Chapter 30 Chapter Thirty
When John Ross signed on to the show, he managed to get himself an assistant producer title.When people asked him what his duties were, he was always vague.
The producers said, "His job is to make sure Patty is in a good mood, and to keep out of other people's way."
One day, Ross walked into my office looking like he was about to cry.I asked him, "What's wrong? What happened?"
""Life" magazine will come to the crew today to interview the rehearsal situation."
"Oh, wouldn't that be nice?"
"No." He tried not to let himself cry, "Now Life Magazine should find out that I don't even have the job of secretary."
As the premiere of The Patty Duke Show looms, so does trouble.Our producer-director, Bill Asher, likes to wear several hats at once, causing shows to fall behind schedule.At this juncture, not even a complete episode has been produced. Bill came to me and said, "The head of ABC, Ed Schreck, wants to see our dailies. I'm not sure whether 'The French Teacher' or 'Here We Are' would be more to his liking." "French Teacher" is starring Jean-Pierre Aumont. Patty falls in love with him and dreams of marrying him and living happily with him. "A Guest at Home" is about a rich eccentric aunt who comes to stay with Wren and almost drives everyone crazy. "Please show Shurek both episodes and let him choose which one he likes." I agree, "That's it." The next morning, we arranged to play the dailies for Ed Scherek and a couple of other NBC executives.Ed brought his wife and sister over, so when everyone introduced each other, the atmosphere was very casual and friendly. The lights dimmed and the movie started playing.Because Bill Asher is too busy, "French Teacher" has no editing, no soundtrack, and many special effects have not come out. It's the same with "A Guest at Home", which works very badly. The lights came on, and Shurek got up, glared at us, and said, "You guys figure out which episode to play first." He stormed out of the house with the gang. I sat frustrated.Maybe Todd was right.
The day of the premiere is fast approaching and we have to make a decision.Asher is now working around the clock to get these two episodes out.The broadcasters didn't care about our show anymore, so we had to decide for ourselves which episode to air first. The whole thing was messed up, with "French Teacher" on the west side of the U.S. and "We're Here" on the east side the night of the premiere. On the day of the premiere, Wednesday morning, I was walking through the lobby and Eddie Ampelgate came running in.He rushed to the pay phone, felt his pockets, and said to me in a panic, "Do you have any coins?" "Yes." I took out a coin from my pocket, "What's the matter?" "I have to call the broadcaster boss?" "Boss—what's the matter, Eddie?" "I just found out that the episode I'm in is going to air in the East, but my family is in the West." It took me a while to come to my senses, "Are you going to ask the broadcaster boss to switch the two episodes so that your family can see you?" "yes." I put the coin back in my pocket. "Eddie, he has other things to do today. I won't tell anyone about it."
The next morning's reviews were generally good. The Hollywood Reporter's report is more representative: "It's just this TV series -- the one that kids and their parents have been waiting for ... very attractive." More importantly, the ratings were much higher than our expectations.We were all overjoyed. The next day, Variety ran a double-sided ad for ABC: "The good girls always find a home first. We're always on 'The Patty Duke Show.'" So true.
The first year of filming on The Patty Duke Show went well.I thought it would be fun to get some stars to comeo.The idea worked out pretty well when it was put into practice.We had guest stars like Frankie Avalon, Troy Donash, Cel Minnho and more. Between filming, Joya and I decided to take Mary on a cruise.Normally when I'm traveling between work on a project, I take all my scripts with me just in case something goes wrong.But this time I don't think it's necessary.All of the episodes that will air in the first year have already been filmed. Big mistake. One morning I received a telegram on board telling me to telephone the company immediately.What happened, I have no idea. One of the company's production staff answered the phone, and I asked him, "What's going on?" "Green-Eyed Monster is a minute shorter, Practice Makes Perfect is three minutes shorter, I Say You Do is two minutes shorter, and Patty the Organizer is a minute and a half shorter. We need you to add some plot, as soon as possible." Now I know what the problem is, but I can't solve it.When I am writing a certain script, I will concentrate on the creation of this script.When I'm done, I start writing the next script and forget about the previous one.Therefore, I have no idea what the scripts of the few episodes he mentioned are about. I went back to the cabin and told Joya the news. "I don't know what to do," I said, "probably just go back to New York and read the scripts and refresh the memory." Mary, our eight-year-old genius, said out loud, "No, you don't have to go back, Dad. I remember the episodes." Then she began to recite the episodes to me scene by scene. That night, I sent a telegram to the company with the new content.
Towards the end of the year The Patty Duke Show premiered, I got a call from Hollywood: "Surprise asked you to write a TV show for them." Curve is a division of Columbia Pictures. "Are you interested?" "Of course I'm interested." My view of television has completely changed now. "They want you to come up with an idea and meet them in Hollywood. When will you be ready?" "How about Monday?" I want to write a TV series about the Djinn.I know the Djinn is nothing new, but it used to be a giant who came out of a bottle and said, "What do you need me to do, master?" Burl Eves did that Role. I'm going to change that image to a beautiful, sexy girl saying, "What do I need, master?" I think that would be eye-catching.It was just such a script that I decided to write for Mubao. According to my idea, my agent made an appointment with the other party to meet at Mubao Company on Monday.It's still Friday.On Saturday morning, I called a secretary in and began dictating the outline of the Genie play.However, during the dictation process, I started to add dialogue, camera angles, and then I thought, or just try to write the whole script.Then I started all over again and dictated the entire script to the secretary.Sunday night, we were done, just long enough for me to catch my plane to LA. The meeting was a success.I met Jerry Hymes, a senior executive at Curb, as well as Chuck Fryes and Jackie Cooper, a former child actor who is now head of production at Curb.They were very excited after reading my script. Jerry Hymes asked: "How about you organize a team and shoot here?" I thought about The Patty Duke Show.No one ever said I couldn't do two TV shows at the same time.So I said, "No problem." We successfully signed the contract. When I got back to New York, I saw a message: Curves had signed an agreement with NBC to broadcast "Space Fairy Love".Now I have two sitcoms that air every week, and I'm splitting my time between the East and West coasts. Jerry Hyams set me up to see a swatch of a new upcoming show.I love this show, I find it very engaging and sure to be a hit. Jerry Hyams asked me, "How about you producing?" I shook my head.As much as I wanted to accept it, I declined.Sometimes, without warning, you can lose control of your words and actions. Later, the TV series called "Fairy Family" became an instant hit.
We were filming "The Patty Duke Show" in New York, and we're about to start filming "Space Ladies" in New York.Because I was the producer of "The Patty Duke Show," which required quite a bit of effort, I started hiring other writers to write "The Patty Duke Show."Almost every weekend, I fly to Los Angeles.I was on the plane working on the script for The Patty Duke Show, and three days a week I was doing work on The Pony in Space.The Beverly Hills Hotel became my second home.
On my second trip to California, bad news kept coming.NBC president Mort Werner told me to go get him.His face was tight when I saw him. "Sheldon, I've got a memo from our practice department." He pushed the memo over to me. After reading the memo, I know what happened. The broadcasters, looking back now, in those days of censorship, bought a TV show about a sexy half-naked woman in the same roof as a bachelor, and the girl was always asking, "What do you need?" Did I do it, master?" And now I've got broadcasters jittery again with my film.The memo ran eighteen pages.It's all framed like this: It was all similar rhetoric, and I wrote a full eighteen pages. After I finished watching it, Mort Werner said, "What are you going to do with it? Our company wouldn't dare to put on a show like this." He almost said "cancel." I took a deep breath. "I'm making a comedy. I didn't intend to make it obscene. There will be no sexual innuendo and obscene puns." He stared at me for a long time, "Then we will wait and see." This is obstacle one. Obstacle #2, a memo from the NBC VP: I discussed your script sample with several of our creative staff, and we all agreed that such a formula would not work.With only one joke in an episode, it won't hold the audience in for long. I started thinking, so why did they buy the show in the first place?I gave them the following reply: After that, all rhetoric died down. Now it's time to start casting.I find this to be the hardest job a filmmaker has.It is very difficult for me to reject actors who come to audition.Each of them firmly believes that this audition is the breakthrough point of their careers.They had insomnia the whole night before, woke up early the next morning, bathed and changed clothes carefully, and tried to make themselves full of confidence. I can get this role. I can get this role. I can get this role. Then they walk into the audition room with clammy hands and trying to put on big smiles.
The role of Jeanne is the most important. Our lamp god must be very charming, but it can't be that kind of straightforward sexiness, and it has to be a little weird.We were very lucky because the first and last actor we auditioned for was Barbara Eden, and she was so perfect for the role. There's a warm, innocent quality about her that's sure to captivate audiences, and she's got a flair for comedy as well.Barbara is married to actor Michael Ansara. Next up is Jeanne's astronaut master, Anthony Nelson.We tried six actors and finally settled on Larry Hageman.Hageman, the son of Broadway star Mary Martin, was in New York on the filming of the soap opera "Edge of Night" and was relatively unknown.He auditioned so well that we signed him on the spot. There is also a role that is Anthony's confidant and friend. We tried dozens of actors for this role.Then I cast a nightclub comedian named Bill Daly who had never been in TV or movies. Regarding the choice of director, we have considered for a long time.Then Norman Jewison, who directed the hit "The Russians Are Coming," read my script.He asked his agent to seek cooperation with Mubao Company, but the agent insisted that Jewison should own a certain share, so we had to find another wise man. Gurney Nelson has starred in many Warner Bros. music films and directed many TV series including "Andy Griffiths".He came to me, and we talked about "Space Fairy" for an hour, and I thought he was the right person.In the end, the director decided to be him. In 1965, all TV series changed from black and white to color.All TV series actually do not include "Space Fairy Love".I went to ask Jerry Hyams why he didn't make it in color too. "Because it costs an extra four hundred dollars per show to change to color." "Jerry, it has to be done in color. I can pay for the extra money out of my own pocket." He looked at me and said, "Sidney, don't waste your money." His implication is that no one expects "Space Fairy Love" to have a chance to air next year.
In 1965, after the dailies were done for "Space Ladies," I went back to New York for a few days to see if everything was going well with "The Patty Duke Show," which was finishing its second season. John and Ethel were determined not to part with their cash cow.Between filmings on The Patty Duke Show, they both took Patty on vacation.When Patty was invited to a social or charity event, they followed and stared.In fact, Patty has no personal freedom at all. There was an assistant director on set, Harry Falk, a handsome twenty-five-year-old who was also very likable.When Ross discovers that Patty spends a lot of time with Falk, they fire Falk immediately.Patty was shocked, but she said nothing. Patty's birthday is coming up, and the company plans to throw her a birthday party on the set. Patty came to my office and said, "Sidney, I want to ask you a favor." "Happy to help you, Patty, what's up?" "I'd like to invite Harry Fink to my birthday party. Can you inform him for me?" "of course can." On the afternoon of the party, Harry Falk came to the set.John and Ethel were visibly upset, but Patty ignored them.She went up to say hello to Falk, and they were together for most of the party.Trouble is coming soon.
As the premiere of The Patty Duke Show looms, so does trouble.Our producer-director, Bill Asher, likes to wear several hats at once, causing shows to fall behind schedule.At this juncture, not even a complete episode has been produced. Bill came to me and said, "The head of ABC, Ed Schreck, wants to see our dailies. I'm not sure whether 'The French Teacher' or 'Here We Are' would be more to his liking." "French Teacher" is starring Jean-Pierre Aumont. Patty falls in love with him and dreams of marrying him and living happily with him. "A Guest at Home" is about a rich eccentric aunt who comes to stay with Wren and almost drives everyone crazy. "Please show Shurek both episodes and let him choose which one he likes." I agree, "That's it." The next morning, we arranged to play the dailies for Ed Scherek and a couple of other NBC executives.Ed brought his wife and sister over, so when everyone introduced each other, the atmosphere was very casual and friendly. The lights dimmed and the movie started playing.Because Bill Asher is too busy, "French Teacher" has no editing, no soundtrack, and many special effects have not come out. It's the same with "A Guest at Home", which works very badly. The lights came on, and Shurek got up, glared at us, and said, "You guys figure out which episode to play first." He stormed out of the house with the gang. I sat frustrated.Maybe Todd was right.
The day of the premiere is fast approaching and we have to make a decision.Asher is now working around the clock to get these two episodes out.The broadcasters didn't care about our show anymore, so we had to decide for ourselves which episode to air first. The whole thing was messed up, with "French Teacher" on the west side of the U.S. and "We're Here" on the east side the night of the premiere. On the day of the premiere, Wednesday morning, I was walking through the lobby and Eddie Ampelgate came running in.He rushed to the pay phone, felt his pockets, and said to me in a panic, "Do you have any coins?" "Yes." I took out a coin from my pocket, "What's the matter?" "I have to call the broadcaster boss?" "Boss—what's the matter, Eddie?" "I just found out that the episode I'm in is going to air in the East, but my family is in the West." It took me a while to come to my senses, "Are you going to ask the broadcaster boss to switch the two episodes so that your family can see you?" "yes." I put the coin back in my pocket. "Eddie, he has other things to do today. I won't tell anyone about it."
The next morning's reviews were generally good. The Hollywood Reporter's report is more representative: "It's just this TV series -- the one that kids and their parents have been waiting for ... very attractive." More importantly, the ratings were much higher than our expectations.We were all overjoyed. The next day, Variety ran a double-sided ad for ABC: "The good girls always find a home first. We're always on 'The Patty Duke Show.'" So true.
The first year of filming on The Patty Duke Show went well.I thought it would be fun to get some stars to comeo.The idea worked out pretty well when it was put into practice.We had guest stars like Frankie Avalon, Troy Donash, Cel Minnho and more. Between filming, Joya and I decided to take Mary on a cruise.Normally when I'm traveling between work on a project, I take all my scripts with me just in case something goes wrong.But this time I don't think it's necessary.All of the episodes that will air in the first year have already been filmed. Big mistake. One morning I received a telegram on board telling me to telephone the company immediately.What happened, I have no idea. One of the company's production staff answered the phone, and I asked him, "What's going on?" "Green-Eyed Monster is a minute shorter, Practice Makes Perfect is three minutes shorter, I Say You Do is two minutes shorter, and Patty the Organizer is a minute and a half shorter. We need you to add some plot, as soon as possible." Now I know what the problem is, but I can't solve it.When I am writing a certain script, I will concentrate on the creation of this script.When I'm done, I start writing the next script and forget about the previous one.Therefore, I have no idea what the scripts of the few episodes he mentioned are about. I went back to the cabin and told Joya the news. "I don't know what to do," I said, "probably just go back to New York and read the scripts and refresh the memory." Mary, our eight-year-old genius, said out loud, "No, you don't have to go back, Dad. I remember the episodes." Then she began to recite the episodes to me scene by scene. That night, I sent a telegram to the company with the new content.
Towards the end of the year The Patty Duke Show premiered, I got a call from Hollywood: "Surprise asked you to write a TV show for them." Curve is a division of Columbia Pictures. "Are you interested?" "Of course I'm interested." My view of television has completely changed now. "They want you to come up with an idea and meet them in Hollywood. When will you be ready?" "How about Monday?" I want to write a TV series about the Djinn.I know the Djinn is nothing new, but it used to be a giant who came out of a bottle and said, "What do you need me to do, master?" Burl Eves did that Role. I'm going to change that image to a beautiful, sexy girl saying, "What do I need, master?" I think that would be eye-catching.It was just such a script that I decided to write for Mubao. According to my idea, my agent made an appointment with the other party to meet at Mubao Company on Monday.It's still Friday.On Saturday morning, I called a secretary in and began dictating the outline of the Genie play.However, during the dictation process, I started to add dialogue, camera angles, and then I thought, or just try to write the whole script.Then I started all over again and dictated the entire script to the secretary.Sunday night, we were done, just long enough for me to catch my plane to LA. The meeting was a success.I met Jerry Hymes, a senior executive at Curb, as well as Chuck Fryes and Jackie Cooper, a former child actor who is now head of production at Curb.They were very excited after reading my script. Jerry Hymes asked: "How about you organize a team and shoot here?" I thought about The Patty Duke Show.No one ever said I couldn't do two TV shows at the same time.So I said, "No problem." We successfully signed the contract. When I got back to New York, I saw a message: Curves had signed an agreement with NBC to broadcast "Space Fairy Love".Now I have two sitcoms that air every week, and I'm splitting my time between the East and West coasts. Jerry Hyams set me up to see a swatch of a new upcoming show.I love this show, I find it very engaging and sure to be a hit. Jerry Hyams asked me, "How about you producing?" I shook my head.As much as I wanted to accept it, I declined.Sometimes, without warning, you can lose control of your words and actions. Later, the TV series called "Fairy Family" became an instant hit.
We were filming "The Patty Duke Show" in New York, and we're about to start filming "Space Ladies" in New York.Because I was the producer of "The Patty Duke Show," which required quite a bit of effort, I started hiring other writers to write "The Patty Duke Show."Almost every weekend, I fly to Los Angeles.I was on the plane working on the script for The Patty Duke Show, and three days a week I was doing work on The Pony in Space.The Beverly Hills Hotel became my second home.
On my second trip to California, bad news kept coming.NBC president Mort Werner told me to go get him.His face was tight when I saw him. "Sheldon, I've got a memo from our practice department." He pushed the memo over to me. After reading the memo, I know what happened. The broadcasters, looking back now, in those days of censorship, bought a TV show about a sexy half-naked woman in the same roof as a bachelor, and the girl was always asking, "What do you need?" Did I do it, master?" And now I've got broadcasters jittery again with my film.The memo ran eighteen pages.It's all framed like this: It was all similar rhetoric, and I wrote a full eighteen pages. After I finished watching it, Mort Werner said, "What are you going to do with it? Our company wouldn't dare to put on a show like this." He almost said "cancel." I took a deep breath. "I'm making a comedy. I didn't intend to make it obscene. There will be no sexual innuendo and obscene puns." He stared at me for a long time, "Then we will wait and see." This is obstacle one. Obstacle #2, a memo from the NBC VP: I discussed your script sample with several of our creative staff, and we all agreed that such a formula would not work.With only one joke in an episode, it won't hold the audience in for long. I started thinking, so why did they buy the show in the first place?I gave them the following reply: After that, all rhetoric died down. Now it's time to start casting.I find this to be the hardest job a filmmaker has.It is very difficult for me to reject actors who come to audition.Each of them firmly believes that this audition is the breakthrough point of their careers.They had insomnia the whole night before, woke up early the next morning, bathed and changed clothes carefully, and tried to make themselves full of confidence. I can get this role. I can get this role. I can get this role. Then they walk into the audition room with clammy hands and trying to put on big smiles.
The role of Jeanne is the most important. Our lamp god must be very charming, but it can't be that kind of straightforward sexiness, and it has to be a little weird.We were very lucky because the first and last actor we auditioned for was Barbara Eden, and she was so perfect for the role. There's a warm, innocent quality about her that's sure to captivate audiences, and she's got a flair for comedy as well.Barbara is married to actor Michael Ansara. Next up is Jeanne's astronaut master, Anthony Nelson.We tried six actors and finally settled on Larry Hageman.Hageman, the son of Broadway star Mary Martin, was in New York on the filming of the soap opera "Edge of Night" and was relatively unknown.He auditioned so well that we signed him on the spot. There is also a role that is Anthony's confidant and friend. We tried dozens of actors for this role.Then I cast a nightclub comedian named Bill Daly who had never been in TV or movies. Regarding the choice of director, we have considered for a long time.Then Norman Jewison, who directed the hit "The Russians Are Coming," read my script.He asked his agent to seek cooperation with Mubao Company, but the agent insisted that Jewison should own a certain share, so we had to find another wise man. Gurney Nelson has starred in many Warner Bros. music films and directed many TV series including "Andy Griffiths".He came to me, and we talked about "Space Fairy" for an hour, and I thought he was the right person.In the end, the director decided to be him. In 1965, all TV series changed from black and white to color.All TV series actually do not include "Space Fairy Love".I went to ask Jerry Hyams why he didn't make it in color too. "Because it costs an extra four hundred dollars per show to change to color." "Jerry, it has to be done in color. I can pay for the extra money out of my own pocket." He looked at me and said, "Sidney, don't waste your money." His implication is that no one expects "Space Fairy Love" to have a chance to air next year.
In 1965, after the dailies were done for "Space Ladies," I went back to New York for a few days to see if everything was going well with "The Patty Duke Show," which was finishing its second season. John and Ethel were determined not to part with their cash cow.Between filmings on The Patty Duke Show, they both took Patty on vacation.When Patty was invited to a social or charity event, they followed and stared.In fact, Patty has no personal freedom at all. There was an assistant director on set, Harry Falk, a handsome twenty-five-year-old who was also very likable.When Ross discovers that Patty spends a lot of time with Falk, they fire Falk immediately.Patty was shocked, but she said nothing. Patty's birthday is coming up, and the company plans to throw her a birthday party on the set. Patty came to my office and said, "Sidney, I want to ask you a favor." "Happy to help you, Patty, what's up?" "I'd like to invite Harry Fink to my birthday party. Can you inform him for me?" "of course can." On the afternoon of the party, Harry Falk came to the set.John and Ethel were visibly upset, but Patty ignored them.She went up to say hello to Falk, and they were together for most of the party.Trouble is coming soon.