jbgotmar

96
More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.com
THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905–1943
In the end Hollywood gave The Fountainhead the boost it needed.
The idea of a movie was particularly tantalizing to Rand. The novel was
selling well, but she still worried it would suffer the same ignominy as
We the Living. A movie would put her name before a wide audience and
ensure the book’s longevity. Rand turned down her fi rst fi lm offer only
weeks after publication, sure her book would become more valuable
with time. In the fall of 1943 her new agent reported a more promising
proposal from Warner Brothers. Rand drove a hard bargain. After nearly
two decades in the industry she had learned her lesson. “Red Pawn,” the
fi rst scenario she sold, had doubled in price soon afterward, netting a
tidy profi t for the studio, which she had never seen. She would settle for
nothing less than fi fty thousand dollars, a princely sum. Scarcely two
years earlier she had leapt at a paltry advance of a thousand dollars.
Warner Brothers balked at the demand, but she wouldn’t budge.
In November the offer came through. Almost better than the money
was the studio’s interest in having her write the script. It meant that she
and Frank would return to Hollywood, a prospect Rand dreaded. But
only by being there in person, Rand knew, could she hope to ensure
the integrity of her story and preserve the essence of her ideas. Warner
Brothers even dangled before her the prospect of consulting on the fi lm’s
production. When the deal was fi nalized Frank and Isabel Paterson bundled
her into a taxicab and set off for Saks Fifth Avenue. “You can get any
kind of fur coat provided it’s mink,” Frank told his wife. 55 Rand’s instinct
was to hoard the money, to save every penny so she would always have
time to write. Frank and Isabel knew better. After so many years of hard
work, Rand had fi nally become a “name.”
Fore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com