In 1933, during a trip to Hollywood, Pascal was contacted by Princess Norina Matchabelli about a movie project based on the teachings of her guru Meher Baba. Pascal got very caught up in this project, bringing movie writers Hy Kraft and Karl Vollmöller into helping him work up treatments and even making a trip to India to discuss the project further with Meher Baba. By the time Pascal arrived in India, however, Meher Baba did not seem in any hurry to complete the movie, saying it could wait and inviting Pascal to live with him in India. Most ordinary men would have been discouraged, but Pascal took energetically to the austere life of an eastern ascetic, even shedding his western garb for eastern clothing. He took a liking to Meher Baba and maintained a correspondence with him all of his life. Meher Baba nicknamed Pascal "Phoenix" and alternately "Panther." 