Burns shocker!
When I looked at the paper on Saturday I was surprised to see this article:
"Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and members of his crew were banned from a Pacific Heights hotel and billed for thousands of dollars in damage on Friday after a raucous night that left two rooms "unrecognizable," according to the hotel's manager.
Burns and his entourage were in San Francisco for a preview screening of scenes from "The War," a PBS documentary in the making, at the Castro Theatre on Thursday night. After partying with fans and local luminaries until almost midnight, they went back to their rooms at the Hotel Majestic on Sutter Street. There, the hotel alleges, they lit kerosene lamps, pulled an historic photograph of the hotel off the wall and mounted it on acid-free archival board, and rearranged antique furniture to match the original design of the 1902 hotel.
A room service waiter alerted the night manager after he found the debauchery in full swing at about 1:30 a.m. while delivering an order of tea and scones -- the crew's sixth that night.
"They had that photo on a table and a guy with a camera was filming it every way you could think of. He zoomed in, zoomed out, panned left and right ... I left when he started panning and zooming at the same time. I'm a family man," he said.
Neighboring guests complained of being kept awake or fitfully dreaming of America's rich heritage by jaunty yet wistful airs played on a dulcimer, a violin, and a mandolin. The night manager finally confronted Burns and his guests when the thick-maned director walked down the hallway wearing glued-on muttonchops and made up to look like railroad magnate Milton Schmidt, who built the hotel as a private residence. With a camera crew following him, Burns launched into an historically accurate tirade against William Jennings Bryan.
Burns and his friends were told to return to their rooms and go to sleep, which they did. But after they checked out on Friday morning, the hotel staff was in for a rude surprise upon entering the rooms.
"There were these porcelain water basins all over the place. We have private bathrooms in every room, you know," said housekeeping employee Ashley Contreras. "Don't these people know how to use a sink?"
Reached by wireless on Friday, Burns declined to comment, saying Adam Arkin was the only actor who could bring the right voice to the role and was currently unavailable.
"Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and members of his crew were banned from a Pacific Heights hotel and billed for thousands of dollars in damage on Friday after a raucous night that left two rooms "unrecognizable," according to the hotel's manager.
Burns and his entourage were in San Francisco for a preview screening of scenes from "The War," a PBS documentary in the making, at the Castro Theatre on Thursday night. After partying with fans and local luminaries until almost midnight, they went back to their rooms at the Hotel Majestic on Sutter Street. There, the hotel alleges, they lit kerosene lamps, pulled an historic photograph of the hotel off the wall and mounted it on acid-free archival board, and rearranged antique furniture to match the original design of the 1902 hotel.
A room service waiter alerted the night manager after he found the debauchery in full swing at about 1:30 a.m. while delivering an order of tea and scones -- the crew's sixth that night.
"They had that photo on a table and a guy with a camera was filming it every way you could think of. He zoomed in, zoomed out, panned left and right ... I left when he started panning and zooming at the same time. I'm a family man," he said.
Neighboring guests complained of being kept awake or fitfully dreaming of America's rich heritage by jaunty yet wistful airs played on a dulcimer, a violin, and a mandolin. The night manager finally confronted Burns and his guests when the thick-maned director walked down the hallway wearing glued-on muttonchops and made up to look like railroad magnate Milton Schmidt, who built the hotel as a private residence. With a camera crew following him, Burns launched into an historically accurate tirade against William Jennings Bryan.
Burns and his friends were told to return to their rooms and go to sleep, which they did. But after they checked out on Friday morning, the hotel staff was in for a rude surprise upon entering the rooms.
"There were these porcelain water basins all over the place. We have private bathrooms in every room, you know," said housekeeping employee Ashley Contreras. "Don't these people know how to use a sink?"
Reached by wireless on Friday, Burns declined to comment, saying Adam Arkin was the only actor who could bring the right voice to the role and was currently unavailable.
posted by Steve at
10:16 AM
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