my ONE FROM THE HEART adventure

Nastassia Kinski worked really hard to do this tightrope scene in the salvage yard. I was working on a mural of a reclining lingerie lady on another stage and Nastassia was practicing on a temporary rope that was about a foot off the floor, while I was painting. She came over and I introduced myself and she smiled and gave me an enthusiastic "glad to meet you" handshake. We talked a little and then we went back to our respective jobs.

On a huge production like this (I think they spent 44 million dollars on this one) there was plenty of money for revisions and mind changes from the powers that be. I painted two different versions of this 747 billboard: the first one had an animated cartoony look to it and then we settled on the more realistic one shown here. Francis put in a surreal touch by adding another billboard right next to this one with only the sky in it. The painted sky backdrop for the entire set also matched the billboard.

Zoetrope Hollywood was an exciting place to be. Celebrities were visiting the lot constantly to see what Francis was up to. Legendary commedian George Burns was renting a small office on the lot. Mel Brookes had a bungalow iin the North East corner. Film legend Orson Welles made one or two visits that I know of, and when Francis threw those legendary Friday Night Parties there were even more. Marlon Brando was at one of those parties and was standing in the spotlight in the center of the stage. The food was cascading off the tables and was amazing.

After about three weeks on the job I became friends with Ron Gress who was in charge of painting miniatures for the production. We decided to share a large upstairs room that was divided by one wall and had a sun deck/roof outside. It became Scenic and Miniature Art Headquarters. I brought my Fender Rhodes suitcase piano up there to play on breaks and Ron played guitar and bass. Ron rigged up a first class stereo system and we had music tapes playing a lot during the day. We had a little alcove that we decorated with some antiques and an oriental rug. Life was good. Francis paid us a visit once and sat on the velvet couch and said "This is a good work environment" or something like that. Dennis Hopper came up once and sat and visited for a while. We talked about his photography, art and things.

I was working on a mural on the second floor of a department store set and Raquel walked up to me and said "hello" and paid me a compliment on my art work. We talked for about 20 minutes about art in general and her painting which she had been doing on the side. She was born in the same year I was (1940), so she was 41 when I talked to her. It's hard to imagine her being 70.....is that possible? Anyway her people broke us up and she had to move along, and I begrudgingly went back to work.....

It's wierd but I can remember what she was wearing: a kaki colored blouse with extra pockets and shoulder straps.

This is the mural that I was working on when Raquel came by. Scenic artist Dennis Olsen did quite a bit of work on it too.