That Time I Met Billy Wilder
My buddy Tom (Johnson) and I got to meet Billy Wilder when we were in film school. He was donating a bunch of stuff to USC and Tom and I were picked to go meet him and haul the stuff he was donating back to USC. We went up to this old Post-Production place in Hollywood, met the owner and waited, for Billy to show up.
The stuff was mostly junk, some old beat up cases, stuff like that. A jewel stood out among the crap. It was Billy Wilder's personal upright Moviola (film editing machine). An old black model (the later ones were mostly green) probably out of the early 1950's with his initials painted in script on the side. Now that was cool.
Billy Wilder finally shows up driving this huge mid 1970's Cadillac El Dorado. The thing was enormous and when Billy Wilder got out he was tiny. He introduces himself to us, like we didn't know who he was. He is one of my favorite writer/directors of all time. I was dying to ask him a ton of questions about his films.
He takes a look at the stuff stacked up in this room and asks the owner where the rest of it is? The guy says this is all.
He and Billy get into this shouting match and Wilder is screaming at him, “You’re ripping me off! Where is all of the good stuff?” This goes on for a good 10 minutes.
All this time Tom and I are dutifully loading the truck and trying to stay out of this argument. Finally the owner of the place throws up his hands and storms away.
Billy comes over to us and apologizes although he keeps calling this guy a thief and a crook. He tells us we look like nice kids.
We look like thugs! I have a long pony tail and a bushy black beard, Tom has long flaming red hair and a big red beard,
He pulls a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet and tells us to have lunch on him. Then he gets into his whale of a Cadillac and drives off.
Tom and I never got to ask him a single question. But we met him.
I was recently told by my friend and fellow alumni, Ammiel Najar, that Billy’s Moviola is now on display at USC.
Of course I had to write a story about it which is featured in my book, Dennis Barton Is A Bastard And Other Stories.
Follow the link to read the full story with a few embellishments of course… Billy Wilder Is Crazy
All of my books are available on my website www.angryfilmmaker.com. You can also stream my films, buy a t-shirt or a coffee mug. Thanks for reading.
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