Artist at work on the apocalypse - photo by Michael Herr
In December of 1976 I got on a bus on Roxas Boulevard in Manila at 5am bound for Pagsanjan. Over the next two days I played an American GI whooping it up at a USO show featuring three Playboy Playmates. Yes, the famous playmate scene. Quite an education in Big Moviemaking. I did not know at the time the difficulties Francis had already been through…it did not show on his face. He was thinner than his pictures from years earlier, winning Oscars for the Godfather movies. But other than that he was like a Zen Master, walking the set (dressed in GI uniform– rank Private…his was the only one out of two hundred uniforms I saw that day that had his real name over he pocket, “Coppola”.) He stood for quite a while right next to me, watching the rehearsal unfold (we rehearsed during the day, shot at night) occasionally giving instructions to Jerry Zeismer and Larry Franco, his assistant directors. Vittorio Storaro (background, left) had a large crew and multiple camera setups. The stage performers were incredible, not only Cyndi Wood, Linda Carpenter and Colleen Camp, but the band –Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids, who laid out a slinky, killer version of Suzie Q, and, believe it or not, R&B legend LaVerne Baker, who regaled us with Jim Dandy and See See Rider. That was the day I met Bill Graham for the first time, but that’s another story.
