The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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And so it was put in a professional context. 
Young female starlets were forbidden to attend the Friday night parties. Or rather 
discouraged. Most of them took the hint. 
Screenings of the new movies took place at midnight and Johnny and Nino arrived at 
eleven. Roy McElroy proved to be, at first sight, an enormously likable man, 
well-groomed, beautifully dressed. He greeted Johnny Fontane with a surprised cry of 
delight. “What the hell are you doing here?” he said with genuine astonishment. 
Johnny shook his hand. “I’m showing my country cousin the sights. Meet Nino.” 
McElroy shook hands with Nino and gazed at him appraisingly. “They’ll eat him up 
alive,” he said to Johnny. He led them to the rear patio. 
The rear patio was really a series of huge rooms whose glass doors had been opened 
to a garden and pool. There were almost a hundred people milling around, all with 
drinks in their hands. The patio lighting was artfully arranged to flatter feminine faces 
and skin. These were women Nino had seen on the darkened movie screens when he 
had been a teenager. They had played their part in his erotic dreams of adolescence. 
But seeing them now in the flesh was like seeing them in some horrible makeup. 
Nothing could hide the tiredness of their spirit and their flesh; time had eroded their 
godhead. They posed and moved as charmingly as he remembered but they were like 
wax fruit, they could not lubricate his glands. Nino took two drinks, wandered to a table 
where he could stand next to a nest of bottles. Johnny moved with him. They drank 
together until behind them came the magic voice of Deanna Dunn. 
Nino, like millions of other men, had that voice imprinted on his brain forever. Deanna 
Dunn had won two Academy Awards, had been in the biggest movie grosser made in 
Hollywood. On the screen she had a feline feminine charm that made her irresistible to 
all men. But the words she was saying had never been heard on the silver screen. 
“Johnny, you bastard, I had to go to my psychiatrist again because you gave me a 
one-night stand. How come you never came back for seconds?” 
Johnny kissed her on her proffered cheek. “You wore me out for a month,” he said. “I 
want you to meet my cousin Nino. A nice strong Italian boy. Maybe he can keep up with 
you.” 
Deanna Dunn turned to give Nino a cool look. “Does he like to watch previews?” 
Johnny laughed. “I don’t think he’s ever had the chance. Why don’t you break him in?” 

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