RANSVESTIA

female impersonator?" He shuddered. "You'd never work again," he said.

"Oh, I can understand that," said Arnold. "I just thought that.. well, there are some queer actors, aren't there? They wouldn't mind..."

Berin was shaking his head vigorously. "They'd be the last ones to take such a part. Their agents don't dare to let any such notoriety be attached to their names. The tranvestite actors, and there are a few, would be the least likely to take a role like this. No." He pushed the script over the pure white marble top of his desk. "You find a real name actor, a known he-man type, preferably with a string of girl friends, who'll do this part, and I'll let you shoot the script." Arnold raised an eyebrow. When Arnold wrote a script, Berin usually insisted that someone else direct it. He felt that the writer was too close to his material. Berin smiled with understanding. "I know," he said. "But sometimes I break the rules, It's a privilege of my office."

Curtis Fennel read the script three or four times before calling Pamela Wood, who looked after his investment at Dawson, Scheider and Wood. Her calm voice was as precise as he had expected. In both voice and manner, she reminded him very much of his grade school teacher, an iron-willed woman who always got what she wanted. "How are you, Curtis?" It actually sounded as if she wanted to know. Not that she didn't know very well, thought Fennell darkly. She was well aware that he could hardly keep up with both alimony payments to two wives and with Joy Layne, threatening to cut off his other privileges if he didn't marry her.

"It's the Homicide script," he said, ignoring her polite inquiry. "I've read it three times, but I haven't found the part in it for me yet."

"Oh," her voice was quite calm.

"So let me in on it," he snapped. "Why'd you send it to me?"

"Jack Arnold thought you'd be interested in it," her voice was in- furiatingly assured. Likely she'd now taken off her horn-rimmed glassed and was straightening her short blonde-streaked hair.

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