Late in the spring of 1968, Richard Zanuck announced that over the next year, the Studio would spend $115 million on twenty-three pictures. This figure was up 15 per cent over the amount spent in 1967. Nearly 80 per cent of this total, Zanuck said, would be spent in the U.S., most of it in Hollywood. “One, the best technicians are in Hollywood,” he explained. “Two, we are not stopping overseas production, but are cutting down on it because the subject matter of the stories involved can be made here and better. This doesn’t mean that if we have a foreign locale we won’t go abroad to make a film. It is all based on subject matter.”
But all that was later. On December 21, 1967, at the Paramount Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, the Studio showed Dr. Dolittle for the first time in Los Angeles at a $125-a-ticket premiere to benefit the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund. I went to the premiere, and I did not go back to the Studio after that, for the point of the Studio is the Product, and during the months I had spent there, the major Product, the $18 million Product, was Dr. Dolittle. Limousines were strung out along Hollywood Boulevard and a police line held back a crowd of hundreds straining to see the 1,400 guests who swept into the theater in jewels and evening dress. Governor and Mrs. Ronald Reagan were there as the guests of Richard Zanuck, and Sophie the Seal disembarked from her limousine wearing a diamond necklace. She was accompanied by Jip the Dog, who was wearing a jeweled collar. Gub-Gub the Pig wore a sequined harness and Chee-Chee the Chimp was in white tie and tails with a top hat and white carnation.
Tony Curtis was there and Gregory Peck and Steve McQueen, and in the lobby of the Paramount, Joey Bishop, who had been prevailed upon to tape the premiere for his late-night talk show, interviewed them all.
“This is a real Hollywood premiere,” Bishop said. “It’s all furs and jewels and delicate hair styles, and that’s just the ushers.” There was a roar of laughter. “Here’s Hank Fonda, Henry Fonda, ladies and gentlemen, Hank, I hear this is a marvelous picture, a wonderful picture.”
“A wonderful picture, Joey,” Henry Fonda said.
“Thank you very much, Henry Fonda, ladies and gentlemen,” Bishop said. “And here’s Carol Channing. Look at those jewels.”
Carol Channing laughed and waved at the crowd.
“It’s a wonderful picture, you’re going to see a wonderful picture,” Bishop said.
“It’s going to be a wonderful picture, Joey,” Carol Channing said.
And Rex Harrison said it was a wonderful picture and Samantha Eggar said it was a wonderful picture and Gregory Peck, who was chairman of the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund, said he was proud that the Fund was the beneficiary of such a wonderful picture.
“And here comes Sonny and Cher, ladies and gentlemen,” Bishop said.
“Wow, look at those outfits. Sonny, Cher, come on over here.” Sonny and Cher eased their way to the microphone next to Bishop. Sonny was wearing a pale blue brocade ensemble and Cher a floor-length Russian broadtail dress.
“Those clothes are something, really something,” Bishop said. “And I hear this picture is something, a really wonderful picture. Everyone’s talking about it, and I know you’re going to have a wonderful time.”
“It’s going to be a wonderful picture, Joey,” Sonny said.
“So let’s see the picture,” Cher said.
ALSO BY
JOHN GREGORY DUNNE
MONSTER
Living Off the Big Screen
Hollywood holds screenwriters in such low esteem that there’s a joke about the actress who was dumb enough to think she could get ahead by sleeping with one. But in this sardonically funny and ferociously accurate account of life on the Hollywood food-chain, it’s a screenwriter who gets the last laugh. That may be because the writer is John Gregory Dunne, who has been working in movies for twenty-five years while maintaining a distinguished career as a novelist and journalist.
“Monster reads like a fantastically cockeyed blend of Nathanael West and Italo Calvino, except for one thing—it’s all cinema-verité true.”
—John Guare
Performing Arts/Film/0-375-75024-X
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