Years ago, we found a copy of the well-known photo of then-Mayor Sam Yorty's wife having been pied on the set of "The Great Race." We've speculated about the circumstances surrounding the photo, with the consensus being that it was probably just a silly goof done as a publicity stunt.
Well, that is more or less confirmed by a contemporary news item that appeared in several Southern California newspapers. Confirmed not because it is stated to be a planned stunt, but because the purported reason for the pieing is so obviously bogus.
The news item describes the pieing "incident" as an "accident." Supposedly, Mrs. Yorty was visiting the set of the pie fight, meeting actors Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, and having a few photos taken, when "Lemmon decided to throw a cream pie at Curtis," but that, "Curtis ducked and the pie struck the mayor's wife in the face."
Utter bullshit. First, there would be no chance of Lemmon simply deciding to throw a pie at Curtis, who was supposed to remain unpied until the very end of the fight. Given the rather grueling nature of staging and filming the fight, they wouldn't have delayed filming even longer while Curtis gets cleaned up. And the whole "A throws a pie at B, who ducks and the pie hits C" bit is the most common trope of pie fights, which almost rarely happens as an accident in real life. (Then again, massive spontaneous pie fights don't happen IRL either...)
Besides, just a glance at the photo shows Mrs. Yorty smiling under the cream, Curtis laughing, and Lemmon with an exaggerated cartoonish "what the fuck?" expression. It's clear that the photo is staged and playful in nature.
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