To Kill the Duke (42 page)

“I’m sure he had a lot of lessons to learn and a great teacher,” Alexei said, making sure to butter up to Cohen.

“You’re a very bright boy. But one of Johnny’s teachers is his girlfriend, the actress. She’s the one who pushed him into the movie business,” Cohen said.

“A smart move by a smart lady,” Alexei said.

“I wanted to go into the same business a long time ago, but got sidetracked by setting up the race wire in Las Vegas for some friends back East,” Cohen said.

“What type of movies?” asked Alexei.

“Not the kind you’re making with Johnny. The kind that will bring us big money and all of it legit,” Cohen said with a grin as wide as his waist.

A waitress came over and Cohen did all the ordering. Alexei kept quiet and let him do all the talking.

“Skin movies… naked women having sex with naked men, naked women having sex with each other. It’s the future, and the overhead is very low,” Cohen noted.

“Yes, no budget for costumes,” Alexei said.

Cohen laughed so hard at Alexei’s remark that he started to choke on the bread he had just eaten. Alexei came to his rescue and hit Cohen’s back in the middle to dislodge the food. Cohen thanked him… thought about Alexei’s remark, and broke out laughing again.

“Don’t forget Mickey, the set would be pretty cheap, too. Just a bedroom,” Alexei said.

And Mickey choked again, because he started laughing at Alexei’s comment. Alexei motioned for Cohen to raise his hands high in the air so the water that was causing the choking would properly drain down Mickey’s throat.

“Are you a doctor? I hear they have so much money, that they invest in the movies,” Mickey said.

“No. Just picked things up being observant,” Alexei said.

“Well, you will love observing these movies being made, and love observing our bank balance grow even more,” Cohen said.

“I enjoy women. Not so sure I want to make a movie where I have to watch naked men, though,” Alexei said.

“After lunch we will grab your partner and go for a demonstration. Stompanato will meet us,” Cohen said.

“Great,” Alexei said. “I have some things I need to discuss with him.

They finished their lunch and walked back to the set, where Alexei found Ivan and Barney in a deep conversation over their gangster movie.

“Let’s go,” Alexei said to Ivan.

“Where are we going?” Ivan asked.

“I’ll explain in the car.”

“Is this something we should be doing?” Ivan asked Alexei, after Alexei told him about what Mickey Cohen wanted.

“It’s worth a look, if nothing more, to keep a man like Mickey Cohen off our backs. Besides, we still need Stompanato to help us and Johnny Stomp works for Cohen,” Alexei said.

“This town is all about connections,” Ivan said sarcastically.

“Life is all about connections,” corrected Alexei. “On to the Mickey Cohen show.”

Alexei knew where the movie house was located. He had driven by it many times when he had to send or receive cables. He smiled as he drove by the grocery store and saw those three boys out front working very hard at their new jobs.

“Where are we going?” Ivan asked Alexei.

“A place called ‘The Foster,’” Alexei answered.

“Never heard of it,” Ivan said very sarcastically.

“Toughski shitski,” Alexei said.

He pulled their car into the parking lot of what had once been a magnificent movie house. Now, it looked like any old building in the neighborhood.

“Amazing how everything seems to go down the toilet at the same time in parts of America’s cities,” Ivan said as he exited the car and stretched his body by the car.

“So, you’re now a sociologist along with being a movie maker and spy?” Alexei said in the same sarcastic tone that Ivan had just used.

“No. I have become quite an observer,” Ivan said.

And what they were observing at The Foster Theater was nothing new to large metropolitan areas in America. People were making better money and moving away from their roots in the big city. The highway and the automobile made it that much easier. Developers were fast at work creating smaller cities and townships with everything that their old cities had — but the new places were safer, fun and brand, spanking new.

No one was going to The Foster for ‘B’ movies let alone ‘A’ movies anymore. Mickey Cohen knew that and so did the people who owned the theatre. That is why they were showing skin films. That is why the theatre’s parking lot was pretty full on a weekday mid-afternoon. That is why Mickey Cohen had asked to meet Alexei and Ivan at The Foster.

“What a dump!” Ivan said as they entered the lobby.

“I don’t know; some curtains, a few flowers and it might show better,” Mickey Cohen said as he stepped from the shadows of the lobby.

“Why is it so dark in here?” Ivan asked Cohen.

“I don’t answer questions of people I haven’t been introduced to,” Cohen snarled.

“This is my partner,” Alexei said as he gingerly pushed Ivan toward Mickey.

“Why didn’t you say so?” Mickey said, as he pumped Ivan’s outstretched hand. “I’m Mickey Cohen.”

Ivan nodded.

“It’s dark in here, because no one wants to be
seen
in here,” Mickey said as he gestured for the two partners to follow him.

Alexei and Ivan walked behind Mickey Cohen, who trotted up the stairs that were connected to the front lobby.

“Going to the projector room — Mr. Projectionist,” Alexei said sarcastically to Ivan.

“Toughski shitski,” Ivan said back.

“Right here, boys,” Mickey said as he pointed to a rather large balcony. “First row. Sit down and tell me what you think.”

“Be honest,” said another voice from the shadows, which both Alexei and Ivan recognized as the voice belonging to their partner Johnny Stompanato.

“It smells in here,” Ivan noticed.

“It’s a lot bigger in here than I thought,” Alexei said.

“Schmucks!” Cohen yelled at them. “How did you guys make so much money?”

“Focus on the obvious,” Johnny Stomp suggested to Alexei and Ivan.

“I am,” said Ivan. “It smells really bad in here.”

“I have to agree with my partner. It really
does
stink in here,” Alexei said.

Cohen motioned to Stompanato to come closer to him. Johnny did and they engaged in a conversation by whispering in each other’s ears for a few seconds.

Alexei rolled his eyes.

Ivan shrugged his shoulders.

Mickey and Johnny returned to their seats. “Look how many fucking men are in here in the middle of the day,” Mickey said to them as he pointed down to the main theatre.

Both Alexei and Ivan looked down to where Mickey had pointed.

Now they knew why Cohen had called them ‘schmucks.’

Now they knew why Mickey had brought them here.

Now they knew why so many men were in a very dark movie theatre in the middle of the day watching what appeared to be very bad movies with naked men and women groping and falling all over each other.

But now they both really wondered
why did it stink so badly in the theatre?

“Because sex smells,” Cohen said. This made both Ivan and Alexei recoil. They were both hoping that this guy couldn’t read minds.

“Smells like money,” Johnny Stomp added, which made Ivan and Alexei relax. Mickey Cohen didn’t read their minds; he answered their question on what stunk in the theatre.

“There’s a lot of money to be made in this skin business. The problems are that the movies are terrible and distribution is even worse,” Mickey said. “That is why I’m coming to you guys with a suggestion.”

“What is your suggestion, Mickey?” Alexei asked.

“That you guys throw the gangster movie into the garbage and go into the skin movie business. I have already cleared this with Johnny. He understands,” Cohen said.

Alexei and Ivan looked at Stompanato, who nodded that he ‘understood.’

“Well, when do we get started?” Ivan and Alexei asked in unison.

After they arrived back at
Seven Zeros,
they gathered up all the film that had been shot for their lousy gangster movie and threw the rolls into the dumpster.

“We should burn it,” Alexei said.

“I agree,” said Barney.

“Seems to be something I can’t get away from,” Ivan said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Initially, only Barney Rumberg was happy with the switch from low-budget
Seven Zeros
movies to skin films. Of course both Mickey and Johnny were happy, because they made very easy money. After a while, Ivan became the happiest. Alexei didn’t get that involved. He was too busy leaning on Stompanato to lean on Lana for another shot at John Wayne.

Barney liked the switch, because there were none of Johnny Stomps’ ‘friends’ around eating all the food, not showing up, stealing props and forgetting their lines. Rumberg also liked that the skin flicks were filmed in one room (a bedroom) and that he could reuse the same wardrobe over and over again.

“That’s okay, Barney,” Alexei once told him. “But wash those sheets… hourly.”

Ivan liked the switch, because for the first time in his life, he became sexually active. This wasn’t difficult, because it was Ivan who was in charge of hiring the actors and actresses for the roles in the skin flicks.

Ivan’s first casting call for the male lead in
Seven Zeros
first skin film — titled
I Slept with a Communist
didn’t go over very well. The young man showed up to Ivan’s office for the interview and the script reading on time. Right away Ivan noticed that the man was too good looking for his own good and that was probably why he was struggling up the actors’ food chain of roles.

“Really good-looking men in Hollywood take a lot longer to make it, if they make it all,” Ivan had been told by another producer.

“Why? I thought looks sold tickets,” Ivan said.

“Because the men with power in this town don’t like being threatened,” the producer said.

“How does a good-looking male actor threaten people with power in Hollywood?” asked Ivan.

“Because the men with the power fear that they will lose the better-looking actresses that they are sleeping with to the good-looking actors, which they do, but won’t admit. It’s another control thing,” the producer warned Ivan.

“’Control thing?’” Ivan asked.

“If there is a ‘thing,’ they will ‘control’ it. Trust me,” the producer said.

And now Ivan knew that this extremely handsome young man in his office, who probably was only ten years younger than himself, was being ‘controlled’ by people he didn’t know, and that is why he was in the office of
Seven Zeros
for a role in a skin flick.

“Even naked actors and actresses have to eat,” Alexei said to Barney and Ivan when they were going over the budget.

“Not if you want to keep them thin, so people buy the tickets to see them naked,” Barney said.

“I’m with Ivan,” said Barney. “You want to call your next film ‘
Flesh, Flesh and More Flesh
?”

And they all laughed at the title Barney Rumberg had just come with up and agreed to a very thin food budget for the making of the film.