Part 33 (2/2)

”That's all right,” Johnny said easily as they started to walk out of the room. He tapped his artificial leg. ”The nice thing about this is that sometimes you can forget about it yourself.”

3.

He came into the office whistling. Janey looked up at him in surprise; it had been a long time since she had seen him so carefree. ”How did it go last night?” she asked with a smile. ”Did he sign up?”

Johnny stopped in front of her desk and smiled happily at her. ”No,” he replied easily. ”We went out to supper together, but he wasn't interested.” Still whistling while she looked at him bewilderedly, he took off his hat and coat and hung it up. He turned back to her. ”Anything special this morning?”

”George Pappas is in your office waiting for you,” she replied. ”You had a nine-o'clock appointment with him, remember?”

He looked at his watch. It was almost ten o'clock. He had completely forgotten about it. He hurried into his office.

George was waiting there. He got to his feet as Johnny came into the room.

”George,” Johnny said smiling as he walked over to him, ”I'm sorry I'm late. I didn't mean to keep you waiting, but I overslept this morning.”

George smiled back at him. ”That's all right, Johnny. Sometimes is good for to sleep a little later.”

Johnny sat down behind his desk. ”How are things going?”

George nodded his head. ”Good, Johnny, too good. I'm getting nervous about it.”

”What do you mean?” Johnny asked.

George sat down in the chair opposite Johnny's desk and looked at him seriously. ”You see in the papers lots theaters being built and sold every day. Prices paid are climbing all the time. Two years ago we pay for twelve-hundred-seat house thirty thousand dollars. Today same house cost almost twice.”

”What's so bad about that?” Johnny asked with an indulgent smile. ”All I can see that it means is that our properties are worth twice as much as we paid for them.”

George shook his head in disagreement. ”Maybe if same number theaters are standing. But soon there will be so many theaters that price must come down.”

Johnny sat forward in his chair, suddenly interested. He could see the logic in George's statement. It was all right while there was still a shortage of theaters, but what would happen if there were more theaters than there were patrons to go to them? ”What are you suggesting, George?” he asked.

George was silent for a moment before he answered. ”We got now more than two hundred houses,” he said carefully. ”For a few years yet I figure they're good; after that”-he shrugged his shoulders expressively-”who knows?”

”So?” asked Johnny.

”So I'm thinking it good thing if we examine theaters carefully, see what houses look like they will hold up, and sell the others while the price is good.” He leaned back in his chair and looked at Johnny.

Johnny took a cigarette and lit it. He exhaled a cloud of smoke. ”I don't know whether Peter would like that. He's very proud of the chain of theaters that carry the Magnum name.”

”Peter should be told to understand some time even the gravy gets cold and tasteless and makes the stomach sick.” George's face was calm.

”What if he doesn't want to sell?” Johnny pursued.

”My brother Nick and me, we talk about that. Maybe in that case he buys our share.”

Johnny's face grew thoughtful as he looked at George. ”You really believe there's a bust coming, then?”

George's voice was gentle. ”Maybe not bust, but things certainly come down.”

”Do you know what theaters you want to get rid of?”

George opened up his little briefcase, took out a sheaf of papers, and put them on Johnny's desk. ”Here is a.n.a.lysis of all theaters. Is marked in red, theaters we should sell and reasons for selling.”

Johnny picked up the papers and leafed through them slowly. When he had finished, he looked up at George. ”That's more than half of them.”

George nodded his head. ”One hundred fifteen.”

”If we did decide to sell them,” Johnny asked, ”who would buy that many theaters at one time?”

Again George shrugged his shoulders. ”Maybe Loew, maybe Proctor. Maybe even Borden. He is expanding his theaters rapidly.”

”What do you think we can get for them?”

”Should get four million dollars if sold together, maybe more if sold one at a time.”

Johnny leaned back in his chair. Half of what they would get for the theaters would be Magnum's share. He calculated what they had paid for them and realized the profit on the sales would be close to a million dollars for Magnum alone. He looked at George respectfully. His share would be as much. No wonder he wanted to get rid of them. It wasn't every day you could pick up a million bucks.

”I'll tell you what, George,” he said finally, ”I'm going out to the studio in a few weeks and I'll talk to Peter out there. When I get back I'll let you know what he thinks. All right?”

George stood up. ”Sure,” he said. ”Is no hurry. Maybe got time yet for one year, maybe two. Just being careful.”

Johnny stood up and smiled at him. ”I understand.” He walked around the desk and took George's hand. ”You're being fair to us, old friend.”

George smiled at him fondly. ”And what is old friends for?” he asked. ”You help me, is only natural I help you.”

He watched George leave the office and went back to his desk and sat down. It would have been easy enough for George to sell his share on the open market without talking to them first. He knew in a case like that he would be giving someone a chance to cut in on the Magnum Theaters Company the way that Farber had wanted to do. An expression of distaste flitted across Johnny's face as he thought about Farber.

It was a good thing he had got rid of him when he did. He hadn't realized just how deeply entrenched in the organization Farber had made himself. Most of the theater personnel had been hired by him and he had made many connections in the picture company too. It wasn't until after Farber had gone that Johnny found out just how thorough and far-reaching his activities had been.

He picked up his phone. Jane answered it. ”Is Rocco in yet?” he asked. Rocco had gone to park the car.

”He just came in,” Jane answered.

”Tell him I want to see him.” Johnny hung up the phone.

Rocco came into the office. ”What do you want, boss?” he asked with a smile.

Johnny looked up at him. ”Go over to a good florist's and pick out a dozen of their best American Beauty roses. No”-he hesitated for a moment-”you better make it two dozen, and send them to Miss Dulcie Warren at the Plaza with my card.”

Rocco looked at him in surprise for a moment. He recovered quickly. ”Sure, boss,” he said, starting out the door.

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