Show I Cure I I L y f THE TITE STORY THUS TAUS FAR Amos Araos Croy and his bis wife settled on a farm In bliss Mis- jour where Homer Domer was born Sunday meant church chorch company for dinner and steer weighing Tho The attended the had bad Omaha Exposition where Homer Bomer hIs bis first taste of the outside no lie finished high school and college then went to New York City to work Alter After bis ils mothers mother's mother moth moth- ers er's death Homer Domer returned to New York had bad his bis first novel Boone Stop pub pub- lIs fished bed He lIe received word that his father was laWn falling and rushed home Ills father father fa la lather ther told him the farm was clear a fino Ono one and wanted him Wm to always keep It lt S Soon Seen on after Homer lIomer r returned to New York rock Mr Croy died Homer was unable to attend the funeral CHAPTER SSI It broke my heart to go back to the farm A succession of renters had bad about stripped it the cave where we had hidden from the cyclones cyclones cyclones cy cy- cy- cy clones clones was falling in the fences I were down the hog pens my father father fa- fa faI I ther had taken so much pride in I were were ankle deep with filth the corn cornrows cornrows cornrows rows were green with cockleburs In a way I was glad my father could not see itI itI it I was tempted to sell it But I could not quite do that for the feel for a farm is deep and abiding especially if it is wrapped with tender tender tender ten ten- der youthful memories No I could not sell it Nothing could make me medo medo medo do that A black shadow appeared A member member member mem- mem ber of my family got into trouble and wanted to put a mortgage on the farm of I thought of what f my father had said as I had sat on onI I the camel-backed camel trunk but the situation was so serious that the mortgage had to go on It was as ifa if ifa ifa a hand had squeezed my heart I I came back to 10 Standish Road depressed I looked at The Little House sHouse with the Big Mortgage and my heart went down again As so so- often happens this was the time my stock was up when everybody thought I I was prosperous My l name was inthe in inI inthe I the papers I had sold the first talking F picture for Will Vill Rogers at what everybody everybody ev- ev assumed to be a whacking price and I let them think so uncomfortable uncomfortable uncomfortable un un- un- un comfortable as I sometimes felt Meantime there was that a month and some months I was not making that How often they came around The Irving Trust Company had the mortgage on both the lot and the house I can still see those printed forms that came in with the blank spaces filled in with ink If by a certain day the money had not been paid an impersonal voice would call up and say that we had undoubtedly overlooked it I was trying to write humor In all the writing business there is nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing so hard to sell You'd think every magazine would want humor and every magazine says it does But they dont don't buy it Chiefly because because because be be- cause no two persons ever agree as to what is humorous and what is pretty terrible In a magazine office office of of- fice among the manuscript readers there is always a divided opinion so usually the editor plays safe by taking something everybody agrees on Finally the lane turned but not before it was almost at the preci preci- pice I got a new tenant for the ther r farm Mr and Mrs 1 Logan Thank God it was just in time I had known when I was a boy but not very well His first name was a nickname but it had become so universal that it took an timer old-timer to know that he had another He Her r k had long legs in his growing days and the boys had started to call him I Spider finally it had shortened to and it still is Never had I realized what a blessed difference difference differ differ- difference ence a good tenant could make We drew up a contract which said in effect we were partners and we would go share-and-share share alike alike fifty ty-fifty with fifty with certain provisions I Iwas Iwas Iwas was to furnish the land and end nd the fences and the seed he was to furnish furnish fur fur- nish fish the power cower which meant horses then and the help to operate the farm The contract got down toa to toa toa a finer point than that for instance I I was to pay half hal the fuel oil if we ever made enough money to buy a tractor Then a little twist in the contract I was to get third one-third of the eggs I did take it for a awhile while and while and thankfully too too but but finally finally final final- ly told Nellie Logan the egg money was hers The barn which Pa had built after after after aft aft- er the cyclone had whisked the first j away was now a noble ruin When f you went in it you ran a chance of f having it come down on you One tenant had fancied a door so the door had departed with him We t- t had to build a new barn How we were going to build it I didn't know b r But that barn meant something to tome tome me emotionally I had played in the old barn I had slept in it during n the h haying lying season when an exciting hired man told exciting stories One night a storm had come up I wasn't quite brave enough to stay But the hired man did You had to respect a aman aman man like that It is truly astonishing what you youcan youcan can do when you h have lve to But it also makes a person feel that half hall the time he is a pretty weak vessel The barn was to cost a thousand dollars The sum was staggering I I went to Joseph Jackson president of the bank and told him my troubles troubles trou trou- bles and he drew up some papers and after a while there was a thou thou- sand nand dollars in the farm account I 1 suppose ours was the first barn inthe in inthe inthe the world that didn't cost more than the amount originally planned When finally the barn was up we didn't have enough money to paint it But Nellie Logan turned the hens loose on the job By that I mean she had to take her egg money and turn it into paint But at last Nellie and the hens and I painted the barn I built that barn by mail and in my imagination They told me the day the first load of lumber would be hauled and I was on that load of lumber they told me the day the would arrive and I saw them taken out to the barn lot They told me when the head carpenter would arrive and I saw him put on his apron and drop his hammer inthe inthe in inthe the loop on his leg As the barn progressed they sent me snapshots of it and I watched it grow I was like a father a thousand miles from the hospital But at last it was born my trim blue my white white- trim blue child Someway Someway Some Someway way or other I raised the money togo to togo togo go out and see it and was down to meet me as Pa used to tobe tobe tobe be and we climbed into his car We came in in from the east side of the farm and when we topped the hill there was the barn shimmering inthe in inthe inthe the sunlight At least it seemed Y U Ur u s sY 1 r v J 74 1 w 1 Ji Jib b I hated the farm shimmering Of course it was a bit different from what I had expected expected- isn't a child always but always but there it was a fine white stanch center- center drive roofed hip-roofed barn with two rod lightning-rod points And on the front of it there was painted The Homer Croy Farm J J. J. J Theodore Logan Logan Logan Lo Lo- gan Manager l I think you would like that barn I think anybody would Owen Davis was turning my story into a film play for Will Rogers I remembered what my friend had said about Hollywood needing somebody somebody somebody some some- body with the homey touch In spite of the almost desperate situation situation situation situa situa- tion Hollywood was managing to get along without me for the telephone telephone telephone tele tele- phone didn't ring except from the bank and a few scattered bill col col- lectors The bank wanted to know since I had sold a motion picture for Will Rogers why I didn't pay up I told them I had got only a crumb or two from Mr Foxs Fox's table they said they knew v how to handle people like me The picture was released and made an outstanding success I went down to my club The Players and let them look at me I was congratulated congratulated congratulated con con- right and left Lots of drinks money that should have been lOi going to to Mr fr Boerner the gro gro- cere hut mat that is human numan nature It was sweet indeed to nibble the fruit of success the success the first I had had since West of the Water Vater Tower But there was was' no fruit in the bank I hated the farm It was taking everything and giving nothing And yet there was still a lingering love for it as one might have for a person person person per per- son who has broken his heart For the first time in its existence our town saw people lining up before our banks demanding their money Two of the banks closed and people went on relief A word my father had never heard The Salvation Army played on the streets where it had never played before Knots of farmers in patched clothes stood on corners Food was doled cut out in the basement of the church where Billy Sunday had shaken his fist at the devil When I went down to the depot to get on the train I felt exactly as I Idid Idid Idid did when I had left Pa in bed that last time I felt the farm would slip away too I told myself I did not care I was weaned away from it it was doing nothing but demanding money I Iwas Iwas Iwas was a city man A man could not be tied all his life to a piece of land just because he chanced to be born on it Sell it for whatever I could get pay the insurance company company company com com- pany and if there was anything left at least Id I'd be that much ahead But even cven while I was telling myself myself my my- self sel this I knew I could not go through with it Any more than one can desert a member of the thc family who has become a burden There is indeed truth in the old adage that the blackest hour is just before dawn I have seen it work workout workout out too many any times to doubt it This special dawn began very simply simply simply sim sim- ply by a telephone call from the I McCann-Erickson McCann advertising agency agency agency agen agen- cy in New York Would I come inand in inand inand and see them Would I I would have crawled i But you dont don't tell an advertising I agency that You pretend you are area a very busy and successful writer and say you think you can manage it and work out a date convenient to all ape It is quite an art The best hope I had was that they might want me to submit something for a radio program But also I knew that advertising agencies expect expect expect ex ex- the poor author to take all the risk Well I would growl a little about doing it on speculation but Id I'd do it Maybe something would come through r that is the hope an author lives on And the only way so far as I know to make a success of writing is to keep putting in an oar here and there After a awhile awhile while you may get your boat ing mg I found a most impressive gentleman gentleman gentleman gentle gentle- man who after some cigarette talk wanted to know if I had been to Hollywood lately I told him I While I kept wondering to myself what this strange conversation meant Certainly Certainly Certainly he had nothing to do with pic pic- tures Scenario writers were not hired on Madison Avenue Ive received a telegram from C Chicago about you he said and picked up a yellow sheet and slowly read it through to himself Hours it seemed to me it took Who in Chicago would wire to him about me I kept asking myself But also I knew the ways of advertising advertising advertising advertis advertis- ing companies were inscrutable He laid the telegram down Have you any scenarios you have written written written writ writ- ten Scenarios I said for things are not done that way Yes I might have a copy of one I dont don't know Id I'd have to look through my things Will you do that I wish you'd bring it in and write down a list of everything youve you've done for the movies He picked up the telegram and again silently read to himself Then put it down Can you do that today Y j. j silo sam u It so I l could Then we shook hands and I went out I looked through my things and found a scenario and two or three treatments and some odds and ends and raced back He picked up one of th the manu manu- scripts Is that what a scenario looks like I never saw one before Then looked through it in his slow m methodical way I thought If U he doesn't know anything about scenarios why did he send for me But maybe this was the way advertising agencies work Ill let you hear from me as soon as I can he said finally I went out again unable to make head or tail of the mysterious affair Maybe l I should have asked what it was all about Or should I I simply simply simply sim sim- ply didn't know Three or four days passed then came a telephone call Could I come comein comein comein in to see him I said I could manage it Ive just talked to Chicago he said and they want me to ask you some more questions He glanced at some notes on his desk and cleared his throat Have ever written a training film I hadn't the slightest idea what a training film was But I wasn't going going going go go- ing to show it No uNo I haven't I Isaid Isaid Isaid said as if I hadn't got around to the chore He cleared his throat again and said and my heart dropped to my belt Do you think you could he asked I said I thought I could He considered this for some moments moments moments mo mo- ments looking among his papers and wrinkling his brows Finally he said I guess you are wondering what this is all about Well yes I said as if the idea had flashed into my mindI mindI mind I haven't been permitted to divulge divulge divulge di di- my client but I think I cando can cando cando do so now I le leaned forward to show I was interested It is for tor the Standard Oil Company of Indiana They want to make a film which will help their dealers I wasn't quite sure what a dealer dealer dealer deal er was but I wasn't going to show that either I think I can do that I said modestly I If everything is agreeable in Chicago Chicago Chicago Chi Chi- Chi Chi- cago could you go to work at once I said I thought I could My heart now back baek in place was flopping under my shirt front How much would you expect inthe in inthe inthe the way of remuneration My heart gave a violent thump I knew that anybody who said remuneration remuneration remuneration re had money TO BE CONTINUED |