Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 80: Prince of the World, with All-Seeing Hands
Maybe it's because being in the entertainment industry means showing off, but it may also be because Universal Studios is the headquarters of Universal Pictures.

In short, when Steven Spielberg brought Ethan Jones and Steve Jobs to his own cafeteria, the area of ​​more than 10,000 square feet could only be described in one word - luxurious!

The buffet-like dining style and the three-row food cabinets like an assembly line have engraved the word "rich" on the facade.

Whether it's Pacific cuisine representing the coastal flavor, Southwestern cuisine deeply influenced by MXG, or Cajun cuisine that combines Gallic chicken cuisine, Indian cuisine, and black cuisine, it's all here.

In addition, Southern black cuisine represented by shredded pork and fried meat, which is what Americans often call home cooking, New York cuisine that blends the tastes of immigrants from all over the world, and New England cuisine created mainly by John Bull immigrants can also be found here.

It is no exaggeration to say that this small cafeteria in Universal Pictures has already encompassed all the popular flavors of the United States!

After picking and choosing, Ethan chose a seafood salad, a spicy bean stew, and a Texas barbecue.

Spielberg ordered a grilled steak, eggs Benedict, and pecan pie.

Jobs got a pear and cheese salad, a burrito, and an order of shrimp gumbo.

After a quick taste, Ethan immediately gave a thumbs up and said, "Oh Fxxk! This barbecue is really juicy!"

"Oh~ Ethan~ As long as you like it~" Spielberg introduced: "Our chefs here are masters with more than 20 years of cooking experience. Many of them are directly invited from places where the cuisine is popular. We try our best to restore the local flavor."

"For example, the Texas barbecue you ordered was made by the chef from the Mueller family, who was invited from Austin."

"The founder of their family was the first master in the country to introduce beef ribs to the barbecue world."

"Really? So it seems I'm pretty lucky today?" Ethan said in surprise, "Although I was stuck in traffic for a long time and didn't have time to eat lunch, it's really a happy thing to be able to taste the master's cuisine when I'm hungry."

"I'm not exaggerating! After all, getting what you need when you need it can multiply your sense of satisfaction."

Spielberg's eyes lit up when he heard Ethan's words, "Oh Ethan, you're right."

Jobs also raised his eyebrows and nodded slightly, indicating his agreement.

Although the real purpose of everyone coming to the cafeteria is to eat, they still chat about what they should talk about when it is their first meeting. After praising the food, Ethan took the initiative to open the topic and asked how Spielberg and Jobs knew each other.

"How did you meet? Just like you, we met through games."

Spielberg smiled and said, "Steve told me that you met when you were selling games? I met Steve when I was buying games. He seemed to be promoting Gran Trak in Los Angeles at the time?"

At this point, Spielberg tilted his head and glanced at Jobs.

"Yeah~Yeah~Yeah~"

Hearing the question, Jobs nodded and said, "Gran Trak - that's it. That was the first time we met."

He took a sip of the apple juice brought by the waiter and then complained, "To be honest, when we first met, Steven gave me the impression of being a lunatic because he took out a thousand dollars in cash from his pocket to buy the arcade machine."

"Really! I was stunned!"

"That's a thousand dollars! I don't know why a normal person would carry so much money!"

"Oh, who made me want to play games?"

Jobs' words made Spielberg laugh. He said, "If I remember correctly, the delivery time Atari displayed at the ordering venue was three days, but three days was too long for me. I didn't want to wait, so I just took out cash and bought it."

"But the problem is that he only took 100 yuan at that time!"

When talking about this, Jobs immediately became excited and started to write for Ethan, "That was a stack of one hundred dollars! I didn't dare to accept it at the time! I was afraid that he was selling powder, and I was even more afraid that I would be robbed if I took the cash!"

"Oh, you can't blame me for this." Spielberg spread his hands and began to explain: "Although I can take out twenty-denomination dollars, one thousand dollars is fifty twenty-dollar bills! That's a whole stack! Is it convenient for me to buy an arcade machine with so much money?"

Such a question made Jobs frown and said, "So you are scaring me for your own convenience?"

Spielberg was too lazy to pay attention to him, "It's because of your poor psychological quality!"

"Oh! Sxxt! Steven! What did you say?"

"What did I say? Of course I'm telling the truth!"

Ethan laughed at the bickering between the two.

The scene of a fight about to break out made him shake his head again and again.

But he had no intention of intervening because it was not a big deal.

The issue of the face value of the U.S. dollar that Jobs and Spielberg mentioned has existed for many years.

The U.S. dollar is a currency with strong purchasing power. In most cases, twenty dollars is enough for a family to complete a supermarket shopping spree. Therefore, twenty dollars is the most commonly used currency by ordinary people in their daily lives.

As for the higher denominations? They are circulated in large quantities in illegal businesses.

For example, if you take a hundred dollars, those who use it the most are basically drug dealers or people who sell counterfeit money.

They would shoot anyone they caught, and there would basically be no injustice.

So, when Spielberg took a stack of hundred dollars to buy an arcade machine, any normal person would be scared.

Ethan could understand and he enjoyed watching the show.

After arguing for a few sentences, both of them realized that there was no result and calmed down.

At this time, Ethan intervened again and asked whether the previous news disclosure would cause trouble for Spielberg.

After all, according to the information Ethan and Jobs heard, MCA wanted to acquire Atari, but when they were discussing cooperation, Spielberg sent the news about Atari to outsiders. This behavior seemed to be a rebellious act no matter how you looked at it.

When Ethan expressed his thoughts, Jobs smiled and snorted, "Trouble?"

"Oh Ethan - you're so disrespectful to Steven!"

"Steven has always been the prince of Universal! The prince of MCA!"

"Who dares to cause trouble to him?"

Ethan was stunned by what Jobs said.

But the next second, he reacted, smiled and shook his head, saying: "Yeah~Yeah~Yeah~I am superficial."

"Jaws is the first movie in film history to have a box office of over 100 million!"

"When this kind of results appear, no one in Hollywood will offend him!"

However, before Ethan could finish his words, Jobs smiled and shook his head, "No, No, No~"

"You still don't understand, Ethan."

"Before Jaws was made, Steven was already as rampant as a crab in Universal Studios!"

"Because he only had to report to one person, and that was the CEO of MCA and the president of Universal, Sidney."

"What?" Ethan didn't understand.

Spielberg smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Steve, keep a low profile."

After seeing Ethan's confused face, he explained: "Ethan, don't listen to him. Sidney is my boss, my leader, and a teacher who supports and educates me. I respect him very much."

After listening to Spielberg's narration, Ethan finally understood what kind of person is the chosen one!
Since Spielberg wanted to make movies since he was a child, he applied to the Southern California Film Academy three times after graduating from high school, but was rejected because his grades were only C, so he had to transfer to California State University, Long Beach.

But the problem is that Spielberg doesn't like studying at all. He just wants to make movies, so he went to Hollywood to play in his spare time, trying to find an opportunity to get into the circle. When he heard that Universal Studios had a tour of the studio, he signed up decisively, and at the same time, he played a trick. During the tour, he asked the tour guide to go to the toilet, then sneaked out of the toilet, separated from the tour group, and then openly watched others filming in Universal Studios.

Although this act of stealing skills is somewhat shameful, Spielberg doesn't care.

After all, how can what scholars do be called stealing?

This is clearly learning!
But it was enough for him to believe in this kind of thing. The dog's sneaky figure could not escape the eyes of Global Management at all.

When Spielberg was wandering around, a Universal project manager named Chuck Silvers found him and asked him about his intentions. When Spielberg said that he escaped from the tour bus just to learn film shooting techniques and wanted to become a film director, Chuck Silvers was moved by him and decided to give him a three-day pass, allowing him to freely enter various places in the studio and watch openly.

then……

From that day on, Spielberg became a member of Universal.

Although the pass was only good for three days, Spielberg spent his entire summer at the studio.

Because when the fourth day came...

"The security at Universal Studios didn't try to stop me at all."

“He just let me in,” Spielberg said with a laugh.

"I was so happy at the time, I thought he had misremembered the date on my pass."

"But later I found out that someone had made a call on my behalf, and the person who made the call said that if I could come on time for three days, I could watch how they actually made the movie here."

"Is that Chuck Silvers?" Ethan asked with a smile.

"Yes, it's him, he's a good man." Spielberg nodded.

There was also a smile of nostalgia on his face.

Clearing his throat, he continued: "Then, I became a member of Universal."

"Because I didn't know that someone had put me in touch, so in order to avoid being discovered, I pretended to be a Universal employee and pretended to be working here."

"The office that Steve took you to just now was my office at that time. Although it was shabby and old, I didn't care because no one used it at that time, so I used it. It gave me a place to rest and think."

"Ethan, I don't know if you've ever had that feeling, that is, when you get used to lying to others, you will slowly believe your own lies. I've been at Universal for a long time, and I even thought I was part of it. Until one day, someone from Universal came to me and asked me if I had any ideas after studying for a long time. Only then did I realize that they knew everything."

At this point, Spielberg leaned back, played with his fork, and said in a nostalgic tone: "I was scared to death at the time. But the people at Universal were very kind. They asked me to prepare a project myself and said that if I passed the assessment, I would get a job. I was very happy about this fact, and of course I had my own ideas, so I wrote a script and got $100,000 from a friend to make it into a short film called "Amblin"."

"To be honest, I wasn't very satisfied with that movie, but Sidney thought it was good after watching it. He should have been the vice president of Universal at the time, right? He had the power to sign contracts, so he gave me a seven-year director contract, gave me a fixed salary, and let me practice on various projects." "Although I messed up a lot of projects, with Sidney around, no one dared to criticize me, because he once said to me in front of many people, 'A lot of people will stick with you in success; I'll stick with you in failure.' With his words, I was able to get projects from Universal again and again, so what Steve said was actually right..."

Spielberg tapped the table with his index finger and said softly, "Here, indeed, no one will reject me."

"And after Jaws came out—"

"This is indeed my territory."

When Spielberg told his story with a smile, Ethan really didn't know what to say.

A future world-famous director is staying at Universal like a little child just to make movies?
This……

Black history!

Oh no!
If this kind of thing happened to ordinary people, it would be a dark history, but if it happened to celebrities, it would be a thirst for knowledge!
There’s nothing you can do about it. Once people become famous, even farting is right!
"So that's how it is?" Ethan nodded with a smile, and said with emotion: "No wonder the security guards didn't stop Steve when he brought me in just now, because they know that Steve often comes to Universal to see you, right?"

"Yes. I was the one who sent Snake Game."

Jobs nodded and said, "Didn't I disappear on the afternoon of the new product launch? I went to give him an arcade machine."

"Is that so?"

Ethan suddenly remembered.

On the afternoon of the Snake Game press conference, the only people left at Atari were Nolan Bushnell and his people.

At that time, he thought that Jobs went to deliver the goods with the large team.

But I didn’t expect it was sent specifically to Spielberg?

'It seems like they have a really good relationship.'

After sighing in his heart, Ethan started chatting with them again.

We talked about games, movies, and Hollywood.

And when he learned that Spielberg and Barbra Streisand knew each other, he made a request.

"Oh Steven, can I help you with something?"

"You tell me." Spielberg said with a smile, "As long as I can do it, I will definitely help you."

"Can you get me a signed copy of Barbra Streisand's album? My sister loves her."

"This is too easy. Not to mention one copy, a set will do." Spielberg waved his hand and said, "Whether it's a music album or a movie video, I can get it for you. I'll tell my assistant later and leave this to her."

"Don't worry, although this matter will take some time, you will definitely get it before you leave."

"Of course...you can't tell me you're leaving now!"

Spielberg tapped the table and jokingly said, "After all, I'm not Superman."

"Hahaha~ No, no~" Ethan smiled, "Oh Steven~ Thank you so much... I'm bothering you when we just met, this really... I don't know what to do..."

"Don't know what to do? This is easy." Spielberg said, "I want to know a question now. As long as you can answer me directly, I can guarantee that you will not feel that there is distance between us."

'? '

'Is there such a mysterious question?'

"What's the problem?" Ethan asked curiously.

After these words came out, Spielberg first had an unfathomable stern face and looked at Ethan with a very serious look. When Ethan frowned and looked a little surprised, he burst out laughing, rubbed his hands, and said, "It's very simple!"

"When will you release a new game?"

"I can not wait any more!"

“While I believe Snake Game will keep me playing for a long time, I still want to play something new!”

'...'

"Okay!"

Spielberg's question made Ethan laugh and cry.

What kind of thing is this?

Isn't today a fun fan meeting?
How did it become an offline solo where I have to urge for updates face to face?
Although Ethan didn't understand Spielberg's train of thought, he could still answer this question.

He took a deep breath and shook his head, "Oh Steven, I don't want to lie to you, I do have some ideas in my head, but I can't realize them for the time being."

"What?" Spielberg was a little surprised. "Why can't it be realized?"

“Is it because of technical reasons?”

Ethan shrugged regretfully, not knowing how to answer.

This situation gave Jobs the opportunity to speak.

He explained the specific situation.

When Spielberg learned that all the problems were caused by the patent for video games and training devices, he was a little surprised. "Oh Ethan, can't you get the license?"

"If I really want to get it, I should be able to get it, but the price may not be right."

Ethan said sincerely: "You make movies, you should know that inspiration is also valuable."

"If this value is taken away by the theater chain that provides the venue, then I have nothing to say."

"After all, their existence is to provide audiences with a place to watch movies."

"But if most of the profits are taken away by Edison, then..."

Before Ethan could finish his words, Spielberg smiled and said, "No need for ifs. Edison's behavior has already been identified as a monopoly."

"But things like Milova's... it's hard to identify as a monopoly, right?" Ethan said with a smile, "After all, Professor Bell is different from Edison. Professor Bell never bought patents. The patents under his name were either developed by himself or developed by a team he led. When he is involved in many fields such as aerospace, deep-sea exploration, and medicine, and he no longer charges patent fees for many projects, the courts or the country will not care about the corresponding monopoly in the field of video games."

This fact made Spielberg nod slightly and ask, "Then this problem can't be solved?"

Then he explained: "Oh, I mean, I'm really looking forward to your game."

"I understand, I understand, you mean no harm." Ethan nodded with a smile and said, "In fact, I have a solution now, but it may not be achieved in a short time because I need to meet with Professor Ralph Bell, but I don't know him. I have asked my sister's teacher to contact Professor Ralph Bell, but the news from their side is that it will be by the end of the year at the earliest."

"So, you might have to wait a while."

Since Spielberg knew what happened, Ethan didn't try to hide it.

But after he told the truth, Spielberg, who was sitting opposite him, was stunned.

Then the young man scratched his head, frowned and asked, "You mean Professor Ralph Bell can help you solve the patent problem?"

"If he is willing to cooperate with me." Ethan nodded and said, "As long as he is willing to cooperate with me, I have a way to bypass the patent barrier, and it is a bypass in the legal sense. Steve can help me prove this."

Ethan pointed at Jobs.

Jobs, who was already using MOS 6502, nodded and said, "Yes, we have the method. We just need to find the people."

However, just when Ethan thought that the topic had been discussed to death, Spielberg said: "Is it that simple? Then you can just make the game! And I must be the first player!"

'? '

Spielberg's words stunned Ethan, and he said, "Steven, I don't understand what you mean."

"Don't understand what I mean? It's very simple!" Spielberg blinked and said, "Because my father knew Professor Bell."

“Knowledge in every sense of the word.”

"After the launch of the MILO Odyssey, my father told me about Professor Bell. He said that Professor Bell's technology in the field of electronic engineering was much better than his."

"If you want to find Professor Bell, I can ask my dad to make a call for you."

"Although I don't know what you want to cooperate with Professor Bell, or what you definitely want to get from Professor Bell, but I can assure you that even if the cooperation is outrageous, Professor Bell will listen to it for my father's sake."

"WTF???" Ethan was shocked!
He asked in disbelief, "Oh Steven, are you serious???"

"Of course! Why would I lie to you about this?" Spielberg was very surprised and asked, "Are you surprised?"

"Why? Why is it unexpected?"

"Don't you think it's normal that my dad and Professor Bell know each other?"

"Ok?"

Spielberg frowned, he couldn't understand.

Even more confused than him were Ethan, who looked bewildered, and Jobs, who was equally dumbfounded.

Because this kind of thing is really not normal!

Note: ① Gran Trak is a racing game produced by Atari. Well... it is a plagiarism because its style and production method are basically the same as the racing game launched by Professor Ralph Baer on the MILO Odyssey. ② The information about Spielberg becoming a director comes from an interview with him by the BBC. This is what Spielberg said himself. It is still on the BBC's official website in the UK.

PS, there is a rumor that Universal Pictures agreed to let Spielberg study there because of his Jewish identity. Universal is a studio with a strong Jewish atmosphere. From the earliest founder to the later controllers, as well as the executives during the MCA period, they were all Jews. So when Spielberg's extremely obvious Jewish appearance appeared, Universal tacitly allowed him to come, and when Sidney found that he was really talented, he directly gave him a long-term contract to train his own people.

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(End of this chapter)