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Upon entering the WVRC meeting room at Hillel I thought something was amiss with only two table rounds set up. Was today’s speaker, Peter More, bailing out on us? No, as members drifted in additional seating was necessary to hear Peter and his Senior Craft Talk, Part II.
Interest grew immediately when Peter focused on his participation in the development of the Godfather films of the 1970 era directed and screenplays produced by the hugely successful Francis Ford Coppola. Peter led the members through a series of photographs dating back to the very beginning of the studio in San Francisco where the Godfather filming took place, and other locations as well.
You see, Peter was responsible for the studio facilities for sound, projections and editing. Interestingly, the filming was shot on location with separate soundtracks and later combined at the studio through multi-track equipment supervised by Peter More. The pictures included famous scenes from Godfather I and II; the wedding scene with James Cann, the Marlon Brando ‘shot’ scene (a very live picture of Brando after he was shot) and others.
The first Godfather film’s budget was $6 million and grossed over $250 million. The sequel was even more successful. The Godfather films were nominated for most academy award categories, including Best Picture, Actor, Screenplay, etc. and won many awards.
Those days in San Francisco were wild and eventful, which included some ‘pot’ smoking by readily available joints (Peter claimed he “inhaled plenty but never smoked”, he even politely declined a joint offered by Carlos Santana). Visitors to the studio included such names as Carlos Santana, Sidney Poitier, Catherine Ross, Ryan O’Neal, Bing Crosby and Duke Ellington, among others.
The studio was, by design, an independent (non-union) operation. Peter was invited to join the union but declined. Although his title was chief engineer, it was obvious Peter was in charge of all sound systems contributing to the most successful films during this era.
Peter concluded his presentation with photographs of his years as a Rotarian, both here in Los Angeles and Asia (principally Hong Kong). Peter and Shirley are proud parents of their three married children and six grandchildren.
President Steve Day opened the meeting with the usual pledge (Nanci Cohen}, song by Ed Gauld (I’ve Been Working on the Railroad) and Thought of the Day by Steve Scherer, a memorable quote on wisdom (“One life to live will soon be past. Only what we do for others will last!”), with final applause.
Rotary guests included Samuel and Val Botbol from Costa Rica. Samuel is consulting with non-profits here in Los Angeles. Also, from the Beverly Hills Rotary Club was Barry Bernstein, the Club’s Membership Chair. He sat next to Mark Rogo for obvious reasons.
President Steve then introduced “A Fine Musical Performance.” All of a sudden, a video featuring the president-elect, Benjamin Fisher, singing Love Goes First at his daughter Arianna’s wedding, with a huge hug at the conclusion. That same ‘magic’ will be Benjamin’s theme for next year, he announced.
President Steve closed with a quote from Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
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