Mario Puzo archive featuring “The Godfather Trilogy” set for auction

PanARMENIAN.Net - An unprecedented archive originating from the estate of author Mario Puzo will be auctioned by Boston-based RR Auction, Art Daily reports.

A highlight of the collection is Godfather I material that includes; thousands of pages, notes, and drafts, of a multitude of versions of both the novel manuscript and the film screenplay that sheds light on never-before-released information regarding Puzo’s character, scene, and dialogue development, and his legendary collaboration with director Francis Ford Coppola.

All in all, there are nine partial copies of the Godfather I script in various stages of completion, many of which have important notations in Puzo’s own hand; present is a beautiful handwritten piece of Vito dialogue where the author himself pens, “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

On the same page, Puzo also wrote to Coppola, “I’m very sure Clemenza and Tessio should not know GF will kill Fanucci. This one time the murder should not be discussed.” Apparently at one point, the script included Fanucci being murdered in front of his family Puzo was opposed to this, and obviously won the argument. He wrote: “You cannot have Vito kill Fanucci with daughters present... it makes him less sympathetic. Remember these killings are business not personal. As sheer good manners, GFs do not kill men in front of their wives and children.”

Included is an original 744-page typed working draft manuscript (for The Godfather novel, then titled “Mafia,” featuring a plethora of important handwritten amendations by the novelist. In addition is the presence of six large oak tag storyboards outlining the lengthy nine-section novel. A later-stage 15-page handwritten outline of The Godfather novel’s nine sections is present as well, providing irrefutable proof that the novelist based character Johnny Fontane on Frank Sinatra.

''The Godfather'' made the Corleones the most famous—and infamous—of Mafia families and the enduring myth defined the American Pop-culture landscape,” said Robert Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction.