You were one of Joe's friends at Paramount. Aside from you and Artie and Betty he didn't have a lot of pals after getting kicked out at Fox and Warner's.

You were all starving artists in Hollywood...All trying to balance writing original work for the art and love of it and writing formulaic slop so you could eat...But Joe was having the worst time out of all of you.

You all got a little close on payments sometimes. Late on rent or power, certainly skipped meals and going out but Joe was about to lose his car...and in Hollywood that was like having his legs cut off...

You were at a writer's conference at Paramount with him, pitching some new movies but your friend looked pale...He'd been cornered by some finance men earlier...And if he couldn't scrounge up some money by the end of the day that would be it for him...They had a court order to take his car.

Joe was already planning out the worst scenarios in his head...Car gets taken away, gleaming, Hollywood dreams get smashed and he's stuck for the rest of his life covering funerals in the paper in his hometown in Ohio...No more films, or studio New years parties, no name in lights, or move premieres, or stories of his shared with the world...

But he was desperately trying to hide it from you...He fancied you terribly...Didn't want the cute little writer of his dreams know he couldn't find 300 bucks for an overdue payment even though you had a sense of his desperation. He kept sneaking off all morning swallowing his pride asking his agent, an aqqautience producer, Artie and Betty if they could loan him some money...All he got was twenty bucks from Artie and Betty who really couldn't spare much more...

You had to step in and help him out...