Fans of “The Godfather” films will be looking to make the organisers of a celebrity memorabilia auction an offer they can’t refuse, as a selection of Mario Puzo’s personal possessions come up for auction in Boston. The American crime writer has become synonymous with his most famous novel, which spawned the classic “Godfather” series of films and ensured the Hollywood actors Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro their iconic status in the process.
Extensive archive for sale
An extensive archive of the Manhattan-born writer’s personal papers, plus unique artefacts such as his old 1965 Olympia typewriter, are all to go under the hammer on February 18th at the Boston-based RR Auction.
Film connoisseurs, crime writing enthusiasts and perhaps even those interested in the Mafia are sure to all find something that grabs their attention.
“Godfather” material to be popular
With 45 boxes in total incorporated into the sale of Puzo memorabilia, most attention is expected to be afforded to the thousands of pages of “Godfather”-related material on offer to the highest bidder. Puzo produced numerous drafts and added handwritten revisions to both the original novel and the screenplay that was used for the silver screen adaptations.
Whoever secures the purchase of the “Godfather” documents will be able to gain a unique insight into the collaborative process between Puzo and fabled director Francis Ford Coppola.
Both men worked tirelessly on the screenplays to hone them to their final versions.
Famous movie quote
They will also be able to see how Puzo developed and added realism to the second most famous movie quote of all-time - according to the American Film Institute – before settling on the final wording. Only the script of “Gone with the Wind” can boast a more popular statement than Brando’s much imitated line "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse," which epitomised the character Don Vito Corleone.
Spanning his career
Spanning the entire career of the celebrated author, the auction also includes manuscripts from his earlier Books and some of the screenplays from his later works. Expectations are high with a conservative estimate suggesting that the collection could fetch in the region of $400,000.
Puzo’s background
Puzo drew heavily on his Italian background and early life in many of his books, having been born in 1920s America in the aptly named ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ neighbourhood of New York City.
His crime novels commonly featured elements of the Mafia, but he also found time to write the original screenplay for the first “Superman” film, released in 1978. After his death in 1999, his last novel “The Family” was released posthumously two years later.
Recognition for his work
Yet he will forever be associated with “The Godfather” legacy that he helped to establish. The original book was released in 1969 and he was later involved in the adaptation of his noted work into a three-part saga, setting out the evolution of the Corleone family across the generations.
Recognition duly arrived for his efforts from the critics, as Puzo received Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay in both 1972 and 1974 for the first two films in “The Godfather” trilogy.