Voces del Prado

Late 1970s. Anthony Quinn, Charlton Heston and Jimmy Carter

Luis Lapausa Arango, General Operations Service Technician (Carpenter), 1960-2008

The restrooms were near the elevators, at a distance of 2 metres or so and the woman who looked over the restrooms was there, seated in her chair and she was on friendly terms with the people from the Art Handler team. There was one thing she couldn't stand, there was this guy called Desiderio, a member of the Art Handler team, who would creep up from behind and surprise her by tickling her foot. She would jump up startled and we all had our laughs. One day Anthony Quinn went to the restroom and he had seen the prank. When he came out he tickled her and ... Anthony Quinn cracked up laughing. He was quite a character. Another famous actor who came by the Museum was Charlton Heston, who also shot a film here. He was a bit dry but I remember he once tipped me with 5 dollars I think it was.
On another occasion the President of the United States came by, I don't recall his name, the one with the peanut farm. I was in Hall 49 as a watchman and there was a mural in the centre, a very fine triptych. I was seated, because the Museum had closed and the American policemen were going around with thin flashlights that lit up an awful lot. I was sitting there, and a police captain was by my side and there were many more people from the Spanish police. And then an American opened a curtain to look behind it and I got up, and the Spanish policeman grabbed me by the arm and said, "What are you doing?", and I said, "That man is on top of the painting, what does he think he's doing?" And he told me, "Calm down, let him do as he pleases. Stay out of it if you don't want to get into trouble. That's how these people go about." It was as though they owned the Museum. They'd go into the director's office, plugged in whatever they needed to, did a whole lot of things, searching everywhere. And our policemen would say, "We're here as part of the troupe, that's all. Let them do as they please."