Atlas Shrugged - Al Ruddy interview


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Another change that occurred about the same time was the end of the road show.

That was when a movie was released in a very small number of theaters in large cities with ticket sales in advance and reserved seats. Road show movies would be shown only ten times a week. The movies would not be released to the regular theater till much later. The Sound of Music ran at at theater here in Washington for over two years.

The studios changed their release strategy with Jaws. Jaws was released on the same weekend in a huge number of theaters. You may remember it was a huge hit.

Edited by Chris Grieb
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Ruddy claims Rand wanted a private jet because "the Russians would hijack" a commercial flight, and that she wanted final script control because the Russians would buy Paramount to ruin the film.

Is this plausible? I would assume the first comment was a joke in order to justify the plane as a bargaining chip, and the second was a misinterpretation of her valid concern that communist[ sympathyizer]s in the industry would try to sabotage her message.

Even if Rand were somewhat prone to paranoid suspicions in her later years, her public comments in such arenas as Phil Donahue don't make her appear the type to engage in conspiracy theories.

How reliable is Ruddy here?

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Ted,

I don't know about the private jet, but I do find it plausible that Rand would discuss her fears of Russia with Ruddy. After all, Stalin did order the KGB to assassinate John Wayne. She must have heard something about this from the circles she ran in while working there.

I get the feeling that Ruddy is taking something real that happened between him and Rand and spinning it a little with exaggeration.

It's Hollywood...

Michael

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According to "Passion" Rand did not like flying. She demanded and got a private train for her last address in New Orleans at Jim Blanchard's conference.

The Branden book mentions that Miss Rand was worried about street crime before a lot of people were.

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According to "Passion" Rand did not like flying. She demanded and got a private train for her last address in New Orleans at Jim Blanchard's conference.

The Branden book mentions that Miss Rand was worried about street crime before a lot of people were.

She did not "demand" "a private train"--that's not the story in
Passion.

--Brant

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