The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
160
would have to do would be to get up on the screen and be himself. 
Johnny worked fast. He found that he knew a lot more about production than he thought 
he did, but he hired an executive producer, a man who knew his stuff but had trouble 
finding work because of the blacklist. Johnny didn’t take advantage but gave the man a 
fair contract. “I expect you to save me more dough this way,” he told the man frankly. 
So he was surprised when the executive producer came to him and told him the union 
rep had to be taken care of to the tune of fifty thousand dollars. There were a lot of 
problems dealing with overtime and hiring and the fifty thousand dollars would be well 
spent. Johnny debated whether the executive producer was hustling him and then said, 
“Send the union guy to me.” 
The union guy was Billy Goff. Johnny said to him, “I thought the union stuff was fixed by 
my friends. I was told not to worry about it. At all.” 
Goff said, “Who told you that?” 
Johnny said, “You know goddamn well who told me. I won’t say his name but if he tells 
me something that’s it.” 
Goff said, “Things have changed. Your friend is in trouble and his word don’t go this far 
west anymore.” 
Johnny shrugged. “See me in a couple of days. OK?” 
Goff smiled. “Sure, Johnny,” he said. “But calling in New York ain’t going to help you.” 
But calling New York did help. Johnny spoke to Hagen at his office. Hagen told him 
bluntly not to pay. “Your Godfather will be sore as hell if you pay that bastard a dime,” 
he told Johnny. “It will make the Don lose respect and right now he can’t afford that.” 
“Can I talk to the Don?” Johnny asked. “Will you talk to him? I gotta get the picture 
rolling.” 
“Nobody can talk to the Don right now,” Hagen said. “He’s too sick. I’ll talk to Sonny 
about fixing things up. But I’ll make the decision on this. Don’t pay that smart bastard a 
dime. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.” 
Annoyed, Johnny hung up. Union trouble could add a fortune to making the film and 
screw up the works generally. For a moment he debated slipping Goff the fifty grand on 
the quiet. After all, the Don telling him something and Hagen telling him something and 
giving him orders were two different things. But he decided to wait for a few days. 

---