More photos from Serge

More from Serge:

Stephen,

Here are more pictures of some of the cars I have owned. This 308 GTS was brand new, the local dealer had sold it at "cost" because of being overstocked on cars. I did not like the two front air scoops originally painted in flat black so I had them repainted in "fly-yellow" (original color) which I preferred.

The Dino 206 "fly-yellow", 1968, serial # 364 with steel body, was a great car I enjoyed for years. The blue 308 GT4 I had taken in trade for a new Alfa Spider! Those were the days!

I hope you like these pictures.

Serge Dermanian

Ferrari 330GTC...

Eduardo Renta departing Elysée Wednesday in his Ferrari 330GTC...

A note and photos from Serge Dermanian

Serge Dermanian sent this note along with some Dino photos. I always enjoy his stories and the photos he sends:

Stephen,

While sorting out some old slides, I found this picture that I scanned for you, I feel that many books are written and very important facts are left out. For example: this Ferrari 308 GT4 "Boxer configuration" two tone factory body paint with red upper section, & black bottom section, ivory leather interior. In 1976, a customer wanted this car which he had heard about while overseas but there was one only and, yes, it was in St Louis...

I made a deal for our customer, and flew from Waltham, Massachusetts, to St Louis late on a Friday evening. The dealer meet me at the airport with the paper work all in order. My wife & I drove it back home in two days.

A funny thing happened somewhere in the Poconos where I stopped for gas. The attendant looked at me pointing to the 308. "Hey man, is that one of them kit cars?"

Another example is the Dino 206 prototype, serial # 206. See it here in my garage with its red alloy body, knock off wheels, black seats with red inserts and original, factory wood steering wheel.



I acquired this little gem from an Italian businessman in 1969/70 and thought you would enjoy these comments

Serge Dermanian

Double Cross

I first visited El Mirage, a dry lake bed in the California desert, when I spent a month working on one of the first CC-100s (movies for television produced by CBS Cinema Center in Studio City) titled Sole Survivor. The landscape made an impression on me and I liked the setting as a movie location not only for its vast, cruel emptiness and the psychological impact the environment has on the characters as well as the audience but the desert offered a place to make films away from the inconveniences of civilization.

I returned to El Mirage many times over the years making films of my own. I've experienced 125 degree heat and freezing night time temperatures and I've learned how unforgiving the desert can be. Many of the desert residents are equally foreboding. I suppose one doesn't move to a barren, unpopulated land because of one's love for humanity. Disregard for one's fellow man combined with a few outstanding felony warrants can serve to populate the most forbidding desert locale.

On the first day of each desert shoot, I would take the cast and crew to a particular road-side diner near the Pearblossom Highway. There we would have breakfast before starting the day's filming. It was my habit to have one of the actors who hadn't been in the desert with us previously ask the waitress--who was actually the owner--for a bottle of ketchup. Kathi Carey was usually present on these occasions and knew exactly what would happen next. I would leave on the pretext of visiting the rest room.

Upon my return a few minutes later, it was interesting to see the look on everyone's face as a result of the scene that had taken place in my absence. The woman never failed to explode in an uncontrolled rage of temperament threatening to kick us all out of her restaurant for having the temerity to even consider the idea of fouling her food with ketchup. She could always be counted on for an over-the-top demonstration of why it is prudent not to mess about with the desert people. I didn't want my cast and crew to take my word for it and it was my belief that having everyone witness this woman's hysterics was a free and easy way to avoid unwanted problems during our stay in the desert. Leave these good people alone because you never know what will set them off.

So it was that, during the making of Double Cross, we were having lunch in the Pearblossom Cafe (not the diner mentioned above) and attempting as much as possible to mind our own business. This is not the easiest thing to do when you are a group of people with various cinematic characters and some attractive women who were definitely not from the neighborhood. By the third or fourth day, the word has gotten out: They're shooting a movie!

Without ever having to ask, we would suddenly find ourselves being offered all sorts of help. Would you like to shoot a scene in the cafe? Yes, we would. Want to know where an abandoned pig farm is that would make a cool location? Yes, we would. Had we asked, they would have viewed us askance. By not asking, they came forward offering hospitality.

One of the memorable desert people we met was a fellow named Pat. He told us he owned race horses. During a meal at the Pearblossom Cafe, we listened to his stories about his horses and how he took care of them. He was a nice fellow and conversed easily with our group of outsiders. After lunch, Pat asked if we would like to drive up to his place, see his horses and, if we cared to, shoot some scenes on his property. How could we say no?

Whatever we were expecting to see as we reached Pat's property, it wasn't what we found. The horses--maybe six or seven of them--were there in the corrals and they looked to be healthy and of good stock to my untrained eye. What came as a surprised was seeing how Pat lived. His abode was a ramshackle collection of plywood, plastic, drywall and canvas tarps all of which formed a dwelling that rambled across the side of the mountain. Pat lived without electricity or any other form of modern convenience save for a butane stove on which he prepared his meals. In the harsh climate of intense heat and freezing cold, Pat lived without air conditioning or a heater. The structure he had tacked together had no insulation that I could see as Pat took me on a tour of his house proudly showing me the innovative details of his construction.

We went outside and shot some dialogue with the actors and managed to complete the scenes I wanted before the sun fell below the mountain ridge and the temperature dropped precipitously. As we were readying to leave, I reflected on the fact that this man who lived in the most unimaginable circumstances yet was able to feed and care for his horses had graciously offered us his hospitality out of kindness and a wish to be, if only for a moment, a part of what we were doing.

As I said goodbye and shook his hand, I slipped Pat some cash which he wasn't going to accept. "It's a location fee, Pat. It's in the budget," I told him. "I'll spend it on the horses," he replied.

We took our leave of him and, though I never saw him again, I'll never forget him.

From Kathi Carey:

Stephen,

Do you remember that Pat wanted to race those horses? He was so proud of their heritage--I remember him telling us about who sired them and how they came from Secretariat or one of the other greats. I think he thought he was going to make it “big” on one of those horses.

I remember the desert being harsh and unforgiving. I also remember it looking rather spectacular on film and when I saw that I understood why you liked filming there and I was more willing to put up with the hot days and really, really cold afternoons/evenings when the sun went behind the mountain. So as an actress I suppose it didn’t make as much of an impact on me but as a future filmmaker it certainly did.

Kathi

Matthew Ettinger: The history of Shell Oil Company

Last week, some of the Elysée Wednesday mob (Larry Crane, Jeanetta Dumouchel, Chad Glass, Kenny Lombino and Scott McClure) convened at the home of Matthew Ettinger--former Ferrari Owners Club president and owner of many Ferraris including the famous Breadvan--to get an exclusive look at Matthew's legendary collection of Shell Oil memorabilia and promotional items.





I've had the pleasure of visiting the collection on a few occasions but, as it is rumored to be going onto the auction block, I thought the group might appreciate the opportunity to see it up close while it still occupied its rather unusual place in Matthew's home.


To see the collection, one must summons a hidden elevator that rises out of the floor to reveal itself. Two at a time, we descended to the sanctum sanctorum to view what is, in fact, an impressive museum of Shell history as told by the vast assortment of toy trucks, miniature gas stations, oil cans, oil dispensers and advertising artifacts.



One would not have been surprised to learn that the collection had been assembled by Shell Oil Company, but it was not. It is exclusively the work and dedication of Matthew who has diligently pursued the rarest of items to include in the collection.


Having taken our time pouring over the collection--there really is far too much to take in and assimilate in just one visit--we returned to ground level through the secret elevator and it became story time as is usual when EW members congregate.


Everyone told a story or two but it was Matthew who took center stage and held everyone spellbound with his accounts of near arrest by the East German police, lunch with Enzo Ferrari, a very unusual FOC board meeting held at Matthew's hospital bedside and a stream of nostalgic consciousness that must be heard to be believed.


Larry Crane brought along some items of interest as part of the show-and-tell--notably, a photo portrait of Enzo Ferrari that Larry shot at the factory in Maranello during a very exclusive press conference.



All in all, it was a very enjoyable afternoon and one left with the feeling that such interesting and passionate friends are a veritable treasure. I also took away with me the sentiment that I wish Matthew would keep the collection and not offer it up for sale. This according to the doctrine of Never Sell Anything.

Kim Rollins (Interview) excerpt

Recently, I had the pleasure of catching up with Victoria Foyt at the signing party for her new book Save the Pearls. One of the projects on which Victoria and I collaborated back in the day was the Kim Rollins (Interview) episode wherein she played the part of Kim Rollins, an extraordinary woman who was at once coldly calculating and heartrendingly naive.

When the episode first aired, it generated quite a few phone calls from viewers. One of the calls I received was from writer/director Ron Shelton (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump, Hollywood Homicide). He was enthusiastic about the show and the story saying, "Whoever did this deserves an Academy Award...it even has a third act!"

Not only did the Kim Rollins story have a third act but so did the story behind the story. The master and my copies of the episode were lost along with a large quantity of other personal and professional belongings and for years the show existed for me only as a fond memory. That changed when Victoria told me that she still had a VHS copy of the episode.

The video excerpt posted here and taken from the full half-hour provides a sense of Kim Rollins but goes nowhere near the climax to her story nor would one ever guess at the developments that occur in the third act that caught Ron Shelton's attention.

Read more about (Interview).

Elysée Wednesday: Drive! (Intro)

This is the intro to Episode 1 of Elysée Wednesday: Drive!. Each episode will have its own 'highlight reel' to open the show.