SEIZE THE DAY
307
built midtown-sheer walls, gray spaces, dry lagoons of tar and
pebbles-Maurice Venice proceeded to establish his credentials. He
said, "My letter was on the regular stationery, but maybe you want
to check on me?"
"Who
me,"
said Wilhelm. "Why?"
"There's guys who think I'm in a racket and make a charge
for the test. I don't ask a cent. I'm no agent. There ain't no
commission."
"I never even thought of it," said Wilhelm. Was there perhaps
something fishy about this Maurice Venice? He protested too much.
In
his
husky, fat-weakened voice he finally challenged Wilhelm.
"If
you're not sure, you can call the distributor and find out who
am
I,
Maurice Venice."
Wilhelm wondered at him. "Why shouldn't I be sure. Of course
I am."
"Because I can see the way you size me up, and because this
is a dinky office. Like you don't believe me. Go ahead. Call. I won't
care if you're cautious. I mean it. There's quite a few people who
doubt me at first. They can't really believe that fame and fortune
are going to hit 'em."
"But I can tell you I do believe you," Wilhelm had said, and
bent inward to accommodate the pressure of his warm, panting
laugh. It was purely nervous. His neck was ruddy and neatly shaved
about the ears-he was fresh from the barbershop; his face anxiously
glowed with his desire to please and to make a fine impression.
It
was all wasted on Venice, who was just as concerned about the
impression
he
was making.
"If
you're surprised, I'll just show you what I mean," Venice
had said. "It was about fifteen months ago right in this identical
same office when I saw a beautiful thing in the paper. It wasn't
even a photo but a drawing, a brassiere ad, but I knew right away
that this was star material. I called up the paper to ask who the
girl
was, they gave me the name of the advertising agency; I phoned
the agency and they gave me the name of the artist; I got hold of
the artist and he gave me the number of the model agency. Finally,
finally, I got her number and phoned her and said, 'This is
Maurice Venice, scout for Kaskaskia Films.' So right away she says,
'Yah, so's your old lady.' Well, when I saw I wasn't getting nowhere
