The answer is "Lots!"
To begin, we have Robert M. Edsel. He is the
modern man who has single handedly put the Monuments Men back on the map, so to
speak. He is the author of several books about the work of the Monuments Men,
such as RESCUING
DA VINCI: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe’s Great Art – America and her
Allies Recovered It, published in 2006.
And THE
MONUMENTS MEN: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in
History, published in 2010.
And SAVING
ITALY: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis, published in
early 2013. In fact he was here in Kansas City just last spring as a guest of
Rainy Day Books promoting this book.
And most
recently ROSE VALLAND: Resistance at the Museum, published in October
2013. Remember Rose’s name…she is really Cate Blanchett.
Mr. Edsel’s movie
THE MONUMENTS MEN is based on the 2010 book mentioned above. It was due
to be released this December just in time for the Academy Awards, but at the
last minute the producer George Clooney declared that some of the special
effects were just too “cheesy” for his movie and that they simply didn’t have
enough skilled people to bring it in on time.
And so they
re-scheduled the film, co-produced by Columbia Pictures/20th Century
Fox and Babelsberg Studio, to be released on February 7, 2014 which of course is
today.
Just to whet our
appetite, please note that the cast includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill
Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin (of The Artist fame) Bob Balaban,
Hugh Bonneville (of Downton Abbey fame) and last but not least, Cate
Blanchett in the role of Rose Valland.
More about the
movie:
Based on fact, the
film focuses on an Allied platoon made up of seven museum directors, curators,
and art historians, tasked with going into Germany in the closing stages of
World War II to rescue artworks requisitioned by the Nazis and returning them to
their rightful owners.
Principal
photography began in early March 2013 at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam,
Germany, and in the Berlin-Brandenburg region and the Harz, where the City of
Osterwieck was a particularly important place for the outdoor scenes. A cast of
thousands was needed for the military scenes. Some of the scenes, including
flights and American war base footage, were filmed at the Imperial War Museum
Duxford, Cambridgeshire UK. Filming was scheduled to last until the end of June
2013, wrapping up in Rye, East Sussex.
So to learn more
about this Robert M. Edsel, the person who set all this activity in
motion...
He was born in 1956
in Oak Park, Illinois, and raised in Dallas, Texas. He is the son of Norma
Louise (a housewife) and Alpha Ray Edsel (a stockbroker). At one time, he was a
nationally ranked tennis player.
In 1981 Robert
Edsel began his business career in oil and gas exploration…in Texas, one would
think. His company, Gemini Exploration, pioneered the use of horizontal
drilling technology throughout the early 1990s. Gemini Exploration grew from a
company with eight employees to almost 100.
By 1995, Gemini had
become the second most active driller of horizontal wells in the United States
and Robert Edsel sold the company’s assets to Union Pacific Resources
Company.
So that answers the
question of “Where did he and his wealth come from?” and the next question of
course would be “What led him to the Monuments Men?”
Stay tuned for the next installment.
Stay tuned for the next installment.
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