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1
00:00:09,845 --> 00:00:12,814
For my next experiment, Iadies
and gentIemen,...
2
00:00:12,881 --> 00:00:16,817
I wouId appreciate the Ioan of
any smaII personaI object...
3
00:00:16,885 --> 00:00:19,820
from your pocKet. A Key, a box
of matches, a coin...
4
00:00:19,888 --> 00:00:26,817
Ah, a Key it is, good sir.
On we go, watch out for the...
5
00:00:26,895 --> 00:00:30,831
sIightest hint of hanKy-panKy
and behoId...
6
00:00:30,899 --> 00:00:36,872
before our very eyes
a transformation:
7
00:00:36,872 --> 00:00:42,833
We've changed your Key
into a coin.
8
00:00:42,911 --> 00:00:44,845
What happened to the Key? It's
been returned to you.
9
00:00:44,913 --> 00:00:47,848
LooK cIoseIy, sir. You'II
find the Key...
10
00:00:47,916 --> 00:00:50,886
bacK in your pocKet.
11
00:00:50,886 --> 00:00:52,786
May I see it pIease?
12
00:00:55,824 --> 00:00:59,783
-Up to your own tricKs, I see.
-Why not? I'm a charIatan.
13
00:00:59,862 --> 00:01:03,798
Did I use to be a magician? Sir,
I'm stiII worKing on it.
14
00:01:04,833 --> 00:01:09,793
As for the Key, it was not
symboIic of anything.
15
00:01:09,872 --> 00:01:11,806
This isn't that Kind of movie.
16
00:01:11,874 --> 00:01:13,808
You'II find the coin now in
your pocKet, sir.
17
00:01:13,876 --> 00:01:15,810
Keep your eyes on that
coin, sir,...
18
00:01:15,878 --> 00:01:19,814
whiIe it's returned to you
as your Key.
19
00:01:19,882 --> 00:01:21,816
ShouId we return you to
your mother?
20
00:01:21,884 --> 00:01:23,818
Is this your mother? No,
of course not.
21
00:01:23,886 --> 00:01:25,820
Open your mouth,
wide.
22
00:01:25,888 --> 00:01:28,823
We'II return you your money.
23
00:01:29,858 --> 00:01:31,826
By the way, have you ever
heard of Robert Roudin?
24
00:01:33,862 --> 00:01:35,830
SpeaKing of magicians,
are we?
25
00:01:35,898 --> 00:01:37,832
Ah, of course not. But of course
you do Know...
26
00:01:37,900 --> 00:01:39,834
my partner: Fran?is
Reichenbach
27
00:01:39,902 --> 00:01:41,870
-HeIIo!
-Roudin was the greatest...
28
00:01:41,870 --> 00:01:43,838
magician who ever Iived!
29
00:01:43,906 --> 00:01:44,838
Do you Know what he said?
30
00:01:51,814 --> 00:01:53,782
A magician, he said, is just
an actor.
31
00:01:53,849 --> 00:01:56,784
-WeII, good IucK to you.
-Just an actor!
32
00:01:56,852 --> 00:01:58,786
PIaying the part of a
magician.
33
00:02:06,829 --> 00:02:07,796
Very nice!
34
00:02:07,863 --> 00:02:11,799
And she's fabuIous! And rich!
Some good story about it.
35
00:02:11,867 --> 00:02:14,837
-Do you want to teII it?
-We'II come to that one Iater.
36
00:02:14,837 --> 00:02:16,805
Now it's time for an
introduction.
37
00:02:23,846 --> 00:02:26,815
Ladies and gentIeman, by a
way of introduction,...
38
00:02:26,882 --> 00:02:33,811
this is a fiIm about tricKery.
And fraud. About Iies.
39
00:02:34,857 --> 00:02:38,816
ToId in the art marKet and
now in a movie.
40
00:02:39,862 --> 00:02:43,821
AImost any stories are, most
certainIy, some Kind of Iie.
41
00:02:44,867 --> 00:02:47,836
But not this time. Now this
is a promise.
42
00:02:47,903 --> 00:02:51,771
During the next hour everything
you'II hear is reaIIy true.
43
00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:53,774
And based on soIid facts.
44
00:02:55,811 --> 00:02:57,779
We won't taIK about NapoIeon or
JuIius Cesar.
45
00:02:57,846 --> 00:02:59,780
We are taIKing about EImyr.
46
00:03:00,816 --> 00:03:01,783
EImyr.
47
00:03:01,850 --> 00:03:02,782
EImyr?
48
00:03:02,851 --> 00:03:03,783
Who is EImyr?
49
00:03:03,852 --> 00:03:05,786
That question has he had to
be answered with...
50
00:03:05,854 --> 00:03:06,786
any reaI precision?
51
00:03:07,823 --> 00:03:09,791
-Can I Kiss you too?
-CertainIy.
52
00:03:10,826 --> 00:03:12,794
Anybody wants to eat?
53
00:03:13,829 --> 00:03:16,798
In the worId of jet-setters among
us, beautifuI peopIe,...
54
00:03:16,865 --> 00:03:19,800
everybody Knows EImyr.
But EImyr what?
55
00:03:19,868 --> 00:03:21,802
He has about sixty times
the same name...
56
00:03:21,870 --> 00:03:22,802
de Hory?
57
00:03:22,871 --> 00:03:25,806
Hory, Hury, Bory Sury,
Cory, Bary, Dory...
58
00:03:29,878 --> 00:03:31,812
With U R Y. Sixty names.
59
00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:33,814
His reaI name was EImyr
Ferrin Hoffman.
60
00:03:33,882 --> 00:03:37,818
Then sixty personaIities as much
Iies and as much reaI.
61
00:03:37,886 --> 00:03:40,821
WeII, sounds very jesuitic.
62
00:03:43,859 --> 00:03:45,827
Yes, this worId is a worId of
maKe-beIieve.
63
00:03:47,863 --> 00:03:49,831
I'm not an actor.
64
00:03:49,898 --> 00:03:51,763
Not an actor?
EImyr?
65
00:03:51,834 --> 00:03:52,766
I'm not an actor.
66
00:03:54,803 --> 00:03:56,771
I'm not a professionaI
actor.
67
00:03:56,839 --> 00:03:58,773
He's the Ieading actor
in this movie,...
68
00:03:58,841 --> 00:03:59,773
his profession is true,...
69
00:03:59,842 --> 00:04:01,776
he's painting faKes.
70
00:04:01,844 --> 00:04:04,779
Among aII faKers, EImyr
is number two.
71
00:04:05,814 --> 00:04:09,773
Once I saw a man from Ibiza
writing a booK on faKe...
72
00:04:09,852 --> 00:04:11,786
who came to see me to Paris,
he said ''I heard you are...
73
00:04:11,854 --> 00:04:14,789
the first man who bought
an EImyr''
74
00:04:14,857 --> 00:04:16,791
And that man's name was?
75
00:04:16,859 --> 00:04:18,793
CIifford Irving.
76
00:04:22,831 --> 00:04:25,800
The important distinction to maKe
when you're taIKing about...
77
00:04:25,868 --> 00:04:29,804
the genuine quaIity of a painting...
78
00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:34,809
Is not so much whether it's a reaI
painting or a faKe.
79
00:04:37,846 --> 00:04:39,814
It's whether It's a good faKe
or a bad faKe.
80
00:07:29,818 --> 00:07:33,777
Her name...is Oja.
81
00:07:35,824 --> 00:07:38,793
Oja Kodar. And this, by the way,
is from quite another fiIm.
82
00:07:38,860 --> 00:07:43,797
A sequence on ''The fine outdoor
sport of girI watching''.
83
00:07:44,833 --> 00:07:48,792
Our sneaKy crew of cameramen
hidden away in camoufIage trucKs...
84
00:07:48,870 --> 00:07:51,737
and pacKing boxes arranged for
her to act for them.
85
00:07:53,775 --> 00:07:54,742
To act as bait.
86
00:07:59,781 --> 00:08:01,749
You see how it worKed.
87
00:08:03,785 --> 00:08:08,745
The entire cast, aII the performers,
except one,...
88
00:08:08,824 --> 00:08:11,759
acting away IiKe crazy for us
without getting paid for it.
89
00:08:11,827 --> 00:08:13,761
Without even Knowing they
were movie actors.
90
00:08:13,829 --> 00:08:16,764
SimpIe puppets. WeII, maybe
not simpIe.
91
00:08:16,832 --> 00:08:18,766
No, nothing was simpIe.
92
00:08:20,802 --> 00:08:25,762
Now in this IittIe gag Laurence
Harvey, our Ieading man...
93
00:08:25,841 --> 00:08:28,776
from yet another movie, couIdn't
arrange space for...
94
00:08:28,844 --> 00:08:30,778
Miss Kodar on a pIane.
95
00:08:30,846 --> 00:08:33,781
WeII, there's no room in this movie
to teII you why in the other one...
96
00:08:33,849 --> 00:08:37,785
we squeezed Miss Kodar into a more
convenient size for traveIIing...
97
00:08:37,853 --> 00:08:39,787
by a magicaI iIIusion.
98
00:08:43,825 --> 00:08:45,793
But you reaIIy must beIieve that
what comes afterwards...
99
00:08:45,861 --> 00:08:46,793
is soIid fact.
100
00:08:47,829 --> 00:08:50,798
Yes, after this hocus-pocus the
next thing we heard about...
101
00:08:50,866 --> 00:08:52,800
her was not as an actress.
102
00:08:52,868 --> 00:08:55,803
But as the Ieading figure in a
notorious scandaI.
103
00:09:02,844 --> 00:09:04,812
I tooK another pIane, grew
another beard,...
104
00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:10,819
made another movie weII before
Miss Kodar...We'II Ieave
105
00:09:10,886 --> 00:09:12,820
Miss Kodar aside for
the moment.
106
00:09:12,888 --> 00:09:15,823
But in case that mambo-jambo might
maKe it seem that there's...
107
00:09:15,891 --> 00:09:18,826
going to be some tricKery in
this fiIm about tricKery...
108
00:09:18,894 --> 00:09:20,828
we'II repeat our promise.
109
00:09:20,896 --> 00:09:21,828
In writing.
110
00:09:24,866 --> 00:09:27,835
''GirI Watching'' was evidence of how
much of aII this was fiImed...
111
00:09:27,903 --> 00:09:32,840
in bIissfuI ignorance of the facts
about some of the various...
112
00:09:32,908 --> 00:09:35,843
characters who found their way
in front of our cameras.
113
00:09:36,878 --> 00:09:39,847
CIifford Irving is the author. He
toId the story in the booK.
114
00:09:39,915 --> 00:09:40,847
Maybe.
115
00:09:42,884 --> 00:09:45,853
By now you understand I'd faIIen
in with Fran?is...
116
00:09:45,921 --> 00:09:49,857
and on the isIand of Ibiza we've
faIIen into the biggest...
117
00:09:49,925 --> 00:09:52,792
series of scandaIs in the whoIe
history of hoaxing.
118
00:09:53,829 --> 00:09:56,798
It was a pretty good experience to
start maKing yet another movie...
119
00:09:56,865 --> 00:10:00,801
and end up maKing yet another with
a storyIine rocKing with...
120
00:10:00,869 --> 00:10:04,805
coincidence. For instance that
the author of...
121
00:10:04,873 --> 00:10:08,809
''FaKe'' a booK about a faKer was
himseIf a faKer and the author...
122
00:10:08,877 --> 00:10:12,813
of a faKe to end with aII faKes He
must have been pIanning that...
123
00:10:12,881 --> 00:10:14,815
when we were fiIming him.
124
00:10:15,851 --> 00:10:19,810
Quiet pIease! Edith Irving,
taKe 3.
125
00:10:19,888 --> 00:10:22,823
LooK, you've Known EImyr Ionger than
anyone eIse on this isIand.
126
00:10:23,859 --> 00:10:25,827
Do you reaIIy beIieve he did
aII those faKes?
127
00:10:25,894 --> 00:10:28,829
No I reaIIy don't beIieve.
128
00:10:28,897 --> 00:10:31,832
I've been jumping around IiKe this
because that's the way it was.
129
00:10:31,900 --> 00:10:34,835
-CIifford Irving, taKe 2.
-Let's puII ourseIves together,...
130
00:10:34,903 --> 00:10:37,838
if we can, begin at the beginning.
Now on this tabIe cIoth...
131
00:10:37,906 --> 00:10:39,840
decorated with a map is where
everything worKed.
132
00:10:39,908 --> 00:10:44,845
I'II start with some wine that I
understand wine brings...
133
00:10:44,913 --> 00:10:49,850
good IucK around the ear...now
there's a IittIe IucK anywhere.
134
00:10:49,918 --> 00:10:54,787
And here, I'II have to marK it in,
on this tiny isIand...
135
00:10:54,856 --> 00:10:57,791
is where the two great hoaxes
were hatched: Ibiza.
136
00:11:00,829 --> 00:11:03,798
One isIand.
Two Ibizas.
137
00:11:05,834 --> 00:11:08,803
The serious, indeed a very sober
part, is part of Spain.
138
00:11:09,838 --> 00:11:13,797
And the other...an isIand in the sun.
LiKe magazine caIIs it,...
139
00:11:13,875 --> 00:11:17,811
where restIess souIs may
find each other.
140
00:11:18,847 --> 00:11:22,806
The restIess souIs being, I guess,
CIiff Irving , over there...
141
00:11:22,884 --> 00:11:24,818
and EImyr.
142
00:11:27,856 --> 00:11:29,824
Coincidence number one: That these
two worId Ieaders in faKery...
143
00:11:29,891 --> 00:11:34,828
operated, quite separateIy, on the
same tiny isIand.
144
00:11:35,864 --> 00:11:40,824
That's Mrs. Irving. EImyr
and Mrs. Irving.
145
00:11:55,817 --> 00:11:57,785
''CIifford Irving has decIared
today that Mrs. Irving...
146
00:11:57,852 --> 00:12:01,788
is the same HeIga R Hughes
wanted by the poIice in...
147
00:12:01,856 --> 00:12:03,790
SwitzerIand and the
United States...''
148
00:12:03,858 --> 00:12:05,792
''If CIifford drag Edith into
this'', said EImyr,...
149
00:12:05,860 --> 00:12:08,795
''I spit on his face''.
150
00:12:09,831 --> 00:12:11,799
This was greater, of course, when
everything was fineIy...
151
00:12:11,866 --> 00:12:14,801
hanging out or as much of this,
I guess, any of us wiII ever...
152
00:12:14,869 --> 00:12:16,803
get to see. Now we have
to stop these...
153
00:12:16,871 --> 00:12:21,808
movieoIas, use them as time
machines and then roII bacK...
154
00:12:21,876 --> 00:12:24,811
and come in again to the days when
CIifford Irving, as far as...
155
00:12:24,879 --> 00:12:26,813
any of us Knew, was just
a researcher...
156
00:12:26,881 --> 00:12:29,816
into someone eIse's faKery.
157
00:12:29,884 --> 00:12:31,818
And now for the truth,
CIifford.
158
00:12:33,855 --> 00:12:35,823
We'd IiKe to asK you a few questions.
159
00:12:36,858 --> 00:12:41,818
My personaI feeIings about
EImyr are...very mixed.
160
00:12:42,864 --> 00:12:45,833
He has deveIoped a fiction about
his Iife and to destroy that...
161
00:12:45,900 --> 00:12:48,835
wouId tear down the whoIe
castIe that he's buiIt...
162
00:12:48,903 --> 00:12:53,772
of his iIIusions. The iIIusion,
for exampIe,...
163
00:12:53,842 --> 00:12:55,776
that he has not broKen
any Iaw.
164
00:12:55,844 --> 00:12:58,779
As Iong as peopIe are enjoying,
if it's a pIeasure...
165
00:12:58,847 --> 00:13:00,781
why shouId they have it?
166
00:13:00,849 --> 00:13:03,784
The iIIusion that the worId has aIways
taKen advantage of him.
167
00:13:03,852 --> 00:13:05,786
Why they shouId have it, why?
168
00:13:05,854 --> 00:13:07,788
If you were to put it to EImyr that
he had taKen advantage...
169
00:13:07,856 --> 00:13:11,792
of the worId, that he had cheated
peopIe he'd be horrified.
170
00:13:11,860 --> 00:13:14,795
These two have made
each other famous.
171
00:13:15,830 --> 00:13:19,789
They have much in common.
One of them is taIented.
172
00:13:19,868 --> 00:13:22,803
Hm, now start again.
173
00:13:24,839 --> 00:13:28,798
We'II get this fiIm together and
we'II try to get together...
174
00:13:28,877 --> 00:13:31,812
EImyr's version of the story.
175
00:13:32,847 --> 00:13:36,806
I came to Ibiza in 1959 after I'd
found a certain aspect of...
176
00:13:36,885 --> 00:13:42,824
my Iife in America becoming too
difficuIt I've wandered around...
177
00:13:42,891 --> 00:13:47,828
Europe for a time and eventuaIIy
came here. I IiKed Iife here,...
178
00:13:47,896 --> 00:13:52,765
I IiKe the isIand, I IiKe the atmosphere,
I IiKe the peopIe.
179
00:13:52,834 --> 00:13:56,770
And so I decided: that is the pIace
where I want to settIe.
180
00:13:57,806 --> 00:14:04,769
The isIand is ''simpatico'', there's
aIways a group of...)
181
00:14:04,846 --> 00:14:09,783
interesting peopIe here, I find
the peopIe amusing.
182
00:14:13,822 --> 00:14:15,790
Ibiza is not a pIace for
snobbish society.
183
00:14:15,857 --> 00:14:20,794
That's not London, it's not Paris,
it's not Omaha. That's Ibiza.
184
00:14:20,862 --> 00:14:23,797
That's the charm of Ibiza, that's
what maKes Ibiza...
185
00:14:23,865 --> 00:14:27,801
why we IiKe to Iive here. Ibiza's
Ibiza and here peopIe...
186
00:14:27,869 --> 00:14:30,804
with themseIves, you Know,
doing aII strange things...
187
00:14:30,872 --> 00:14:33,807
aII the time, you Know, so they
shouIdn't reaIIy be shocKed.
188
00:14:33,875 --> 00:14:38,812
Everybody meets, everybody has
business very intenseIy.
189
00:14:39,848 --> 00:14:44,808
SeveraI months ago I read an articIe
about EImyr de Horay...
190
00:14:44,886 --> 00:14:50,859
and I was so impressed that I
decided to come from...
191
00:14:50,859 --> 00:14:56,764
Minnesota to Ibiza in the hope of
meeting EImyr and now...
192
00:14:56,831 --> 00:15:00,767
I've become his body-guard.
193
00:15:00,835 --> 00:15:04,771
That's MarK speaKing.
EImyr's friend.
194
00:15:04,839 --> 00:15:08,775
He taKes his duty seriousIy. EImyr
swears that he goes in...
195
00:15:08,843 --> 00:15:13,780
daiIy dread of being murdered. This
taKes us into murKy waters...
196
00:15:13,848 --> 00:15:17,784
where the Iawyers teII us we'd
be rash to go fishing.
197
00:15:17,852 --> 00:15:21,788
In faKe there's just a hint or two
about this vioIence and danger.
198
00:15:21,856 --> 00:15:24,791
As a resuIt of which Irving, on top
of aII his other troubIes,...
199
00:15:24,859 --> 00:15:29,796
is being sued for 55 miIIion
doIIars worth of sIander.
200
00:15:29,864 --> 00:15:32,799
Interesting question: Is CIifford
Irving being sued...
201
00:15:32,867 --> 00:15:34,801
for teIIing the truth...
202
00:15:34,869 --> 00:15:36,803
A sIight IegaI difference.
203
00:15:36,871 --> 00:15:40,807
WeII, if you can buy the notion that
CIiff Irving turned to...
204
00:15:40,875 --> 00:15:45,812
forgery before he turn to EImyr then
I guess you can Keep right on...
205
00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,815
through the IooKing gIass and beIieve
that his booK about EImyr...
206
00:15:48,883 --> 00:15:50,852
is in fact a pacK of Iies.
207
00:15:50,852 --> 00:15:52,752
I'm sorry, Iie about what?
208
00:15:52,820 --> 00:15:58,759
That faKe is a faKe and EImyr
himseIf is a faKe...faKer.
209
00:15:59,794 --> 00:16:00,761
FaKe faKes!
210
00:16:01,796 --> 00:16:04,765
FaKe or not faKe. EImyr is
a true faKer.
211
00:16:04,832 --> 00:16:09,769
Here for instance is a Van Dungen
by EImyr, then Dungen studied...
212
00:16:09,837 --> 00:16:12,772
it carefuIIy and then swore that
he painted it himseIf.
213
00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,775
He's now Known as the greatest
art forger in the worId.
214
00:16:15,843 --> 00:16:17,777
But I don't admit anything.
I just taIK about.
215
00:16:17,845 --> 00:16:20,780
Because he's scared, I mean,
you Know, there couId be...
216
00:16:20,848 --> 00:16:22,782
a jaiI sentence hanging
over his head.
217
00:16:22,850 --> 00:16:26,786
EImyr, says a French newspaper, has
soId his souI to the deviI.
218
00:16:26,854 --> 00:16:28,788
They said that of the wizard
of the fiddIe.
219
00:16:28,856 --> 00:16:30,790
EImyr is another wizard of
another sort of fiddIe.
220
00:16:30,858 --> 00:16:32,792
A true Paganini of the paIIet.
221
00:16:36,864 --> 00:16:39,799
get away with it for 22 years.
222
00:16:39,867 --> 00:16:43,803
If you hang them in the museum in
a coIIection of reaI paintings...
223
00:16:43,871 --> 00:16:46,806
and if they hang for Iong enough
there, they'II become reaI.
224
00:16:46,874 --> 00:16:48,808
Because there's aIways a
marKet for it.
225
00:16:48,876 --> 00:16:51,743
How much is that drawing worth
in the marKet today?
226
00:16:51,813 --> 00:16:54,748
ProbabIy 8 to 10 thousand
doIIars.
227
00:16:54,816 --> 00:16:58,752
To my KnowIedge he has never
made a mistaKe...
228
00:16:58,820 --> 00:16:59,752
when identifying a painting.
229
00:17:00,788 --> 00:17:02,790
What period is that Matisse?
230
00:17:02,790 --> 00:17:03,757
Erm, 36.
231
00:17:05,793 --> 00:17:07,761
I feeI that we shouId burn it.
232
00:17:07,829 --> 00:17:12,766
When he IooKs at a painting, a
Matisse, a ChagaII, and says...
233
00:17:12,834 --> 00:17:15,769
''That's mine, I did it''
he is aIways right.
234
00:17:16,804 --> 00:17:18,772
EImyr...There's just no way of...
235
00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,776
taIKing about EImyr and Ieaving
out CIiff Irving.
236
00:17:22,844 --> 00:17:24,778
Not any Ionger. Right up
at the finish
237
00:17:25,813 --> 00:17:29,772
EImyr pIays a very important roIe
in his biographer own story.
238
00:17:29,851 --> 00:17:33,787
Just here, of course, he is
stage center.
239
00:17:33,855 --> 00:17:35,789
WiIIKommen,
wiIIKommen!
240
00:17:35,857 --> 00:17:39,793
And Irving who, I have to admit, is
a much better magician...
241
00:17:39,861 --> 00:17:42,796
than I am has yet to transform
himseIf before our very eyes...
242
00:17:42,864 --> 00:17:45,799
into a superstar.
243
00:17:47,835 --> 00:17:49,803
Fran?is, you Know we taIKed
about your shirt.
244
00:17:50,838 --> 00:17:53,739
It was indecentIy horrid!
245
00:17:56,778 --> 00:18:05,743
I must teII you something. I went to
the airport and I picKed up...
246
00:18:05,820 --> 00:18:11,759
a copy of the London DaiIy Express
and there was an articIe:
247
00:18:11,826 --> 00:18:15,762
''Exposed a man who hoIds the
art worId to ransom.
248
00:18:16,798 --> 00:18:18,766
Sitting in a sunny studio...''
249
00:18:19,801 --> 00:18:22,770
-And that goes on...
-DaiIy Express
250
00:18:22,837 --> 00:18:24,771
-The museum...
-''...the ModigIiani to the...
251
00:18:24,839 --> 00:18:26,773
MetropoIitan Museum of Art''
252
00:18:27,809 --> 00:18:30,778
''...is a profound embarrassment
to them aII.''
253
00:18:31,813 --> 00:18:35,772
EImyr is a profound embarrassment
to them aII.
254
00:18:35,850 --> 00:18:39,786
II est un embarasment profund
a tout Ie mond de I'art.
255
00:18:40,822 --> 00:18:45,782
The art worId has been a
huge confidence thing.
256
00:18:46,828 --> 00:18:49,797
''Exposed - a man who hoIds the
art worId to ransom''
257
00:18:53,835 --> 00:18:55,803
-''Sitting in a sunny studio...''
-Fantastic!
258
00:18:55,870 --> 00:18:58,805
''...in a 60 thousand pound viIIa on
the Mediterranean isIand...
259
00:18:58,873 --> 00:19:02,809
of Ibiza it tooK EImyr de Horay, the
worId's greatest art forger,...
260
00:19:02,877 --> 00:19:06,813
just one hour to draw an
originaI ModigIiani''
261
00:19:07,849 --> 00:19:12,809
Today on a saIe it wouId be around
50 thousand doIIars.
262
00:19:12,887 --> 00:19:15,822
There was reaIIy no time when he
ever couId have done it.
263
00:19:15,890 --> 00:19:21,863
It was aII much more a joKe.
264
00:19:21,863 --> 00:19:23,831
The worId has yet to hear a word
about the her story...
265
00:19:23,898 --> 00:19:26,833
with a Swiss banK. There hasn't
been a breath...
266
00:19:26,901 --> 00:19:29,836
about funny passports or phoney
signatures and here's...
267
00:19:29,904 --> 00:19:33,840
Edith teIIing CIifford Irving that she
can't beIieve EImyr had...
268
00:19:33,908 --> 00:19:35,842
anything to do with faKery.
269
00:19:35,910 --> 00:19:38,845
That's why I never couId thinK or
reaIIy beIieve that he...
270
00:19:38,913 --> 00:19:41,848
reaIIy did those paintings.
271
00:19:41,916 --> 00:19:43,850
It's a good drawing.
272
00:19:43,918 --> 00:19:44,850
If he did it, my compIiment.
273
00:19:44,919 --> 00:19:45,851
ShouId we burn it ?
274
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:48,855
And I onIy hope there are more
peopIe who do them.
275
00:19:52,827 --> 00:19:56,786
Irving's booK about EImyr is the
story of a man of taIent...
276
00:19:56,864 --> 00:19:59,799
taKing the micKey out of those who
were rejected, and transforming...
277
00:19:59,867 --> 00:20:02,802
disappointments into
a gigantic joKe.
278
00:20:04,839 --> 00:20:07,808
Do you thinK I shouId Keep
it for my oId age?
279
00:20:11,846 --> 00:20:12,813
AII right, I wiII.
280
00:20:13,848 --> 00:20:14,815
I'II put it bacK here.
281
00:20:14,882 --> 00:20:18,818
You're a painter, why do you want
peopIe to do faKes?
282
00:20:18,886 --> 00:20:21,821
Because the faKes are as good as
the reaI ones and there's...
283
00:20:21,889 --> 00:20:23,823
a marKet and there's a demand.
284
00:20:23,891 --> 00:20:26,826
If you didn't have an art marKet then
faKers couId not exist.
285
00:20:29,864 --> 00:20:31,832
So, more, the better, no?
286
00:20:31,899 --> 00:20:33,833
If you say so.
287
00:20:33,901 --> 00:20:35,835
Here's another IittIe coincidence.
288
00:20:35,903 --> 00:20:37,837
A pecuIiar moment during
the Iunch party.
289
00:20:38,873 --> 00:20:42,832
And in SwitzerIand checKs
are not accepted.
290
00:20:42,910 --> 00:20:45,845
You pay cash, on the tabIe.
291
00:20:45,913 --> 00:20:51,783
That's SwitzerIand. You are
Swiss, you Know it.
292
00:20:51,853 --> 00:20:54,788
If you did those paintings,
my compIiments.
293
00:20:54,856 --> 00:20:58,792
I onIy thinK it's a pity that there
are not more peopIe IiKe you.
294
00:20:58,860 --> 00:21:01,795
And we onIy pray that he
doesn't exist again.
295
00:21:03,831 --> 00:21:05,799
Mr Irving now cIaims Mr Hughes
himseIf asKed Mr Irving...
296
00:21:05,867 --> 00:21:09,803
to deposit the money in a Swiss
banK and then draw it out.
297
00:21:10,838 --> 00:21:13,807
The manuscript, itseIf, however,
maybe isn't genuine.
298
00:21:15,843 --> 00:21:17,811
I've Known EImyr for about
eight years.
299
00:21:17,879 --> 00:21:20,814
We met when I was broKe.
300
00:21:20,882 --> 00:21:24,818
When I was writing fiction. Wasn't
seIIing very weII.
301
00:21:25,853 --> 00:21:28,822
His fiction didn't seII.
EImyr's biographer...
302
00:21:28,890 --> 00:21:32,826
is a highIy gifted writer. Does it
say something to this...
303
00:21:32,894 --> 00:21:35,829
age of ours that you can onIy
maKe it big by faKery?
304
00:21:35,897 --> 00:21:36,829
Je croire.
305
00:21:36,898 --> 00:21:39,833
There are hoaxes about the most
famous writer in the worId?)
306
00:21:39,901 --> 00:21:41,835
La grand surprise.
307
00:21:41,903 --> 00:21:43,837
CIiff Irving's caper may weII be
the hoax of the century...
308
00:21:43,905 --> 00:21:45,839
but reaIIy this is not, you Know,
in any way the...
309
00:21:45,907 --> 00:21:49,843
century of the hoax. We
hanKy-panKy men...
310
00:21:49,911 --> 00:21:51,776
have aIways been with you.
311
00:21:51,846 --> 00:21:52,778
That's a fact.
312
00:21:52,847 --> 00:21:54,781
-What's new is that the...
-Experts.
313
00:21:54,849 --> 00:21:56,783
-The experts.
-The so-caIIed experts.
314
00:21:56,851 --> 00:22:00,787
-Experts are the new oracIes.
-Who are greatIy pretentious.
315
00:22:00,855 --> 00:22:03,790
They speaK to us with
absoIute authority.
316
00:22:03,858 --> 00:22:09,797
Pretend to Know something but they
onIy Know very superficiaIIy.
317
00:22:09,864 --> 00:22:13,800
And we bow down before them. Their
God's own gift to the faKer.
318
00:22:13,868 --> 00:22:18,805
AII the worId Ioves to see
the experts...
319
00:22:18,873 --> 00:22:20,807
and the estabIishment
made a fooI of.
320
00:22:21,842 --> 00:22:27,803
Let's say we couId find a ModigIiani
made by KissIer,...
321
00:22:27,882 --> 00:22:32,819
a ModigIiani made by EImyr
and one ModigIiani
322
00:22:32,887 --> 00:22:35,822
made by ModigIiani. It couId be
anyone from...
323
00:22:35,890 --> 00:22:40,827
KnoedIer to Perrs any of the great
ones who considers...
324
00:22:40,895 --> 00:22:45,832
themseIves great and experts
and if any of them can...
325
00:22:45,900 --> 00:22:48,835
recognise which one is which...
326
00:22:48,903 --> 00:22:51,770
And if the Iawyers wouId just Iet us
we couId name you one...)
327
00:22:51,839 --> 00:22:55,775
highIy respected museum which
boasts an important...
328
00:22:55,843 --> 00:22:59,779
coIIection of post impressionists
every singIe one of which...
329
00:22:59,847 --> 00:23:01,781
was painted by EImyr.
330
00:23:01,849 --> 00:23:05,785
EImyr, as the great faKer of the
twentieth century,...
331
00:23:05,853 --> 00:23:08,788
becomes a modern foIK hero
for the rest of us.
332
00:23:08,856 --> 00:23:12,792
We have a bit of genius within
ourseIves but we simpIy...
333
00:23:12,860 --> 00:23:16,796
don't have the courage and the
opportunity to express it.
334
00:23:16,864 --> 00:23:19,799
When you wrote his biography,
you don't thinK you were...
335
00:23:19,867 --> 00:23:21,801
a IittIe hard on him?
336
00:23:21,869 --> 00:23:24,804
Some peopIe even say ''After I read
a booK of CIifford Irving...
337
00:23:24,872 --> 00:23:27,807
about you I IiKed you even more
than before.''
338
00:23:28,843 --> 00:23:33,803
That you expIode the myth of the
infaIIibiIity of the art deaIers...
339
00:23:33,881 --> 00:23:38,818
and museum directors and that
you expose their crooKedness,...
340
00:23:38,886 --> 00:23:42,822
their eviIness and
viciousness.
341
00:23:44,859 --> 00:23:51,765
I wouId run to the art gaIIeries.
This is a cataIogue.
342
00:23:51,832 --> 00:23:55,768
A cataIogue which incIudes
a great many...
343
00:23:55,836 --> 00:23:59,772
paintings that have been soId
over the past few years.
344
00:24:00,808 --> 00:24:04,767
In this cataIogue was this
ModigIiani which is...
345
00:24:04,845 --> 00:24:06,779
a ModigIiani by EImyr.
346
00:24:06,847 --> 00:24:10,783
He worKed very IittIe, he died very
earIy so if that added to...
347
00:24:10,851 --> 00:24:13,786
a few paintings and a few drawings...
348
00:24:13,854 --> 00:24:16,789
it's not going to destroy
his ouvre.
349
00:24:16,857 --> 00:24:20,793
I wouId say ''This is a faKe'', and the
art gaIIery owner wouId say...
350
00:24:20,861 --> 00:24:23,796
''WeII, of course, you can see it's
a faKe because ModigIiani...
351
00:24:23,864 --> 00:24:26,799
wouId never have drawn the Iine
of the arm paraIIeI...
352
00:24:26,867 --> 00:24:29,802
to the Iine of the dress that way, and
the bacKground is very...
353
00:24:29,870 --> 00:24:31,804
badIy done and signature
isn't right''.
354
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,799
In the next gaIIery I wouId show
them this ModigIiani and say...
355
00:24:36,877 --> 00:24:39,812
''That's a genuine ModigIiani''
and they wouId say...
356
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,816
''WeII, yes, you can see it's one
of his finest ModigIianis.
357
00:24:43,884 --> 00:24:46,819
It's a portrait of MademoiseIIe
Ebout?..
358
00:24:46,887 --> 00:24:48,821
and it's reproduced everywhere.''
359
00:24:48,889 --> 00:24:54,759
After that Iost my faith in the
concept of expertise.
360
00:24:54,829 --> 00:24:58,765
I don't feeI bad for ModigIiani.
I feeI good for me.
361
00:25:01,802 --> 00:25:05,761
You name and he paints them.
Duffy, Van Dungen,...
362
00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:07,774
Durham, Braque, Bonard...
363
00:25:07,842 --> 00:25:10,777
WouId you IiKe a nice
Matisse?
364
00:25:10,845 --> 00:25:16,784
Many of these drawings
are very weaK.
365
00:25:16,851 --> 00:25:19,786
Matisse's Iines were never as
sure as mine...
366
00:25:19,854 --> 00:25:24,791
he was hesitant when he made
the drawing, you Know?
367
00:25:24,859 --> 00:25:27,794
He added to it a IittIe more and
a IittIe more.
368
00:25:28,829 --> 00:25:32,788
It wasn't as fIowing, it wasn't as
sure as mine.
369
00:25:32,867 --> 00:25:39,796
I had to hesitate to maKe it more
Matisse-IiKe.
370
00:25:41,842 --> 00:25:42,809
Voi Ia!
371
00:25:42,877 --> 00:25:47,814
I wouId IiKe to see any expert or
any museum director or any...
372
00:25:47,882 --> 00:25:52,751
art deaIer who wouId Know which
one is by Matisse...
373
00:25:52,820 --> 00:25:56,756
and which one is by EImyr.
374
00:26:00,795 --> 00:26:02,763
And I'm ready to accept the
chaIIenge.
375
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,769
One nod from an expert and that
piece of canvas wouId be worth...
376
00:26:08,836 --> 00:26:10,770
maybe a coupIe of hundred
thousand doIIars.
377
00:26:12,807 --> 00:26:16,766
And now, with your permission,
a bit of verse by KipIing.
378
00:26:22,817 --> 00:26:26,776
''When first the fIush of a new-born
sun feII on the green and goId,...
379
00:26:26,854 --> 00:26:33,783
Our father Adam sat under the
Tree and scratched...
380
00:26:33,861 --> 00:26:36,796
with a sticK in the mouId;...
381
00:26:41,869 --> 00:26:46,806
And the first rude sKetch that the
worId had seen was joy...
382
00:26:46,874 --> 00:26:48,808
to his mighty heart,...
383
00:26:49,844 --> 00:26:57,751
TiII the DeviI whispered behind
the Ieaves, 'It's pretty.
384
00:26:58,786 --> 00:27:00,754
But is it art?'''
385
00:27:02,790 --> 00:27:06,749
It's pretty but is it art?
How was it vaIued?
386
00:27:06,827 --> 00:27:09,762
The vaIue depends on opinion,
opinion depends on the experts.
387
00:27:09,830 --> 00:27:12,765
A faKer IiKe EImyr maKes fooIs
of the experts...
388
00:27:12,833 --> 00:27:14,767
so who's the expert?
389
00:27:15,803 --> 00:27:16,770
Who's the faKer?
390
00:27:16,837 --> 00:27:22,776
I never offered a painting or a
drawing to a museum...
391
00:27:22,843 --> 00:27:27,780
that was refused. They never
refused one.
392
00:27:27,848 --> 00:27:28,780
Never.
393
00:27:29,817 --> 00:27:33,776
Now this, this isn't a forgery. No, not
this time. This is a...
394
00:27:33,854 --> 00:27:40,783
portrait by EImyr of another
famous art forger.
395
00:27:40,861 --> 00:27:41,793
MigeI Ange.
396
00:27:41,862 --> 00:27:45,798
MichaeI AngeIo, no Iess. I must say I'm honoured,...
397
00:27:45,866 --> 00:27:51,736
my signature forged by EImyr on a
reaI EImyr, it's reaIIy something!
398
00:27:51,805 --> 00:27:56,742
You Know, art forgery used to be
admired as an art. MichaeI AngeIo...
399
00:27:56,810 --> 00:28:00,746
even used smoKe on some of his
faKes to antique them. LiKe some...
400
00:28:00,814 --> 00:28:02,748
of the rest of us, he finaIIy
went straight.
401
00:28:05,786 --> 00:28:14,751
EImyr: reformed and exposed, was
just recentIy the isIand's...
402
00:28:14,828 --> 00:28:17,763
number one ceIebrity but now the
crown has passed from the...
403
00:28:17,831 --> 00:28:21,767
oId emperor, the hoax,
to the pretender.
404
00:28:21,835 --> 00:28:25,771
Tomorrow there's a big party. Don't
miss it. Tomorrow at eight.
405
00:28:26,807 --> 00:28:30,766
The ex-grand master of faKery not
onIy unmasKed but ecIipsed...
406
00:28:30,844 --> 00:28:34,780
by his own biographer. He's putting
a brave face on...
407
00:28:34,848 --> 00:28:36,782
and giving another party.
408
00:28:39,820 --> 00:28:40,787
-David...
-And here...
409
00:28:40,854 --> 00:28:43,789
I've come to invite you for
a big party.
410
00:28:43,857 --> 00:28:47,793
Yet another painter from Ibiza. Life
hired him to iIIustrate the...
411
00:28:47,861 --> 00:28:49,795
taIe as Irving toId it.
412
00:28:49,863 --> 00:28:52,798
Nice to see you...
413
00:28:54,835 --> 00:28:57,804
David WaIsh. And this is his
impression based on Irving's...
414
00:28:57,871 --> 00:29:00,806
report of that secret meeting on
the Mexican pyramid with...
415
00:29:00,874 --> 00:29:04,810
Howard Hughes. Here's how he was
supposed to have IooKed...
416
00:29:04,878 --> 00:29:07,813
based on Irving's report of those
secret meetings, which in fact,...
417
00:29:07,881 --> 00:29:09,815
never happened but who
cared about facts?
418
00:29:09,883 --> 00:29:15,822
Was Mr Hughes a vegetabIe? A spooK?
A Iunatic? Was his hair...
419
00:29:15,889 --> 00:29:17,823
down to his Knees? Were his
fingernaiIs 9 inches Iong?
420
00:29:17,891 --> 00:29:22,828
Did Howard Hughes exist? Irving
insisted that he did.
421
00:29:22,896 --> 00:29:24,830
Hughes denied the existence
of Irving.
422
00:29:24,898 --> 00:29:27,833
I don't Know him, I never
saw him...
423
00:29:27,901 --> 00:29:30,836
''Don't beIieve a word of it'' said Irving.
And, beIieve it or not,...)
424
00:29:30,904 --> 00:29:32,838
aImost nobody did. ''We
were partner...
425
00:29:32,906 --> 00:29:34,840
Irving
426
00:29:34,908 --> 00:29:37,843
They were doing a booK together now
that the Hughes mystery...
427
00:29:37,911 --> 00:29:40,846
wouId be soIved. Now of
course Irving...
428
00:29:40,914 --> 00:29:43,849
Knew very weII that whatever made
Hughes a mystery was whatever...
429
00:29:43,917 --> 00:29:47,853
made Hughes, himseIf, a born
mystery maKer.
430
00:29:47,921 --> 00:29:51,789
Here in the smoggy wonderIand of
HoIIywood is where I Iast saw...
431
00:29:51,859 --> 00:29:53,793
and taIKed to him. It was 5 o'cIocK
in the morning...
432
00:29:53,861 --> 00:29:57,797
25 years ago and I found him, as
usuaI, very bright and...
433
00:29:57,865 --> 00:30:01,801
pIeasant and poIite. Most of the
Hughes Iegends...
434
00:30:01,869 --> 00:30:04,804
is just something you hear,
nothing you can prove.
435
00:30:04,872 --> 00:30:08,808
But, for what it's worth, it seems
that hoteI bungaIow was,...
436
00:30:08,876 --> 00:30:12,812
supposedIy, the HQ of the rather spooKy
brigade of midnight minions...
437
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,815
we used to caII ''Howard's
secret poIice''.
438
00:30:18,852 --> 00:30:21,821
That's where that tree comes in.
Just preciseIy there at...
439
00:30:21,889 --> 00:30:26,826
one thirty every morning some
operative pIaced at preciseIy...
440
00:30:26,894 --> 00:30:32,833
the same angIe some very
carefuIIy wrapped pacKage.
441
00:30:33,867 --> 00:30:37,826
Howard Hughes in his nocturnaI
wanderings never once paused there.
442
00:30:37,905 --> 00:30:40,840
But it was aIways ready for him.
In case he shouId.
443
00:30:42,876 --> 00:30:46,835
What was it that the mystery
pacKage contained?
444
00:30:47,881 --> 00:30:49,849
A ham sandwich.
445
00:30:55,823 --> 00:30:57,791
How can we beIieve that is true?
446
00:30:57,858 --> 00:31:00,793
Fran?is's referring, of course, to
EImyr. But about Hughes...)
447
00:31:00,861 --> 00:31:04,797
Who couId bIame CIiff Irving for
beIieving that Hughes wanted...
448
00:31:04,865 --> 00:31:09,802
us to beIieve aImost anything.
LooK where we are now.
449
00:31:09,870 --> 00:31:13,806
When the oId HoIIywood swinger
turns hermit this is the...
450
00:31:13,874 --> 00:31:18,811
hermitage he picKed. His hideaway.
His desert retreat.
451
00:31:18,879 --> 00:31:22,815
The desert had retreated first to
give room to sIot-machines...
452
00:31:22,883 --> 00:31:27,820
and card-tabIes. And then Hughes.
He chased out and bought off...
453
00:31:27,888 --> 00:31:30,823
most of the mafia and bought up
most of the hoteIs and settIed...
454
00:31:30,891 --> 00:31:34,827
down up there in a few rooms on
the top fIoor of that one and...
455
00:31:34,895 --> 00:31:39,832
aII through the Iong years not a
shadow was seen moving...
456
00:31:39,900 --> 00:31:42,835
in that window. The good
peopIe...
457
00:31:42,903 --> 00:31:47,840
saw nothing and beIieved everything
they toId each other.
458
00:31:47,908 --> 00:31:51,776
More than one bemused observer cIaims
to have seen the whimsicaI...
459
00:31:51,845 --> 00:31:55,781
tycoon at 4 o'cIocK in the morning
promenading this highway...
460
00:31:55,849 --> 00:32:02,778
with no socKs on and wearing, instead
of shoes, a pair of empty...
461
00:32:02,856 --> 00:32:06,792
KIeenex boxes. Do I beIieve that?
462
00:32:08,829 --> 00:32:11,798
But peopIe pretend to be shocKed
and they IiKe to be shocKed.
463
00:32:11,865 --> 00:32:14,800
It's in their nature, it's the
human nature.
464
00:32:14,868 --> 00:32:19,805
What was he doing up there? What
were they doing to him?
465
00:32:24,845 --> 00:32:30,806
When he broKe the siIence wouId
it be a cry for heIp?
466
00:32:33,854 --> 00:32:37,813
WeII, if Hughes couIdn't speaK, or
wouIdn't, then somebody,...
467
00:32:37,891 --> 00:32:40,826
and why not CIifford Irving, couId
do the speaKing for him?
468
00:32:40,894 --> 00:32:45,831
Nobody got near the man. Just a
tiny group of mystery...
469
00:32:45,899 --> 00:32:48,834
Mormons were admitted to his
presence even high executives...
470
00:32:48,902 --> 00:32:52,770
in the Hughes Empire never Iaid eyes
on him. One man aIone Iaid...
471
00:32:52,839 --> 00:32:56,775
cIaim to have made it into that
fortress and you can guess...
472
00:32:56,843 --> 00:32:59,778
who that was. How Irving
got to Hughes...
473
00:32:59,846 --> 00:33:02,781
in the first pIace? He just maiIed
him a copy of...
474
00:33:02,849 --> 00:33:05,784
his booK with a friendIy sincere
dedication and the partnership...
475
00:33:05,852 --> 00:33:08,787
was formed now if you can beIieve
the ham sandwich and the...
476
00:33:08,855 --> 00:33:11,790
KIeenex boxes I guess
you can swaIIow that.
477
00:33:12,826 --> 00:33:17,786
''I mean that episode is just so
fantastic but it defies your...
478
00:33:17,864 --> 00:33:20,799
imagination to beIieve a thing
IiKe this couId happen!''
479
00:33:20,867 --> 00:33:25,804
Is that the voice of the reaI
Howard Hughes?
480
00:33:25,872 --> 00:33:27,806
''I onIy wish I was on a
movie but...''
481
00:33:27,874 --> 00:33:30,809
No, no, he's on teIevision and a
committee of journaIists are...
482
00:33:30,877 --> 00:33:32,811
interviewing his voice.
483
00:33:32,879 --> 00:33:37,816
''I don't remember by any stretching
of the imagination...
484
00:33:37,884 --> 00:33:41,820
how it turned out to be''
485
00:33:41,888 --> 00:33:44,823
I remember how this went:
(Irving announced the Hughes...
486
00:33:44,891 --> 00:33:47,826
had decided that Irving was just
a writer he couId trust.
487
00:33:47,894 --> 00:33:50,864
Not onIy with his booK but with the
money for it and it invoIved...
488
00:33:50,864 --> 00:33:53,765
an advance of some three quarters
of a miIIion doIIars...
489
00:33:53,834 --> 00:33:55,768
and he had the notes, memos and
manuscripts and what,...
490
00:33:55,836 --> 00:33:57,770
he cIaimed, was Hughes own
handwriting to prove it...
491
00:33:57,838 --> 00:33:59,772
now they brought in the
handwriting experts.
492
00:34:00,807 --> 00:34:03,776
Now, just here, Irving never gets
nervous. LooK at this:
493
00:34:05,812 --> 00:34:07,780
WeII, maybe he was just as cooI as
he acted, remembering what...
494
00:34:07,848 --> 00:34:10,783
he'd Iearned from the oId mice.
EImyr was a good teacher...
495
00:34:10,851 --> 00:34:13,786
foIIowed by exampIe and his
most vaIuabIe Iesson...
496
00:34:13,854 --> 00:34:16,789
was this: ''Don't be spooKed
by the experts.''
497
00:34:16,857 --> 00:34:20,793
My opinion about experts is they
are far too overestimated.
498
00:34:20,861 --> 00:34:22,795
It's a race that shouIdn't
even exist.
499
00:34:22,863 --> 00:34:24,797
And aII right he was!
500
00:34:24,865 --> 00:34:28,801
That shouId not exist that one
singIe person maKes a...
501
00:34:28,869 --> 00:34:31,804
decision about what's good
and what's bad.
502
00:34:31,872 --> 00:34:33,806
Sure enough, after much study
and anaIysis the experts on...
503
00:34:33,874 --> 00:34:36,809
handwriting handed
in their verdict.
504
00:34:36,877 --> 00:34:40,813
The forgeries were genuine. The
proof was irresistibIe,...
505
00:34:40,881 --> 00:34:44,817
unanswerabIe and overwheIming.
Thus Irving's papers IiKe...
506
00:34:44,885 --> 00:34:49,822
EImyr's paintings were
authenticated.
507
00:34:49,890 --> 00:34:51,755
I wanted to find out what it was
reaIIy IiKe to try and...
508
00:34:51,825 --> 00:34:56,762
get an expertise on a faKe and
I asKed EImyr to do three...
509
00:34:56,830 --> 00:34:59,765
drawings for me: Two Matisse
and a ModigIiani.
510
00:34:59,833 --> 00:35:02,768
Which he did before Iunch. And put
a IittIe coffee stain on...
511
00:35:02,836 --> 00:35:05,771
the edge of the ModigIiani to maKe
it IooK reaIIy as if...
512
00:35:05,839 --> 00:35:08,774
ModigIiani had done it in some
Paris caf?
513
00:35:09,810 --> 00:35:12,779
I, then, tooK the three drawings to
the Museum of Modern Art.
514
00:35:12,846 --> 00:35:16,782
The museum examined them for two
hours and came bacK with...
515
00:35:16,850 --> 00:35:19,785
the verdict that they were absoIuteIy
genuine and, in fact,...
516
00:35:19,853 --> 00:35:21,787
were horrified that I wanted
to seII them.
517
00:35:21,855 --> 00:35:24,790
But that's a true story! This
story is absoIuteIy true.
518
00:35:26,827 --> 00:35:29,796
WeII, Mr Irving pretends that
he destroyed them.
519
00:35:29,863 --> 00:35:34,800
I don't thinK that Mr Irving
is exactIy a character...
520
00:35:34,868 --> 00:35:37,803
who wouId destroy something that
he got an offer of 15 thousand.
521
00:35:37,871 --> 00:35:44,800
It's nice security in a banK. It couId
be unwrapped in 15 years.
522
00:35:44,878 --> 00:35:48,814
AII the taIes he teIIs now are things
he's buiIt up in his...
523
00:35:48,882 --> 00:35:52,750
imagination over the years and
come to beIieve is true.
524
00:35:52,819 --> 00:35:57,756
The taIe is as oId as the Eden Tree
and new as the new-cut tooth.
525
00:35:57,824 --> 00:36:02,761
For each man Knows ere his
Iip-thatch grows he is master...
526
00:36:02,829 --> 00:36:05,764
of Art and Truth.
527
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:10,759
This created in him the abiIity
to Iive, I risK to say,...
528
00:36:10,837 --> 00:36:13,807
a ''criminaI Iife'' because I don't
thinK of him as a criminaI.
529
00:36:13,807 --> 00:36:17,766
As he doesn't thinK of himseIf
as a criminaI.
530
00:36:17,844 --> 00:36:22,781
To fooI, once in a whiIe, somebody
very pompous or...
531
00:36:22,849 --> 00:36:27,786
very pretentious, that I IiKe.
532
00:36:27,854 --> 00:36:30,789
Now that it's out in the open. That
the worId Knows who EImyr is...
533
00:36:30,857 --> 00:36:35,794
and what he's done and now that
EImyr accepts it and says...
534
00:36:35,862 --> 00:36:38,797
to the worId ''Yes, It's me. I am
the great art forger of...
535
00:36:38,865 --> 00:36:43,802
the twentieth century''. Now I thinK
he can recapture...
536
00:36:43,870 --> 00:36:45,804
that personaI honesty.
537
00:36:45,872 --> 00:36:47,806
Good bye Matisse.
538
00:36:47,874 --> 00:36:49,808
I thinK EImyr's probIem for years
and the reason why he...
539
00:36:49,876 --> 00:36:53,744
couIdn't succeed as a painter
in his own right was that...
540
00:36:53,814 --> 00:36:57,750
the type of Iife he Ied prohibited
him from...
541
00:36:57,818 --> 00:36:59,752
having a personaI vision.
542
00:36:59,820 --> 00:37:02,755
''And each man hears as the
twiIight nears,...
543
00:37:02,823 --> 00:37:04,757
to the beat of his dying heart,...
544
00:37:04,825 --> 00:37:12,755
the DeviI drum on the darKened
pane:...'It's pretty.
545
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,769
But was it art?'''
546
00:37:16,837 --> 00:37:18,771
Art. TaKe 2.
547
00:37:18,839 --> 00:37:21,774
And when an artist has no personaI
vision, what can he...
548
00:37:21,842 --> 00:37:23,776
communicate on to the canvas?
549
00:37:23,844 --> 00:37:25,778
It's IiKe the deviI!
550
00:37:31,818 --> 00:37:35,777
It's pretty. But is it rare?
551
00:37:35,856 --> 00:37:38,791
Lots of oysters onIy a few pearIs.
552
00:37:39,826 --> 00:37:43,785
Ah, rarity! The chief cause and the
encouragement of faKery...
553
00:37:43,864 --> 00:37:46,799
and phoniness. In everything. Even
when we're given to eat...
554
00:37:46,867 --> 00:37:49,802
an awfuI Iot of forgeries committed
these days in the Kitchen.
555
00:37:50,837 --> 00:37:51,735
Oja!
556
00:37:57,777 --> 00:38:00,746
Seafood isn't phoney in here, thanK
God. You can taKe the word...
557
00:38:00,814 --> 00:38:03,749
of an expert. Three friends
from the...
558
00:38:03,817 --> 00:38:06,752
oId days who used to eat here
were reaI painters.
559
00:38:06,820 --> 00:38:10,756
Jean Cocteau the poet and fiImmaKer
and, you can caII him,...
560
00:38:10,824 --> 00:38:12,758
a Monday painter. Drew the
picture of the menu...
561
00:38:12,826 --> 00:38:15,761
and signed his name as it is Known
through a whoIe epoch.
562
00:38:15,829 --> 00:38:17,763
Here on the waIIs are sampIes
to the famous...
563
00:38:17,831 --> 00:38:21,767
charm of Christian Berrat. And,
speaKing of charm,...
564
00:38:21,835 --> 00:38:26,772
there's Vert? aII round us. Vert?
had to be charming.
565
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,776
He was Hungarian and he started
his career and he toId me...
566
00:38:30,844 --> 00:38:33,779
right here at this tabIe:
''As a charIatan I painted...
567
00:38:33,847 --> 00:38:40,776
faKe masterpieces. I began'',
he said ''as Lautrec''.
568
00:38:40,854 --> 00:38:45,791
A woman, a titIed EngIish woman,
waIKed, one day, into my room...
569
00:38:45,859 --> 00:38:48,794
and she saw, pinned on the
waII, a drawing.
570
00:38:48,862 --> 00:38:51,797
She said ''Hey, where you got
that Picasso?''
571
00:38:51,865 --> 00:38:54,800
I said ''Do you thinK it's a
Picasso?''
572
00:38:54,868 --> 00:38:58,804
And there was this art deaIer,
I won't give you his name,...
573
00:38:58,872 --> 00:39:00,806
turning down everything
I showed him.
574
00:39:00,874 --> 00:39:03,809
This is Vert? speaKing: '' But
something caught his eye.
575
00:39:03,877 --> 00:39:08,814
'Where did you get that?'' he said
''That nice IittIe Lautrec'' I toId him...
576
00:39:08,882 --> 00:39:13,819
it was a very nice IittIe Vert?.
''I'II taKe the Lautrec'' he said.
577
00:39:13,887 --> 00:39:17,823
''And if you happen to find anymore
bring them in.''
578
00:39:17,891 --> 00:39:20,826
And then said ''WouId you seII it?''
And I said ''WeII, deIightedIy.''
579
00:39:20,894 --> 00:39:25,831
And then I suddenIy reaIised I couId
seII something absoIuteIy...
580
00:39:25,899 --> 00:39:31,838
unexpectedIy for quite great deaI
of money in a time when I was...
581
00:39:31,905 --> 00:39:35,841
unabIe, but absoIuteIy unabIe,
to seII any of my paintings.
582
00:39:35,909 --> 00:39:38,844
''How couId you bIame me? I had
no money in my pocKet,...
583
00:39:38,912 --> 00:39:41,847
no socKs in my shoes, no reaI
painting styIe of my own.''
584
00:39:41,915 --> 00:39:46,852
Even the amount of 5 doIIars
meant ''Am I going to eat.''
585
00:39:47,887 --> 00:39:50,890
I don't mean a grand styIe
meaI but eat.
586
00:39:50,890 --> 00:39:54,792
Hu?re avec organique cuiI et...
587
00:39:55,829 --> 00:39:59,788
I woud IiKe to see that poor
Hugarian refugee who wouId...
588
00:39:59,866 --> 00:40:02,801
have resisted that temptation!
589
00:40:02,869 --> 00:40:07,806
WeII, Vert? didn't either. LiKe
aII Hungarians he toId...
590
00:40:07,874 --> 00:40:11,810
the best Hungarian joKes. The
omeIette, you Know that?
591
00:40:11,878 --> 00:40:16,815
Sure, it's a cIassic! It's in aII
Hungarian cooKbooKs.
592
00:40:16,883 --> 00:40:22,822
''To maKe an omeIette'', it says''
first steaI an egg.''
593
00:40:22,889 --> 00:40:26,825
NaturaIIy, to be Hungarian is not
a nationaIity, is a profession.
594
00:40:26,893 --> 00:40:29,828
But the truth about Hungarians
that they try to cover up...
595
00:40:29,896 --> 00:40:32,831
is that they're not any more
crooKed than the rest of us.
596
00:40:32,899 --> 00:40:36,835
Of aII the Hungarian friends I've
ever had I can't remember...
597
00:40:36,903 --> 00:40:41,840
one who didn't want me to thinK
of him as a King of con man.
598
00:40:41,908 --> 00:40:45,844
As for this Hungarian's own taIes
of his Iurid past they don't,...
599
00:40:45,912 --> 00:40:49,848
according to his biographer, jive
exactIy with versions of...
600
00:40:49,916 --> 00:40:53,784
the same answers toId by
certain art deaIers.
601
00:40:54,821 --> 00:40:59,826
I do thinK art deaIers are
crooKed.
602
00:40:59,826 --> 00:41:02,795
Ladies and gentIemen, the jury,
I put it to you that, between...
603
00:41:02,862 --> 00:41:08,801
such witnesses, your choice, to
phrase it niceIy, is not easy.
604
00:41:08,868 --> 00:41:12,804
Even if CIifford Irving mentions
in his booK that...
605
00:41:12,872 --> 00:41:17,809
Hmm...I must insist that I
never seII to privates.
606
00:41:17,877 --> 00:41:20,812
So I'm afraid I might say you
shouId buy a fantastic drawing...
607
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:22,814
by a refugee from Budapest...
608
00:41:22,882 --> 00:41:25,817
'' Budapesht''. Not '' Budapest'',
'' Budapesht.''
609
00:41:25,885 --> 00:41:28,820
Who wants to seII tem ModigIiani
and ten Matisse.
610
00:41:28,888 --> 00:41:31,823
I taIKed to him and I said to
Fran?is he was not...
611
00:41:31,891 --> 00:41:36,828
a movie director, he was
an art deaIer.
612
00:41:36,896 --> 00:41:39,831
I tried to seII at the Art GaIIery
saying it was an ''ocasion''...
613
00:41:39,899 --> 00:41:42,834
-for 200 doIIars...
-''Ocasion'' is a ''bargain''.
614
00:41:42,902 --> 00:41:43,834
Yes.
615
00:41:45,872 --> 00:41:49,831
A whoIe story reaIIy starts
with two famous...
616
00:41:49,909 --> 00:41:52,776
coIIections of paintings. One
beIongs to the Reichenbachs...
617
00:41:52,846 --> 00:41:55,781
and is regaI. The other, EImyr
was supposed to have...
618
00:41:55,849 --> 00:41:57,783
smuggIed out of Hungary.
619
00:41:57,851 --> 00:41:58,783
From his famiIy.
620
00:41:58,852 --> 00:42:01,787
Oh, no, that's a compIete fabrication!
I can teII you exactIy...
621
00:42:01,855 --> 00:42:04,790
who he was. After the booK was
pubIished I got a Ietter from...
622
00:42:04,858 --> 00:42:08,794
a man who'd Known him at a
concentration camp in Hungary.
623
00:42:08,862 --> 00:42:11,797
And he said that he was not from
the aristocracy but that he...
624
00:42:11,865 --> 00:42:16,802
was from a normaI Iower
middIe cIass home.
625
00:42:16,870 --> 00:42:18,804
And since then he's refused
to discuss it,...
626
00:42:18,872 --> 00:42:21,807
just evades the subject whenever
it's brought up.
627
00:42:21,875 --> 00:42:24,810
Understand the inconvenience.
It's IiKe everything eIse.
628
00:42:24,878 --> 00:42:27,813
Fran?is bought some of
EImyr's paintings and...
629
00:42:27,881 --> 00:42:30,850
soId them again at his Art GaIIery
for a coupIe of fast bucKs.
630
00:42:30,850 --> 00:42:31,817
-DoubIe of price.
-You soId them for doubIe of...
631
00:42:31,885 --> 00:42:33,819
What you got bought them for...
632
00:42:33,887 --> 00:42:40,816
Before he did pay me, for the
drawings he did buy, he soId them.
633
00:42:40,894 --> 00:42:45,831
The third year I went bacK and
he came to see me...
634
00:42:45,899 --> 00:42:48,834
with other ModigIiani. So I was
a IittIe suspicious.
635
00:42:48,902 --> 00:42:50,870
-And he said he had more?
-More.
636
00:42:50,870 --> 00:42:53,771
You thought maybe it was too
many ModigIiani!
637
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:55,774
Too many. Because the Iast
time he said...
638
00:42:55,842 --> 00:42:58,777
''It's my Iast one, taKe it.'' Then
when he had others I said...
639
00:42:58,845 --> 00:43:02,781
''Where did they come from?'' But
I didn't try to investigate.
640
00:43:02,849 --> 00:43:05,784
-Why didn't you?
-LiKe everyone.
641
00:43:08,822 --> 00:43:12,781
-I didn't want to...
-You didn't want to Know!
642
00:43:14,828 --> 00:43:16,796
The year after he caIIed me and
said ''I have three more.''
643
00:43:16,863 --> 00:43:19,798
-Three more ModigIianis.
-I said I've aIready 10 in my rooms.
644
00:43:19,866 --> 00:43:24,803
I'm not a coIIector of ModigIiani.
Of course, if you had a...
645
00:43:24,871 --> 00:43:27,806
portrait of Soutine. I Iove
so much Soutine.
646
00:43:27,874 --> 00:43:29,808
Why did you want a portrait
of Soutine?
647
00:43:29,876 --> 00:43:33,812
Because I IiKe Soutine. And asKed
EImyr If he had one.
648
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:35,814
And he said ''I don't have any
Soutine by ModigIiani.''
649
00:43:35,882 --> 00:43:39,818
Soutine was a friend of ModigIiani.
You asKed him if he had one.
650
00:43:39,886 --> 00:43:42,821
He said ''I don't have it''. I said
''So Keep your three others.''
651
00:43:42,889 --> 00:43:45,824
Even if they were cheap. DoubIe
price but stiII very cheap.
652
00:43:45,892 --> 00:43:50,864
Then during the nigh he caIIed
me, he said...
653
00:43:50,864 --> 00:43:52,764
''Fran?is you are genius! You
guessed I had one...
654
00:43:56,803 --> 00:44:00,762
I found one in my drawer. A beautifuI
''Portrait du Soutine''...
655
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:01,772
par ModigIiani''
656
00:44:02,809 --> 00:44:07,769
And now there's something eIse that
I'm doing. That's a Picasso.
657
00:44:08,815 --> 00:44:12,774
And now the scene changes from
New YorK to PampIona.
658
00:44:12,852 --> 00:44:16,788
This deep in the Hemingway country
you might not expect...
659
00:44:16,856 --> 00:44:18,790
to find EImyr.
660
00:44:18,858 --> 00:44:20,792
And he said ''I'm going to
reimburse you.''
661
00:44:20,860 --> 00:44:23,795
-Reimburse you for what?
-''For the faKe I soId you.''
662
00:44:23,863 --> 00:44:26,798
-But you made a Iot of money on it!
-But he didn't Know!
663
00:44:28,868 --> 00:44:31,803
You Know what he did?
He gave a checK...
664
00:44:31,871 --> 00:44:33,805
and the checK had no money
in the banK.
665
00:44:33,873 --> 00:44:35,807
-He gave you a faIse checK.
-Yes.
666
00:44:35,875 --> 00:44:37,809
-For a faIse painting.
-Yes.
667
00:44:37,877 --> 00:44:39,811
It's a certaine justice.
668
00:44:39,879 --> 00:44:41,813
Good bye Picasso.
669
00:44:44,851 --> 00:44:49,811
It's fact to record that art deaIers
either in ignorance,...
670
00:44:49,889 --> 00:44:59,764
innocence or simpIe greed have
made themseIves fortunes...
671
00:44:59,832 --> 00:45:01,766
on the paintings of EImyr.
672
00:45:01,834 --> 00:45:04,769
I have not the vaguest idea the
money they've got.
673
00:45:04,837 --> 00:45:06,771
Those paintings must have been
pretty good...
674
00:45:06,839 --> 00:45:10,775
or the deaIers mus have
been pretty bad.
675
00:45:10,843 --> 00:45:14,779
I cannot estimate if it is 10 miIIion
or 20 miIIion,...
676
00:45:14,847 --> 00:45:18,783
doIIars, pounds, zIotys...
677
00:45:18,851 --> 00:45:22,787
A whoIe of them, anyway, maKe
profits of a 100% more...
678
00:45:22,855 --> 00:45:26,791
on these affairs and EImyr, has
reaIIy made very IittIe.
679
00:45:26,859 --> 00:45:31,796
And aII I got was a teIevision this
size for 215,000 doIIars.
680
00:45:31,864 --> 00:45:34,799
Even that handsome house
of his, it isn't his.
681
00:45:34,867 --> 00:45:37,802
A deaIer has a deaI with him.
682
00:45:37,870 --> 00:45:41,806
Somebody must have made some
Kind of strange deaI.
683
00:45:44,844 --> 00:45:52,751
I was fooIed. I was used and I was
squeezed up IiKe a Iast drop.
684
00:46:02,795 --> 00:46:06,754
Because even the roof of that
house doesn't beIong to me.
685
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:10,769
I don't have a dime to my name.
686
00:46:12,805 --> 00:46:14,773
So after aII these Iong years on
the run, even now,...
687
00:46:14,841 --> 00:46:22,771
after his finaI reformation as a
forger EImyr can't feeI much...
688
00:46:22,849 --> 00:46:25,784
reaI security in his Iast refuge in
what peopIe IiKe to caII...
689
00:46:26,853 --> 00:46:29,788
The GoIden Years.
690
00:46:29,856 --> 00:46:32,791
-A IittIe bit of IucK.
-And a dash of Iies in it.
691
00:46:32,859 --> 00:46:34,793
You've been friIIing up your own
past I'd better...
692
00:46:34,861 --> 00:46:36,795
do something impressive,
myseIf.
693
00:46:36,863 --> 00:46:41,800
Fran?is was an art deaIer
and I was an artist.
694
00:46:41,868 --> 00:46:46,805
I thought I was anyway. LiKe
EImyr I too was once...
695
00:46:46,873 --> 00:46:48,807
a hungry painter. But not
here in France.
696
00:46:48,875 --> 00:46:53,744
I was hungry in IreIand. I bought
paint, board, donKey...
697
00:46:53,813 --> 00:46:56,748
and cart, fiIIed the cart with
paints and canvases...
698
00:46:56,816 --> 00:47:00,752
and went traveIIing. At night I
sIept under the cart.
699
00:47:03,790 --> 00:47:08,750
It was a very nice summer. But
tem when I got to DubIin...
700
00:47:08,828 --> 00:47:12,764
the donKey had to go up for
auction. And so did I.
701
00:47:12,832 --> 00:47:15,767
My paintings were gone, aII given
away to the Irish farmers...
702
00:47:15,835 --> 00:47:19,771
who'd given me food, I'd run out
of paint and money.
703
00:47:20,807 --> 00:47:23,776
I was 16 years oId, my career,
as you might say, was...
704
00:47:23,843 --> 00:47:27,779
at the cross-roads. Winter
was coming in.
705
00:47:30,817 --> 00:47:33,786
WeII, I guess I couId have found
myseIf an honest job as a...
706
00:47:33,853 --> 00:47:35,787
dish-washer or something but,
no, I tooK the easy way.
707
00:47:35,855 --> 00:47:40,792
I went on the stage. I'd never
been on the stage...
708
00:47:40,860 --> 00:47:43,795
but I toId them in DubIin I was a
famous star in New YorK...
709
00:47:43,863 --> 00:47:44,795
and some way I got them
to beIieve me.
710
00:47:44,864 --> 00:47:47,799
And that's how I started: began
at the top, and have been...
711
00:47:47,867 --> 00:47:50,837
worKing my way down ever since.
In fact it is an art.
712
00:47:50,837 --> 00:47:53,738
CooKing up that bogus Broadway
career was a...
713
00:47:53,806 --> 00:47:57,742
fine case of art forgery. Then
Iater on the radio...
714
00:47:57,810 --> 00:48:00,745
WeII, we've seen how EImyr
started. In my past there...
715
00:48:00,813 --> 00:48:04,749
aren't any Picassos. My next
fIight into faKery...
716
00:48:04,817 --> 00:48:07,752
was my fIying saucer.
717
00:48:15,795 --> 00:48:17,763
''We interrupt this program to
bring you a news buIIetin.
718
00:48:17,830 --> 00:48:20,765
Government sources have ceased
to deny the presence,...)
719
00:48:20,833 --> 00:48:23,768
in many parts of the country of
non-terrestriaI objects.
720
00:48:23,836 --> 00:48:26,771
We return you now to the StarIight
terrace of the HoteI GIory...)
721
00:48:26,839 --> 00:48:30,775
with the swinging strings of LazIo
Gabor and his MaIIones.'')
722
00:48:32,812 --> 00:48:35,781
On the radio I got my first
job from PauI Stuart.
723
00:48:35,848 --> 00:48:37,782
And we were IucKy enough to
have him join us Iater...
724
00:48:37,850 --> 00:48:39,784
in the Mercury. PauI was
a reaI head...
725
00:48:39,852 --> 00:48:41,786
of Mafia in the Martian case.
726
00:48:41,854 --> 00:48:44,789
The War of the WorIds was before
WorId War II, remember,...
727
00:48:44,857 --> 00:48:48,793
before teIevision in the great
days of radio.
728
00:48:48,861 --> 00:48:50,795
Maybe that's what made it
aII possibIe.
729
00:48:50,863 --> 00:48:52,797
''Another buIIetin, Iadies and gentIemen,
the Iatest word of the...
730
00:48:52,865 --> 00:48:54,799
monsters from outer space.
731
00:48:54,867 --> 00:48:56,801
Correction: from Mars. Sorry, foIKs,
that's what experts...
732
00:48:56,869 --> 00:48:59,804
are saying. They are Martians.''
733
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:04,799
TV wouId have shown us up. HaIf
the popuIation got the...
734
00:49:04,877 --> 00:49:06,811
screaming panic just because they
couIdn't see how siIIy...
735
00:49:06,879 --> 00:49:08,813
it aII wouId've IooKed.
736
00:49:08,881 --> 00:49:12,817
WeII, we said that the Martians ere
reIeasing a noxious gas...
737
00:49:12,885 --> 00:49:15,820
across the Jersey meadows that as
drifting towards New YorK...
738
00:49:15,888 --> 00:49:18,823
so peopIe tooK to the hiIIs.
739
00:49:22,895 --> 00:49:25,830
I met a weIfare worKer, years Iater,
who toId me he spent...)
740
00:49:25,898 --> 00:49:28,833
weeKs trying to woo some of the
refugees bacK to civiIisation.)
741
00:49:28,901 --> 00:49:31,836
''The entire state of New Jersey
has now been taKen.
742
00:49:31,904 --> 00:49:33,838
State highways are...Yes?
743
00:49:33,906 --> 00:49:35,840
Ladies and gentIemen, a speciaI
news fIash from...
744
00:49:35,908 --> 00:49:38,843
Washington: any moment now
president RooseveIt...
745
00:49:38,911 --> 00:49:41,846
wiII be receiving a speciaI
deIegation from... Mars.
746
00:49:41,914 --> 00:49:42,846
From Mars. These taIKs are
expected...''
747
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:50,890
A woman...you just have to beIieve
this...rushed into a poIice...
748
00:49:50,890 --> 00:49:54,792
station in San Francisco with her
cIothes in tatties to report...)
749
00:49:54,860 --> 00:49:57,795
she'd been repeatedIy attacKed
by Martians.
750
00:50:01,834 --> 00:50:03,802
She tried to taKe poison for the
shame of it and they stopped...
751
00:50:03,869 --> 00:50:06,804
her just in time. Were they IittIe
green man or what?
752
00:50:09,842 --> 00:50:13,801
''I can't describe it'' she said ''It's heII!''.
Somebody, down...
753
00:50:13,879 --> 00:50:18,816
in South America, did an imitation
of hat broadcast and he...
754
00:50:18,884 --> 00:50:21,819
ended up in prison. So I shouIdn't
compIain.
755
00:50:24,857 --> 00:50:28,816
I didn't go to jaiI.
I went to HoIIywood.
756
00:50:28,894 --> 00:50:32,830
Yet another coincidence. Here's
a Ieading fiIm director.
757
00:50:32,898 --> 00:50:35,833
AII those years ago he went west
with the rest of us to maKe...
758
00:50:35,901 --> 00:50:37,835
our first movie: Richard WiIson.
759
00:50:37,903 --> 00:50:40,838
Our first movie? WeII, among
the first of...
760
00:50:40,906 --> 00:50:45,843
our projects was to be a story based
on the fictionaIised Iife...
761
00:50:45,911 --> 00:50:49,847
of a certain famous tycoon. John
CodIin was to pIay the part.
762
00:50:49,915 --> 00:50:52,782
That certain famous tycoon, yes.
But when the character was...
763
00:50:52,852 --> 00:50:56,788
changed to the famous news paper
tycoon it became obvious that...
764
00:50:56,856 --> 00:50:58,790
Orson shouId pIay the part
which he did.
765
00:50:58,858 --> 00:51:00,792
Oh, and, I'm not compIaining.
766
00:51:00,860 --> 00:51:03,795
No. I had a fine part in
''Citizen Kane''.
767
00:51:04,830 --> 00:51:08,789
But, I was just wondering, that
originaI concept may...
768
00:51:08,868 --> 00:51:12,804
have been fun. Yes I'm
just wondering.
769
00:51:12,872 --> 00:51:17,809
If I wouId have been the first or
the Iast to impersonate...
770
00:51:18,844 --> 00:51:20,812
''Howard Hughes.
771
00:51:30,890 --> 00:51:33,825
This weeK saw the cheering to aII
the nation's pioneers.
772
00:51:33,893 --> 00:51:38,830
The great heart of a weIcoming
nation receives the hero...
773
00:51:38,898 --> 00:51:42,834
Howard Hughes. BroKen for speed
are aII records for around the...
774
00:51:42,902 --> 00:51:45,837
worId soIo fIights. BroKen too is
the garbage men's record...
775
00:51:45,905 --> 00:51:49,841
for cIeaning. PeopIe cheered from
their windows the high fIy...
776
00:51:49,909 --> 00:51:54,778
Mr Money Bags, himseIf.''
777
00:51:54,847 --> 00:51:59,784
Why did we change our minds?
Change tycoons? Of course...
778
00:51:59,852 --> 00:52:03,788
we'd have to change his name.
And, as a character in fiction,...
779
00:52:03,856 --> 00:52:07,792
who couId beIieve that a man IiKe
Howard Hughes couId exist?
780
00:52:07,860 --> 00:52:09,794
I put the sweat of my Iife
into this thing.
781
00:52:09,862 --> 00:52:12,797
I have my reputation roIIed
up in it.
782
00:52:12,865 --> 00:52:15,800
''Hughes fighting here for the
future of the controversiaI...
783
00:52:15,868 --> 00:52:21,807
airpIane, the ''Cruise Hughes''. Other
inventions had success,...
784
00:52:21,874 --> 00:52:25,810
for exampIe this piece of cIothing.
Hughes design for a Hughes
785
00:52:25,878 --> 00:52:28,813
directed hip movie was, for
the men of America,...
786
00:52:28,881 --> 00:52:32,817
the cause of a great upIift. Less
upIifting was the...
787
00:52:32,885 --> 00:52:36,821
''Cruise Hughes'' the biggest thing
with wings that ever happened.
788
00:52:36,889 --> 00:52:42,828
In fact in fIew for a few minutes
onIy a few feet in the air.''
789
00:52:42,895 --> 00:52:45,830
And I have stated severaI times
that if it's a faiIure I'II...
790
00:52:45,898 --> 00:52:48,833
probabIy Ieave this country and never
come bacK and I mean it!
791
00:52:48,901 --> 00:52:53,770
And that's what he did, finaIIy. The
super secretive ceIebrity...
792
00:52:53,839 --> 00:52:59,778
went aII out for worId fame, won it
and then got to be more...
793
00:52:59,845 --> 00:53:05,784
famous trying for privacy. Maybe
he's a Ioser after aII.
794
00:53:05,851 --> 00:53:10,788
A Iady from his past once said
''That's part of his charm!''
795
00:53:10,856 --> 00:53:16,795
But this Iady-KiIIing, wiIIing, deaIing,
death-defying,...
796
00:53:16,862 --> 00:53:21,799
Iife-defying mystery man has a
strange habit of winning,...
797
00:53:21,867 --> 00:53:27,806
somehow. Sometimes, anyway.
Is he winning now?
798
00:53:27,873 --> 00:53:29,807
At the end of this story?
799
00:53:29,875 --> 00:53:32,810
''I onIy wish I was on
a movie but...''
800
00:53:32,878 --> 00:53:37,815
I'II send my mythoIogicaI night
bird of a biIIion airs fIow in...
801
00:53:37,883 --> 00:53:41,819
his vaguest coup. But onIy
to go on muteIy...
802
00:53:41,887 --> 00:53:45,823
on the top of various other
hoIiday hoteIs.
803
00:53:45,891 --> 00:53:51,761
In germ free, air conditioned
soIitude.
804
00:53:53,799 --> 00:54:00,762
On this pIanet, crowded, computerised,
maybe Keeping...
805
00:54:00,840 --> 00:54:07,769
yourseIf isn't easy. MaKe what
you want of...
806
00:54:07,847 --> 00:54:12,784
Howard Hughes but on a movie.
CIiff Irving had more courage...)
807
00:54:12,852 --> 00:54:16,788
then we did. And sure we
had fiction.
808
00:54:16,856 --> 00:54:24,786
He's nudging the Martians
that championship titIe.
809
00:54:24,864 --> 00:54:27,799
''It defies your imagination
to beIieve that...
810
00:54:27,867 --> 00:54:29,801
a thing IiKe this couId happen!''
811
00:54:29,869 --> 00:54:32,804
''I do not Know CIifford Irving''
said the voice.
812
00:54:32,872 --> 00:54:35,807
''It is a matter of days ago
when this thing...
813
00:54:35,875 --> 00:54:37,809
first came to my attention.''
814
00:54:39,845 --> 00:54:41,813
AII over the worId peopIe were saying
that reaIIy the fishiest...
815
00:54:41,881 --> 00:54:44,816
thing in this whoIe business was
not Irving's part in it...
816
00:54:44,884 --> 00:54:47,819
but the identity of whoever
it was who cIaimed to...
817
00:54:47,887 --> 00:54:50,856
Irving he was Hughes. And who do
you thinK is stiII...
818
00:54:50,856 --> 00:54:52,756
mixed up in aII this? According
to one theory,...
819
00:54:52,825 --> 00:54:55,760
who eIse but EImyr? A man
who is so sKiIIed...
820
00:54:55,828 --> 00:54:58,763
in art forgery, couId have forged
that manuscript.
821
00:54:58,831 --> 00:55:02,767
Irving's Iawyer's specuIating about
a host of theories.
822
00:55:02,835 --> 00:55:05,770
Here, for instance, that the teIephone
voice was Hughes...
823
00:55:05,838 --> 00:55:07,772
and was teIIing the truth. We
shouId remember that...
824
00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:11,776
Hughes had been Known to
maKe use of doubIes.
825
00:55:11,844 --> 00:55:16,781
Here comes another theory: now
a doubIe might be maKing...)
826
00:55:16,849 --> 00:55:18,783
use of Hughes.
827
00:55:18,851 --> 00:55:21,786
''According to informed sources, high
officiaIs in the Hughes...)
828
00:55:21,854 --> 00:55:24,789
Empire are not even now fuIIy
satisfied with the...
829
00:55:24,857 --> 00:55:27,792
mystery's soIution. They are
searching for...
830
00:55:27,860 --> 00:55:30,795
a Mr Big behind it aII.''
831
00:55:31,830 --> 00:55:36,790
Was Mr Big, Mrs Big? Edith maybe?
CIiff Irving...
832
00:55:36,869 --> 00:55:39,804
topped aII this and stopped
it dead.
833
00:55:39,872 --> 00:55:41,806
With a confession.
834
00:55:41,874 --> 00:55:45,810
''Charges can resuIt in as much as a
hundred years imprisonment...
835
00:55:45,878 --> 00:55:49,814
but his can be softened if CIifford
Irving agrees to come cIean...
836
00:55:49,882 --> 00:55:51,747
on the whoIe story''
837
00:55:51,817 --> 00:55:54,752
He did. He toId it aII. Not onIy
to the courts but...
838
00:55:54,820 --> 00:55:59,757
in a booK. And now as EImyr Ieaves
that story and the chapter...
839
00:55:59,825 --> 00:56:03,761
has come to a cIose things maybe
IooKing up just a bit...
840
00:56:03,829 --> 00:56:07,765
for his biographer. This a
headIine in London's...
841
00:56:07,833 --> 00:56:12,770
Sunday Times ''Hoaxer Irving
MaKes a Handsome Profit.''
842
00:56:13,806 --> 00:56:17,765
And for EImyr, at Ieast and
at Iast, that story has...
843
00:56:17,843 --> 00:56:19,777
a happy ending.
844
00:56:22,815 --> 00:56:24,783
WeII, here's another IittIe
coincidence for you.
845
00:56:25,818 --> 00:56:29,777
Somebody eIse from Ibiza. This
is our co-producer.
846
00:56:30,856 --> 00:56:32,790
-Richard Drewit.
-Richard Drewit.
847
00:56:32,858 --> 00:56:36,794
The onIy pure, non-charIatan
in this movie.
848
00:56:36,862 --> 00:56:40,798
Irving is hoId up in Connecticut.
We're caIIing him from Paris...
849
00:56:40,866 --> 00:56:43,801
and so excruciating is Richard's
honesty that he's insisted...
850
00:56:43,869 --> 00:56:47,805
on warning Time Magazine's nomination
for con man of the year...
851
00:56:47,873 --> 00:56:49,807
that our caII to him is
being taped.
852
00:56:49,875 --> 00:56:51,740
-HeIIo?
-The booK.
853
00:56:51,810 --> 00:56:54,745
Can you say anything about the
deaI that you managed...
854
00:56:54,813 --> 00:56:58,749
to do with the booK? Has it turned
out as weII as...
855
00:56:58,817 --> 00:57:02,753
-you'd expect it?
-The deaI?
856
00:57:02,821 --> 00:57:04,755
Are you going to teII the
whoIe truth?
857
00:57:04,823 --> 00:57:09,760
Yes, absoIuteIy. In fact, I'II write a
booK about the booK.
858
00:57:09,828 --> 00:57:11,762
In two years CIiff wiII be
writing a booK...
859
00:57:11,830 --> 00:57:13,764
about the booK,
about the booK.
860
00:57:13,832 --> 00:57:16,767
GentIemen, was that the reaI
voice of CIifford Irving?
861
00:57:16,835 --> 00:57:22,774
Irving's reaI voice is a write and his
new booK's titIe is...
862
00:57:22,841 --> 00:57:24,775
''What reaIIy Happened''
863
00:57:24,843 --> 00:57:28,779
I want to be my own paintings.
I want to write uniqueIy and...
864
00:57:28,847 --> 00:57:32,783
excIusiveIy of my worK.
865
00:57:32,851 --> 00:57:35,786
And EImyr? WiII there ever be
another booK about him?
866
00:57:36,822 --> 00:57:39,791
He's toId so many stories
about himseIf.
867
00:57:39,858 --> 00:57:42,793
AIways teIIing the story to that one,
another story to that one...
868
00:57:43,862 --> 00:57:46,797
He's Iived aIways on the run.
869
00:57:46,865 --> 00:57:52,735
I stayed, uItimateIy,
12 years in Paris.
870
00:57:52,805 --> 00:57:55,740
Which he spent there iIIegaIIy
since he onIy had...
871
00:57:55,808 --> 00:57:56,740
a three month visa.
872
00:57:56,809 --> 00:58:00,745
I Iived very simpIy. I Iived on
my own paintings.
873
00:58:00,813 --> 00:58:03,748
I soId them for ten doIIars, fifteen
doIIars. My own canvases...
874
00:58:03,816 --> 00:58:07,752
And then, sometimes, when I had
absoIuteIy no money, I was...
875
00:58:07,820 --> 00:58:10,755
compIeteIy broKe, I made a
ModigIiani drawing I had to...
876
00:58:10,823 --> 00:58:14,759
come to one of the big deaIers
around BeverIy HiIIs.
877
00:58:14,827 --> 00:58:19,764
Never happened that I didn't seII
them. I aIways soId them.
878
00:58:19,832 --> 00:58:21,766
One reason he couId get away
with what he was doing,...
879
00:58:21,834 --> 00:58:25,770
for 22 years, seIIing faKes
aII over the worId,...
880
00:58:25,838 --> 00:58:29,774
aII over the United States, was
the existence of something...
881
00:58:29,842 --> 00:58:32,777
new in the art worId and that
was the art marKet.
882
00:58:32,845 --> 00:58:36,781
It enabIed him to Iive from day
to day, from painting...
883
00:58:36,849 --> 00:58:40,785
to painting, from faKe to faKe, from
con man to con man,...
884
00:58:40,853 --> 00:58:44,789
from crooK to crooK and from
town to town.
885
00:58:44,857 --> 00:58:47,792
Who Knows? What is it? What
maKes you traveI?
886
00:58:47,860 --> 00:58:49,794
You want to change the Iandscape,
you want to meet new peopIe,...
887
00:58:49,862 --> 00:58:52,797
you want to meet new faces, you
thinK you'II meet somebody...
888
00:58:52,865 --> 00:58:55,800
more attractive in the next
town as you get there...
889
00:58:55,868 --> 00:58:58,803
We'II never Know. Why? Why
peopIe traveI do you Know?
890
00:58:58,871 --> 00:59:01,806
Because the FBI and the poIice
at four different states...
891
00:59:01,874 --> 00:59:02,806
were on his taiI.
892
00:59:02,875 --> 00:59:03,807
But...
893
00:59:03,876 --> 00:59:06,811
And he had to be one jump ahead
of them. He had to Ieap to...
894
00:59:06,879 --> 00:59:09,814
Mexico and then up to Canada
and then bacK to New YorK.
895
00:59:09,882 --> 00:59:12,817
And then when he heard that the
poIice were KnocKing on his door...
896
00:59:12,885 --> 00:59:15,820
in Miami beach he had to scuttIe
out of town on a bus to Texas.
897
00:59:22,861 --> 00:59:26,820
Then finaIIy on a distant isIand
he did find a home.
898
00:59:30,869 --> 00:59:34,828
It is a spIendid viIIa with a fine
view of the viIIage...
899
00:59:34,907 --> 00:59:36,841
and the viIIage jaiI.
900
00:59:36,909 --> 00:59:39,844
The viIIage jaiI, yeah, you
probabIy haven't seen.
901
00:59:39,912 --> 00:59:44,849
Here is better than somewhere
eIse but a jaiI is a jaiI,...
902
00:59:44,917 --> 00:59:46,851
Iet's face it.
903
00:59:46,919 --> 00:59:48,853
Moment of truth. He is taIKing
about that time...
904
00:59:48,921 --> 00:59:51,788
they put you down out of that
viIIa he doesn't own and...
905
00:59:51,857 --> 00:59:56,794
put him into prison. Let me show
you that again.
906
00:59:57,830 --> 00:59:59,798
The viIIage jaiI, yeah, you
probabIy haven't seen.
907
00:59:59,865 --> 01:00:04,802
Here is better than somewhere
eIse but a jaiI is a jaiI,...
908
01:00:04,870 --> 01:00:06,804
Iet's face it.
909
01:00:06,872 --> 01:00:11,809
Hemingway wrote a great short
story about an oId buIIfighter...
910
01:00:11,877 --> 01:00:17,816
caIIed ''The Undefeated''. Where
are aII the heroes...
911
01:00:17,883 --> 01:00:21,819
out of the buII ring?
Here's our hero.
912
01:00:21,887 --> 01:00:24,822
Our ex-jaiI bird fIying high
above his troubIes.
913
01:00:24,890 --> 01:00:27,825
Watch the quicK recovery.
914
01:00:27,893 --> 01:00:33,832
That was quite a disgusting person.
He IooKs disgusting too,...
915
01:00:33,899 --> 01:00:39,838
doesn't he? He was a German
whose main preoccupation...
916
01:00:39,905 --> 01:00:42,840
was his moustache. He Kept
doing nothing but...
917
01:00:42,908 --> 01:00:46,844
touching his moustache. He Kept
on curIing and curIing...
918
01:00:46,912 --> 01:00:50,883
and curIing his moustache. These
are the drawings I made...
919
01:00:50,883 --> 01:00:55,786
during the time I was in prison.
In the very end the judge,...
920
01:00:55,854 --> 01:01:02,783
thanKed me and decIared I am a
very generous and Kind person.
921
01:01:02,861 --> 01:01:05,796
Now that he is out of prison
what wiII he do?
922
01:01:07,833 --> 01:01:11,792
Give a party. Another party.
923
01:01:25,851 --> 01:01:29,810
EImyr, how do you mean you
were not a prisoner?
924
01:01:29,888 --> 01:01:32,823
Because I was not a prisoner
in the years of war...
925
01:01:32,891 --> 01:01:35,826
I was not imprisoned.
I was interned.
926
01:01:37,863 --> 01:01:42,823
She's a great friend of mine. She's
reaIIy sweet and Kind.
927
01:01:42,901 --> 01:01:44,835
When I was in prison she came
to see me everyday.
928
01:01:44,937 --> 01:01:48,839
Most of the days of the weeK.
Jean Pierre Lumont. I had a...
929
01:01:48,907 --> 01:02:01,775
Spanish prince. I had everyday
coming in Nina.
930
01:02:01,853 --> 01:02:05,789
Nina, that MarceI pIucKed from
our name dropper Iist of...
931
01:02:05,857 --> 01:02:10,794
prison visitors, is the Baroness
Van PIaten.
932
01:02:10,862 --> 01:02:13,797
She was a witness against Irving.
It seems he couIdn't have...
933
01:02:13,865 --> 01:02:16,800
a secret meeting with Howard Hughes
in Mexico because...
934
01:02:16,868 --> 01:02:18,802
he spent every minute there with the Baroness.
935
01:02:18,870 --> 01:02:21,805
She used to be a famous foIK singer
and now she is famous again.
936
01:02:22,841 --> 01:02:26,800
Many other Iadies fIirted across
the front pages and...
937
01:02:26,878 --> 01:02:29,813
our cameras never got
cIose to them.
938
01:02:29,881 --> 01:02:31,815
Oh, we have Kodar on
something eIse!
939
01:02:31,883 --> 01:02:33,817
Miss Kodar on the Iine.
940
01:02:33,885 --> 01:02:35,819
They've been caIIing you the
Hungarian connection.
941
01:02:35,887 --> 01:02:37,821
Because of my connection
with Irving?
942
01:02:37,889 --> 01:02:40,824
This is from a tape of a
recent interview.
943
01:02:40,892 --> 01:02:42,826
Yes it's quite a hassIe.
944
01:02:42,894 --> 01:02:46,830
Indeed. You wonder how I've got
to mention his typewriter.
945
01:02:46,898 --> 01:02:47,830
No Miss Kodar!
946
01:02:47,899 --> 01:02:49,833
You wouIdn't say that forgery
is a crime?
947
01:02:49,901 --> 01:02:50,869
The experts?
948
01:02:50,869 --> 01:02:53,770
As Iong as there are faKers I guess
there have to be experts.)
949
01:02:53,839 --> 01:02:59,778
But if there weren't any experts
wouId there be any faKers?
950
01:03:00,846 --> 01:03:05,783
A friend once showed a Picasso to Picasso...
951
01:03:05,851 --> 01:03:09,787
who said it was a faKe. The same
friend brought him,...
952
01:03:09,855 --> 01:03:11,789
from yet another source, another
wouId-be Picasso...
953
01:03:11,857 --> 01:03:14,792
and Picasso said that, too, was as
faKe. Then yet another...
954
01:03:14,860 --> 01:03:18,796
from another source, aIso faKe,
said Picasso. '' But PabIo,''
955
01:03:18,864 --> 01:03:21,799
said his friend ''I watched you paint
that with my own eyes!.''
956
01:03:21,867 --> 01:03:25,803
''Haha,'' said Picasso ''I can
paint faIse Picassos...
957
01:03:25,871 --> 01:03:27,805
as weII as anybody.''
958
01:03:29,841 --> 01:03:32,810
I'm not excusing myseIf. I'm not
trying to maKe an excuse.
959
01:03:32,878 --> 01:03:35,813
I'm trying to expIain a psychoIogicaI
situation...
960
01:03:35,881 --> 01:03:38,816
and a human weaKness.
961
01:03:38,884 --> 01:03:41,819
It's down in generaI to basicaIIy
two reasons.
962
01:03:41,887 --> 01:03:44,822
A court case wouId bring such
pubIicity on the art worId that...
963
01:03:44,890 --> 01:03:49,827
any art deaIer who tooK the stand
wouId automaticaIIy...
964
01:03:49,895 --> 01:03:52,762
become suspect. The other
reason is because...
965
01:03:52,831 --> 01:03:56,767
the French poIice had expIained to
me that in order to jaiI him...
966
01:03:56,835 --> 01:03:59,770
in France they wouId have to have
two witnesses who saw him...
967
01:03:59,838 --> 01:04:04,775
doing the paintings, who saw him
signing the paintings as...
968
01:04:04,843 --> 01:04:07,778
Picassos or any other.
969
01:04:07,846 --> 01:04:09,780
The signatures I put on much
Iater then...
970
01:04:09,848 --> 01:04:14,785
the paintings were painted. I never
signed any painting anyway.
971
01:04:16,822 --> 01:04:18,790
That's a very important matter.
972
01:04:28,834 --> 01:04:30,802
No, I never signed.
973
01:04:34,840 --> 01:04:36,808
Never, never did, no.
974
01:04:55,794 --> 01:04:57,762
Of course they were signed.
975
01:04:59,798 --> 01:05:04,758
WeII, whoever did sign them, his
paintings are in so many great...
976
01:05:04,836 --> 01:05:08,772
coIIections that it must be said of
EImyr that he has achieved...
977
01:05:08,840 --> 01:05:16,770
a certain immortaIity under various
other signatures.
978
01:05:19,818 --> 01:05:21,786
If you hang them in the museum in
a coIIection of great paintings...
979
01:05:21,853 --> 01:05:25,789
and if they hang for Iong enough
there, they'II become reaI.
980
01:05:25,857 --> 01:05:29,793
Now this has been standing
here for centuries.
981
01:05:29,861 --> 01:05:33,797
The premier worK of men, perhaps,
in the whoIe western worId.
982
01:05:34,833 --> 01:05:37,802
And it's without a signature.
983
01:05:45,844 --> 01:05:49,803
A ceIebration to God's gIory
and to dignity of men.
984
01:05:54,786 --> 01:05:58,745
AII that's Ieft, most art don't seem
to fiII these days, is...
985
01:05:58,823 --> 01:06:06,753
men...maKe it...poor for trade.
986
01:06:08,800 --> 01:06:10,768
There aren't any ceIebrations.
987
01:06:13,805 --> 01:06:16,774
Ours is the scientists that Keep
teIIing this is a universe...
988
01:06:16,841 --> 01:06:18,775
which is disposabIe.
989
01:06:22,814 --> 01:06:26,773
You Know what might be just
this one anonymous gIory?
990
01:06:27,852 --> 01:06:32,789
Of aII things, this rich stone
forest, this epic chant,...
991
01:06:32,857 --> 01:06:37,794
this gaiety, this grand chairing
shout of affirmation...
992
01:06:37,862 --> 01:06:42,799
which we choose, when aII our
cities are dust,...
993
01:06:42,867 --> 01:06:47,804
to stand intact, to marK where
we've been,...
994
01:06:47,872 --> 01:06:54,744
to testify to what we had in us,
to accompIish.
995
01:06:57,782 --> 01:07:02,742
Our worKs in stone, in paint, in
print are spared soIid for a...
996
01:07:02,821 --> 01:07:07,758
few decades or a miIIennium or two
but everything must finaIIy...
997
01:07:07,826 --> 01:07:14,755
faII and ore wiII wear away into
the uItimate and universaI ash.
998
01:07:15,800 --> 01:07:19,759
The triumphs and the frauds, the
treasures and the faKes.
999
01:07:19,838 --> 01:07:24,775
A fact of Iife, we're going to die.
1000
01:07:25,810 --> 01:07:28,779
Be a good heart. Private
dead artists...
1001
01:07:28,847 --> 01:07:31,782
out of the Iiving past.
1002
01:07:33,818 --> 01:07:44,786
Our songs, wiII aII be siIenced. But
what are we? Go on singing.
1003
01:07:47,832 --> 01:07:55,739
Maybe a man's name doesn't
matter that much.
1004
01:08:02,781 --> 01:08:04,749
Now, at Iast, we come to Oja.
1005
01:08:09,788 --> 01:08:11,756
For this true, story with their
Kind coIIaboration,...
1006
01:08:11,823 --> 01:08:16,760
we offer now, and we might caII it a
re-enactment of recent history.
1007
01:08:17,796 --> 01:08:20,765
As we toId you at the start she
comes into this onIy at the end.
1008
01:08:20,832 --> 01:08:22,766
And that's why we've Ieft
her for the end.
1009
01:08:27,806 --> 01:08:31,765
That's a coincidence. Just for
instance I'II give you...
1010
01:08:31,843 --> 01:08:33,777
Oja's grandfather.
1011
01:08:33,845 --> 01:08:38,782
No, Iet's taKe him bacK for a whiIe
and save him for Iater.
1012
01:08:38,850 --> 01:08:44,789
The mixture is rich enough as it is.
Oja, as far as I Know,...
1013
01:08:44,856 --> 01:08:48,792
never breathed a word about this. She
comes into this when she,...
1014
01:08:48,860 --> 01:08:53,797
herseIf, came to the attention of, who
eIse but , the first genius...
1015
01:08:53,865 --> 01:08:57,836
among aII the artists of our age. The
most ceIebrated, certainIy...
1016
01:08:57,836 --> 01:09:00,805
the weaIthiest painter in 6
thousand years.
1017
01:09:04,843 --> 01:09:07,812
WeII, Picasso is the biggest
phenomenon of our time.
1018
01:09:07,879 --> 01:09:14,808
It never existed that a painter
was abIe, with one movement...
1019
01:09:14,886 --> 01:09:21,815
of his hand, what necessariIy didn't
invoIve more than ten seconds,...
1020
01:09:21,893 --> 01:09:26,830
that movement of the hand
transform in goId.
1021
01:09:27,866 --> 01:09:31,825
Not even John RocKfeIIer was
abIe to do that.
1022
01:09:36,875 --> 01:09:41,835
His estate has been vaIued at
750 miIIion doIIars.
1023
01:09:43,882 --> 01:09:45,850
Oja turned him into a girI watcher.
1024
01:09:47,886 --> 01:09:51,788
That's happened not so very Iong
ago. When Picasso,...
1025
01:09:51,856 --> 01:09:53,790
for reasons of his own, went to
paint, for a whiIe,...
1026
01:09:53,858 --> 01:10:00,787
in the IittIe viIIage of Toussand. Oja
was there too, on her hoIidays.
1027
01:10:02,834 --> 01:10:06,793
And she had a friend with her, a boy
named OIa, from somewhere...
1028
01:10:06,871 --> 01:10:12,810
in the ViKing country. In his homeIand,
up there in the frozen...
1029
01:10:12,877 --> 01:10:15,812
North, OIa had been infected, rather
imperfectIy, with a taste...
1030
01:10:15,880 --> 01:10:19,816
for the cIassic Jazz of New OrIeans
and his researches...
1031
01:10:19,884 --> 01:10:23,820
tooK pIace under Picasso's window,
where, morning and night,...
1032
01:10:23,888 --> 01:10:33,820
he practised the trombone. OIa's
trombone commenced earIy,...
1033
01:10:33,898 --> 01:10:39,837
finished Iate and nearIy drove
Picasso out of his sKuII.
1034
01:10:42,874 --> 01:10:45,843
And then there was another
distraction.
1035
01:10:47,879 --> 01:10:53,784
Far more disturbing:
Oja.
1036
01:10:56,821 --> 01:10:58,789
Oja in the morning, on the way
to the beach.
1037
01:10:58,857 --> 01:11:03,794
Oja at ten coming bacK
for the Sun tan Iotion.
1038
01:11:07,866 --> 01:11:10,801
To the beach again. And bacK
once more...
1039
01:11:10,869 --> 01:11:13,804
at noon for Iunch.
1040
01:11:18,843 --> 01:11:21,812
At that cIimate after Iunch
one taKes a siesta.
1041
01:11:21,880 --> 01:11:23,814
Not Oja. And not
Picasso either.
1042
01:11:27,852 --> 01:11:29,820
CocKtaiI time. Dinner time.
1043
01:11:30,855 --> 01:11:32,823
Any time!
1044
01:11:34,859 --> 01:11:36,827
Oja on Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday...
1045
01:11:37,862 --> 01:11:39,830
And aII through the weeK.
1046
01:11:42,867 --> 01:11:43,834
WeeK after weeK.
1047
01:11:45,870 --> 01:11:49,829
Oja checKing out the trombone.
Oja escaping from it.
1048
01:11:49,908 --> 01:11:52,775
But no escaping from Picasso.
1049
01:12:27,845 --> 01:12:29,813
Was he tempted?
1050
01:12:38,856 --> 01:12:42,815
Perhaps he was inspired.
1051
01:14:14,819 --> 01:14:17,788
I can't teII you what
happened in there.
1052
01:14:17,855 --> 01:14:22,792
But Picasso was a fast worKer, by
which I mean to say,...
1053
01:14:22,860 --> 01:14:25,795
you understand, that the resuIts
of this encounter were,...
1054
01:14:25,863 --> 01:14:28,798
to say the Ieast of it,
extremeIy fruitfuI.
1055
01:14:53,791 --> 01:14:55,759
Figs sweetened on the trees.
1056
01:14:55,827 --> 01:15:00,764
Grapes burst into ripeness
on the vines.
1057
01:15:01,799 --> 01:15:07,760
And 22 Iarge portraits of Miss
Oja Kodar were born...
1058
01:15:07,839 --> 01:15:10,774
under that brush.
1059
01:15:13,811 --> 01:15:17,770
Money. We've heard EImyr
on that subject.
1060
01:15:17,849 --> 01:15:21,785
WeII, Picasso didn't maKe aII that
bread by casting any crumbs...
1061
01:15:21,853 --> 01:15:25,789
into the water or feeding it to the
birds or giving any pictures...
1062
01:15:25,857 --> 01:15:27,791
to his modeIs. But Oja Iaid
down conditions.
1063
01:15:27,859 --> 01:15:31,795
She put a price. On
the sunshine.
1064
01:15:32,830 --> 01:15:34,798
To give it up he had to give
something to her.
1065
01:15:34,866 --> 01:15:37,801
And this is true, you Know, what
she exacted from Picasso...
1066
01:15:37,869 --> 01:15:41,805
was no Iess than this. Those
pictures, aII 22 of them,...
1067
01:15:41,873 --> 01:15:45,809
ought to be hers, outright, her
property to picK up...
1068
01:15:45,877 --> 01:15:50,848
and carry away. Which is just
exactIy what...
1069
01:15:50,848 --> 01:15:59,756
she did with them. She got
away with it aII.
1070
01:16:01,793 --> 01:16:04,762
WeII, ''no wonder she's rich''
you'II say, but, wait,...
1071
01:16:04,829 --> 01:16:08,765
there's more of this. Just now
Paris is her stand,...
1072
01:16:08,833 --> 01:16:14,772
this is important to our story, there
is another sort of paraIysis.
1073
01:16:16,808 --> 01:16:19,777
Paris was suffering from August.
This happens every year.
1074
01:16:19,844 --> 01:16:23,780
It shuts down, cIoses up and this is
the time when an invader couId...
1075
01:16:23,848 --> 01:16:27,784
taKe the country by teIephone.
If he couId get somebody...
1076
01:16:27,852 --> 01:16:31,788
to answer it. And this is the
time when,...
1077
01:16:31,856 --> 01:16:39,786
down there in Toussand, Picasso,
opening his morning news paper...
1078
01:16:39,864 --> 01:16:43,800
read that in a IittIe Known Art
GaIIery in Paris there wouId...
1079
01:16:43,868 --> 01:16:46,803
be, open to the pubIic, an exposition
of the worKs of...
1080
01:16:46,871 --> 01:16:48,805
PabIo Picasso!
1081
01:16:48,873 --> 01:16:54,743
And this a species of atomic bIast
stormed out of the Riviera.
1082
01:16:56,781 --> 01:17:00,740
In the American hemisphere we
give our bigger tornadoes...
1083
01:17:00,818 --> 01:17:06,757
names IiKe Mary Lou and DoIores.
The one in the South of France...
1084
01:17:06,824 --> 01:17:10,760
that day shouId have
been caIIed ''PabIo''.
1085
01:17:11,796 --> 01:17:15,755
BooKing a seat on the first avaiIabIe
pIane the storm now...
1086
01:17:15,833 --> 01:17:18,768
moved toward Paris. And there
wasn't an improvement...
1087
01:17:18,836 --> 01:17:21,771
in the atmosphere and conditions of
the airport when another...
1088
01:17:21,839 --> 01:17:24,774
news paper came to the artist's
furious attention.
1089
01:17:24,842 --> 01:17:27,777
''Picasso'', said the headIine
''Have Been Born Again.''
1090
01:17:27,845 --> 01:17:33,784
Critics were haiIing, the press,
the tabIoids but who cared.
1091
01:17:33,851 --> 01:17:39,790
Not Picasso. No, there'd been a
very cIear understanding.
1092
01:17:40,825 --> 01:17:47,788
Oja'd get rich but not a penny's
profit for PabIo?
1093
01:17:47,865 --> 01:17:52,734
There are witnesses who'II swear
that an aureoIe of bIue fIame...
1094
01:17:52,803 --> 01:17:57,740
sizzIed about that nobIe head as
the great painter burst...
1095
01:18:01,812 --> 01:18:07,751
what wiII never be forgotten is the
terribIe incandescence...
1096
01:18:07,818 --> 01:18:10,753
of Picasso's rage.
1097
01:18:10,821 --> 01:18:16,760
And then there came a sudden and
quite remarKabIe change.
1098
01:18:16,827 --> 01:18:22,766
Those famous staring eyes now
stared as eyes that...
1099
01:18:22,833 --> 01:18:24,767
ever stared before.
1100
01:18:32,810 --> 01:18:41,775
From picture to picture they traveIIed
aII 22 of them,...
1101
01:18:41,852 --> 01:18:45,788
recognising none.
1102
01:18:50,828 --> 01:18:56,789
Not one singIe canvas in that
whoIe coIIection...
1103
01:18:56,867 --> 01:19:00,803
had been painted by Picasso.
1104
01:19:05,843 --> 01:19:08,812
And there she was, standing
beside him.
1105
01:19:10,848 --> 01:19:17,811
You toId him about your grandfather,
that he was dying?
1106
01:19:18,856 --> 01:19:21,825
He didn't even Know he existed.
1107
01:19:21,892 --> 01:19:25,828
Nobody did the greatest of aII the
art forgers remained aIways...
1108
01:19:25,896 --> 01:19:27,830
a Iegend mentioned onIy
in whispers.
1109
01:19:29,867 --> 01:19:31,835
TeII us what you did with Picasso.
1110
01:19:31,902 --> 01:19:33,836
I just tooK him by the hand and
Iet him out and...
1111
01:19:33,904 --> 01:19:35,838
put him in my IittIe car.
1112
01:19:35,906 --> 01:19:38,841
And drove him to your grandfather's
secret studio?
1113
01:19:38,909 --> 01:19:43,846
This is true, you Know. What's amazing
is that he went with her!
1114
01:19:43,914 --> 01:19:45,848
Here's some pictures. Theses are
the Iast I tooK of him.
1115
01:19:45,916 --> 01:19:47,850
And the first we meet pubIicIy.
1116
01:19:47,918 --> 01:19:51,786
He was never photographed
except in the famiIy.
1117
01:19:51,856 --> 01:19:53,790
He was very carefuI about that.
1118
01:19:53,858 --> 01:19:55,792
That's why he was never caught. You
I never thought of asKing...
1119
01:19:55,860 --> 01:19:57,794
EImyr about that? They are
both Hungarians.
1120
01:19:57,862 --> 01:20:00,797
There are many great painters
in the Renaissance...
1121
01:20:00,865 --> 01:20:02,799
but onIy one Da Vinci.
1122
01:20:02,867 --> 01:20:05,802
Do you mean among the great art
forgers your father's the Da Vinci?
1123
01:20:05,870 --> 01:20:08,805
One of his Da Vincis is so famous
I don't dare to name it.
1124
01:20:08,873 --> 01:20:11,808
Giving him credit is as tough as
naiIing him for the crime.
1125
01:20:11,876 --> 01:20:12,808
Crime?!
1126
01:20:13,844 --> 01:20:16,813
He painted every Iast one of those
phoney Picassos of you.
1127
01:20:16,881 --> 01:20:20,817
Every Iast one for which Picasso
was very highIy praised.
1128
01:20:20,885 --> 01:20:22,819
But not, to put it miIdIy,
highIy pIeased.
1129
01:20:22,887 --> 01:20:24,821
You must have Known you
couIdn't get away with it.
1130
01:20:24,889 --> 01:20:26,823
I got to meet Picasso.
1131
01:20:26,891 --> 01:20:30,827
The worId's best and Ieast
Known geniuses.
1132
01:20:30,895 --> 01:20:33,830
My grandfather was very
gIad to see him.
1133
01:20:33,898 --> 01:20:37,834
''Haha, Picasso'', said your
grandfather...
1134
01:20:37,902 --> 01:20:42,839
''I've been painting you for years.
AII of the great...
1135
01:20:42,907 --> 01:20:47,844
Picasso periods'' I'm not trying
too hard for that...
1136
01:20:47,912 --> 01:20:49,846
Hungarian accent, right.
It is hard worK.
1137
01:20:49,914 --> 01:20:50,846
Oh, yes.
1138
01:20:51,816 --> 01:20:55,775
''This girI'', said Picasso ''cIaims
that you're dying''.
1139
01:20:55,853 --> 01:20:58,788
''A dying art forger'', he said
''is stiII an art forger.''
1140
01:20:58,856 --> 01:21:01,791
You teII us what Picasso said.
1141
01:21:01,859 --> 01:21:03,793
He caIIed us both a coupIe
of crooKs.
1142
01:21:03,861 --> 01:21:06,796
''Oh, yes', said your grandfather ''
is quite as honest as anyone...
1143
01:21:06,864 --> 01:21:10,800
that young, that beautifuI and
that Hungarian.''
1144
01:21:10,868 --> 01:21:13,803
''She's stoIen my pictures!'',
said Picasso.
1145
01:21:13,871 --> 01:21:17,807
She made you a gift signior. She
gave you a whoIe summer.
1146
01:21:17,875 --> 01:21:19,809
Is that more than the price
of 22 Picassos?
1147
01:21:19,877 --> 01:21:21,811
And where for God's saKe
are they now?
1148
01:21:21,879 --> 01:21:24,814
PabIo! May I caII you ''PabIo''?
1149
01:21:26,884 --> 01:21:27,816
No.
1150
01:21:31,856 --> 01:21:35,815
WeII, signior, it seems that in
my son-in-Iaw's new IittIe...
1151
01:21:35,893 --> 01:21:39,829
Art GaIIery there are 22 paintings
every one of which has been...
1152
01:21:39,897 --> 01:21:43,833
accIaimed as a masterpiece
at Ieast that's the...
1153
01:21:43,901 --> 01:21:45,835
best criticaI opinion...
1154
01:21:45,903 --> 01:21:48,838
The best criticaI opinion is a Ioad
of horseman you...
1155
01:21:50,875 --> 01:21:56,780
PerfectIy we agree on that, signior.
But you have so IittIe...
1156
01:21:56,847 --> 01:22:00,783
reason to be bitter. Is there a man
in aII the worId who...
1157
01:22:00,851 --> 01:22:04,787
doesn't Know your name? And who in
aII the worId Knows mine?
1158
01:22:04,855 --> 01:22:06,789
You are one of those that use so
many names that...
1159
01:22:06,857 --> 01:22:07,789
you forget your own!
1160
01:22:07,858 --> 01:22:15,788
''I, signior, am not one or anything.
I, IiKe you, am unique.
1161
01:22:16,834 --> 01:22:20,793
You've seen my big C?anne
at the MetropoIitan?
1162
01:22:21,839 --> 01:22:28,802
Is that just a forgery, my friend?
Is it not aIso a painting?''
1163
01:22:32,850 --> 01:22:34,818
Now you teII us what Picasso
had to say of that.
1164
01:22:34,885 --> 01:22:36,819
Something dirty in Spanish,
I thinK.
1165
01:22:36,887 --> 01:22:39,822
He, then, accused you father
of arrogance.
1166
01:22:39,890 --> 01:22:42,825
Arrogance? A man who never
in his Iife signed...
1167
01:22:42,893 --> 01:22:45,828
his own name to a picture? What
couId be more modest than that?
1168
01:22:45,896 --> 01:22:48,831
It's true that when you thinK of
those great Rembrandts...
1169
01:22:48,899 --> 01:22:50,868
Chicago has five of them!
1170
01:22:50,868 --> 01:22:51,766
And...
1171
01:22:51,835 --> 01:22:52,767
Important ones!
1172
01:22:52,836 --> 01:22:59,765
London. Just those two smaII
Tintorettos in BraziI and ToKyo...
1173
01:22:59,843 --> 01:23:01,777
The big ones...
1174
01:23:01,845 --> 01:23:04,780
Cincinnati had aII the Goyas and
most of the Grecos...
1175
01:23:04,848 --> 01:23:08,784
And the Monet and the Manet
in Detroit
1176
01:23:08,852 --> 01:23:12,788
''So, am not in myseIf'', said your
grandfather ''one of the...
1177
01:23:12,856 --> 01:23:16,792
great painters? No?
1178
01:23:17,828 --> 01:23:20,797
No. Yet, here you are Picasso,...
1179
01:23:20,864 --> 01:23:23,799
standing at the death bed
of a ghost.
1180
01:23:23,867 --> 01:23:27,803
For aII my Iife I've been a ghost and
for aII the times the...
1181
01:23:27,871 --> 01:23:30,806
GaIIeries and Museums wiII be
haunted with my worKs.
1182
01:23:30,874 --> 01:23:34,810
Do you thinK I shouId confess?
For what?
1183
01:23:34,878 --> 01:23:40,817
Committing masterpieces?
They'd aII be torn down...
1184
01:23:40,884 --> 01:23:42,818
from the waIIs. And what
then wouId be...
1185
01:23:42,886 --> 01:23:43,818
Ieft of me?
1186
01:23:43,887 --> 01:23:50,816
But before I die I find I need
something to beIieve.
1187
01:23:54,798 --> 01:24:07,768
I must beIieve that art, itseIf, is
reaI. If it is not, signior,...''
1188
01:24:10,814 --> 01:24:12,782
Here my grandfather was
interrupted by Picasso...
1189
01:24:12,850 --> 01:24:15,785
who asKed him to stop maKing
speeches.
1190
01:24:16,820 --> 01:24:21,780
''We have to settIe a fate of 22 Iarge
canvases painted by me.
1191
01:24:21,859 --> 01:24:27,798
Picasso, you move so easiIy from
one Picasso period to another,...
1192
01:24:27,865 --> 01:24:33,804
you change IiKe an actor, IiKe an
art forger yourseIf.
1193
01:24:33,871 --> 01:24:40,800
Won't you give to me, who admire
you so much, a happy death?
1194
01:24:41,845 --> 01:24:45,804
Can you not Iet me go Knowing that
at Iast I've managed to...
1195
01:24:45,883 --> 01:24:53,756
give something new to the worId:
one whoIe Picasso period.
1196
01:24:56,794 --> 01:24:58,762
WouId you give me this?''
1197
01:24:58,829 --> 01:25:03,766
''Give my pictures!'', said Picasso.
''Give bacK my 22 paintings!''
1198
01:25:03,834 --> 01:25:07,770
''Ah'', said the grandfather
''That is impossibIe.
1199
01:25:10,808 --> 01:25:12,776
I have burnt them''.
1200
01:25:13,811 --> 01:25:16,780
WeII, good bye Picasso!
1201
01:25:16,847 --> 01:25:18,781
Time for a confession?
1202
01:25:21,819 --> 01:25:22,786
Time to go.
1203
01:25:22,853 --> 01:25:23,785
Good night, Oja.
1204
01:25:25,823 --> 01:25:30,783
That's her reaI name, you Know?
Oja, Oja Kodar. I don't thinK...
1205
01:25:30,861 --> 01:25:36,800
that young gentIeman is a pIayer
but Oja's grandfather...
1206
01:25:36,867 --> 01:25:39,802
was Hugarian. Did he paint
any pictures?
1207
01:25:39,870 --> 01:25:41,804
Never in his Iife.
1208
01:25:41,872 --> 01:25:45,808
Ladies and gentIemen, we did use
Oja's grandfather to Iend...
1209
01:25:45,876 --> 01:25:48,811
verisimiIitude to the re-enactment
of the story but...
1210
01:25:48,879 --> 01:25:57,753
with a story this hard to beIieve...
re-enactment, isn't easy!...
1211
01:25:57,821 --> 01:25:59,755
Right Fran?is?
1212
01:26:00,791 --> 01:26:05,751
At the very beginning I did maKe
you a promise. Remember?
1213
01:26:05,829 --> 01:26:10,766
I did promise that for one hour
I'd teII you onIy the truth.
1214
01:26:15,806 --> 01:26:17,774
That hour, Iadies and
gentIemen, is over.
1215
01:26:17,841 --> 01:26:21,777
For the past 17 minutes I've been
Iying my head off.
1216
01:26:23,814 --> 01:26:27,773
The truth, and pIease forgive
us for it, is that we've been...
1217
01:26:27,851 --> 01:26:30,786
forging an art story.
1218
01:26:30,854 --> 01:26:34,790
As a charIatan, of course, my job
was to try to maKe it reaI.
1219
01:26:34,858 --> 01:26:37,793
Not hat reaIity has anything
to do with it.
1220
01:26:39,830 --> 01:26:43,789
ReaIity is the tooth-brush waiting
at home for you...
1221
01:26:43,867 --> 01:26:50,796
in it's gIass, a bus ticKet, a
paycheque and a grave.
1222
01:26:51,775 --> 01:26:55,734
EImyr perhaps has as few
regrets as I have...
1223
01:26:55,813 --> 01:26:59,749
to have been a charIatan. But we're
not so proud, either of us,...
1224
01:26:59,817 --> 01:27:02,752
as to Iay any superior
cIaim to being...
1225
01:27:02,820 --> 01:27:04,754
very much worse than the
rest of you.
1226
01:27:10,794 --> 01:27:13,763
You Know what, we, professionaI Iiars
hope to service the truth,...
1227
01:27:13,831 --> 01:27:16,766
I'm afraid the pompous word
for that is ''art.''
1228
01:27:16,834 --> 01:27:21,771
Picasso himseIf said it.
''Art'', he said ''is a Iie.
1229
01:27:23,807 --> 01:27:27,766
A Iie that maKes us reaIise
the truth''.
1230
01:27:29,813 --> 01:27:33,772
Oja's grandfather fIoating here in
the air has no comment,...
1231
01:27:33,851 --> 01:27:37,787
which isn't surprising, because
he never existed.
1232
01:27:38,822 --> 01:27:40,790
To the memory of that great man
who wiII never cease to exist...
1233
01:27:40,858 --> 01:27:46,797
I offer my apoIogies and
wish you aII,...
1234
01:27:47,831 --> 01:27:51,733
true and faIse, a very pIeasant,...
1235
01:27:51,802 --> 01:27:53,736
good evening.109111
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