It's March of nineteen seventy two. Ivor Davis is an LA based reporter for the London Daily Express.
I was the one man Los Angeles bureau working out of southern California.
He's a British bloodhound who's heard the talk and read the headlines of the most anticipated movie of the year, The Godfather.
And there was all sorts of chicanery going on in New York. We heard the mob didn't like the way they were being depicted in the film, and so there was a lot of talk buzzing around The Godfather.
He calls Paramount and they tell him press screenings are coming not good enough. He wants a scoop, So.
My London office kept nagging me, when's the film coming out? When are you gonna see it? Can you see it quickly?
One night, Ivor is hanging out at Chasin's, Yes, the Chasins where Mario Puzzo had his altercation with Frank Sinott. He's talking to the mad Or d a friend of his name Phil Scully. He tells him about his quest to see the movie everyone's talking about but nobody's seen.
And I said to Phil, have you heard about The Godfather? He said, no, I know it's coming out, so I said I'd love to see it, and I left it at that.
A few days later, the reporter's phone rings. It's Phil.
He said, Iva, they're showing the movie tomorrow night and it's at a Litton Savings alone cinema on Sunset Boulevard, and if you want to see it, come along and I'll get you in.
It turns out Jason's is catering a first look screening for distributors.
He said, the only problem is I can't bring you in as a journalist, so you have to pretend to be a waiter.
So Ivor shows up to the theater the next day and meets Phil around back to get a waiter's uniform.
He said, get in there. Make it simple, just take drink orders. So I took drink orders and he said keep your mouth shut, and I did that for about forty five minutes to try to overhear what people were saying.
Just before the screening begins, Ibor takes off his uniform and blends into the crowd of distributors and off.
I went into the screening room and got a backseat, took my notebook, and there before my very eyes. The movie unfolded.
I Believe in America.
I'm Mark Seal and I'm Nathan King.
And this is Leave the gun, Take the Canoli.
In today's episode, we're moving on from the tumult of shooting, post production and endless fights and onto the glitz and glam of The Guy Father's New York City premiere and subsequent rise as one of the greatest films of all time.
We'll hear from the mastermind behind The Godfather's press strategy and tie up the loose ends between Coppola and Evans.
So we left off last episode with Francis Ford Coppola winning every single fight with Evans in the studio. He gets the cast he wants, the locations he wants, He painstakingly gets scenes back into the movie that were once cut out of it. And he's made a masterpiece.
Well we know he made a masterpiece, but he's somehow sure that he's made a boring movie. He's consumed by the idea that it's going to be a flop.
But even without Copola believing in the movie, there's one person who believed in it enough for everyone.
Yes, there was the great Marilynd Stewart paramounts worldwide head of publicity and promotion, who got the town buzzing about the film before a single frame had been shot.
No other publishers, maybe in the country, could do what I could have done.
You talked to her for the book, right, Yeah.
I talked to her, and I talked to her, and I talked to her for hours at a time, and she told me her strategy in minute detail. The key to it all in her mind was Marlon Brando's transformation. She had seen that revolutionary transformation in the home video I believe that Francis had done on Mulholland Drive and was astounded, like everyone else at this incredible transformation of Marlon Brando into Vito Corleone. And so she thought, that's the key.
I'm going to walk up the shed. Nobody's going to get a picture of Rolon Brando as the Godfather time or usually on the cover with a big story.
I got so excited that you can hear me ferociously typing in the background as she tells me the story of how she made The Godfather an international sensation.
So the big thing was Marylyn's picture that Steve Shapiro shot on her Godfather set said, show raw in in clear detailing my personal Fafty deposit box.
And so she thought, then we can stun the world when the movie comes out with the pictures of Marlon Brando as the Godfather, because everybody will want to see the movie because they want to see Marlon Brando as the Dawn.
How did you track her down?
Well, you know, I was talking to Nicholas Pelegi for the book, and he told me he was the only reporter loud on The Godfather said in little Italy. I said, well, how did that all happen? He said, well, Marilyn Stewart handled everything. She was the paramount head of publicity and promotion. And so I said, Marilyn Stewart. I really hadn't heard about Marilyn Stewart before, and so I frantically google her name and I was able to find a phone number
for her and give her a call. And she was just this amazing woman who had unveiled this then revolutionary press strategy of promoting a movie not upon its release or a few weeks or months before its release, but before it would have even been shot at all, making deals with magazines and newspapers and planning a press strategy a year or two in advance.
So when I'm for Davis says, it's the movie everyone's talking about, and he has to sneak into his screening. Marilyn's the reason everyone's talking about it.
Yes, indeed, and she wasn't even working for Paramount by the time the movie came out, but she set up a publicity time bomb for the day of the release, and boy did it work.
And I called Rob and I, you know, should have you ever heard of knowing that you're going to be on the newsweek code one train of film?
What are you talking about it?
So Marilyn Stewart got the press and the public buzzing about the premiere of The Godfather. Mark, you saw the movie in theaters when it first came out, But I'm guessing it was a whorled away from the glamour of the New York City premiere.
It was several worlds away. I mean, I'm watching the movie in Memphis, Tennessee. I can only imagine what it was like to be at that premiere. You can see the pictures, you know, and you can see the excitement and feel the energy and the enthusiasm of all that the film premiere on March fourteenth, nineteen seventy two, at the low State Theater on forty fifth and Broadway. The streets were clogged with heavy traffic, police, mobs of fans
and press. Marilyn Stewart had done her job. It was an absolute frenzy.
Okay, everyone was there, Kennedy's, Ford's Raquel welch al Pacino, of course, Charlie Bludorn, Mario Puzzo and his whole family, Francis Ford, Coppola and his wife. Even Robert Evans, suddenly cured of his ailments, arrived with Ali McGraw on one arm and a surprising guest on his other.
Yeah, Robert Evans brought none other than Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to the premiere, much to the delight of Charlie Bludorn, who tells Evans in his book Evans Evans, I love you, I love you Kissinger. He was so excited.
It was like having the co sign of the US government on the film exactly.
You know, Charlie Bludorn was in heaven this night.
And when the limo suspected to be carrying Marlon Brando pulled up, the crowds were poised to pounce on the superstar, but he didn't show up. In his place, he sent a friend of his, Jim Thomas, a Native American man from Alaska, in full regalia.
Yes he did, and I was so excited to speak to Jim Thomas because he gave me a lens into the premiere.
What did he say about it from his personerspective?
You know, he came with a small group of friends and family, and he was sitting in a prime seat in one of the front rows, and he just had a great story to tell about talking with Al Pacino, who said, how do you like the movie? You know he didn't recognize Pacino at first. He goes, I thought it was pretty good.
Now, before we get off the red carpet and into the theater for the premiere, I want you to tell me the story of something that didn't happen. It's a great story, and it doesn't appear in your book.
No, it's not in the book. But when I was interviewing Gianni Russo, who played Carlo Rizzy, he told me about his experience at the premiere.
I'll tell you what I was going to do, and I should have did it.
Actually they took me out of it. In fact, you know I took him my premier food.
You will not believe this, doctor Theodore Jacobs.
Apparently, four days prior to the premiere, Gianni gets a call from the FBI informing him of a call the interceptor who had plans to kill Gianni at the premiere. They tell him they can't offer any protection, but it's their obligation to tell him of the threat.
So, like everything else in life, I said, I'm going to use this then, So I hired a mocksman and I was going to put him on the roof and let him shoot me and live television. The FBI revertified that I had to hit on me.
How did you fucking headlines the next day be dead?
Though?
No, I had mosmen to shoot me here, Oh not kill me.
I would have been the biggest star in the world. So I got my doctor. He's just crazy. Can I took you at this? I said, no, it's a stunt.
It's a stunt. Doctor about it? So then what did you do it?
What happened?
They took me out of it? Who in the eleventh hour?
Who my doctor Brancooper and my very close one Tommy Blotti.
Can you imagine the headlines the next day? Carlo Rizzy, the godfathers errant son in law shot at the premiere of The Godfather? Could you imagine better headlines? And that it would make him a worldwide star.
It would be the biggest publicity stunt of all time.
Probably. Wow.
Well, I was pretty shocked when I heard that tape. Mark. Okay, so we get into the theater. Thankfully, no one's been shot. What's the reaction when the credits roll and the lights turn back on.
Absolute silence.
Not the standing ovation you would expect from a masterpiece.
No, it's not at all. Here's how Robert Evans later described it in his memoir No applause, not a sound, silence scary here.
Well, despite the silence, the star studded audience heads to the top floor of the Saint Regis Hotel for an over the top galla, complete with authentic Sicilian food, waiters dressed as Corleone bagman, a giant ice sculpture in the shape of a submachine gun, and an orchestra playing the Godfather theme over and over again.
It was a night to remember, and in fact, one that Robert Evans remembered for years to come. When we spoke in two thousand and seven, he got quite emotional talking about it.
This is the highest nide of my life. It's such a euphoria. Everyone who realized has just seen something.
MS Bryce five people there.
I was in heaven.
What about for Coppola? He must have been relieved that the ordeal was finally over.
Yeah, I'm sure he was in a sense, But he later said that he had been so conditioned to think that the film was too dark, too long, too boring, that he wasn't sure it would have any success. But you can see him in the photographs from the party. He looks like he's having a pretty good time.
He's hiding his despairwell. A week later, the Hollywood premiere saw a similar audience response that Eerie Silence, and.
Al Ruddy wanted to get to the bottom of it. He and al Pacino decided to sneak into the last ten minutes of a showing at a theater in New York to gauge the reaction. Here's how he described it in an interview with All Things Considered.
I was with al Pacino in the back of the theater and it was an amazing thing that occurred.
When the lights came on, everyone got up and walked out. Nobody clapped.
It was quiet. I took that alley, I said, Oh Jesus Christ, this Maybe they think it's a disaster.
But Ruddy's fears were soon relieved. On the day of the nationwide premiere March twenty fourth, nineteen seventy two, Al Ruddy drove past the Paramount Theater on Broadway in the middle of a driving rainstorm. There was a line stretching around the block to see The Godfather.
And meanwhile, Coppola has no idea that his film's ahead. Immediately after the New York premiere, he heads to Paris for some peace and quiet to focus on his next screenplay and adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
Yet another pair out project that he took on for Robert Evans.
Why do you think he decided to take on this job, especially if he had such a bad experience working with Evans the first time around.
Well, he needed the money, don't forget the money he's received so far from The Godfather. Went to cover his debts for American zoa trope and the huge house he had just bought for his family and other expenses.
Well, he'll soon find out that he definitely doesn't need the money. When does Copla finally realize that The Godfather isn't the massive failure he fears.
Well, he's in Paris and his phone rings. It's his wife, Eleanor, who's still in New York. After the premiere. She tells him that just outside her hotel room, she could see a movie theater with the marquee reading The Godfather, and on the street, day in and day out, there's a line snaking around the block. She said, Oh, my god, Francis, you won't believe it. It's a phenomenon.
So the Godfather mania is in full swing, a spurred on by Marilyn Stuart's genius press strategy, and theaters can add enough showings to keep up with the ravenous crowds.
The La Times even runs the story headline Lifestyles for waiting in line to see The Godfather, which was an instructional guid for how to make the long wait more tolerable.
Mark, Is it true that Al Ruddy set up a separate screening for the boys, as he called them?
Yeah, even the men who inspired the movie had trouble getting tickets. So Ruddy sets up a screening in New York.
So I stuck a print out which parent I never knew about, and I gave them a screening.
It must been one hundred lib sees in front.
I swear to guy, and the projection has called me the guy's mister. Ready. I've been a projected is.
My whole life.
No one never gave me a thousand dollar tip.
That's how much the guys.
Lived the movie.
And there's a great cartoon that's featured in my book, and it shows the Godfather Marquis and a line of these big men and overcoats with violin cases under their arms, snaking down the street waiting to see the movie. And what about the reviews, Well, the reviews were pretty much sensational.
Robo Brando's Godfather hailed the New York Times the year's first really satisfying, big commercial American film, four stars, highest rating from The Daily News. An Italian American gone with a wind, claims Time magazine.
Gene Shallittt NBCTV.
Calls The Godfather a spectacular movie, one of the finest gangster movies ever made. The Godfather is now a movie from Paramount rated R now at low State one to sinne Orphium and Tower East.
But it's more than bluster. There's real money to back up The Godfather's success.
Yes, and by the end of nineteen seventy two, at Gulf and Western's annual meeting, Charlie Bludorn announced that The Godfather had made over one hundred and fifty million dollars.
And what's that number today?
Two hundred and fifty million and still going strong.
So what did that do for Paramount the last Place studio?
Well, it saved the studio. Bludorn had a short memory, but at that press conference he said, we've got the best ratio of hits against flops in the industry.
This film has changed so many lives, but maybe known so much as Evans and Copola. They both regarded the film as something that both made and destroyed their lives.
And for all of their differences, they really share that they were both so passionate about the movie, but the legacy really haunted both of them. Coppola couldn't go anywhere without people playing the Godfather theme and being reminded of the traumatic experience of making the film, and Evans lost so much over his absolute obsession with the movie. When I interviewed him for the book, I was struck by how much he opened up to me about the emotional toll.
Now as the party leader Oh Shop.
He showed me a photo of himself and his wife Ali McGraw on the night of the premiere. They're dancing and they looked completely in love.
Would you believe at this very moment, this is madly in love with another man. And I had no idea any man the things he can need, the mind of woman. It's a man who's nothing.
It seems like Coppola and Evans could have bonded over how much they gave to the movie.
They probably could have, but in reality the two never really became best friends. Their riff continued after the film's release in something of a pr war. Each blamed the other for threatening to derail the film at various points of the production. Coppola revealed Evans's initial opposition to his perfect cast, and Evans struck back, saying he saved the
movie by re editing the final cut. Coppola said in an interview claimed he had saved the picture because he asked me to put back at the half hour that he had told me to take out.
And this feud is probably best exemplified by two telegrams from nineteen eighty three that were printed in full and sold at auction as part of Evans's estate. December thirteenth, nineteen eighty three. Dear Bob Evans, I've been a real gentleman regarding your claims of involvement on The Godfather. I've never talked about your throwing out the Nino Rota music, you're barring the casting of Paccino and Brando, et cetera.
But continually your stupid blabbing about cutting The Godfather comes back to me and angers me for its ridiculous pomposity. You did nothing on The Godfather other than annoy me and slow it down. That is why Charlie put in The Godfather to contract that you could have nothing to.
Do with the movie.
You will never see The Cotton Club until it's an answer print. You have double crossed me for the last time. If you want to pr war or any kind of war, no one is better at it than me. Francis Coppola, Wow, actually put my back into that one.
Mark Evans responded with his own dramatic retort December fourteenth, nineteen eighty three. Dear Francis, thank you for your charming cable. I cannot imagine what prompted this venomous diatribe. I am both annoyed and exasperated by your fallacious accusations when all I do is praise your extraordinary talents as a filmmaker. Conversely, your behavior toward me glaringly lacks any iota of concern, honesty,
or integrity. I am affronted by your gall and daring to send this Macavelian epistle, the content of which is not only ludicrous but totally misrepresents the truth. I cannot conceive what motivated your malicious thoughts, but if they they are a reflection of your hostility. I bear a great sympathy and concern for your paranoid, schizophrenic behavior. However, Dear Francis, do not mistake my kindness for weakness. Robert Evans, Wow, that's Shakespeare. In to this day, wherever couple of goes,
people seem to have impressions about the film. He tells a story about walking by a group of suspiciously tough Italian men. They were stealing glances at him, and he heard one of them whisper the name Mario Puzo. One of the men yelled, you didn't make him, he made you. He could not disagree, later writing, It's absolutely true that Mario made me and that Godfather changed my life.
Coppola's relationship with Puzzo really made up for his feud with Evans.
It sure did, and I think we can sign off with an excerpt of the audio that Coppola shared with us for the podcast.
I immediately like Mario Puzzo. I found him funny, wise and lovable, like an uncle. He spoke in clear, short, wise statements. I was very fond of him and enjoyed working with him very much. I miss him now that he's gone, and I wish he was still around so I could talk to him.
Leave the Gun, Take the Canoli. As a production of Airmail and iHeartMedia.
The podcast is based on the book of the same name, written by our very own Mark Seal.
Our producer is Tina Mullin.
Research assistance by Jack Sullivan.
Jonathan Dressler was our development producer.
Our music supervisor is Randall Poster. Our executive producers are Me Nathan King, Mark Seal, Doan Fagan, and Graydon Carter.
Special thanks to Bridget Arsenal and everyone at CDM Studios.
A comprehensive list of sources and acknowledgments can be found in Mark Sieal's book Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, published by Gallery Books. An imprint of Simon and Schuster