Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

studio except to collect my Saturday paycheck. For the next fourmonths nobody missed me or took any notice of me at all. Fromtime to time I did emergeÑonc to play a bit part as a barman (therole was made to order) in the Spanish version of a film, once for astudio tour. I remember marveling on the back lot at an entire halfof a ship which had been miraculously reconstructed in an enormousswimming pool. Everything was set up for a shipwreck scene-hugewater tanks were ready to spill their contents down colossal tobogganruns onto the floundering vessel. I was goggle-eyed at the extraordinarilycomplex machinery and the superb quality of the specialeffects. In these studios, everything seemed possible; had they wantedto, they could have reconstructed the universe.During this strange time, I met several mythical characters. Iloved having my shoes shined in the studio foyer and watching thefamous faces go by. One day Mack Swain (Ambrosia, as he was calledin Spainethat huge comedian with the incredibly black eyes whooften played opposite Chaplin-sat down next to me, and anotherevening I found myself sitting next to Ben Turpin in a movie theatre.(He squinted in real life exactly the way he did on the screen.)In the end, however, I was overwhelmed by curiosity and wentto have a look at the main MGM set, where the master himself,Louis B. Mayer, was scheduled to make a speech to all his employees.There were several hundred of us sitting on rows of benches facinga platform where the big boss was seated in the midst of his chiefcollaborators. Everyone was there~secretaries, technicians, actors,stagehands~and that day I had an epiphany about America. Afterseveral directors had made speeches to great applause, Mayer got tohis feet and began to speak. You could have heard a pin drop."My friends," he began, "I've been thinking long and hard, andnow I feel I can tell you the secret ingredient in MGM's success andprosperity. It's really a very simple formula. . . ."An expectant hush had fallen; the tension was positively palpable.Mayer turned around, picked up a piece of chalk, and slowly anddeliberately wrote- on the blackboard in huge capital letters: