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Somebody else arranged a second date--and she was called back to Hollywood. It seemed that I was destined never to meet her.

Then came New Year's Eve, the end of 1934 going into 1935. I had some very, very dear friends I loved very much named Lynn Farnol and his wife Nell. He was the head of Samuel Goldwyn's publicity department and a great gentleman, one of the few people Goldwyn could never bully around. Goldwyn always deeply respected Lynn Farnol. They lived right down the block here on 62nd Street; they had a little private house. They had a big New Year's Eve party and invited me to it. I already had a date with a girl for another party, so I had to say “No.” About an hour later I had a telephone call from a young man named Richard Halliday. Richard Halliday was in the story department of Paramount Pictures. He's now married to Mary Martin. We were good friends. And Dick Halliday said, “I hear you're not going to the Farnol New Year's Eve party?”

I said, “I can't go. I have another date.”

He said, “You'll be sorry!”

I said, “I'm sorry I can't go.”

He said, “You'll be sorry!”

And I said, “What the hell is this all about?”

And he said, “I'm bringing Sylvia Sidney.”

So I said, “Well, I'll have to see what I can do about that.”

So I told my date that there was some author at this party that I had to see for a few minutes. We would have to stop off on the way to the party we intended to go to. We walked