Beneath a great striped umbrella at the side of a boulevard in a Hollywood heat wave, sat a man. His name was Gus Venske (no relation to the runner) and he wore magenta pants, cerise shoes and a sport article from Vine Street which resembled nothing so much as a cerulean blue pajama top.

Gus Venske was not a freak nor were his clothes at all extraordinary for his time and place. He had a profession — on a pole beside the umbrella was a placard:

VISIT
The Homes of the Stars

Business was bad or Gus would not have hailed the unprosperous man who stood in the street beside a panting, steaming car, anxiously watching its efforts to cool.

‘Hey fella,’ said Gus, without much hope. ‘Wanna visit the homes of the stars?’

The red-rimmed eyes of the watcher turned from the automobile and looked superciliously upon Gus.

‘I’m in pictures,’ said the man, ‘I’m in ’em myself.’

‘Actor?’

‘No. Writer.’

Pat Hobby turned back to his car, which was whistling like a peanut wagon. He had told the truth — or what was once the truth. Often in the old days his name had flashed on the screen for the few seconds allotted to authorship, but for the past five years his services had been less and less in demand.

Presently Gus Venske shut up shop for lunch by putting his folders and maps into a briefcase and walking off with it under his arm. As the sun grew hotter moment by moment, Pat Hobby took refuge under the faint protection of the umbrella and inspected a soiled folder which had been dropped by Mr Venske. If Pat had not been down to his last fourteen cents he would have telephoned a garage for aid — as it was, he could only wait.

After a while a limousine with a Missouri licence drew to rest beside him. Behind the chauffeur sat a little white moustached man and a large woman with a small dog. They conversed for a moment — then, in a rather shamefaced way, the woman leaned out and addressed Pat.

‘What stars’ homes can you visit?’ she asked.

It took a moment for this to sink in.

‘I mean can we go to Robert Taylor’s home and Clark Gable’s and Shirley Temple’s —’

‘I guess you can if you can get in,’ said Pat.

‘Because —’ continued the woman, ‘— if we could go to the very best homes, the most exclusive — we would be prepared to pay more than your regular price.’

Light dawned upon Pat. Here together were suckers and smackers. Here was that dearest of Hollywood dreams — the angle. If one got the right angle it meant meals at the Brown Derby, long nights with bottles and girls, a new tyre for his old car. And here was an angle fairly thrusting itself at him.

He rose and went to the side of the limousine.

‘Sure. Maybe I could fix it.’ As he spoke he felt a pang of doubt. ‘Would you be able to pay in advance?’

The couple exchanged a look.

‘Suppose we gave you five dollars now,’ the woman said, ‘and five dollars if we can visit Clark Gable’s home or somebody like that.’

Once upon a time such a thing would have been so easy. In his salad days when Pat had twelve or fifteen writing credits a year, he could have called up many people who would have said, ‘Sure, Pat, if it means anything to you.’ But now he could only think of a handful who really recognized him and spoke to him around the lots — Melvyn Douglas and Robert Young and Ronald Colman and Young Doug. Those he had known best had retired or passed away.

And he did not know except vaguely where the new stars lived, but he had noticed that on the folder were typewritten several dozen names and addresses with pencilled checks after each.

‘Of course you can’t be sure anybody’s at home,’ he said, ‘they might be working in the studios.’

‘We understand that.’ The lady glanced at Pat’s car, glanced away. ‘We’d better go in our motor.’

‘Sure.’

Pat got up in front with the chauffeur — trying to think fast. The actor who spoke to him most pleasantly was Ronald Colman — they had never exchanged more than conventional salutations but he might pretend that he was calling to interest Colman in a story.

Better still, Colman was probably not at home and Pat might wangle his clients an inside glimpse of the house. Then the process might be repeated at Robert Young’s house and Young Doug’s and Melvyn Douglas’. By that time the lady would have forgotten Gable and the afternoon would be over.

He looked at Ronald Colman’s address on the folder and gave the direction to the chauffeur.

‘We know a woman who had her picture taken with George Brent,’ said the lady as they started off, ‘Mrs Horace J. Ives, Jr.’

‘She’s our neighbour,’ said her husband. ‘She lives at 372 Rose Drive in Kansas City. And we live at 327.’

‘She had her picture taken with George Brent. We always wondered if she had to pay for it. Of course I don’t know that I’d want to go so far as that. I don’t know what they’d say back home.’

‘I don’t think we want to go as far as all that,’ agreed her husband.

‘Where are we going first?’ asked the lady, cosily.

‘Well, I had a couple calls to pay anyhow,’ said Pat. ‘I got to see Ronald Colman about something.’

‘Oh, he’s one of my favourites. Do you know him well?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Pat, ‘I’m not in this business regularly. I’m just doing it today for a friend. I’m a writer.’

Sure in the knowledge that not so much as a trio of picture writers were known to the public he named himself as the author of several recent successes.

‘That’s very interesting,’ said the man, ‘I knew a writer once — this Upton Sinclair or Sinclair Lewis. Not a bad fellow even if he was a socialist.’

‘Why aren’t you writing a picture now?’ asked the lady.

‘Well, you see we’re on strike,’ Pat invented. ‘We got a thing called the Screen Playwriters’ Guild and we’re on strike.’

‘Oh.’ His clients stared with suspicion at this emissary of Stalin in the front seat of their car.

‘What are you striking for?’ asked the man uneasily.

Pat’s political development was rudimentary. He hesitated.

‘Oh, better living conditions,’ he said finally, ‘free pencils and paper, I don’t know — it’s all in the Wagner Act.’ After a moment he added vaguely, ‘Recognize Finland.’

‘I didn’t know writers had unions,’ said the man. ‘Well, if you’re on strike who writes the movies?’

‘The producers,’ said Pat bitterly. ‘That’s why they’re so lousy.’

‘Well, ............