human
Who wrote this script, Mr. Manton?
gpt
Millard! Lawrence Millard.
human
Millard?
gpt
Why, yes! Millard is still under contract and he's the only man who ever could write scripts for Stella. We--we tried others and they all flivved.
human
Is Millard here?
gpt
An author on the lot at the filming of his picture, to bother the director and to change everything? Out! When the scenario's done he's through. He's lucky to get his name on the screen. It's not the story but the direction which counts, except that you've got to have a good idea to start with, and a halfway decent script to make your lay-outs from. Anyhow-- He sobered a bit, perhaps realizing that he was going counter to the tendency to have the author on the lot.
human
Millard and Stella weren't on speaking terms. She divorced him, you know.
gpt
Do you know much about the personal affairs of Miss Lamar?
human
Well --Manton's eyes sought the floor for a moment--
gpt
Like everyone else in pictures, Stella was the victim of a great deal of gossip. That's the experience of any girl who rises to a position of prominence and--
human
How were the relations between Miss Lamar and yourself?
gpt
What do you mean by that?
human
You have had no trouble, no disagreements recently?
gpt
No, indeed. Everything has been very friendly between us--in a strictly business way, of course--and I don't believe I've had an unpleasant word with her since I first formed Manton Pictures to make her a star.
human
You know nothing of her difficulties with her husband?
gpt
Naturally not. I seldom saw her except at the studio, unless it was some necessary affair such as a screen ball here, or perhaps in Boston or Philadelphia or some near-by city where I would take her for effect--
human
Will you arrange to keep the people I have yet to question separate from the ones I have examined already?
gpt
Bring in Bernie, the property-boy, before anyone can tell him to hide or destroy that locket.