jbgotmar

More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.com
CHAPTER FIVE
A Round Universe
$
spotlights crisscrossed the sky as Ayn and Frank drove
toward Hollywood for the long-awaited debut of the movie The
Fountainhead in June 1949. While it was being shot Rand had been on
the set almost daily, making sure the script she wrote was not altered. She
paid special attention to Roark’s courtroom speech. When King Vidor,
the director, tried to shoot an abridged version of the six-minute speech,
the longest in fi lm history, she threatened to denounce the movie. Jack
Warner joked later that he was afraid she would blow up his studio,
and he told Vidor to shoot it as written. Rand also successfully battled
fi lm censors in the conservative Hays Offi ce, who objected as much to
her individualistic rhetoric as the movie’s racy sexuality. But even Ayn
Rand was no match for the Hollywood hit machine. At the movie’s starstudded
premiere she was devastated to discover the fi lm had been cut,
eliminating Howard Roark’s climactic declaration, “I wish to come here
and say that I am a man who does not exist for others.” 1
The movie’s debut fueled a general disillusionment with her life in
California. Now in her forties, Rand struggled with her weight, her
moodiness, her habitual fatigue. The differences between her and Frank,
once the source of fruitful balance in their relationship, had translated
into a widening gap between them. Frank spent most of his days out in
the garden while Rand worked in her study. At dinner they often had
little to say to one another. Adding to her weariness was a contentious
lawsuit against an anti-Communist colleague, Lela Rogers (mother of
the dancer Ginger). Rand had coached Rogers before a political radio
debate and was named party to a subsequent slander suit, then forced to
answer court summons and consult with her lawyers. 2
Salvation came from an unexpected quarter. Since the publication
of The Fountainhead Rand had fi elded thousands of fan letters. She had
Fore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.com
133