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More oxford books @ www.OxfordeBook.comFore more urdu books visit www.4Urdu.comFROM RUSSIA TO ROOSEVELT 21and a sheaf of her work in hand. A secretary listened politely to her talebefore shunting her out the door. And then she saw him, Cecil B. DeMille himself. By the gates of the studio De Mille was idling his automobile,engrossed in conversation. She stared and stared. De Mille, used toadulation, was struck by the intensity of her gaze and called out to herfrom his open roadster. Rand stammered back in her guttural accent,telling him she had just arrived from Russia. De Mille knew a good storywhen he heard it and impulsively invited Rand into his car. He drove herthrough the streets of Hollywood, dropped famous names, pointed outnoteworthy places, and invited her to the set of King of Kings the nextday. When it was all over Rand had a nickname, “Caviar,” and steadywork as an extra.She quickly parlayed her personal connection with De Mille into ajob as a junior writer in his studio. Her own screenwriting efforts wereunpolished, but Rand could tell a good movie from a bad one. By thetime she arrived in Hollywood she had watched and ranked more thanthree hundred movies. As a junior writer she summarized propertiesDe Mille owned and wrote suggestions for improvement. It was almosttoo good to be true. Less than a year after leaving Russia, Rand had realizedsome of her wildest dreams. She took lodgings at the new StudioClub, a charitable home for eighty aspiring actresses located in a beautiful,Mediterranean-style building designed by Julia Morgan. Foundedby concerned Hollywood matrons, the Studio Club aimed to keep thestarstruck “extra girl” out of trouble by providing safe, affordable, andsupervised refuge. Men were not allowed into the rooms, and the residentswere provided with a variety of wholesome social activities, suchas weekly teas.These aspects of the Studio Club held little attraction for Rand, whostruck her fellow boarders as an oddball. In contrast to the would-bestarlets who surrounded her, Rand rarely wore makeup and cut her ownhair, favoring a short pageboy style. She stayed up all night to write andloved combative arguments about abstract topics. “My first impressionis that this woman is a freak!” remembered a Hollywood acquaintance.Rand herself knew she was different. “Try to be calm, balanced, indifferent,normal, and not enthusiastic, passionate, excited, ecstatic, flaming,tense,” she counseled herself in her journal. “Learn to be calm, for goodnesssake!” 27