On Sunset Boulevard

by Ed Sikov

  564 “Like all my other films …” etc.: Ciment, Positif, Sept. 1978, pp. 29–33.

  CHAPTER 31

  565 Buddy Buddy announced: Variety, May 12, 1980; State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research, I. A. L. Diamond Collection, Box 14, folders 3 and 4.

  565 On Begelman: Los Angeles Times, August 9, 1995; see also McClintick’s book-length discussion.

  566 “… Dolores Del Rio”: Farber, “Wilder: A Cynic …,” p. 21.

  566 “Look at Joan Crawford …”: Daily Mail (London), Sept. 8, 1978.

  567 “… Stir Crazy and George Bernard Shaw”: Adrian Turner, “Walk on the Wilder Side,” unsourced clipping on file at the BFI.

  567 “I didn’t have to audition …”: Farber, “Wilder: A Cynic …,” p. 21.

  567 Hotel set: Hollywood Reporter, Feb. 17, 1981.

  567 “In this Donner Pass …”: Farber, “A Cynic …,” p. 21.

  567 Holden’s death: Thomas, Golden Boy, pp. 3–8; Farber, “Wilder: A Cynic …,” p. 21.

  568 On changes from L’Emmerdeur: Hadley, p. 99, and throughout.

  568 Jack Webb: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research, I. A. L. Diamond Collection, Box 14, folder 3.

  568 “She’s no Garbo …”: Hadley, p. 196.

  569 “… Homosexual on a diet”: Byrne, p. 10.

  569 Wilder’s “misogyny”: Hadley, p. 80.

  569 “Rod Steiger …” and other quotations: Hadley, pp. 108–27.

  570 “For all the trouble …”: Buddy Buddy press kit.

  570 “Permission granted …”: Hadley, p. 173.

  570 “That piece of Hollywood shit…”: Kinski, p. 299.

  570 “Izzie, nice working …”: Hadley, p. 186.

  572 Critics’ responses: Variety, Dec. 9, 1981, p. 20; Turner, p. 20; Village Voice, Dec. 16–22, 1981, p. 73.

  573 Love in the Afternoon remake: Hollywood Reporter, Feb. 17, 1981.

  573 Box office figures: Hadley, p. 1, citing Variety, Jan. 12, 1982, p. 46.

  573 “I’m doing this …”: Wiley and Bona, p. 626.

  574 Film Society speech: Wilder, “Movies Forever!” p. 23.

  575 “They’re like hemorrhoids …”: Los Angeles magazine, June 1982.

  574 Filmcritica symposium: Ciment, Positif, July/Aug. 1983, pp. 4–7.

  CHAPTER 32

  576 “The only thing that would break …”: The Times (London), Feb. 8, 1962.

  576 “I’ve been here for fifty-plus …” and “Nobody talks about the picture”: Columbus, pp. 24–26.

  576 “They are also afraid …”: Kirkham, p. 21.

  577 Note on the Columbia debt: $5? $4? What’s the difference? (See p. 372.) Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Feb. 26, 1986.

  577 Wilder’s new job: Mike Thomas, pp. 1–12.

  577 “This picture is a big pile of shit…”: “Running Wilder: H’w’d needs a dose of the master,” by Peter Bart, Daily Variety, April 22, 1996, p. 19.

  578 Wilder on Waldheim: Profil, April 7, 1986.

  578 Letter to Rózsa: Rózsa, p. 229.

  579 Dietrich in Paris: Spoto, Blue Angel, p. 300.

  579 “Lubitsch is dead”: Deutsch, p. 158.

  579 “If one could write Lubitsch touches …”: Eyman, p. 368.

  579 Note on One, Two, Three: Variety reported that the idea was proposed by Mason’s manager, Jill Rosenfield. Variety, April 5 and 13, 1988.

  579 Thalberg Award: Wiley and Bona, p. 720; Mike Thomas, p. 1.

  580 Empty chair: Rodman, pp. 71, 78.

  580 Josefine Mutzenhacher: The Times (London), June 7, 1994.

  581 Wilders’ penthouse and art: Vilidas, p. 154; Carter, p. 60; Deutsch, p. 82; Arce, “At home …,” p. 22.

  582. “I prefer to look …”: Ciment, Positif, July/Aug. 1983, pp. 15–28.

  582 Wilder’s artistic creations: Freeman, p. 79; Vanity Fair, April 1989, p. 126; Variety, Dec. 21, 1993.

  583 “An art collection is a living thing …”: Starkmann, Alfred. “Billy Wilder: Es Läuft ein grosses Drama über die Bühne,” Die Welt, Dec. 27, 1989, p. 7.

  583 “A collection needs to grow …” and other auction quotations: Reed and Bacon, pp. 154–57; Los Angeles Times, Nov. 14, 1989, p. A4.

  584 “It was less nerve-wracking …”: Kirkham, p. 21.

  585 On the fire: Muchnic, Suzanne, “Art Conservators: Even Where There’s Smoke, There’s Hope,” Los Angeles Times, Jan. 5, 1990, pp. F1, 12, 13; Deutsch, p. 164.

  585 “I’m being appointed …”: Deutsch, p. 158.

  585 “I’m sure I’ll get a better …”: Amberger, pp. 88–90.

  585 Note on the other biographies: My guess is that no book about Billy Wilder would be any better in Billy’s eyes—even (or especially) the present one.

  585 Cheerleaders: James Ulmer, “In Transit,” Hollywood Reporter, Feb. 19, 1993.

  586 The plaque: Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, Feb. 19, 1993.

  586 “I left the day after …”: Kakutani, p. 14.

  586 Spielberg on Wilder: Baxter, p. 362.

  586 Wilder on Schindler’s List: McBride, Steven Spielberg, p. 427.

  587 Autograph story: David Gritten, “Sunset Days,” Telegraph (London), June 24, 1993, pp. 14–20.

  587 Wilder on Schindler’s List: Wilder, Billy, “Man sah überall nur Taschentücher,” pp. 18–19.

  587 Wilder in Vienna: Hutter and Kamolz, pp. 90–94.

  588 Sucha Beskidzka: “Wilder Honored by Hometown in Poland,” by Dean E. Murphy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 29, 1996, p. D4.

  588 Wilder on Sunset Boulevard, Webber, and Hampton: Stephen M. Silverman, “Oscar Wilder,” Times magazine (London), July 10, 1993, pp. 10–12; “A New Turn for ‘Sunset Boulevard’,” by David Gritten, Los Angeles Times Calendar, p. 8; David Gritten, “Secrets of Sunset Boulevard,” Mail on Sunday (London), Nov. 4, 1993; Variety, Oct. 20, 1993; Richard Brooks, “Close-up on show of memories,” Observer (London), July 18, 1993, p. 52.

  589 “Everyone was being very civil …”: Bart, p. 19.

  590 “He learned it from you”: Junod, p. 250.

  590 Love in the Afternoon remake: Kirkham, p. 21.

  591 “When I’m shooting …”: “Where I Work: Billy Wilder,” anon., Buzz, Jan./Feb. 1993, p. 36.

  591 Wilder and Jerry Maguire: Crowe, pp. 137–42.

  592 “The Shoe Store”: Anthony Scaduto, “Then the Story Gets Wilder,” Newsday, June 15, 1998, p. A12. Note: As of July 1998, “The Shoe Store” had not enjoyed commercial release

  592 Thornton on Wilder: Larry King Live, March 1997.

  592 “So much for glory”: Stephen M. Silverman, “Oscar Wilder,” Times magazine (London), July 10, 1993, pp. 10–12.

  592 Wilder on Trueba: Kirkham, p. 21; Sragow, p. 143.

  592 “An elderly man …”: “Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy,” American Masters, PBS, 1998; he told the joke at the age of ninety, when he received the 1997 Golden Laurel Award.

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