The Hollywood Reporter, Vol. CDXXVI, No. 8 (ISSN 0018-3660; USPS 247-580) is published weekly; 39 issues — two issues in March, July and October; three issues in February, April, September and December; four issues in May, June, August and November; and f ive is sue s in Januar y — with 27 special issues:
seven issues in January; six issues in June; one issue in July; five issues in August; four issues in November and four issues in December; by MRC Media, LLC, 5700 Wilshire Blvd., 5th floor, Los Angeles CA 90036. Subscription rates: Weekly print only, $199; weekly print and online, including daily edition PDF, $249;
online only, $199; digital replica of weekly print, $199. Single copies, $7.99. Periodical postage paid at Los Angeles, CA, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. Non-postal and military facilities, send address changes to The Hollywood Reporter, P.O. Box 125, Congers, NY 10920-0125.
Under Canadian Publication Mail Agreement No. 41450540, return undeliverable Canadian addresses to MSI, PO BOX 2600, Mississauga, ON L4T OA8. Direct all other correspondence to The Hollywood Reporter, 5700 Wilshire Blvd., 5th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036. MRC Media, LLC:
Vice President, Human Resources: Alexis Capra. Advertising/Editorial Reprints: Reprints of editorial or ads can be used as effective marketing tools. For details, please contact Wright’s Media: (877) 652-5295, or email [email protected]. Permission: Looking for a one-time use of our content,
as a full article, excerpt or chart? Please contact Wright’s Media, (877) 652-5295, or email [email protected]. Subscription inquiries: U.S., call toll-free (866) 525-2150. Outside the U.S., call (845) 267-4192, or email [email protected]. Copyright ©2020 MRC Media, LLC. All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the publisher. THR.com PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
Memorable moments
from a storied history91 Years of THR
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 56 FEBRUA RY 26, 2020
COURTESY OF DAYTON DAILY NEWS & PARAMOUNT PICTURESAbove, from left: TWA Capt. J.E. Frankum, Ernest Borgnine, Anna Moffo, Bekim Fehmiu and wife Branka Petric, Leigh Taylor-Young and Lewis Gilbert. Right: THR’s review of The Adventurers.It was, in many respects, a per-
fectly ordinary premiere. There
was a red carpet. There was
champagne. There were movie
stars. The only difference was
that it took place at 35,000 feet.
On Feb. 23, 1970, Paramount
Pictures, headed by publicity-
loving Robert Evans (who died in
2019 at age 89), held its premiere
of The Adventurers aboard TWA’s
new 747 during its maiden flight
from New York to L.A. Dozens of
studio and airline execs joined
hundreds of reporters to mingle
midair with Ernest Borgnine,
opera singer turned actress
Anna Moffo, Yugoslavian heart-
throb Bekim Fehmiu and a few
other stars, as the film — a
$14 million ($92 million today),
three-hour-plus Harold Robbins
bodice-ripper about a Brazilian
playboy — was projected on five
screens throughout the jumbo
jet. Dinner was duck à l’orange.
“The thing I most remember was
that there was no way to walk
out,” recalls Leigh Taylor-Young,
75, who played one of Fehmiu’s
romantic conquests. “If you didn’t
like the movie, you were stuck.”
Most of the other cast and crew
are long dead, but thanks to the
scores of journalists on board,
details of the flight have been
preserved. “The carpet was so
thick, it swallowed my loafers,”
wrote a young Gene Siskel in the
Chicago Tribune of his walk down
the red carpet of Flight Wing 1,
the plane’s exclusive loading gateat JFK. The party in the sky cost
Paramount $250,000 ($1.6 mil-
lion today), but many thought it
was an aerial debacle. Takeoff was
delayed 45 minutes because of a
phoned-in bomb threat. Landing
was delayed another hour as
the jet circled, waiting for the
movie to end. At least one VIPpassenger found the experience
excruciating. “Seeing it on the
plane was ghastly,” Lewis Gilbert,
the film’s director, fretted to
reporters. “It’s not meant to be
shown on a plane.” The movie
ended up tanking, grossing
just $7 million ($46.5 million
today). — BENJAMIN SVETKEYWhen Robert Evans Staged a Premiere at 35,000 Feet
1996660 19611 199662 11966663 11996644 119965 1966666 11999677 199668 1969 1970 19971 1 97722 199731 1997444 4 19919755 1199776 199777 1 99778 19977999 11980