San Francisco Film Society Oral History Project Interview with ...

CLAUDE JARMAN: (LAUGHS) It really put it on the front page! There are the pictures of Captain
Scott, who later became the police chief, and he had pie all over him. And he said, “How could they
miss me? I’m a big, slow-moving target.” (LAUGHS) And seeing the guy from United Artists shaking
his head and saying, “Boy, you really know how to do it, don’t you?” He was just aghast. We all were
just like, “What in the world is going on?” It was surreal. It was a very surreal moment.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Other than Alec Guinness, who do you think was the best Festival guest?
CLAUDE JARMAN: Jeanne Moreau, absolutely, because she just embraced the city and the whole idea.
She didn’t come in, leave the next day; she hung around and just had a ball. She was just great. I thought
she was terrific. Then I thought the afternoon with Jane Fonda was pretty electric, because she could
give it as good as she could get it. So, that was a very interesting one. Antonioni was another weird
thing, because he had the reputation. I don’t know. I think the real sadness I have is the fact that we used
some of the great people first before it became a real event. I mean, having John Ford at the Masonic
with 300 people was almost a travesty. He should have been five years later, and it would have been a
much different event. We had to go out and scrounge people to come in so it would look like a
representative audience in a theater that seats 3000 people. It was tough. And yet, those were just great
moments—doing the Fred Astaire tribute with Albert dancing with him on the stage was something
we’ll always remember. It’s hard to pick any one event. Each year, there was always something that
would totally overwhelm us.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: Who was the worst guest, the biggest disappointment or the most
demanding, or—
CLAUDE JARMAN: We never had any problems with anyone that we honored. It was just if they had
someone representing them, that was always a problem. I remember we had one situation with Rita
Hayworth where the guy she brought along was her publicist or her hairdresser or something, and he
was demanding her rinsing tray. And I’m thinking, “What is a rin—? What are we—?” And someone on
the staff had said, “No, we can’t do that,” and he was just raising hell. Finally I said, “How much does a
rinsing tray cost?” He said, “Fifty bucks.” “Go buy the rinsing tray. Just quit it! Go do it!”
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