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They knew what the problem was. They knew that I was willing to go, but they also knew- -these were smart guys--they knew that Paley was not moving. That's what I mean by “cutting the cord.”

Then we got a model. Eero made a cardboard model. It was quite interesting, because it was pretty much the building we finally built. Had the main entrance on Sixth Avenue. No big deal, but I said that I thought we ought to put the entrance on the side street. Paley agreed with me. Why? Because it was 52nd Street. [laughs] So that worked.

Then I had the idea that we would lease the ground floor to a bank. I thought it had the proper dignity and I didn't want a drugstore and all that kind of junk in the building. Paley wasn't happy about that idea, and he wanted to have some excitement in the building, and he wanted to have a restaurant in the building. That's the last thing I wanted, because I thought that was nothing but trouble.

At that time, to the best of my knowledge, in this city no major building ever succeeded--or no restaurant ever succeeded in a new building of any importance. The only one I could ever identify was the Four Seasons in the Seagram Building, and that was a very expensive, money-losing venture at the beginning.

I'm off the story about the building--

Oh, no; it's quite a story.