Pascal was a temperamental man and had reached the boiling point, feeling that Baba wasted his time with the project. Baba was not even in the house when Pascal arrived and this upset him even more. A phone message then came, instructing Elizabeth to give Pascal a choice peach to eat and to tell him that Baba would be coming soon. This seemingly innocuous gesture had a profound effect upon the man, who later confided that his mother used to save him the best peaches, his favorite fruit.
After some while, Baba arrived and called for Pascal. As he entered Baba's room for his interview, Baba gently smiled and Pascal's anger melted away. He could only meekly ask Baba, "What do you wish me to do?" Baba had him sit near him, touched his hand and inquired about his work. Now in a peaceful mood, Pascal told Baba how he had wanted to bring out the expressions of inner feelings and the deepest being of man by portraying the spiritual side of life in a way that had never been done before.
Baba remarked, "I saw one of your films in London [once], and noticed how subtly you combined humor and pathos. I fully enjoyed it and have often indicated that you are the man to produce my film.1 You have very deep past connections with me and will work for me in the future, particularly through motion pictures. That is why I myself have drawn you to me."
Baba then spelled on the board, "You are my Phoenix."
After being with Baba for several hours, Gabriel Pascal left feeling happier than he had ever been in his life. "It was all wonderful, wonderful — too wonderful for words," he recalled later. "I had come like a lion but returned like a lamb!"
Discussions about the film project with Pascal and Vollmoeller went on continuously for the next three days. Vollmoeller had written a rough draft of a story ( Perfection ) about passengers in an airplane and the pilot, who represented the Master. Pascal suggested that Baba's hand be photographed and shown in the film, and Baba agreed to this.
Footnotes
- 1.The film referred to is most likely the German film, The Captain from Köpenick (1931), which Gabriel Pascal produced. Pascal was closely associated with the playwright George Bernard Shaw and later filmed several of Shaw's plays including Pygmalion and Major Barbara. About him, Shaw said, "Pascal is doing for the films what Diaghilev did for the Russian ballet... the man is a genius."