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the Nazis. We loved the French in those days. Now I guess we're not quite as fond of the French with Gen. De Gaulle lording it about!

Another thing that happened in 1942 was the publication of Hangover Square. Did I tell you about Hangover Square?

No.

This was a very, very good mystery--Hangover Square, it was called--by an Englishman named Patrick Hamilton. It had quite a good sale, but no movie interest had been evinced in it although we all thought that it would make a perfect movie. One day there walked into my office a great big handsome movie actor named Laird Cregar. He'd become a star overnight with one or two pictures that featured him.

In those days, studios could create stars by signing long-term contracts with them and casting them judiciously in picture after picture. It's different today when people just do one picture at a time. In those days, you'd sign up for years. MGM had a wonderful stable of stars, for instance. Well, Laird Cregar was on the Fox roster.

He told us that he had read Hangover Square and thought it was just the thing for him. “Were the picture rights open?” I said, “Yes.” The book had been out about six months and we hadn't had a nibble on it. He said, “I've been authorized by Darryl Zanuck to pay $25,000 for this story.” This sounded like a lot of money to me because, as I say, we hadn't heard a