My Life as a Mankiewicz Read Online Free PDF Page B

office building and condo community next to Beverly Hills. Dad had a large bungalow surrounded by fake grass and a little picket fence. When I rewrote and directed the two-hour movie-pilot of Hart to Hart , that bungalow was occupied by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, then the two most powerful producers in television, with five hours on the air weekly, not counting long-form projects. The bungalow had been enlarged to accommodate both of them, but when I entered Aaron's office and saw the working brick fireplace and adjoining bedroom, waves of memories crashed in.
    According to Dad, the most important man on the lot, the one you wanted on your side, was not Darryl Zanuck but Henry the Bootblack. He shined the shoes of every executive on a daily basis. They were constantly on the phone and talked freely in front of him while he worked. As a result, he knew everything that was going on at Fox: whose contract was being dropped, what project was going to get a green light or be canceled, and who was currently in or out of favor. When one of Fox's films returned to Los Angeles from African locations, the studio brought a group of Watusi warriors with them for additional shooting on the back lot. To prevent them from being culture shocked, they were housed at the studio inside the Jungle set. The commissary catered to their specific food preferences, but they still had one major complaint—no women. Henry the Bootblack was drafted to remedy the situation. He recruited a posse of downtown African American hookers who were bused to Fox several nights a week. As I said, there was absolutely nothing you couldn't get at a major studio in the forties.
    Snapshots from 1940s Films
    Woman of the Year (1942)
    The first pairing of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, produced by Dad and directed by George Stevens. Dad knew Hepburn well from The Philadelphia Story. At that time he and Spencer Tracy were great friends and habitually lunched together in the MGM commissary. Hepburn recalled she knew that and that she was about to work with Tracy even though they'd never met. One day she positioned herself in front of the commissary and “accidentally” ran into them as they were leaving. Dad made the introductions. They chatted briefly, then Tracy excused himself since he was shooting and had to get back to the stage.
    Hepburn watched him leave, turned to Dad, and said, “He's rather short, isn't he.”
    â€œDon't worry,” Dad replied. “He'll cut you down to size.”
    Dad and Tracy owned a boat together, a 104-foot schooner, the Sartosha. It was moored in Long Beach and was costing them a fortune to maintain, needing daily wash downs for its pristine teak decks and at least a skeleton crew on permanent salary. They tried to sail to Hawaii once, ran into a storm one day out, turned around, went home, and finally sold it. I was putting around Catalina Harbor with Robert Wagner some forty years later in a rubber Zodiac when we saw a beautiful schooner at anchor called the Jomar. We pulled alongside. The captain recognized R.J. and asked us aboard. It turned out he owned Martinson's Coffee (an eastern brand). Their instant coffee was called “Jomar.” In the captain's cabin we looked through the ship's log. Sonofagun. It once had been called the Sartosha , and there were Dad's and Tracy's signatures as cocaptains. I told Dad, and he was thrilled that she was still afloat.
    Dragonwyck (1946)
    The great German director Ernst Lubitsch ( Ninotchka, Heaven Can Wait) was somewhat of a mentor to Dad. Our house was always filled with the German-speaking members of Hollywood in the forties since Dad and Mother both spoke the language. Lubitsch was the original director on Dragonwyck but fell ill before the shooting started. Dad had written the screenplay, and Lubitsch went to bat on his behalf with Zanuck, insisting that Dad replace him as director.
    While writing the screenplay, Dad once asked Lubitsch what