In 1931, MGM chief Irving Thalberg, bent on acquiring the film rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan, sent Sam Marx to negotiate with the author. Marx duly contacted Burroughs and asked how much he wanted.

When Burroughs said "$100,000," Marx made a counter-offer of $25,000 -- prompting Burroughs to walk out of the meeting.

Marx and Burroughs continued to negotiate throughout the summer and Burroughs eventually settled for $40,000. After signing the contract, however, he admitted that he wanted the picture made so badly that MGM would have had it for nothing had they held out much longer.

"Mr. Burroughs," Marx replied, "if you had held out, you would have gotten $100,000!"