FIDEL CASTRO IN A FILM FROM MGM “Cuban leader Fidel Castro appeared as an extra in the Hollywood film Bathing Beauty, starring Esther Williams.” Ripley’s Believe It or Not Encyclopedia of the Bizarre (New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers,2002) ** JAMES BOND FILMS & ELEPHANTS “The producers of the James Bond pictures have discovered one of the secrets of circus: if the performing dogs disappoint, there are always the elephants.” Penelope Gilliatt in The New Yorker (July 9,1973) ** HOW WILLIAM GOLDMAN KNEW HE WOULD SUCCEED AS A SCRIPTWRITER The opening credits sequence: William Goldman later said he knew he'd succeed as a screenwriter as soon as he wrote the opening scene in Harper (1966) in which Harper is forced to recycle used coffee grounds from the trash for his morning cup of coffee. Harper's dismay at the result, as realized by Paul Newman on screen, immediately created empathy between the character and the audience. Ironically, that opening sequence was the last thing he wrote for that script. ImbD Trivia for Harper (1966) ** ON THE HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY “It isn’t true that Hollywood is a bitter place, divided by hatred, greed and jealousy. All it takes to bring the community together is a flop by Peter Bogdanovich.”: Billy Wider, quoted in Bogdanovich’s NY TIMES obituary by Margalit Fox ** THE HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY & THE SICILIAN “Cimino’s original cut ran for 165 minutes, which he Trimmed to 146 (for Europe) and was further hacked down to 115 for U.S,. release. Cimino sued the producer (David Begelman’s Gladden Entertainment) and they countersued Cimino. Then Gore Vidal , claiming he rewrote Steve Shagan’s script, sued for credit and lost, only to sue the WGA * for unfair arbitration.” *Writers Guild of America Michael Scheinfeld, reviewing The Sicilian, directed by Michael Cimino ** GOING TO THE MOVIES IN MANHATTAN (Circa 1912) “Admission in those days was a nickel – that’s why they called them nickelodeons – and you got a rebate ticket good for a penny’s worth of candy inside. Who could ask for more?” … “At the time I’m talking about, the Imperial, which was on 117th Street and Lenox Avenue, had two employees who were destined for bigger things. One was Lottie Jessel, Georgie Jessel’s mother, who sold the tickets. The other was a young man named Harry Cohn, who later went to Hollywood and became head of Columbia Pictures. At the Imperial Nickelodeon he would lead the community sing between pictures, pointing to the words on the slides.” Milton Berle.An Autobiography with Haskel Frankel (New York: Delacorte Press, 1974) ** JACQUES TATI Tati, Jacques Does not tell jokes, His comedy is visual. Oh Tati, Do your films play well in Tahiti? ** ERROL FLYNN Flynn, Errol Was a pro in removing apparel From beautiful girls, a fact well known From Hollywood to Stockholm. LJP
PhillipsMiscellany 
I loved every item here. Thank you.
I have my own Bogdanovich story. He showed “Targets” at an American Film Institute conference in 1968—in Santa Barbara. The majority of attendees hated the movie and were vocal in their criticism. It was brutal. Finally, Bogdanovich’s wife Polly Platt stood up and berated the audience for attacking her husband. It was a very emotional scene. Bogdanovich later dumped Polly and married Cybill Shepherd. I wonder if Cybill regretted defending Peter.
Murray
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Regarding David Begelman, here’s Kirk Douglas, from his autobiography: “This is the town where Cliff Robertson exposed David Begelman as a forger & a thief, with the net result that Begelman got a standing ovation at a Hollywood restaurant, while Robertson was blacklisted for 4 years. On the bad days, you think of what Tallulah Bankhead said: ‘Who do I have to fuck to get out of this business.?'”
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