over baldness. The head was disproportionately small and accentuated the stocky bulk of body below it. Dickie Peck was dressed in a dark grey suit with thin lapels. A plain blue tie askew across a grubby white shirt. Tie and jacket dusted with cigar ash. It was not the traditional image of the big show business agent; more like a Town Hall clerk.
‘Charles Paris, isn’t it? Take a chair.’ He gestured expansively, but the ash at the end of his cigar miraculously stayed intact.
Charles sat on a low gilt chair whose red plush upholstery was as hard as wood.
‘Now, Mr Paris, I gather you’ve seen a representative of Amulet Productions about this part.’
‘Yes.’ So Gerald wasn’t just acting as solicitor for Arthur Balcombe.
‘And he explained what it was about?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good. As you gather, the part became vacant due to an accident to one of the cast.’
‘I know.’ Charles didn’t volunteer any comment. Gerald had been uncertain whether Dickie Peck shared his suspicions of sabotage or not and had asked Charles to play it carefully. The fewer people knew that there was an investigator in the company, the better.
Dickie Peck gave no sign of suspicion. He took a long draw at his cigar, extending the column of ash to an even more precarious length. He leant back and blew a slow jet of smoke to the ceiling. ‘This show, Mr Paris, is a very big one.’
‘So I gather.’ Charles was getting tired of being told about the size of the operation.
‘It’s likely to be a very big success.’
‘Good,’ said Charles, feeling that some sort of comment was required.
‘And so it’s important that everything about it should be right.’
Again Charles helped out the pause with a ‘Yes’.
‘Because what we have here is a show with a very big star. Christopher Milton, no less.’
Here a longer pause was left for some comment of amazed approbation. Charles produced a grunt which he hoped was appropriate.
‘Yes, Christopher Milton. Let me tell you, Mr Paris, I have been in this business a very long time and I have never before seen someone who had so much star quality written all over him.’
‘Ah.’ Charles found it difficult to get interested in the idea of stardom. It was not the end of show business in which he was involved.
But Dickie Peck’s litany had started and couldn’t be stopped. ‘Oh yes, I’ve seen them all sitting in that chair. They’ve all come to me for advice. Because they know, if they want to get ahead in this business, then they should come and see old Dickie Peck. Oh yes.’ For the first time in the interview he looked at the crumbling end of his cigar, but decided it didn’t need attention yet. ‘I remember once back in 1960, I had four young men from Liverpool in this office. Four ordinary lads, got their own group — would I be interested in representing them? And you know who they were? Only the Beatles.
‘They asked my advice and I gave it. I said, Lads, you’ve got a lot of talent, but the act isn’t right. What you’ve got to do is split up, go your own ways, separate careers, that’s what you need if you’re really going to make it.’ He paused for dramatic emphasis, then delivered his triumph. ‘And look at them now — separate careers.’
He leant back with satisfaction, then, instinctively sensing the imminent collapse of his cigar ash, deposited another neat cylinder into the ash-tray.
‘There have been others too — Frank Sinatra once when he was over here, wanted a hit of advice on which way I thought his career should go. Glenda Jackson, Tom Jones, oh yes, they’ve all sat in that chair and asked for a bit of help from old Dickie Peck.’
Charles looked at the chair on which he was sitting with what he hoped was due reverence and didn’t believe a word of it.
‘But let me tell you, Mr Paris, of all the big stars I’ve ever seen, Christopher Milton is the biggest. That boy has so much talent, he can do anything. I mean, when you think that he is now only thirty-four, a mere baby, at the beginning of his career, I tell you in the future there’s going to be no stopping him. And Lumpkin! is the show that’s really going to put him in the big time.’ Realising that this could be constructed as diminishing his protege, he covered himself. ‘Not of course that he isn’t in the big time already. With the television show, a few films, oh yes, he’s right at the top. And it’s not that we haven’t had offers — oh, there have been plenty of scripts come along, plenty of managements with ideas, chance of a big musical on Broadway, Hollywood positively begging, but we said no. We preferred to bide our time, wait for the right show, the one that was absolutely right. Christopher Milton had got the telly, he was doing okay, he could afford to wait. That’s an important thing in this business, choosing the right work. Oh yes, you’ve got to be selective.’
Which is nice if you can afford to be selective, thought Charles. Most actors have to do what comes along or starve.
Dickie Peck’s monologue was evidently self-propelled, so Charles gave up providing nods and yesses and grunts of agreement to stimulate it. ‘Now, of course, when you’re talking about an artist of Christopher Milton’s calibre, you want to be sure that all the work he does is done in the right atmosphere, that he works with people who he gets on with, people who are sympathetic to what he’s doing.’ Charles pricked up his ears. They were finally getting round to the vetting part of the interview. ‘Because what happens when you get someone with more talent than most people is that you do tend to get jealousy developing. And that doesn’t make for a healthy working atmosphere in a company. Now Christopher Milton is a charming boy, very easy to get along with, but he is a person of considerable genius and he does have strong ideas. Now because of his great sense of theatre his ideas are very often right. And obviously in the context of a show being rehearsed under pressure, too many arguments over the way things are done can only be counterproductive. Do you see what I mean?’
He leant back, nursing another two inches of cigar ash. This time a response was definitely needed.
And it was not an easy one to give. Oh yes, Charles knew what Dickie Peck meant. Through all the verbiage, the message was quite clear — if you want this job, you will have to undertake to do as Christopher Milton says. He’s not the director of the show, but his word is law, and if you don’t like the sound of that, remember he has an Approval of Casting clause and the world is full of unemployed actors.
Under normal circumstances Charles liked to think he’d tell the agent to stuff his job and walk out. But these weren’t normal circumstances. He tried to conciliate his conscience. Gerald had offered him the job, and Gerald was a friend. It wouldn’t do to let him down. Anyway, it wasn’t really an acting job. He was being infiltrated into the company as an investigator of sabotage. Yes, it was quite legitimate for him to accept the conditions; it would only raise suspicion if he didn’t. But as he replied, he knew that his real motive was the tax bill lying on the table in his room in Hereford Road. ‘Yes, I fully understand, Mr Peck. I know that Christopher Milton owns the rights of the show and so obviously he will be deeply concerned in all aspects of the production, and I’m sure I will respect his ideas.’
Dickie Peck looked at him suspiciously, but evidently decided to take the reply at face value. ‘Good, fine. Well, we have Mr Venables’ word as to your suitability for the part…’ Then, just as Gerald had done, he gave a token nod to actor’s pride. ‘And of course I know your work. I have a script of the show here. Did Mr Venables tell you about the tour and the length of contract?’
‘Yes.’
‘Fine. Well, good luck.’
‘Thank you. There is just one thing…’
‘Oh yes, of course, money.’
‘Yes. Look, I’ll give you my agent’s number. He deals with all that.’
‘Fine. Will I catch him there now? I’d like to get this sorted out today. And it’s after half past five now.’
‘Maurice’ll be there. He works from home anyway.’
‘Fine. I’ll give him a buzz.’
‘Well, thank you very much, Mr Peck. I hope that show’s going to be a great success.’
‘With Christopher Milton in it it’s bound to be. That boy is what stardom’s all about. Oh yes, it’ll be a big success. And if anyone tries to stop it being a success, there’ll be hell to pay. Christopher Milton is going right to the top and no one is going to get in his way.’
He said the last words with a fierce, almost religious, intensity.
Charles pressed twopence into the coin-box when he heard the voice say, ‘Maurice Skellern Artistes’.
