THE MISSING PIECE SELECTED FOR THE SALEM FILM FEST

The Missing Piece, the story of the Mona Lisa and the man who stole her, will have its New England premiere at the SALEM FILM FEST in Salem, Massachusetts.  The festival runs from March 7-17 and is an all-documentary film festival. 

Screening is set for

SATURDAY, MARCH 9 12:00 pm

CinemaSalem

1 East India Square

Salem, Mass.

http://salemfilmfest.com/2013/blog/2013/01/30/countdown-to-sff-2013-the-missing-piece/

TELLING JOKES AT THE MONA LISA'S EXPENSE

I spent some 20 odd years as a comedy writer in late-night television so I've come to appreciate how the topical news stories of the day become the necessary fodder for jokes.  If I had been plying my trade 100 years ago, the theft of the Mona Lisa would have been a ripe topic.

In researching my film, I came across quite a few one liners, cartoons and even poems that poked fun at the painting, the thief and everyone involved in what was the crime of the century.

Here are some of my favorites.

This first one was published in the Syracuse Herald on Sunday, August 27, 1911, 6 days after the theft.

Aren’t there enough live painted women in the world without a man having to run away with the Mona Lisa?

This next one was published in The Mansfield News, Mansfield, Ohio on Tuesday, November 7, 1911, more than two months after the theft. 

Although Mona Lisa is lost, everything seems to be going along about the same. And it never did create the one-tenth part the interest evoked by the world's series ball games.

(That year the Philadelphia Athletics beat the New York Giants four games to two. )

The German publication Lustige Blaetter published this exchange between a wife and her husband:

WIFE: "Don’t you think there is a great likeness between me and Mona Lisa, my dear?"

HUSBAND: "Yes, You can follow her example and get stolen too, if you like."

With the papers full of tales of the Leonardo's missing masterpiece, the hunt was on to find her and collect the reward. This five-panel cartoon in The Des Moines News shows two would-be sleuths, Adolph and Oscar, stumbling on what they think is La Gioconda.

In Panel 1 (below) Oscar, reading the latest headlines, says in his thick German accent: "'Still no trace of that famous painting that was stolen from the Louvre. Police of Paris mystified over fate of the great masterpiece. Large reward goes begging.'"  He says to his short compatriot: "I wonder, Adolf, what became of that canvas?"

Unbeknownst to Oscar, Adolf has spotted something in the trash.

He takes it from the trash barrel and looking at it, says: "Wait a minute, Oscar. Could this be the missing masterpiece?"

"Give it here," Oscar says grabbing it from him.  "Your barbaric hands should not profane it.  Sure it is the 'Mona Lisa' -- I know it by the description of the frame. Come, we take it to a connoisseur."

The "connoisseur" is not impressed: "This is the Mona Lisa?  Bah!  This is a cheap chromo entitled 'Patching Willie's Pants.'"

As is normally the case with comedy teams (Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy), the lesser of the two gets the blame.   "This is the 'Mona Lisa?'  Bah!" Oscar says smashing the painting over Adolf's head.

The Mona Lisa even caused some to wax poetic.  The poem below was published in the Janesville Daily Gazette (Janesville, Wisconsin) on February 5, 1914 -- about a month after the Mona Lisa was restored to the Louvre.  Apparently, the painting's charms were lost on the author of this ode simply entitled "Mona."

I can't stand Mona Lisa,

I do not like her face;

I'd hate to have her tagging 

Me round from place to place.

I'd hate to be as grouchy

I'm free to tell you flat,

Imagine eating breakfast

 Each morn across from that.

Her look—oh, mercy, save us, 

Would bore a hole in steel,

I'd hate to be as grouchy 

As Mona seemed to feel:

That smile the'y tout so loudly— 

Those artists and their ilk—

I'm very sure would curdle 

A ten-quart pan of milk.

Perhaps she was a beauty;

But this I surely know,

She'd have a hard time singing

With any musical show.

Why fuss about that picture—

Da Vinci' famous work?

She couldn't hold a candle

To our own Billie Burke.

Billie Burke was a popular stage actress of the time.  We know her today as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North from the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz."

For more Mona Lisa jokes, visit our earlier post: http://monalisadocumentary.blogspot.com/2010/09/mona-lisa-jokes-start-rolling-in.html

VINCENZO PERUGGIA & THE GREAT PARIS FLOOD OF 1910

The summer of 1909 was a wet one in France.  Then the early winter brought heavy snow.  By January, 1910, the ground was saturated, so when the rains started on January 18, 1910, the Seine rose with unusual speed creating a natural disaster of literally Biblical proportions.

The Great Paris Flood of 1910.

The Seine which overflowed its banks, invaded the tunnels that honeycomb Paris, flooding homes and deluging the metro and railway stations.

On January 28, the flood reached it maximum height -- 20 feet above its normal level.

Vincenzo Peruggia was living in Paris at the time and had just finished working at the Louvre for the winter. He was employed to help put the major masterpieces behind glass. After that job ended, he continued with his employer Gobier who was also a painting contractor.

On February 6, 1910, he wrote this letter to his brother. It contains a few words about the flood that all of Paris was facing.

He had just sent 50 lire to his father but complained: "If it wasn't for the flood I could have sent 100 lire."

He goes on to say:  "... all the jobs that my boss could get in hotels are held because [the hotels] are filled with people that have their houses flooded. Around Paris, we can start seeing the roofs of the 2-story houses and some windows at the top floors of the higher ones. Water is lowering slowly. The sky is still gray and today it's raining.

Carlo [a friend] is hosting a 7-person family in his house. They ran from the invading river waters that have reached a ten meters height in some points. I hope that the sun will shine soon."

THE LOUVRE HAS GONE TO THE DOGS IN THIS CARTOON

This is a cartoon that I found on ebay that was taken from a publication called "Tournées" and published shortly after the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa.  It satirizes the Louvre's decision to augment the security at the museum with dogs. The headline says "The watchdogs who ensure barriers to the Louvre ... as a result of the theft of the Mona Lisa, we just add dog guards the Museum."

The cartoon is by noted French illustrator Gus Bofa (1883-1968). Let's look at each panel.

PANEL #1: A bulldog leads a guard holding a cane in hot pursuit - not of a suspect -- but of an insect. The caption says: "The dogs will not be used, as we might expect, to prevent theft, but to guide the guards who demonstrated in the disappearance (of the Mona Lisa), complete blindness ...

PANEL #2: Two tourists confront a Poodle (?) who is begging. The caption: " ...and also, as is right, to collect tips  from visitors without fear of trickery."

PANEL #3 shows a St. Bernard rushing to the aid of some stranded visitors. "...and yet-to-be-discovered campers are lost in the winter freeze in the gallery of Antiques. A Saint Bernard is guaranteed to be attached to this service."

PANEL #4 shows a growling canine.  The caption discuses a dog's necessary qualifications to work at the museum. "Of course we do not require the candidates to have any artistic knowledge, but a certificate of citizenship.

PANEL #5: Shows a greyhound guarding a prestigious painting.  The caption cays "... except for heraldic greyhounds who should be entrusted with custody of the noblest effigies, on the orders of M. Dujardin-Beaumetz."

Dujardin-Beaumetz was France's Undersecretary of Fine Arts and, as such, he was the government official  in charge of all French museumns including the Louvre.  After the theft of the Mona Lisa, many people looking to assess blame for the museum's poor security pointed their fingers directly at him.  In the cartoon below, a sleeping Dujardin-Beaumetz has fitful dreams about the Mona Lisa.

And in the final panel four cartoon....

PANEL #6: No surprise what the dog is doing here.  The caption reads: "And thus, the Louvre is finally well guarded. But now who's going to guard the dogs?

THE MISSING PIECE RECEIVES SPECIAL AWARD FROM THE SAN JOAQUIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

We are pleased to announce that our documentary The Missing Piece, about the man who stole the Mona Lisa, played to an enthusiastic crowd at Pacific's Janet Leigh Theater at the San Joaquin Film Festival in Stockton, California on Saturday, January 5.  After the screening we were given a special award for our film by Festival Director Sophoan Sorn and Festival Chairman Shane Williamson.  We are thrilled and honored to have been a part of this wonderful festival.  Thank you SJIFF.