Flagrant Dali

'Flagrant Dali' is the title of a book published in France. It contains stories and anecdotes of the genius from Port Lligat, brought together by his private secretary of many years (1956-1974), Captain John Peter Moore and his wife, Catherine Perrot-Morre. 'Dali a la banque' is one of the short stories. It illustrates the different dimensions of the most famous of all the Emporda's citizens in a moving, and at the same time comic way. Below is an excerpt from 'Flagrant Dali' by Captaine Peter Moore et Catherine Moore (Edition Crasset, Paris)

In the early 1940's, Dali received his first cheque for $5,ooo and decided to cash it. Cala was still asleep, so Dali took the cheque and set off for a branch of his bank on 5th Avenue in New York, where he joined the queue at the counter. When his turn came, he asked to be paid his 5,000 dollars.

"Can I see the cheque?" enquired the bank clerk. Dali took it out from his pocket and showed it to him - from a safe distance.

"Are you going to give me the cheque or not?" the cashier asked him.

"And when are you going to give me the money?" asked Dali mistrustfully.

"If you don't give me the cheque, I can't give you any money." the cashier replied, whereupon Dali snarled at him:

"And what happens if I give you the cheque and you don't pay me the money? What do we do then?"

Dali took the cheque, screwed it into a paper ball, put it in his mouth and started chewing.

The irritated bank employee raised the alarm and, a few seconds later, the security guards arrived on the scene. As they attempted to stop Dali, Cala appeared, who on waking has
realized that not only her husband was missing, but the cheque too. In the end, the Dalis got their money, but the cheque, which Dali had screwed and chewed, was so damaged that Cala had to call the customer and ask him to issue a new one.

I have never had the slightest inkling of Dali's eccentricity, supposedly common in artists and geniuses, to be boarding on being absurd and, in this case, definitely childish or worse, irrational not to say stupid. Direct contrast to his brilliance in art and creative talent. But this came from his personal secretary, friend and business manager and in print on the official record. I guess it had to be true, but that doesn't make it less ridiculous, genius or not.

Tags:dali,cheque

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