Free To Kill the Duke by Sam Moffie, Vicki Contavespi Page B

on, because he “wanted to see if the Powells could afford to have running water,” since the remodeling looked like it cost a king’s ransom. Powell obliged and when he turned on the water the rubber-banded hand sprayer, which had been waiting for this moment, soaked him like a fire hose. When Dick couldn’t figure out what was wrong, he ended up breaking the entire hose apparatus… causing him embarrassing grief and a slew of more money.
    “At least you don’t have to stay at home with the plumber,” June said to him. “By the way, it was your good buddy John Wayne who fixed you real good on the hose. Maybe you ought to get him to pay.”
    These very thoughts were racing through Dick Powell’s head as he listened to his friend rave about the script and point to sections in it that he “just loved.”
    “Well?” the Duke said.
    “Well what?” replied Powell.
    “Do you have someone already picked for the lead?”
    “No.”
    “I want it then,” Wayne said as he stood up and towered over his friend.
    “You’ll have to be nicer to the Hollywood Ten if you want me to bend over to get you this job,” Powell said as he grabbed another report that had been provided to him by Howard Hughes’ crack research team. “Look at this list — Alvah Bessie was nominated for an Academy Award. Herbert Biberman is married to Gale Sondergaard. Lester Cole helped co-found the Screen Writer Guild. Edmund Dmytryk was
your
director in Back to Bataan . Ring Lardner Jr. won an Academy Award. John Howard Lawson wrote Action in the North Atlantic and Sahara . Albert Maltz did Destination Tokyo . Sam Orwitz wrote Three Faces West — heck John, you starred in that picture! Dalton Trumbo wrote Thirty Seconds over Tokyo . These guys are good for Hollywood and you know that. And most importantly Duke, you want to play Genghis Khan in
my
picture. We need to mend the fences all the way around and you could be a big help,” Powell pleaded to his friend.
    “You have always steered me straight, Dick. And I might add you have been one of my teachers when it has come to looking at things like a
real
conservative. You make a short, sweet and good argument. I’ll try to do as you have asked… as long as I get the part,” John Wayne bargained.
    “And you have to reimburse me for the plumber,” Powell added.
    Duke howled like crazy as he started to leave Dick’s office.
    “It’s a deal,” Wayne said.
    Powell stared up at the biggest male star in the world and shook his hand.

    “You gave the part I wrote for Marlon Brando to John Wayne!?” Oscar screamed into the phone after Powell informed him of the decision that was surprisingly loved by Howard Hughes. Powell reasoned that with Wayne, Hughes would get his wish of a female co-star with big moomoo’s, because John Wayne’s leading ladies always were women with big breasts.
    “Who am I to say ‘no’ to John Wayne?” Powell protested. “And by the way, Howard is sending you a gift.”
    “Is he going to take speech lessons?” Oscar asked, not thinking about what type of “gift” c
ould
be sent to him by Howard Hughes.
    “He said he would work on this role harder than any other he ever tackled,” Powell said.
    “Dick, I’m not doing any re-write,” Millard said.
    “We don’t have time. I have to finish the casting. The crew is moving out to Utah. Be there when I am, in about two weeks,” Powell said.
    “And Howard is happy with this?” Oscar Millard asked his boss.
    “Howard has said more than once to me that you wrote a western that took place during the reign of Khan. And since it is a western, we have the biggest western star to play it,” Powell said appeasing Millard’s ego with praise from Howard Hughes.
    “You don’t have to kiss my ass, Dick. I like and respect you. I just have this queasy feeling that putting John Wayne into a film written for Marlon Brando is a disaster. I mean would you have put Brando in for Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima?”
    “As I