During the inauguration of the world's first Dali Museum, on March 7, 1971 in Beachwood (Cleveland), Ohio, a gentleman whom I'll simply call "Ed" took 16mm film footage of Dali on that historic occasion. Ed was vice-president of the plastics company of which A. Reynolds Morse -- owner of the Dali Museum collection -- was owner/president.
As publicity director of the museum in 1973-'74, I got to know Ed and his wife well. I dined at his home one evening and had the pleasure of viewing his unique film of the Master. I recall one instance in it where Dali drew a cross on a woman's forehead! It was fascinating to see him strolling among the assembled guests -- the dazzling cut of a super-star artist contrasted against the comparatively banal one-room provisional "museum."
But this film has, to my knowledge, never been shown outside of Ed's Ohio home. Hopefully he's had it transferred to more permanent, higher-resolution digital media. And perhaps one day soon he'll realize that present Dali aficionados would benefit from seeing this delightful footage of the great artist in action.
This inexorably reminds me of my irrepressible desire to see the clip of Dali when he appeared in the early '70s on the old Dick Cavett Show -- famed for bringing an ant eater on stage with him, then unceremoniously tossing it onto the lap of Lillian Gish.
[Photo not from the film herein mentioned; used under Fair Use doctrine for journalistic purposes only.]
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