The Mother of all Publicity Campaigns

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It's March of 1972.

Ivor Davis is an LA-based reporter for the London Daily Express.

I was the one man in 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 going to see it?

Can you see it quickly?

One night, Ivor is hanging out at Chasin's.

Yes, the Chasin's where Mario Puzzo had his altercation with Frank Sinatra.

He's talking to the mater D, a friend of his named 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, Ivor, they're showing the movie tomorrow night, and it's at Lytton Savings and Loan Cinema on Sunset Boulevard.

And if you want to see it, come along and I'll get you in.

It turns out Chasons 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 45 minutes to try to overhear what people were saying.

Just before the screening begins, Ivor takes off his uniform and blends into the crowd of distributors.

And off I went into the screening room, got a back seat, took my notebook, and there, before my very eyes, the movie unfolded.

I believe in America.

I'm Mark Seale, and I'm Nathan King.

And this is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.

In today's episode, we're moving on from the tumult of shooting, shooting, post-production, and endless fights, and on to the glitz and glam of The Godfather'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 Coppola believing in the movie, there's one person who believed in it enough for everyone.

Yes, there was the great Marilyn Stewart, Paramount's worldwide head of publicity and promotion, who got the town buzzing about the film before a single frame had been shot.

Because 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 Frances had done on Moleholland 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 lock up the set.

Nobody's going to get a picture of Marlon Brando as the godfather

until

time or newsweek or life or look has him 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 all of the pictures, all of the negatives that Steve Shapiro shot on the Godfather set that showed Marlon in clear detail.

All the negatives were in my personal safety 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'll want to see Marlon Brando as the Don.

How did you track her down?

Well, you know, I was talking to Nicholas Pelleggi for the book, and he told me he was the only reporter allowed on the godfather set 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 Googled 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 a 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 Bob and I, you know,

I said, have you ever heard of knowing that you're going to be on the newsweek cover before you even shoot one frame of film?

He said, what?

What are you talking about?

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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 world 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 premiered on March 14th, 1972, at the Lowe State Theater on 45th 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.

Everyone was there.

Kennedys, Ford's, Raquel Welch, Al Pacino, of course, Charlie Bluedorn, 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 U.S.

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 and full regalia.

Yes, he did, and I was so excited to speak to Jim Thomas because he gave me a blends into the premiere.

What did he say about it from his perspective?

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 Rizzi, he told me about his experience at the premiere.

I 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 who I took to my premiere?

You will not believe this.

Dr.

Theodore Jacobs.

Apparently four days prior to the premiere, Gianni gets a call from the FBI informing him of a call they intercepted 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 thing.

So, I hired a marksman, and I was going to put him on the roof and let him shoot me on live television.

The FBI already verified that I had it on me.

I would have been fucking headlines the next day.

I'd be dead, though.

No, I had marksmen to shoot me here, 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 talk you out of this?

I said, no, it's a stunt.

It's a stunt, Doc.

Don't worry about it.

So then what?

Did you do it?

What happened?

They talked me out of it.

Who yes?

In the 11th hour.

Who?

My doctor, Frank Cooper, and my very close friend, Tommy Bellatti.

Can you imagine the headlines the next day?

Carlo Rizzi, the godfather's errant son-in-law, shot at the premiere of the godfather.

Could you imagine better headlines than 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?

Huh?

Heary.

Well, despite the silence, the star-studded audience heads to the top floor of the St.

Regis Hotel for an over-the-top gala complete with authentic Sicilian food, waiters dressed as Corleone bagmen, 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 2007, he got quite emotional talking about it.

This is the highest night of my life.

It was such a euphoria.

Everyone realizing I just seen something that

mesmerized

500 people who were 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 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 on the party.

He looks like he's having a pretty good time.

He's hiding his despare well.

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 sneak into the last 10 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 looked at Alice and 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 24th, 1972, 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 a hit.

Immediately after the New York premiere, he heads to Paris for some peace and quiet to focus on his next screenplay, an adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

Yet another paramount 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 Zoatrope 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 Coppola 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.

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So the Godfather Mania is in full swing.

The crowds are spurred on by Marilyn Stewart's genius press strategy, and theaters can't add enough showings to keep up with the ravenous crowds.

The LA Times even runs a story headline, Lifestyles for Waiting in Line to See the Godfather, which was an instructional guide 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 sets up a screening in New York.

So I snuck a printout, which Param I never knew about.

And I gave them a screening.

It must have been 100 limousines in front, I swear to God.

And the projectionist called me.

The guy's Mr.

Ruddy, I've been a projectionist my whole life.

No one ever gave me a $1,000 tip.

That's how much the guys love 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 in 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.

Bravo Brando's Godfather, hails the New York Times, the year's first really satisfying big commercial American film.

Four stars, highest rating from the daily news.

And Italian American Gone with a Wind claims Time magazine.

Gene Shallott, NBC TV, 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 1, 2, Cine, Orpheum, 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 1972, at Gulf and Western's annual meeting, Charlie Bludorn announced that The Godfather had made over $150 million.

And what's that number today?

$250 million and still going strong.

So what did that do for Paramount, the Last Place Studio?

Well, it saved the studio.

Bluedorn 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 none so much as Evans and Coppola.

They both regard the film as something that both made and destroyed their lives.

And for all of their differences, they really shared 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, at the party leader, I want to show you a picture.

He showed me a photo of himself and his wife, Allie McGraw, on the night of the premiere.

They're dancing, and they look completely in love.

Would you believe at this very moment,

she's madly in love with another man, and I had no idea.

Any man who thinks he can read the mind of a woman is a man who knows 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 rift 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' 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, Evans claimed he had saved the picture because he asked me to put back the half hour that he had told me to take out.

And this feud is probably best exemplified by two telegrams from 1983 that were printed in full and sold at auction as part of Evans' estate.

December 13th, 1983.

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 Pacino and Brando, etc.

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 2 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 a PR war or any kind of war, no one is better at it than me.

Francis Coppola.

Wow.

I really put my back into that one, Mark.

Evans responded with his own dramatic retort.

December 14th, 1983.

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 in daring to send this Machiavellian epistle, the content of which is not only ludicrous, but totally misrepresents the truth.

I cannot conceive what motivated your malicious malicious thoughts, but if they are a reflection of your hostility, I bear great sympathy and concern for your apparent paranoid schizophrenic behavior.

However, dear Francis, do not mistake my kindness for weakness.

Robert Evans.

Wow, that's Shakespearean.

To this day, wherever Coppola 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 Puzzo.

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 the Godfather changed my life.

Coppola's relationship with Puzo 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 liked 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 Cannoli is a production of Air Mail and iHeart Media.

The podcast is based on the book of the same name written by our very own Mark Seal.

Our producer is Tina Mullen.

Research assistants by Jack Sullivan.

Jonathan Dressler was our development producer.

Our music supervisor is Randall Poster.

Our executive producers are meet, Nathan King, Mark Seale, Dylan Fagan, and Graydon Carter.

Special thanks to Bridget Arseneau and everyone at CDM Studios.

A comprehensive list of sources and acknowledgments can be found in Mark Seale's book, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon ⁇ Schuster.

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