
There were others:
“Far be it from me to ever take a walk with you on an upset stomach again.”
“ HE : (referring to a child): Is he the sort of child that’s interested in Mother Goose?
SHE : No. He’s the kind that’s more interested in goosing Mother.”
“ HOLLYWOOD TYPE : If you’re not going to be home this afternoon, I can bring Rita Hayworth over to swim in your pool.”
“ PRODUCER : I want a story with some fresh clichés.”
“ OLD COMEDIAN IN NEW YORK AT THE STAGE DELICATESSEN : What’s the most humiliating thing that can happen to a man? You wake up with a hard-on, bump into a wall, and break your nose.”
Somewhere in a file cabinet there were dozens of these. At night, when he couldn’t sleep, Jake came in here and typed until all hours of the morning. Gussie was always finding little slips of paper with lines scribbled on them when she turned his pockets out before doing the laundry. She kept them in envelopes and would give them to him when he passed through the kitchen, saying “Here, Mr. Lasker, I got some more of them state secrets for you.”
Dinah hurriedly stuck the sheet back in the drawer, feeling a littleguilty for trespassing. Jake didn’t mind it when she used his office, but she
Mrs. Lasker gave her testimony at the Hollywood-Griffith Hotel on May 28 to Congressman Curtis P. Kingman and Committee Investigator Horace Marlow.
The article continued with excerpts from her testimony. Seeing her words in print surprised Dinah. She didn’t remember what exactly she had said, only the bad air, the sweat growing cold in her silk dress, Marlow picking at his neck, Kingman’s revolting handkerchief.
“Mrs. Lasker named as fellow Communists the screenwriters Norman Metzger, Anatole Klein, and Guy Bergman,” the article said, “as well as the well-known actors’ agent Renna Schlossberg. She referred to the possible Communist Party membership of former screenwriter Dorshka Albrecht and the late European director Stefan Ventura. However, she unequivocally affirmed that her sister, the actress Genevieve Milligan, was a member of the Communist Party in Los Angeles from 1936 until the departure for Europe of Miss Milligan and her then husband, Mr. Ventura, in early 1939. Miss Milligan, who has retired from the screen, currently lives in France and is married to the American writer Michael Albrecht. Said Congressman Kingman, ‘Mrs. Lasker’s willingness to testify about her past association with the Communist Party is an encouraging sign of loyalty and patriotism. We hope other former Communists will come forward and cooperate with us as fully as she has, and help us root out this blight on our American way of life.’ ”
Dinah grabbed the newspaper, her coffee cup and Camels, and raced up the back stairs to Jake’s office. There was something she had to do at once, and she had no time to lose.
She locked the door and sat down at Jake’s mahogany desk, with its worn, tooled-leather trim. A gray steel typing table was at a right angle to the desk, and held a big black Royal typewriter, the keys marked with gold letters. Feeling suddenly hesitant and frightened, Dinah forced herself togo on. Opening a drawer, she saw a single sheet of paper with the typed heading “Random Notes.” She picked it up and read. It contained lines, some heard, some made up, that Jake had collected, thinking they might be useful someday in his work. There were names in front of some of the lines. After the name “Pop”—her father—her husband had written: “If you see a Jew or a Negro coming down the street, cross over to the other side, or you’ll lose ten percent.” Having heard her father say that repeatedly during her childhood, she was sixteen when she finally said to him, “Ten percent of
what
, Pop?”
“Who made me a judge?” Jake had typed out. “You’re askin’ me, and I’m the judge.” That was Gussie’s, from one of their conversations about baseball.
There were others:
“Far be it from me to ever take a walk with you on an upset stomach again.”
“ HE : (referring to a child): Is he the sort of child that’s interested in Mother Goose?
SHE : No. He’s the kind that’s more interested in goosing Mother.”
“ HOLLYWOOD TYPE : If you’re not going to be home this afternoon, I can bring Rita Hayworth over to swim in your pool.”
“ PRODUCER : I want a story with some fresh clichés.”
“ OLD COMEDIAN IN NEW YORK AT THE STAGE DELICATESSEN : What’s the most humiliating thing that can happen to a man? You wake up with a hard-on, bump into a wall, and break your nose.”
Somewhere in a file cabinet there were dozens of these. At night, when he couldn’t sleep, Jake came in here and typed until all hours of the morning. Gussie was always finding little slips of paper with lines scribbled on them when she turned his pockets out before doing the laundry. She kept them in envelopes and would give them to him when he passed through the kitchen, saying “Here, Mr. Lasker, I got some more of them state secrets for you.”
Dinah hurriedly stuck the sheet back in the drawer, feeling a littleguilty for trespassing. Jake didn’t mind it when she used his office, but she
Similar Books
The Evil That Men Do: FBI Profiler Roy Hazelwood's Journey Into the Minds of Sexual Predators
Stephen G. Michaud, Roy Hazelwood
