by Ed Nelson
After making that call, I did go practice golf. John noted that it was good that I was putting today instead of driving the ball on the green. He exaggerates sometimes, but I got his point.
They were right about time healing wounds, I was now only thinking of Nina every two minutes, I kept asking myself, why?
I never had an answer.
At least my putting settled down, John joked that he thought I was going to tee one up yesterday, he had never seen me so tense. He had observed me playing in some tight tournaments and I appeared to have nerves of steel.
I didn’t have nerves of steel, but I was good at not showing my fears and frustrations. I told him that Nina had two-timed me with some guy. He told me, “I’m sorry to hear that, but that is what separates a good golfer from a great one. A great one could set everything aside and concentrate.”
“Even if an atom bomb detonated in the distance, they would still be able to successfully make that putt while waiting on the shock wave.”
As I said before he tends to exaggerate but he wasn’t wrong.
Maybe I’m not destined to be a great golfer, but I will go out with a bang this year.
After practice, cleaning up, and lunch I went to the studio. It was nice of them to arrange my shooting schedule around my golf practice.
When I expressed that to John, he told me, “It’s an investment in future publicity. If you win any of the big ones the movie will make a lot of money.”
Today they were filming a scene that was a cliché in westerns. It was a runaway wagon. In this incident, it was the chuck wagon with the pretty Miss Molly on board.
She and I had to have many shots of us with her on the wagon and me on my horse. Her job was the hardest as she had to pretend that the wagon was being pulled at a high rate of speed by terrified horses, but the wagon was only gently rolling along.
I had similar shots, but I could move the horse at a faster pace, so it was easier to make it look like we were galloping. For fun on one pass in front of the camera, I did break out my ride in a gallop.
They caught it on camera, and it ended up being used in the movie but the insurance people on set weren’t happy.
Stuntmen were supposed to do all the dangerous scenes. I didn’t realize that was considered dangerous. They should have seen me on George when he was feeling rambunctious.
Miss Fields and I got along okay, but there was no chemistry between us. We were destined to end up as friends, or so I thought at the time.
We waited for our next call in those folding high-backed chairs with our names on them. Heavens forbid that a common person sits on our thrones. I had to smile at the thought of Queen Elizabeth on one of these.
We bantered back and forth. We didn’t have any friends in common to gossip about, so it was a nothing sort of conversation.
This went on until a studio runner brought me a note. The note was to call Ken O’Donnell at the White House as soon as possible.
I let the Director know I had a call that had to be returned and needed to leave the set.
“It is the President of the United States or the death of a family member,” he grouched.
“Got it in one,” as I handed him the note.
“Yeah, you probably had your mother call.”
“The Countess would have sent someone.”
“I keep forgetting you are one of those hoity-toity nobles.”
“Well, hoity-toity or not I have to return this call.”
“Make it quick. We’re going to need you shortly.”
I rode with the studio runner in his golf cart back to the main office building where I placed my call.
I was put right through.
“Rick, thanks for getting back to me quickly. We need you this Saturday night to attend a state dinner we are giving for Empress Ping.”
“I wasn’t aware that you had opened relations with her.”
“We hadn’t had a chance to open any back channels to make certain she would accept so we were reluctant to approach her. We got lucky, she is staying at the Waldorf-Astoria and ran into President Hoover and he called us.”
I had to smirk at hearing that.
“I can make it, white tie?”
“We would prefer you in your British rig.”
“Keeping a little distance, are we?”
“Yeah, nothing personal, but we don’t want you to mess up our relations with her. If she takes any offense with you, we will point out your British connections and blame them. If all goes well, you are American as apple pie.”
That was so blatant I had to laugh.
“And if you guys screw up, I can blame it on those upstart colonists.”
“We are professionals at this. We won’t mess up Why look at how we arranged back channels.”
“Yeah, that is impressive.”
“Bring a plus one, I know it is short notice after your breakup with Nina Monroe, but we need a balanced table. If you don’t have anyone, we will get you one.”
“I’ll bring someone. You know this depends on the movie producer agreeing to my having the time off.”
“We need her name as soon as possible for the list at the gate. I’ll take care of the producer, who is it.”
“John Wayne.”
“We will have to bring the big gun in for that.”
As for them providing me with a date, I shuddered to think what the politicians would saddle me with.
We settled the details. I would fly on Friday and stay at the Willard House as usual. On the way back to the set. I thought of someone I could invite to the dinner.
Chapter 27
Sitting down in my portable throne I turned to Sally, “Do you have any plans for this weekend?”
She cautiously said, “Not really.”
“Would you like to go to dinner Saturday night?”
You could tell she wrestled with the idea of going out with a kid. Luckily, I won.
“Okay, where are we going?”
“A state dinner at the White House.”
She looked at me as though I had sprouted another head.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, that was the message I had, I have been asked, well, more directed to come to a State Dinner for Empress Ping and I need a plus one.”
“Well, then I’m afraid I will have to turn you down.”
“Why?”
“Rick, I know you are an established actor with a good income, but I’m what is called a struggling actress, which means I’m dead broke and can’t afford the clothes for this dinner.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s no problem I will pay for everything.”
She got a hard look, “And what do you think you will be buying?”
“Not that!! I mean just the clothes; you will be doing me a great favor.”
“Another problem is that I have no idea what to wear or where to buy it.”
“That’s easy, come home to dinner with my family and we will take care of it.”
You could see she was about to reject the whole plan when John Wayne came up.
“Rick, I just got a call from JFK, he needs you at a dinner on Saturday so you will need Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. He offered special tax concessions if we let you go so it's okay.”
I had been hoping a little that John would say no, but money and the President talk. At least this changed Sally’s mind.
Since we were done with our parts for the day Sally and I took off for Jackson House, she followed me in her beater. It was so banged up I couldn’t even figure out who made it.
We had to stop at the gatehouse, where the guards took her name and asked to see her driver's license. It might seem over the top, but we had enough problems over the years we were being careful.
After entering the courtyard, I parked us out front, instead of going behind to the garage as normal.
I wanted her to get the full effect of the house.
“Rick, this is more than any money you could make acti
ng.”
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“I’m what they call wealthy, I have several patents and own a large company.”
“I’ve been trying so hard to break into acting I’ve let the rest of the world go by.”
“I understand.”
As we spoke, I opened the front door of the house, or I tried to, the butler beat me to it.
“Lord Blackhoof, welcome home.”
I could see Sally getting overwhelmed as she looked at the grand entrance. I was saved by a seven-year-old who came sliding down a banister.
“Rick, save me, Eddie is going to tickle me until I pee!”
“What have you done now?”
“I only tied his shoes together.”
“How many shoes?”
“Six pair.”
“What will I find if I go to my room?”
As she took off running, she shouted over her shoulder, “I think it was twenty pairs.”
I turned to Sally, “Welcome to our madhouse.”
About that time Mary came running back through, “Now Mum is after me!”
“Did you tie her shoes together?”
“No, I put pieces of newspaper in all the toes, there must have been a hundred of them.”
As Mary disappeared into the coatroom Eddie came down the stairs. I didn’t say anything but pointed to the coatroom.
Mum came in about that time. She stopped when she saw that I had a girl with me.
“Hello, Rick, introduce me to your friend.”
“Sally, this is my Mum, Countess Jackson. Mum this is Sally Fields, who is the leading lady in my movie.”
They both made the proper noises while checking each other out.
“Mum, I have to go to Washington for a State Dinner for Empress Ping. Sally has agreed to be my plus one, but we need help with picking clothing and all that goes with it. I will be paying.”
Mum took Sally by the hand, “We are going to have fun, shopping and Rick pays!”
She led Sally by the hand into the reception where my Mum’s guest was sitting. I had no idea that Anna Romanov was visiting.
You could see Sally gulp when she realized who was sitting there. When Mum explained the mission, Anna declared herself in. It would be a ball. They would go out all day tomorrow, do lunch, go shopping, and then a spa.
I had to put a damper on it, “We have a movie we are shooting.”
Anna said, “Nonsense! This is more important.”
Since she knew everyone and everything going on in Hollywood, it was no surprise she dialed John Wayne's home number from memory.
“John, Anna, Sally won’t be in tomorrow, Countess Jackson and I are taking her shopping.”
She listened to the shouts on the other end.
“Not to worry, you have never kept a schedule and yes, Rick is paying for everything.”
After she hung up, I asked why he wanted to know if I was paying.
“If you weren’t it was the water trough.”
I went to my room to change for dinner, leaving the women to plan on how to spend my money.
As I took a shower, I realized I hadn’t thought of Nina in an hour.
In the morning, I rode over and practiced my golf. I was feeling in the groove these days. The muscle memory was getting ingrained for the right sort of putting.
Sam had done a wonderful job in recreating the tricks of the various greens I would be putting on. Other than grass type differences I was getting dialed in.
Who was I kidding? There was also the weather that could change the way a green played, along with the time of day, pin placement, and probably a hundred other things, but I was getting as ready as possible.
I went to the studio and walked through a barroom fight that I was in. The fights were dangerous, not in the fight itself, but if someone went the wrong way when things were flying. I once went left, when I was supposed to go right and about, got knocked into next Sunday by a right hook. That right hook was sure a wrong hook for me.
I got home that evening about the same time as the shopping crew. They were as thick as thieves. I could see that innocent Sally would be corrupted by Mum and Anna in no time at all.
Wednesday, we were both on the set. As fate would have it there was nothing for us to do most of the day as other shots were being made. I think this was a time-out for us. They could have called and told us to stay home. Thursday was also quiet.
Friday morning, I took a limo to the airport, picking up Sally on the way. She had a ton of luggage with her. All her new purchases I supposed.
As we boarded the aircraft Harold took possession of everything. One small detail came out. I had forgotten to tell Sally about the plane.
She had thought we would be flying commercial and hoped for first class. She looked around in amazement. We had barely got into the plane when the pilot came on, “Lord Blackhoof, we are cleared to go, please buckle up.”
After we were airborne, I had the head stewardess take her on a tour of the aircraft. I had given so many that it was boring. I spent my time reading a book on the pluses and minuses of the gold standard. I could see that no one could remain on the gold standard for many more years if they wanted their economies to grow.
Then there would be a myriad of ills to follow, but they would be less than remaining with gold.
After her tour, Sally came and sat next to me in my private office.
“You are very rich, aren’t you?”
“It is said that I’m the richest person in the world, but I don’t know it for a fact.”
“How did it happen?”
I proceeded to tell her my story starting with hitchhiking to California that summer several years ago. It seemed like a lifetime but was only three years.
We had lunch served in the conference room where I continued my saga. We were starting our final approach into Friendship International, the airport between Washington and Baltimore since large jets were not permitted to use Washington National when I brought her up to date with Nina.
“Rick, I like you, but you live life too fast for me. I would rather go slowly down the highway rather than being chased by everyone.”
I hadn’t even told her about my run-ins with the KGB.
We checked into a three-room suite at the Willard, one each for Sally, Harold, and me.
Chapter 28
Saturday was a busy day. Sally had to have her hair and nails done. Harold had me put on my mess dress uniform to make certain all was still correct. It was.
I would be wearing all the real medals along with my Order of the Garter sash and star and carrying my dress sword.
I looked like a German Princeling from some cheap movie. German Princeling made me think of one I would like to punch in the nose.
Which in turn made me think of Nina. I wondered what she would be doing now. Maybe I should call her? No way would I call that traitorous …
Even in my anger, I couldn’t finish that thought.
As we were having breakfast in our room the phone rang. It was the front desk. there was a message from the White House, should they bring it up?
The message was a request that I call Ken O’Donnell to arrange a meeting. I made the call and we worked it around the time that Sally would be on her beauty trip. Which was an hour from now until 5:00 pm, all day. Mum and Anna had set it all up for her. I wondered what all could be done to the human body during that time. On second thought I don’t want to know.
I was escorted into the Oval Office where Ken and both Kennedys were waiting.
Bobby started, “Jackson, you set us up.”
“How?”
“You provided transportation, rooms at the Waldorf, and an introduction to Hoover. You left us no choice but to have this dinner.”
“I didn’t do any of that. A friend asked for a loan of my aircraft, I offered the suite, and told her that Hoover and MacArthur were living there. I had no plan.”
“God, she has spoken
to MacArthur?”
“I have no idea. She expressed the desire to, but I don’t know if they did.”
“We wanted to go slow on recognizing China in case it all blows up. You forced our hand.”
“If that’s what you want to think. How do I benefit from that?”
“We will have to offer loans to build those damn ports of yours. By the way, how much does it take to install all the infrastructure to handle those containers?”
“I’m told on the average about ten million dollars.”
“So, we are going to have to loan them at least fifty million dollars to save face, and you ask what benefit there is to you?”
“Again, that never entered my mind. You seem to think I’m an evil genius or something. I’m just a kid who has a lot of money and loaned their airplane to a friend.”
At that, the President spoke up, “Maybe we are reading too much into this. Rick, you have to appreciate that we need to look at everything that happens and try to figure out how it will play out in the best interest of the United States.”
“I spoke to Ike about it, and he told me that you don’t think like that, that you probably reacted in a nice way to a request. Also, he told me that the Empress and her advisors knew the probable outcome.”
“While you aren’t the devious one here, I’m darn certain the Chinese are. Please give some thought before you volunteer anything in the future, to China or any other world power.”
He said the last with a straight face, who did he think I was?
“I will. Are you aware that the Chinese are now allowing private ownership of land under certain conditions?”
The President asked, “What conditions?”
“I’m not certain of the criteria but they have allowed me to buy most of the old trade zone in Beijing.”
“I didn’t even know they had a trade zone in Beijing, I thought it was limited to three cantons.”
“There wasn’t that much trade done there, for both side's convenience they allowed Western buildings to be put up and leased out to diplomatic missions. Think of it more as Embassy row.”
“Now you own all these buildings?”
“Yes, there are only twenty or so, and of those only three are habitable right now. I have had work started on upgrading them and refurbishing the others.”
