:40:04
If ever a funeral
laid an egg, that one did.
:40:07
Standing round the grave, maybe
two dozen nobodies. A great finish.
:40:12
You just don't bury a famous movie star
like she was an unidentified body.
:40:18
Well, it figured. It was like that
from the minute I laid eyes on her.
:40:21
Nothing worked according
to the book. Not my book, anyway.
:40:26
From the minute she waved
at the Statue of Liberty,
:40:29
everybody wanted to know
everything about Maria.
:40:32
And they wound up knowing nothing,
because there was nothing to know.
:40:36
Believe me, what they said
in Madrid was true.
:40:40
This bundle of passion, this hot flame
that burned from the screen,
:40:46
was a real untouchable.
:40:50
The columns and the wolves
were after me night and day.
:40:54
But how could I tell them
who she was with or when,
:40:57
when I didn't even know who she knew?
:40:59
I can tell you this: It is entirely possible
that Maria D'Amata went to her grave
:41:04
without ever being inside of the Stork,
El Morocco, Ciro's or the Mocambo.
:41:10
You got to admit this is not normal.
:41:16
But what was normal about this
whole business from start to finish?
:41:19
Here is a doll who, on the opening night
of her first picture,
:41:23
with no known interest in men,
much less romance,
:41:26
whose private life is strictly private,
:41:28
but who, the people have
decided, is already a star.
:41:33
This is the night I first begin to think
maybe the public has a mind of its own.
:41:39
Who else but Maria D'Amata would
show up at her world premiere alone,
:41:43
together with a couple that everybody
knew were in love with each other?
:41:47
It was real love with Harry and Jerry.
:41:49
You could tell it was, because they didn't
give out interviews about getting married.
:41:55
Maria D'Amata.
Whatever it is - you name it.
:41:58
Whether you're born with it or catch it
from a public drinking cup, Maria had it.