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Diane Hutton, director of retail operations for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, shows an authentic leather-bound script of “The Godfather.” This rare screenplay was found among thousands of books donated to the organization.
By Tom Gorman (contact) 
Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012 | 6:21 p.m.
A copy of “The Godfather” screenplay that landed in a charity donation bin, and for which the fellows of “Pawn Stars” offered $500, sold at auction Thursday for more money than anyone expected: $12,000.
No one was more amazed than Diane Hutton, manager of retail operations at Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, who took the leather-bound copy of the screenplay for the blockbuster 1972 movie to Gold & Silver Pawn, where the hit TV show is filmed, to see what they’d offer her.
“Oh my gosh, to think those guys offered me $500. What if I had said yes, taken the $500 and run?” Hutton said Thursday afternoon after the screenplay was auctioned at a luncheon honoring Catholic Charities benefactors.
Hutton and several co-workers dressed for the auction in what she described as “Godfather-ish” clothes — a beaded flapper dress, pearls and a hat.
Bidding was conducted in person and online, and the only action was online.
Thursday’s bidding started at 10:30 a.m. with an existing high bid of $7,500. A woman from Beverly Hills pushed it to $8,000, and it went to $9,000, and that’s where it stood while the clocked ticked toward the closing bell at 11:30 a.m. And just before that moment, the Beverly Hills woman landed the $12,000 bid.
Tick, tick, bang. Hutton and her group yelled to the luncheon guests at the Mirage, “Twelve thousand! Twelve thousand!”
Charity officials said they wouldn’t release information about the winning bidder until they talk to her and cement the deal.
The screenplay had been discovered in a box filled with book donations at the Catholic Charities warehouse. When a sorter noticed that the book looked special — bound in red leather and inscribed with a message by someone named Al, antenna went off and Hutton took it on Pawn Stars to find out whose signature it was.
The show’s conclusion: It was signed by Al Pacino, a star in the movie. But another Al surfaced — Al Ruddy, producer of the 1972 movie that won three Academy Awards — best picture, best actor (Marlon Brando) and best adapted screenplay (Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola). He learned that the screenplay had surfaced and called the charity, saying he had signed the book for the head of Paramount Studios.
How it ended up at Catholic Charities is a mystery, not that anybody much cares anymore.
Might the winning bidder be able to write off much of the $12,000 as a charitable donation, after taking into account the actual value of the screenplay? Hutton says no, because there is no set value for the book, so it is assumed that it is worth every penny of $12,000.
And the value of cocktail conversation, priceless.
I would have expected $50,000. The bidding was rigged.
Good for her. I can't stand that bald "Pawn Star" guy. The old man seems okay.
Just how real is "Reality TV"?
good to see she held out...the pawnstars are a good show but a rip-off as far as providing a fair price on items brought to the store for sale
It's a free country and she was smart to shop the book around. Don't knock the Pawn Star guys. They only did what any other business guy would have done under the circumstances.
See this is what happens when you don't let Chumley handle the deal.
yeah, let's not fault the pawn *#&@!, they knew they could sell it for at least $10,000 ! How fair is that for people who want to get a fair price. Pawn *#&@! are nothing but high priced hookers !
No surprise, I told you so.
Why any legitimate collector would venture downtown to those shysters on Pawn Stars is beyond me. Unless you are looking for the free tv time to publicize your upcoming auction, the three stooges on LVBLVD prove time and time again that what the lack in knowledge they more than make up for in greed.
It's one thing to take advantage of drug addicts and others desperate enough to enter their shop. When not even a local charity is safe from being raped by these fools, we see that the one thing not in stock at Gold and Silver Pawn is human decency.
If you want to get top dollar for something DON'T go to a pawn shop....period! If you need money now then have at it.
This just proves what bums Rick Harrison and his crew are. They constantly low ball people and in the interview segments, brag about how much they'll get for the items. Glad she got the 12 grand.
Cajun pawn is much better show. Joker makes that show, unlike Dumblee on the Vegas show..