Massive Godfather Archives Sell at Auction in North End for $625K
Image courtesy Mario Puzo Estate
Update: February 19, 10 a.m.
The archives sold at auction for $625,000 Thursday night. Not too shabby.
Previously:
Forty-five boxes of handwritten manuscripts, movie scripts, notes, and correspondences from the estate of Mario Puzo, mastermind of The Godfather, is heading to the auction block in Boston.
Thousands of pages spanning 50 years will be auctioned by North End-based RR Auction, who recently showcased the only privately owned wristwatch worn on the moon. Included in the massive archive is Puzo’s 744-page typed, working draft of Mafia, later rechristened The Godfather; his 1965 Olympia typewriter, “almost certainly used” to write The Godfather; and a 15-page, handwritten outline of the novel, providing what the auction house calls “irrefutable proof that the novelist based character Johnny Fontane on Frank Sinatra.”
Image courtesy Mario Puzo estate
Other highlights include Puzo and director Francis Ford Coppola’s handwritten annotations on the Godfather I and II scripts; the iconic “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” quote in Puzo’s handwriting; correspondences between Puzo and aging star Marlon Brando; and Puzo’s copy of Coppola’s Godfather “Bible,” described as an “enormous, impeccably organized three-ring binder covering virtually every aspect of filming.”
Puzo, whose work on the 1978 Superman film is also included in this treasure trove, died in 1999.
Bidding will be held on RR Auction’s website from February 11-18, followed by live auction at its Boston gallery at 236 Commercial Street. The full inventory of items can be found here.
