“Talk about Pennies from Heaven!”

In 1925, Francis X. Bushman wanted the part of Messala in the upcoming production of BEN HUR. The movie producers were not sure Bushman was popular enough for the part. Bushman asked to meet with them at their office in New York and they agreed. Bushman then retained Harry Reichenbach, the best known ballyhoo publicist of his day, as his agent. Reichenbach met Bushman at the railway station in New York with a bag of pennies. All the way from the railway station to the offices of the producers, Reichenbach let pennies dribble out of the bag. By the time Bushman and Reichman arrived at the office, a large contingent of penny-gathering people was following them. The producers believed the crowd was following Bushman and he was popular enough for the role of Messala. So they signed him.

www.authormasterminds.com/steve-levi www.authormasterminds.com/steve-levi

Steve Levi is an Alaskan writer who specializes in the Alaska Gold Rush (nonfiction) and the ‘impossible crime,’ (fiction.) An ‘impossible crime’ is one where the detective must figure out HOW the crime was committed before going after the perpetrators – like a Greyhound bus with bank robbers and hostages disappearing off the Golden Gate Bridge –THE MATTER OF THE VANISHING GREYHOUND. Steve’s books can be found at www.authormasterminds.com/steve-levi

“Talk about Pennies from Heaven!”

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