Fantastic Voyage Publicity Stunt: Dali Vs. Raquel Welch
Written by Joe D on June 14th, 2026
I just heard about this publicity stunt for the incredible film of Richard Fleischer “Fantastic Voyage:.
They say it was Fleischer’s idea to get Salvador Dali to paint a portraait of Raquel Welch wearing a bikini in the window of the National cash Register Building in New York City. The story goes that Dali just splashed some paint onto a canvas and declared it done! Raquel may have been put out a bit by the results.
I then learned that Albert and David Maysles had been commissioned to make a film about the event, which they did. It’s called “Dali’s Fantastic Dream”. It’s not available anywhere but I would love to see it.
Dali from the Maysle Brothers film “Dali’s Fantastic Dream”
When I was working in NYC I rented editing rooms at the Maysle Brothers Facility on the top floor of a building on Maybe 54th street? I’ll have to look it up.
I also edited a film that Raquel Welch’s last husband Richie Palmer had a small uncredited role in “Hugo Pool”. He was married to Cathy Moriarity at the time and she is one of the stars of the film. Anyway I love crazy Film Publicity Stunts and this is a good one!