As I recall, the group went over this anecdote a couple of years back. The exchange culminated in DN's assessment of Evans as most definitely a vulgarian and very likely a fool. DN did not, however, question the veracity of the anecdote.
GK
----------
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum on behalf of Donald B. Johnson
Reply To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:46 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Fwd: RE: Robert Evans and ADA film project (circa 1969)
----- Forwarded message from Andrew.Brown@bbdodetroit.com -----
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 21:18:00 -0500
From: "Brown, Andrew" <Andrew.Brown@bbdodetroit.com>
Call me a masochist, but not only did I read Evan's bio, I even watched the HBO
movie. And then showered.
In his letters, Hemingway mentions maliciously, per usual, that John Huston had
once told him he had been a professional (or first rate collegiate) football
player. Papa noted that that was how Hollywood people always talk: if they
played some sandlot ball as a kid, by the time they got to Hollywood it had
magnified into college or pro.
When a Hollywood writer, agent, producer, or director says they've "read" Ada,
or Ulysses, or the Bible, it generally means that they own a copy. Maybe they
read a chapter, or a paragraph, or a line.
So at a party somewhere, somebody told Evans that Ada was the next box office
explosion written by that guy who wrote Lolita. And the rest is history.
Andrew (not Andy) Brown
________________________________
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum on behalf of Donald B. Johnson
Sent: Tue 3/15/2005 1:37 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Robert Evans and ADA film project (circa 1969)
One thing I have never seen mentioned on this email group is the
discussion of 'Ada' in Robert Evan's autobiography "The Kid Stays In
The Picture". According to the legendary producer, he flew overnight
to Europe to read the final draft of 'Ada', with a view to purchasing
the film rights. I seem to remember he claims to have read it all in
one night and reluctantly passed on the opportunity to buy it as "it
might have been a work of genius" but "I sure as hell couldn't
understand it". He notes with pride that "to this day, they still
can't figure out how to shoot the damn thing!".
Heh. Anyway, I read The Kid Stays In The Picture a couple of years
ago, so that's probably a highly inaccurate recollection.... a highly
recommended autobiography though, especially as the people on this
list are probably fans of "unreliable narrators"..... ;-)
Andy
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