After a while she said, reluctantly, as if she would rather have changed the subject if she could have seen herself doing it gracefully, “You’ve probably heard another rumor that Mr Ufferlitz is supposed to have been in trouble with the police in New Orleans.”
“Yes.”
“Orlando Flane comes from New Orleans.”
“I see.”
“He won one of those publicity department contests three or four years ago — for somebody to be the New Rudolph Valentino, with a touch of George Raft. The story is that he was much more of a real-life George Raft type before he became a glamor boy.”
“Is he really a drunken bum?”
“I think he’s been drinking rather a lot lately. He’s supposed to have been slipping at the box office, so there may be an excuse for him. But it just made the producers cool off faster. He hadn’t had a decent part for nearly a year until Mr Ufferlitz offered him a break just a few weeks ago.”
Simon raised his eyebrows.
“Then what on earth had Flane got to beef about?”
“Flane was going to star in this picture — it was called Salute to Adventure then. Mr Ufferlitz fired him when he decided to change the story and hire you.”