Bunuel_Luis_My_Last_Breath

Back to America 183peared, Prendergast had lodged several protests with the State Department,which in turn began to pressure the museum to fire me.They'd managed to keep things quiet for a year; but now, with thisarticle, the scandal had gone public, on the same day that Americantroops disembarked in Africa.Although the director of the museum, Alfred Barr, advised menot to give in, I decided to resign, and found myself once again outon the street, forty-three and jobless. Another black period followed,worse than before because my sciatica had become so painful that oncertain days I could walk only with crutches. Thanks to VladimirPozner, I finally got work recording texts for documentary films onthe American army.After my resignation, I made an appointment to meet Dali atthe Sherry Netherland bar. We ordered champagne, and I was besidemyself with rage. He was a bastard, I told him, a salaud; his bookhad ruined my career."The book has nothing to do wi~h you," he replied. "I wrote itto make myself a star. You've only got a supporting role."I kept my hands in my pockets so as not to strike him; andfinally, soothed by the champagne and old memories, we partedalmost friends. The rupture was nonetheless a serious one, and I wasto see him only once more.Whereas Picasso was a painter and only a painter, Dali wentmuch further. Despite his mania for publicity, his exhibitionism,and his frenetic search for the original phrase or gesture (which usuallyturned out to be something as banal as "You have to love one another"),he is an indisputable genius, a peerless writer, talker, andthinker. We were intimate friends for a very long time, and mymarvelous memories of our harmonious collaboration on Un Chienundalou are still intact. Although few realize it, Dali is hopelesslyimpractical. People think of him as a prodigious businessman witha real talent for manipulating money; but, in fact, until he met Galahe had no money sense whatsoever. My wife, Jeanne, for example,always had to take care of his train tickets. I remember one day in