Elmore Leonard did a reading at the Brattle Theatre at the end of the 90s when I was the operations manager there. The Harvard Book Store would rent the space when they anticipated a big turnout for a reading, which indeed he drew.
Afterwards, we moved downstairs to the lobby, where Leonard pulled out a cigarette and began to light it. There was (and is) a smoking ban in Cambridge, so I said, "Excuse me, Mr. Leonard, there's no smoking in the theatre." He said, "I am not smoking. I am lighting my cigarette." He did and went outside.
“You never tell the guy what could happen to him,” Chili explains. “Let him use his imagination, he’ll think of something worse. In other words, don’t talk when you don’t have to.”
