Indecent Exposure (51 page)
- "When the emotion dies down it might be livable," Davis advised. "You can't tell at this point. It's too soon. It's too fresh."
- "You don't have to put up with what I do on a daily basis," Hirschfield said.
- Back in his office, Hirschfield met with Jeanie Kasindorf of
New West.
He had been avoiding her calls from Los Angeles, but she had flown to New York and had interviewed Herbert Allen, among others. Knowing that the board members had given interviews to Dan Dorfman, Hirschfield decided to see Kasindorf. She also had talked with Ray Stark, who had told friends that he had "charmed her out of her pants." Hirschfield found it difficult to believe that the directors and Stark would renew their war with him, and surely not in public print, but he felt a growing need to protect himself. - THIRTY-NINE
- Alan Hirschfield buckled himself into his scat on the Monday morning National Airlines flight to Miami and immediately opened
New York
magazine. - Inside the Scandal at Columbia Pictures: Hirschfield in Trouble
said the headline on Dan Dorfman's article. - The whole movie industry and probably half of Wall Street continue to talk about one man—David
Begelman
. In an astonishing move, the board of Columbia Pictures Industries recently reinstated the flamboyant 56-year-old
Begelman
as president of the [studio] after he stole more than $60,000 from the company. But by focusing solely on
Begelman
, everybody is overlooking an amazing twist to the Columbia story.
Begelman
's boss, Alan - J. Hirschfield, the president and chief executive officer of the parent company, may himself be bounced out of Columbia long before the final script is written on the bizarre Begelman affair.
- The article appalled
Hirschfield
. The directors' comments vilified him even more than Dorfman had indicated they would. Worse, the article seemed to indicate that the Columbia board—far from trying to close the rift with
Hirschfield
—was determined to inflame the fight to a new level of intensity, by airing its grievances against him at length in public. - Hirschfield is reported to have fed the board half-truths and innuendos in an effort to exaggerate the extent of Begelman's guilt [and] is reported to have leaked information to people in the entertainment field about Begelman's problems even before they had been disclosed publicly. . . .
- Hirschfield's motivations? Sources close to the board say that "
Hirschfield
wanted to bury Begelman because he also wanted to run the studio; it's that simple." It may well be, of course, that Hirschfield acted out of strong moral convictions in pushing for Begelman's ouster. After all, there's no denying that Begelman's acts were clearly criminal offenses.
...
If Hirschfield did act out of moral conviction, however, Matthew (Matty) Rosenhaus, for one, doesn't believe it. "If you want my frank opinion," said Rosenhaus, "the answer is no. The reasons Hirschfield gave for his decision didn't cut ice with me. But don't ask me to psychoanalyze Hirschfield's motivations. If I thought
Begelman
was a thief, I wouldn't have him around Columbia. But we're not defending a thief, but a sick man who did some stupid things . . . who had psychological problems that have now been corrected . . . [
Hirschfield
] no longer enjoys the full confidence of the board, myself included, and he knows it." - Dorfman quoted an unnamed board member as saying: "If Hirschfield's contract were up for renewal today, there's no way he would be rehired as chief executive, because too many people here don't trust him."
- Though he lacks the confidence of the board,
Hirschfield
is not without support in the business community in his opposition - to Begelman's reinstatement. For example, the chief executive of one of the classiest companies in the country told me that had he been on the Columbia board he would have moved to fire Hirschfield if he had tried to bring back
Begelman
. "What Columbia did was to give every corporation a black eye, to make a mockery out of ethical standards for business." - And from a source very close to Hirschfield: "Alan's problem
is that he refuses to be Herbie
Allen's puppet anymore. Alan's grown up, but the people at Allen & Company want him to act like he's still in the crib. He rolled over and played dead by taking back
Begelman
. . ." - Although it included only two innocuous quotes attributed to Herbert Allen, the article obviously reflected his views as well as Rosenhaus's. Hirschfield telephoned Allen from the Miami airport and assailed him for talking to Dorfman. Allen claimed that Dorfman had "misquoted" some people he had talked to, and had taken other statements "out of context."
- "Sure, Herbert, tell me about it," Hirschfield said. "And furthermore, what's the point of going to see Matty after he's said these things about me publicly."
"There's no question that Matty is steamed at you. That's why you're there—to talk to him directly and settle your differences." - "This is a helluva way to greet somebody you want to make peace with," Hirschfield replied.
- At
the Rosenhaus estate on Biscayne
Bay, Matty greeted Alan cordially. Lunch was served, and then the two men settled on a terrace overlooking the bay. The blue water and a dozen white sails reflected a bright sun, which tempered a cool breeze. - Instead of mentioning the Dan Dorfman article, Hirschfield proceeded to the substance of his differences with the board of directors.
"Well, Matty, this has been a very unpleasant situation for all concerned. I think your feelings have been clearly expressed. You seem to have no confidence in me or my management. I felt that if I could come down, and we could at least make an attempt to clear the air, it would be in everybody's best interest to do so. I make no apologies for what's been done. I was very forthright in my feelings about what to do with David, and you were very forthright in your feelings. I object to some of the tactics that were used;
I
don't think I was dealt with fairly. But I really can't blame you for a lot of that, and if I've gone astray, or done something that lost your confidence, I'd like to know it. I feci that from the time we f
irst met four and a half years a
go
I
have fulfilled every commitment that I've made to you in terms of what would be done with this company, and I think we've all succeeded beyond our greatest expectations. You have been the primary beneficiary of all this because you, as the largest stockholder, had a stock that was nearly worthless, and today is worth many millions of dollars. And it will be worth many millions of dollars more if we can be left to continue the job of building this company. The main reason that I decided to bring David back was that there was no other way that I saw that I could manage the company. It was an effort to bind up the wounds and see if we couldn't get the company going again.
1
want to do whatever is necessary to try to regain your confidence. If there is something that is troubling you, I'd like to know it so that we can deal with it." - "I appreciate your coming down," Rosenhaus said. "I know it took a lot on your part to get on the plane and come down, and I do appreciate it. But I want you to know that the basic problem is that I simply don't trust you. I've never trusted you. You're a smooth talker, and you're a good salesman. God knows, you're one of the best salesmen I've ever seen. You can sell anything when you want to, when you put your mind to it. But I don
't trust salesmen. You remind me
of a man who worked for me several years ago. He was
a publicity guy. He once double-
crossed me, and I caught him. I ne
ver forgot it. And you remind me
of him. And the main reason I don't trust you is that you are a disloyal person. You've been disloyal to your best friend." - "Who's that?"
"You've been disloyal to Herbert." - "Well, Matty, let me set the record straight. Herbert's been a friend, but not a particularly close one, and certainly never a best friend."
- "Well, he brought you into this company when you needed a job."
- "What do you mean, needed a job?"
- "You didn't know anything about the entertainment business, but Herbert brought you in because you needed a job. H
erbert's a good boy, a fine boy
and I didn't argue very much because I figured
Herbert would do most of the work, and at least you'd have a job. And after he does all that for you, you turn around in this situation and are disloyal to him." - Hirschfield
was shocked. "Matty, this may come as a surprise to you, but I was gainfully employed at that time.
I
certainly didn't need a job. In addition to which I had a background in the entertainment business, and had a contribution to make at Columbia. And if you think Herbert's been running the company for the last four and a half years you're very much under the wrong impression of what's been going on here." - "No, I recognize what you've done. You've brought in some good people. I like Clive. He's a good man."
- "Matty, I also brought in David Begelman if you'll recall."
- "No, that was Ray Stark. Ray Stark is the best friend this company has. He's responsible for
Begelman
, and he's responsible for most of our success. But you've been disloyal, not only to Herbert
, but to Ray and to David. I
don't like disloyal people, Alan. Loyalty is the most important thing in life. This country was founded on loyalty. It's what makes the country work, it's what makes business work, it's what makes life work. And you've been disloyal to your friends." - "Well, Matty, what about loyalty to the shareholders of the company. That's where I feel my responsibilities lie. They're the people to whom we're all ultimately responsible. What about them?"
- "I don't worry about them. The first thing is to be loyal to your friends. The company will do fine. Begelman was your friend, and you were disloyal to him. You didn't back him up when he needed it. When the man was down, when he was lying in the gutter, you kicked him. The first thing you wanted to do was to get rid of him."
- "The first thing I did, Matty, was
not
get rid of him. That's probably what I should have done. But because of my feelings for the man, my sympathies,
I
chose not to fire him the first day. We all tried to give David a chance. But in my wildest dreams, I didn't think the board would want to bring him back. We're just beginning to feel the consequences of bringing him back. Look what the press is doing."
"No, if you support him everything will be fine. It will be great. And if you had supported him from the first day, there wouldn't have been any problem." - "Well, that's wishful thinking."
- "It's the truth."
- Hirschfield felt disoriented. He was gazing out at a scene of tranquility and surpassing beauty—blue water and sky, white sails, and lush green tropical foliage—and at the same time listening to the incoherent ramblings of a misinformed man who didn't trust him and was capable of destroying him.
- "I'm very distressed that you don't trust me, Matty. I don't think I've done anything to engender your mistrust." Hirschfield then reviewed Columbia's remarkable recovery and reiterated his reasons for opposing the reinstatement of
Begelman
. "Loyalty to individuals can go only so far. In the end, in a situation like this, you have to be loyal to the company at large, its shareholders, and loyal to your own principles of right and wrong." - "Well, Alan, you're a great salesman. If 1 sat here and listened to you all day, you could probably convince me. You've always been able to turn my head. You're a smoothy. But you've got a lot to learn about the world, you've got a lot to learn about loyalty, you've got a lot to learn about dealing with people. As far as I'm concerned you're on trial. I'm willing to keep an open mind. People will have confidence in you if you're out there leading the company the way you're capable of leading."
- "I can't lead without your support and the support of the board."
- "You'll have to earn our support."
- The necessity for Hirschfield to catch an early evening flight to Los Angeles mercifully enabled him to end the conversation. Although he tried on the plane to concentrate on his briefcase full of work, he could not rid his mind of the picture of sitting in the sun on the spectacular seaside veranda and hearing a flu
shed, angry Matty Rose
nhaus accuse him of being dishonest, untrustworthy, disloyal, and even unemployable except through the charity of his "best friend," Herbert Allen. Having begun the day reading in
New York
magazine that he was a liar and a character assassin who wanted to "bury
Begelman
" so he himself could "go Hollywood," Hirschfield found it all too much to absorb and analyze rationally. The board members, it seemed to Hirschfield, had proven to be the worst kind of bullies. He kept trying to appease them. They kept reaffirming, in progressively more dramatic fashion, that they were bullies. They had proven it again that Monday. But he was determined not to give up. He had to buy more time.
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