Orson Welles Paul Masson advertisements
These included Carlsberg beer,[6] Domecq sherry,[7] Sandeman's port (playing the "Sandeman Don" in a TV advertisement),[8]: 175 Jim Beam bourbon whisky,[6] Nikka Japanese G&G whisky,[9] Perrier mineral water,[10] Nashua photocopiers,[11] Vivitar instant cameras,[12] Preview pay-per-view television,[13] the board game Dark Tower,[14] Eastern Air Lines,[15] Texaco,[4]: 225 Post's Shredded Wheat,[4]: 225 Hayden Flour Mills,[16] Lone Star Cement,[16] Walt Disney World,[17] Uniroyal tyres,[18] and perhaps most infamously, Findus frozen foods.
John Annarino, the advertising executive handling the Paul Masson account at the time, remembered that Welles "was eager for almost any kind of work in the early 1980s, hoping to complete a film that was languishing in some European vault (The Other Side of the Wind).
Welles once complained to his regular lunching companion, the director Henry Jaglom, "I have never seen more seedier, about-to-be-fired sad sacks than were responsible for those Paul Masson ads.
"[6] The DDB Needham executive who handled the Paul Masson account, John Annarino, responded to the 2013 publication of Welles transcripts describing the commercials by sharing his own reminiscences with his local paper, The Desert Sun, and recalling of the experience, "It was no picnic.
"[22] This acrimony was underlined by the assistant director, Peter Shillingford, who recalled: [I] made sure none of the crew, the extras or people from the agency were coming up to Orson.
While we mulled this over, our director, hired for his wit as well as his talent, wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Orson, who read it and smiled.
[29]This ad was reportedly a last-minute improvisation by Welles after he dismissed the original script he was given, which compared Paul Masson wine to a Stradivarius violin.
[20]: 222 In what inadvertently became the most famous Paul Masson ad due to the leaked out-takes (see below), Welles was found sitting at a drinks party with two unnamed young people, announcing, The taste of French champagne has always been celebrated for its excellence.
"[30]Welles's drunken inability to get through this script without severely slurring his speech, visibly swaying as he propped himself up at the table, formed the basis of the out-takes.
[32]This was Welles's last physical appearance in a Paul Masson television advert, and was restricted to one brief shot at the end of the ad, although he narrated.
"[34]This was the only Paul Masson television ad Welles did in which he did not say the phrase "will sell no wine before its time"—although a caption at the end does repeat this motto.
Experts will tell you they drink Paul Masson Pinot Chardonnay because of its full varietal aroma, brilliant color and long pleasant finish.
Paul Masson will sell no wine before its time.The best-known series of out-takes consists of three takes for the "French champagne" advertisement.
[2] The second and third takes consist of Welles attempting his monologue, though his words are slurred: Mwaaaah, the French... champagne has always been celebrated for its excellence.
Throughout the takes, Welles appears to be having trouble remaining upright, clearly propping himself up on the table while tapping his fingers impatiently, and several of the extras are visibly struggling not to laugh.
"[22] It has been speculated that this is what may have led to his state during the recording session, however, Assistant Director Peter Shillingford disputed this: "I've read that he'd demand these huge meals, but he never ate lunch on the shoots I did with him.
[21]Shillingford went on to describe what happened after the out-takes: I then turned to the director and one of the men from the agency, and we all agreed there was no production here, so I sent everyone to lunch and asked the owner of the mansion—a very nice lady—if we could bed down Orson for a couple of hours.
I remember him grinning at the furious agency guys as he walked away from the set… On the way to the limo, he thanked me and said, "Lunch tomorrow, Shillingford, Ma Maison!
In the first, Welles begins saying, ""It took Beethoven four years to write that symphony," and starts to pour himself a glass of wine, before frowning at the bottle in his hand, and complaining to the director, "It's very hard for me to grab it, you've greased it.
Ostensibly, the reason he was given was that the company wished to promote a new range of "light-bodied summer wines," and it was felt that the slimmer John Gielgud was a more appropriate choice of spokesman than the morbidly obese Welles.
[37] Several Welles biographers have pointed to his unguarded comments on a TV talk show as the reason for his firing—specifically, when asked about the Paul Masson adverts, he mentioned that he was now dieting, and that he no longer drank wine.
Gielgud was able to negotiate a $1 million fee (twice what Welles had been paid), and wrote of his own successor ads to philosopher George Pitcher in September 1983: "I bought some new pictures and sculpture with my ill-gotten gains.
"[40] Between 1982 and 1985, Gielgud filmed several Paul Masson adverts based on his Academy Award-winning performance as the condescending butler in Arthur (1981), with Gielgud making catty observations whilst successively serving up Paul Masson wines in an art gallery,[41] a fashion show,[42] a diplomatic reception,[43] and a stately home being cleaned.
[44] Gielgud further wrote of the perks in February 1985: The wine commercial people want to renew my contract again, which is a great help to the exchequer, though the sessions are exhausting and somewhat humiliating.
They only demand about three days work each time, with full attention to my comforts in the way of limousines, suites at the Savoy, flowers and cigarettes provided!
[40]Gielgud also stipulated that he did not want the Paul Masson adverts—which he felt were beneath him—to be aired in his home country of the United Kingdom.
[45] In late September 1985, after Gielgud had shot his last commercial for the wine, the Davis & Gilbert advertising agency wrote to Welles, asking if he would be interested in resuming the Paul Masson adverts.
At a lunch on 5 October 1985, Welles told his friend the director Henry Jaglom that he declined the offer, at least in part because he felt too old to be touring the country, and described it as a "terrible wine".
[46] Film critic Joseph McBride argues that the advertisements became synonymous with the perception of Welles as a recluse and a failure in his later years: "The commercial catchphrase ['We will sell no wine before its time'] became a joke, and a signature line for Welles himself, helping to define his personality in the media as that of a hedonist who preferred to dawdle over his vineyard interminably, releasing the fruits of his labor only rarely, if ever.
[48] The Paul Masson out-take has also been a recurring target for YouTube pastiches in recent years, including spoofs by The Midnight Show and others.
