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Gertrude. You sure shut Bennett up pretty fast. How much did you get for this?”

Gertrude said, “You mean they pay for this?”

I quickly explained. “There's no pay for this sort of thing--it's the greatest publicity in the world to get a coast-to-coast prime time network interview.”

Miriam, who was a devil, disagreed. “Bennett ought to be ashamed of himself,” she declared. “Gertrude, don't you go on radio again unless you get at least $500 for it.”

So that became Gertrude's demand. We could have gott her on a lot of shows for nothing, but Gertrude said, “Miriam said I should get $500. I won't do it for less.” That mark the end of her radio career.

To show you further what Gertrude was like, when we left the studio, we walked down Fifth Avenue and had dinner somewhere. By this time Gertrude had been all over the from pages, and she said, “Miriam, you're a big movie star, and I just a little writer from Paris, but I'll bet you more people recognize me before we get to that restaurant than recognize you.”

Miriam said, “Do you think I'm crazy? You've been alover the front pages. No bets.”

You know, from the stories you're telling me, I can't see her charm. She must have had some sort of charm--

Oh, she was unique. She had everybody waiting on he