Star Trap Read Free Page B

told about the size of the operation.
    â€˜It’s likely to be a very big success.’
    â€˜Good,’ said Charles, feeling that some sort of comment was required.
    â€˜And so it’s important that everything about it should be right.’
    Again Charles helped out the pause with a ‘Yes’.
    â€˜Because what we have here is a show with a very big star. Christopher Milton, no less.’
    Here a longer pause was left for some comment of amazed approbation. Charles produced a grunt which he hoped was appropriate.
    â€˜Yes, Christopher Milton. Let me tell you, Mr Paris, I have been in this business a very long time and I have never before seen someone who had so much star quality written all over him.’
    â€˜Ah.’ Charles found it difficult to get interested in the idea of stardom. It was not the end of show business in which he was involved.
    But Dickie Peck’s litany had started and couldn’t be stopped. ‘Oh yes, I’ve seen them all sitting in that chair. They’ve all come to me for advice. Because they know, if they want to get ahead in this business, then they should come and see old Dickie Peck. Oh yes.’ For the first time in the interview he looked at the crumbling end of his cigar, but decided it didn’t need attention yet. ‘I remember once back in 1960, I had four young men from Liverpool in this office. Four ordinary lads, got their own group – would I be interested in representing them? And you know who they were? Only the Beatles.
    â€˜They asked my advice and I gave it. I said, Lads, you’ve got a lot of talent, but the act isn’t right. What you’ve got to do is split up, go your own ways, separate careers, that’s what you need if you’re really going to make it.’ He paused for dramatic emphasis, then delivered his triumph. ‘And look at them now – separate careers.’
    He leant back with satisfaction, then, instinctively sensing the imminent collapse of his cigar ash, deposited another neat cylinder into the ash-tray.
    â€˜There have been others too – Frank Sinatra once when he was over here, wanted a hit of advice on which way I thought his career should go. Glenda Jackson, Tom Jones, oh yes, they’ve all sat in that chair and asked for a bit of help from old Dickie Peck.’
    Charles looked at the chair on which he was sitting with what he hoped was due reverence and didn’t believe a word of it.
    â€˜But let me tell you, Mr Paris, of all the big stars I’ve ever seen, Christopher Milton is the biggest. That boy has so much talent, he can do anything. I mean, when you think that he is now only thirty-four, a mere baby, at the beginning of his career, I tell you in the future there’s going to be no stopping him. And Lumpkin! is the show that’s really going to put him in the big time.’ Realising that this could be constructed as diminishing his protégé, he covered himself. ‘Not of course that he isn’t in the big time already. With the television show, a few films, oh yes, he’s right at the top. And it’s not that we haven’t had offers – oh, there have been plenty of scripts come along, plenty of managements with ideas, chance of a big musical on Broadway, Hollywood positively begging, but we said no. We preferred to bide our time, wait for the right show, the one that was absolutely right. Christopher Milton had got the telly, he was doing okay, he could afford to wait. That’s an important thing in this business, choosing the right work. Oh yes, you’ve got to be selective.’
    Which is nice if you can afford to be selective, thought Charles. Most actors have to do what comes along or starve.
    Dickie Peck’s monologue was evidently self-propelled, so Charles gave up providing nods and yesses and grunts of agreement to stimulate it. ‘Now, of course, when you’re talking about an artist of Christopher