Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 501502503504505506507508509510511512513514515516517518519520521522523524525526527528529530531532533534535536537538539540541542543544545546547548549 of 755

Oh, really.

Yes, Paley said: “If you do that--” I'd told him that I was interested in doing it. He said: “Well, if you do that, I'd like to be a part of it. Do you need any money for the options?”

I said: “Let's try to do it without money.” So I took him along as a 50-50 partner. I went out to Detroit, because I happened to have known through other channels, that General Motors was thinking of having a showcase in New York City. I thought: “What better showcase than Park Avenue?” That whole blockfront that they could have on the avenue.

So I went to see Red [George M.?] Curtis, who was then the chairman of GM, and he got quite interested in it. Some of his people, I think, had other ideas about where they wanted to go, and it dragged; so in the meantime I sold it to Vincent Astor, Paley's brother- in-law. [laughter] Paley knew what was going on, but Vincent didn't know that Bill was in the deal, and the three of us had lunch one day.

Astor, in the meantime, had picked up the option from me, to build on that site and was giving away pieces to some of his friends--to the point where there was very little left for him to really make it worth his while. And ultimately he pulled away from it. I have a beautiful presentation--I think I still have a copy of it someplace--of the book we put together for the promotion, if you will, of what we called Astor Plaza. He was going to take that whole block and develop it into an elaborate arcade and everything else.