by Charles Fox
Looking upon Little Paul comatose in Cedars-Sinai hospital, I had assumed that it was my own inner voice I had heard: We’ve got him now. Why don’t you fuck off? But just then came Martine’s words. “He heard voices. He was very scared of them.” And I suddenly found myself wondering whether the voice had some independent reality. In either case, I had no wish to linger in this realm, sucked at by darkness, no wish to lend my light to another, leaving myself in the dark. There could be no fathoming. There was no single truth.
Martine smiled. Now I knew. She had opened to me, revealed their secret. She was relieved. I felt ambushed and strangely exhausted. This was entirely unexpected: justifications, denials, revisions, these I expected, not a confession.
First I looked to place blame, but it was everywhere and nowhere. His grandfather’s great fortune gave rise to a sense of omnipotence. Paul had been raised this way. How can we blame Gail for standing by her son, a son for wanting his father’s love, the desperate for turning to desperate means? The snake feeds upon the flightless bird. There is no blame.
“Should we go back into the house?” Martine said softly.
We left the studio back into the dark, across the footbridge. I felt Paul standing there just beyond the edge of the light, saying to me once more, “I am nothing but a name.” Silently we went, Martine behind the wheelchair, rising above me more than I once rose above her, leaving Paul standing there alone in the dark.
She pushed my chair up the ramp.
Light from the living room lit the deck. Martine slid open the glass door and we went in. There was the aroma of cooking. Véro was in the kitchen. The room was warm. I knew Martine would not stay. “I have to see some other friends,” she said. She had given of herself and wanted rest. We made some small talk. She was gracious. She had an assurance she had not had before. It fitted her well, making up for whatever the years had taken away. Then she went down the steps into the hall. The front door closed softly behind her. The sound of her car faded into the night. I remembered the sound of her voice over the telephone: “We would like to make some work with you.” It had been done. The adventure was over. I heard Véro’s step behind me and felt the wheelchair gently turning. “Let’s eat,” she said.
* * *
Martine e-mailed the following day:
I’m glad that I came. It was a poignant visit for me … last night I sat in the hot tub under the stars for a very long time and, in a strange way, everything seemed good even though there were also sad feelings, a kind of mourning.
I’m happy I saw you and was in your house … it is full of memories and very connected to Paul … he was very much there last night.
I also enjoyed seeing Véronique, she looked very beautiful. Please give my love to her.
Much love and thank you so much,
Take good care,
Martine
I sent Paul a draft. Gail told me that Paul had the typescript read to him. She said it took three days. Martine told me that Paul had told her to tell me, “That’s how it was.”
* * *
Paul outlived his father by eight years. He died in his father’s country house in England surrounded by family. He was fifty-four. He and Martine had spent his last summer together in Tuscany.
London’s Independent wrote:
JOHN PAUL GETTY III: OIL HEIR WHOSE LIFE WAS OVERSHADOWED BY HIS 1973 KIDNAPPING
The sad and relatively short life of John Paul Getty III, whose severed ear became a grisly symbol of the wave of kidnappings that swept Italy in the 1970s, was proof that being a grandson of the richest man in the world was no guarantee of happiness.
Happiness? He had his moments: the farm on the Appian Way; Christmases in his grandfather’s mansion; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at St. George’s; a picnic with Talitha and his father in the Garden of Eden; the gardens of Mamounia, where his boyhood innocence was finally laid to rest. Thereafter, forces that had been gathering were unleashed, and he and his beloved Talitha paid for whatever good his father did. Paul was knocked off his feet before ever he found them. What may be said for him is that he lived the life that was presented to him.
Long-haired Getty with wife Martine Zacher. (AP Images)
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abate, Claudio
Prince Moalay Abdellah (King Hassan’s brother)
acid
Big Paul’s use of
Little Paul’s use of
A Clockwork Orange
Agnelli, Gianni
Air France drug dealers
“A Last Confession” (Rossetti)
Algerian War of Independence
Alpert, Herb
Antonioni
Aumont, Tina
Baader-Meinhof Gang
Balaban, Bruce
Banca Commerciale
the Beatles
Becket, Thomas à
Berlin by the Wall
Bertrand, Olivier
The Bible
Big Paul. See Getty, Jean Paul, II
Bob (Big Paul’s friend)
Bobby (Little Paul’s girlfriend)
Boleyn, Anne
Botticelli restaurant, Rome
Bowie, David
Boyd, Rick
Brando, Marlon
Bridges, Harry
British Film Institute
Bronson, Charles
Brooke, Lionel
Brooke, Victoria
Little Paul’s kidnapping and
Little Paul’s relationship with
Pol’s death and
Bruno (kidnapper)
Buddhism
Bullimore, Francis
“The Burden of Nineveh” (Rossetti)
Burroughs, Bill
Byron (driver)
Caen, Herb
Calabresi kidnappers. See also hoax/fraud speculation, Getty kidnapping
arrests of
ear severance by
false kidnapping claims and
fractures within
history of
meetings arranged with
negotiations with
ransom amounts and
ransom drop made to
release of hostage by
treatment of hostage by
Canova’s Three Graces (sculpture)
carabinieri
Castaneda, Carlos
Castle, June
Catherine of Aragon
Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles
Chace, James Fletcher
background of
ear severance and
hoax speculations by
kidnapping investigation by
kidnapping negotiations by
Little Paul’s release and
meetings with kidnappers and
ransom exchange and
Chace, Patsy
Cherchio, Jerry
Big Paul’s drug use and
kidnapping hoax speculation and
Pol’s death and
Cherchio, Ruth
Chevalier, Maurice
the Chipmunk (kidnapper)
kidnapping plot origins and
murder of
Churchill Papers
Churchill, Sir Winston
Ciambellone
cocaine
Big Paul and
Little Paul and
malavita and
Cocaine pictures
“Cockney Pauline”
Conservative Party, United Kingdom
Cook, Peter
Cooper, Alice
Cozzi, D. O.
Crisi, Marcello
fraud
Getty’s release and
kidnapping
Mafia
Crowley, Aleister
Curtis, Tony
Daily Express
(London)
Daily Mail (London)
Daily Telegraph (London)
Daley, Ed
d’Almeida, Ann
d’Almeida, George
Daniel (Little Paul’s friend)
D’Annunzio, Gabriele
Della Ratta, Luigi
Little Paul’s release and
Derek (Big Paul’s minder)
Derek (Old Paul’s manservant)
Devret, Danielle
kidnapping suspicions
Diamond Dogs
DiRobina family
Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
La Dolce Vita
drugs/alcohol
acid
Big Paul’s use of
cocaine
heroin
Little Paul’s use of
opium
DSO. See Distinguished Service Order
Dunaway, Faye
Dylan, Bob
Easy Rider
Elisco, Martino
Getty’s release and
Faisal, King (of Saudi Arabia)
Faithfull, Marianne
Fantasia
Fassbinder, Rainer Werner
FBI
Fellini
Fifty (kidnapper)
kidnapping negotiations by
Little Paul’s release and
ransom-hostage exchange and
FitzGerald, Desmond
Fitzgerald, F. Scott
Fonda, Jane
Fonda, Peter
Forrester, Jack
Fox, James
Fox, Véro
Franco (kidnapper)
Frankenstein
Freeman, Bob
Freud, Sigmund
Gandolfo, Mario
Garbo, Greta
Getty, Aileen (daughter of Big Paul)
Getty, Anna Zacher (stepdaughter of Little Paul)
Getty, Anne (wife of Gordon)
Getty, Ariadne (daughter of Big Paul)
Getty, Balthazar (son of Little Paul)
birth of
Getty, Gail Harris (mother of Little Paul)
background of
custody issues and
Della Ratta’s relationship with
ear severance and
hoax speculations associated with
Jeffries’ relationship with
kidnapping negotiations by
letters from kidnappers to
letter to Nixon by
Little Paul’s relationship with
marriages of
overdose/stroke of Little Paul and
press’s portrayal of
ransom exchange and
release of Little Paul and
Getty, George (son of Old Paul)
Getty, Gordon (son of Old Paul)
Getty, Jean Paul (Old Paul)
background/family history of
Big Paul’s relationship with
death of
kidnapping investigation by
kidnapping ransom and
Little Paul’s ear severance and
Little Paul’s relationship with
Little Paul’s release and
marriages of
museums funded by
son’s lawsuit against
Getty, Jean Paul, II (Big Paul, son of Old Paul)
alcohol/substance use by
birth of
children’s births and
custody issues and
death of
kidnapping/ransom negotiations and
Little Paul’s ear severance and
Little Paul’s relationship with
marriages of
Morocco lifestyle of
Old Paul’s relationship with
philanthropy by
Pol’s relationship with
youth of
Getty, Jean Paul, III (Little Paul, son of Big Paul). See also kidnapping of Little Paul
art fraud by
Big Paul’s influence on/relationship with
biography interviews given by
birth of
Brooke’s relationship with
childhood, pre-kidnapping, of
children of
Cocaine pictures by
college attendance by
death of
drug use by
film by
health of
kidnapping hoax speculation tied to
Lang’s relationship with
malavita ties to
marriage of
mother’s relationship with
Old Paul’s relationship with
overdose by
paintings by
Pol’s death and
post-kidnapping state of
self-kidnapping references by
suicide attempt by
Zacher’s relationship with
Getty, Mark (son of Big Paul)
Getty, Sarah C. (mother of Old Paul)
trust fund of
Getty, Tara Gabriel Gramophone Galaxy (son of Big Paul)
Getty, Teddy (wife of Old Paul)
Getty, Timothy (son of Old Paul)
Gibbs, Christopher
Ginsberg, Allen
Glin, Knight of
The Godfather
Graudi, Paolo
The Great Dictator
The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
Greer, Germaine
Gurdjieff, G. I.
Halsey, Brett
Hammer, Armand
Harris, Aileen
Harris, George
Harris, Richard
Hassan, King (of Morocco)
Hazelwood, Jay
Hearst, William Randolph
Heatherton, Joey
Henry VIII (king of England)
Hepburn, Audrey
heroin
Big Paul’s use of
Little Paul’s use of
Pol’s use of
“Hey Jude”
hoax/fraud speculation, Getty kidnapping
by Chace
Cherchio ties to
Getty, Gail, ties to
Little Paul, ties to
by police
Zacher and
Holdsworth, Victoria. See Brooke, Victoria
Homage to Catalonia (Orwell)
Hopper, Dennis
Huston, John
Iacovoni, Giovanni
ear severance and
kidnapping negotiations by
ransom delivery and
Ichazo, Oscar
Independent (London)
Intento
Iovinella
Getty’s release and
Italy. See also Calabresi kidnappers; malavita
drug laws in
kidnappings, historical, in
Jagger, Bianca
Jagger, Mick
Jeffries, Lang
Little Paul’s relationship with
marriage of
John (Little Paul’s minder)
John, Augustus
John, Elton
Johnson, Sue
J. Paul Getty Jr. Charitable Trust
Jung, Carl
Karim, Aga Khan
Kathy (Old Paul’s cook)
Keller, Hiram
Kennedy, John F.
Kerouac, Jack
kidnapping of Little Paul. See also hoax/fraud speculation, Getty kidnapping
arrests in
ear severance in
events leading up to
execution of
hoax/fraud speculation related to
hostage release in
kidnappings, historical, and
letters from hostage/kidnappers in
living conditions of hostage in
meetings, with kidnappers, and
negotiations during
parties claiming responsibility for
press coverage of
ransom amount fluctuations in
ransom exchange in
release of hostage in
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s
Door”
Kommune 1
Korean War
Krupp, Arndt
Lagonegro, Italy
Lambton, Lord Tony
Langhans, Rainer
Lanza, Mario
Las (dog)
Leary, Timothy
Lewis, Fiona
Lexington and the Ants
Little Paul. See Getty, Jean Paul, III
Logue, Christopher
Londonderry, Lord Alastair
Long, Donna Getty (sister of Big Paul)
Lovin’ Spoonful, the
Luau Club, Rome
Maccarelli, Sergio
Madonna Dell Etna, Italy
The Magic Christian
Magnani, Anna
Magritte
Major, John
malavita (criminals). See also Calabresi kidnappers
kidnapping of twins by
Little Paul’s ties to
Mammoliti brothers
Mamounia Hotel, Marrakesh
Margaret, Duchess of Argyll
Mario (chauffeur)
“Marrakesh Express”
Marrakesh, Morocco
Big Paul’s palace in
Masone, Fernando
Matson, Norman
McInnis, Martin
McKno, Fraser
Meers, Nicolette
Il Messaggero
kidnapping coverage by
severed ear and
Midsummer’s Night Dream
Mohammed, Si (house guardian)
Momento Sera
Moore, Dudley
Moore, Roger
Morgan, J. P.
Morrissey, Paul
Murder in the Cathedral
Murder on the Orient Express
Murray, Phil
Mussolini, Benito
National Enquirer
National Gallery, London
Negri, Pola
Nero (lion)
Newsom, Bill
Newsweek
The New York Times
The Night Watch (painting)
Nixon, Richard
Notre Dame
Obermaier, Uschi
Old Paul. See Getty, Jean Paul
Olmstead, Remington
O’Neil, Kevin
On the Road (Kerouac)
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
opium
Big Paul’s use of
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. See OPEC
Orwell, George
Oufkir, Mohamed
Paese Sera
The Panic in Needle Park
Parkes (Old Paul’s valet)
Patrick, John
Peccinotti, Harri
Pedro, Don (Getty family priest)