The Other Side of Paradise by Bob Chinn

Author:Bob Chinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Published: 2017-06-05T18:12:17+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Hollywood—San Francisco—1976 to 1978

Meeting the Mafia and Other Interesting People

Since Hard Soap, Hard Soap had ended up being such a success, I found that I had come to the attention of a new distributing company called Pacific Coast Films, which had just been set up as the West Coast distribution and production arm of a New York company called Bryanston Pictures. This company had released the fabulously successful Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones. It was owned by the Peraino family of New York, and I mean “family,” because it was well-known that these guys were associated with the Colombo crime family.

When I heard that they wanted to talk to me, I really didn’t know what to think. My mind suddenly filled with preconceived notions of the Mafia and the threat of wearing cement shoes and becoming fish food if I made a bad film or got out of line, so I began to wonder if it was all that wise to even become involved with this outfit. But then I thought, what the hell—let’s see what they have to say.

I was summoned to their offices on Highland Avenue where I met with a nice young man named Arnie Himmelstein, who informed me that his “people” had been impressed with my handling of comedy films, and since he had a comedy film that he wanted to make, would I be interested in doing it?

“Just who exactly are your ‘people’?” I innocently asked.

“You know Joe Peraino or Butchie Peraino?” Arnie answered my question with a question.

“No, but I’ve heard of them.”

He handed me a thin little film script, around fifteen pages long, written by someone named Dean Rogers, titled Candy Stripers, and told me to read it and let him know what I thought. The script was so thin that I could easily read it in fifteen minutes and I told him so. I went to the outer office and began reading it.

I read the script in around ten minutes and when I returned to Arnie’s office, there were two sinister-looking Italian Mafioso types in the office along with him. I was somewhat taken aback, but I wasn’t trembling just yet.

Arnie introduced the men as Vinnie de Stefano and Larry Price, the line producers of the proposed film project. Then he asked me if I wanted to direct the film—nicely and not commanding me—so I decided that since I had a nonexclusive deal with Freeway Films and was free to do as I wanted, and it appeared as if it might well end up being a fun project, I answered, “Sure.”

His next question was, “Can you make the film in five days?” and I answered that I could very easily make it in three. He looked at the two producers, then told me that the sound stage had already been booked for five days, so I would have all five days to make the film. Five days to make a single film. This had never happened to me before.

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