Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty-One
We've expanded the cast of "Space Girl" with Hayden Parker as the psychiatrist and Barton McKellen as General Peterson.
The beginning of the episode is about an astronaut discovering Jeanne, and I think this part should be shown in animation.Fritz Freelen is the best animation master in Hollywood, but he basically creates animation works for movies, and rarely does TV.I sent him the sample script and asked if he would be interested in animating the beginning of our episode.He helped us draw really good animations.
I asked the talented composer Dick Weiss to write music for the first season, and after listening to his music, I didn't think it was right for our series.Later I used a light, upbeat set of pieces by Hugo Montenago.
Jeanne's home is a Jim Beam whiskey bottle that we painted colorfully.
The first day of rehearsal went very well.We had a reading with all the actors and director Gurney Nelson.I asked the actors if they needed to make some changes, and if they had any comments on their lines.I want to make sure everyone is happy because I don't want to do a lot of improvisation while shooting.The reading session was a joy for all.
Everything is ready, "Space Fairy Love" is about to create a miracle.
We started the filming of the dailies. In the morning, less than half an hour after starting the machine, the secretary came to me: "Mr. Nelson called from the set." I can't wait to hear the good news, "Gurney..." "I quit. Find another Gao Ming. I'm sorry." He was about to hang up the phone after speaking. "Wait! Wait a minute!" I panicked, "Don't go yet. I'll be right over." Three minutes later, I rushed to the set.I pulled Gurney aside, "What happened?" "It's okay. The problem is, I can't work with a bunch of actors who can't remember their lines. Larry Hagman doesn't remember his lines, Bill Daly doesn't remember his lines, and..." "Wait a moment." I was already out of breath. I called Larry aside, "How dare you not memorize your lines on the first day you turn it on!" He looked at me in surprise, "What are you talking about? I remember it." "The director said you didn't." "Oh, I just added a few more things. I thought of some good words, but sometimes I added a few lines..." "Larry! Listen to me, we have a very tight schedule, and we have to shoot a lot of scenes every day, and you will act strictly according to the script. Do you understand?" He shrugged. "Okay, no problem." I called Bill Daly aside again, "Why didn't you memorize your lines?" He said, "I'm sorry, Sidney, I—I never used to memorize my lines. I used to do impromptu nightclubs and stuff like that, just burlesque." "This isn't an impromptu nightclub," I snapped. "You've got to memorize your lines if you're going to stay on set." He swallowed, "Okay." I went back to Gurney Nelson, "Gurney, there was a little misunderstanding. I thought after today, everything will be back to normal. Please stay. Larry will be fine. I will put Bill Record your lines and let him listen to it when he drives back and forth every day, and he will definitely be able to remember it. Would you like to try again?" He pondered for a long time, and then said: "Let me try, but..." "Thank you."
The location for the first scene in the dailies was Zuma Beach, thirty miles northwest of Los Angeles.Astronaut Larry is stranded on a deserted island because of a spaceship failure.He saw a bottle, uncorked it, and a lamp god floated out of it.Because it was Larry who released her, according to the rules of the Djinn game, Larry is now the master of the Djinn.The Genie brought a lifeboat, and Larry thought he could get rid of her, but who knows that the Genie has been following him closely ever since. The filming went well, the whole day went well, and we were all happy. On our ride back in the company car, I got my first glimpse of Larry Hagerman's ambitions.While we were waiting for a red light, a car full of tourists was parked beside us.Larry rolled down the window and shouted at the tourists, "One day, you'll all know my name." Larry is a man with some mental blocks.His mother, Mary Martin, was a great Broadway star, and they didn't get along well.Mary was always busy with her career, so Larry was living with his father, Ben, in Texas. Sometimes he would go to live with his grandmother for a while, and he would visit his mother in New York.He wants his mother to see that one day he too will be a star.One day, you will all know my name.
The samples are ready.Before it aired I got a call from Mary Martin, "Sidney, I'd like to see the dailies. Can you arrange this for me?" "of course can." I happened to be in New York to do work on The Patty Duke Show, so I arranged for Mary to watch the dailies of A Space Lady in New York. In the screening room were Mary Martin, several executives from Curper, and John Mitchell, Curper's marketing director. Before the show started, Mary Martin walked up to John Mitchell, shook his hand, and said, "I heard you're the best marketer in the world." I could see John's body straightening up immediately. Mary Martin went on: "I've heard a lot about you. They say you're a genius." John Mitchell blushed, and he tried to hide it. "Mubao company is so lucky to have a talent like you." He could only fumble out the words: "Thank you, Miss Martin." The demo starts playing.When the show was over and the lights were turned on, Mary Martin said to John Mitchell, "Anyone can sell a show like this." I saw John's body shrink back again.
The evaluation of "Space Fairy Love" is mixed.The critics were mostly dismissive, but the audience reacted just the opposite.We've had a loyal following since day one, and the team continues to grow. I decided to have some stars comeo in this episode as well.Farrah Fawcett, Dick Van Dyke, Richard Mulligan, Don Rickles, Milton Burleigh all make cameo appearances. In one episode, there is a fake fortune-teller character who claims to be "better than a lamp god".I asked Joya to play the part.It was spring and Natalie was coming to see us. Joa said, "You can get Natalie a part too. It could be someone from the seance scene." I laughed, "I guess she'd be happy." When Natalie came, I asked her, "Do you want to be on TV?" "It doesn't matter." My dear mother was very calm. "Joya wants to play the role of a fortune teller, so you can play a character in a séance." She nodded, "Okay." She was about to appear on a national TV show, and this was her TV debut, but her performance was very calm. I wrote some lines for Natalie to memorize.While I was busy at the company, Joya was also rehearsing her character. I auditioned for Queenie Smith the next morning, and she's a great actress.I thought she should do Natalie's lines, so I wrote some new lines for Natalie.When I got home that night, I gave her the new lines. She looked at it and said, "Not good." I was very surprised, "Not good - what's wrong?" "I don't want these words." "why?" "Because the character I played wouldn't say something like that." That was the mouth of a seventy-year-old lady who sold clothes in Chicago. I laughed with her.I couldn't get the original line back from her, so I had to write another line for Queenie Smith. The episode went off without a hitch.Colonel Chuck Yeager himself played his own part in the show.Natalie was so good, no one could tell she wasn't a professional actress. Larry had seen her at the party, so when he found out Natalie was going to be in, he joked, "Aha, kind of nepotism." "You're right, Larry," I said. "To be fair, if your mother came over, I'd be happy to let her play a part." The broadcaster rescheduled "Space Fairy" from Saturday night to Monday night.It's not over yet.The next year it was transferred to Tuesday nights, the next year it was transferred to Mondays, and the year after that it was transferred to Tuesdays.Fortunately, our audience has followed us loyally.
Later, after Natalie was back in Chicago, the episode "Genius" aired.She called me the next day. "Thank you dear." "why?" "I've had calls all morning. I'm a big star."
We shot more than a dozen episodes, and the production company and the broadcaster were very satisfied.Joa and I were over for a dinner at a friend's house one day when we got a phone call from Barbara Eden. "Sidney, I want to see you." "Okay, Barbara, I'll be at work tomorrow morning, and we..." "No, I must see you tonight." "Is there a problem?" "I'll tell you when we meet." I gave her the address of my friend's house. She arrived an hour later.I took her to the study.She was on the verge of tears. "You have to replace me." I froze, "Why?" "I am pregnant." It took me a long time to come back to my senses, "Congratulations." "I'm sorry for causing you trouble." "You didn't cause me trouble. You stay on the set." She looked at me curiously, "But..." I said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." The next morning, I called Gurney Nelson into my office, "Gurney, I have a question." He said, "I heard. Barbara is pregnant. What to do?" "We moved the camera up, shot her from the waist up, had her dress a little more, used long shots. No problem. I didn't want to replace her." He thought for a moment, "I don't want to either." Between three weeks and eight months pregnant with Barbara, we managed to film the entire season.
And in the east, a storm was coming, so I flew back to New York to see if I could calm things down. John and Ethel discover that Patty and Harry Falk have been secretly seeing each other.They would never allow romance to happen, so they arranged to shoot the third season of "The Patty Duke Show" in California.For me, this is a good thing, because I don't have to travel to and from the east and west coasts anymore.But troubles ensued. When I got back to California, I found a nice house in Thousand Oaks that I was going to rent for myself.I knew Patty and the Roses were also looking for a house, so I suggested they look at my house and rent it if they liked it.They liked the house so much they moved in.
NASA has helped us a lot.We went to Edwards Air Force Base and Kennedy Space Center in Florida and met a lot of astronauts.Many of them are loyal fans of "Space Fairy Love".They let us use some of the facilities at Edwards Base.I also tried the Gemini spacecraft simulator and tried some dehydrated food and they were awful. The ratings of "Space Fairy Love" have been high in the first year, but the filming is not going smoothly. The problem is Larry Hagerman.I planned to have more stars comeo, but Larry was always against them.He was sullen and indifferent to them, often sulking in the locker room. He wants to be a star, and he wants to be now.But it was Barbara who was on the cover of the magazine and was interviewed.Larry wanted to prove to the world that he could be as successful as his mother.As a result, he puts a lot of pressure on himself, and everyone else. I didn't know it at first, but every morning Larry popped a bottle of champagne and drank it non-stop.Of course, this has no effect on his performance. He knows his lines very well and never goes wrong.Slowly, however, the pressure he caused began to show. One morning, after the manuscript reading, I asked everyone if they had any questions.All said no problem.When I got back to the office, I got a call from Gurney Nelson. "Help me, Sidney. Larry is crying in the locker room and won't come out." I went to Larry's locker room and had a long talk with him.Finally, I said, "Larry, I'm willing to help you in any way I can. When I write the script, I try to make the story unfold around you." I did what I said, and I started to flesh out Larry's character as much as possible, to emphasize his importance.But with Barbara Eden, who is as beautiful and charming as she is with little clothes, the actor's light will naturally be overshadowed. Larry became more and more distressed, and everyone on set was deeply disturbed.Barbara was very patient with him.Finally, I talked to Larry again. "Larry, do you like the show?" "certainly." "But you were unhappy when you were filming?" "yes." "why?" He hesitated, "I don't know." "Of course you do. You want the whole show to be about you." "I suppose so." "Larry, you are a very important role for us. But if you want to stay, you have to take the pressure off your body. I think you should see a therapist. I don't want to wait any longer." He nodded. "You're right. I will." Soon, he was telling me that he was already seeing a psychiatrist on a regular basis.Things have improved to a certain extent, but the tense state has not been completely eliminated.
We started the filming of the dailies. In the morning, less than half an hour after starting the machine, the secretary came to me: "Mr. Nelson called from the set." I can't wait to hear the good news, "Gurney..." "I quit. Find another Gao Ming. I'm sorry." He was about to hang up the phone after speaking. "Wait! Wait a minute!" I panicked, "Don't go yet. I'll be right over." Three minutes later, I rushed to the set.I pulled Gurney aside, "What happened?" "It's okay. The problem is, I can't work with a bunch of actors who can't remember their lines. Larry Hagman doesn't remember his lines, Bill Daly doesn't remember his lines, and..." "Wait a moment." I was already out of breath. I called Larry aside, "How dare you not memorize your lines on the first day you turn it on!" He looked at me in surprise, "What are you talking about? I remember it." "The director said you didn't." "Oh, I just added a few more things. I thought of some good words, but sometimes I added a few lines..." "Larry! Listen to me, we have a very tight schedule, and we have to shoot a lot of scenes every day, and you will act strictly according to the script. Do you understand?" He shrugged. "Okay, no problem." I called Bill Daly aside again, "Why didn't you memorize your lines?" He said, "I'm sorry, Sidney, I—I never used to memorize my lines. I used to do impromptu nightclubs and stuff like that, just burlesque." "This isn't an impromptu nightclub," I snapped. "You've got to memorize your lines if you're going to stay on set." He swallowed, "Okay." I went back to Gurney Nelson, "Gurney, there was a little misunderstanding. I thought after today, everything will be back to normal. Please stay. Larry will be fine. I will put Bill Record your lines and let him listen to it when he drives back and forth every day, and he will definitely be able to remember it. Would you like to try again?" He pondered for a long time, and then said: "Let me try, but..." "Thank you."
The location for the first scene in the dailies was Zuma Beach, thirty miles northwest of Los Angeles.Astronaut Larry is stranded on a deserted island because of a spaceship failure.He saw a bottle, uncorked it, and a lamp god floated out of it.Because it was Larry who released her, according to the rules of the Djinn game, Larry is now the master of the Djinn.The Genie brought a lifeboat, and Larry thought he could get rid of her, but who knows that the Genie has been following him closely ever since. The filming went well, the whole day went well, and we were all happy. On our ride back in the company car, I got my first glimpse of Larry Hagerman's ambitions.While we were waiting for a red light, a car full of tourists was parked beside us.Larry rolled down the window and shouted at the tourists, "One day, you'll all know my name." Larry is a man with some mental blocks.His mother, Mary Martin, was a great Broadway star, and they didn't get along well.Mary was always busy with her career, so Larry was living with his father, Ben, in Texas. Sometimes he would go to live with his grandmother for a while, and he would visit his mother in New York.He wants his mother to see that one day he too will be a star.One day, you will all know my name.
The samples are ready.Before it aired I got a call from Mary Martin, "Sidney, I'd like to see the dailies. Can you arrange this for me?" "of course can." I happened to be in New York to do work on The Patty Duke Show, so I arranged for Mary to watch the dailies of A Space Lady in New York. In the screening room were Mary Martin, several executives from Curper, and John Mitchell, Curper's marketing director. Before the show started, Mary Martin walked up to John Mitchell, shook his hand, and said, "I heard you're the best marketer in the world." I could see John's body straightening up immediately. Mary Martin went on: "I've heard a lot about you. They say you're a genius." John Mitchell blushed, and he tried to hide it. "Mubao company is so lucky to have a talent like you." He could only fumble out the words: "Thank you, Miss Martin." The demo starts playing.When the show was over and the lights were turned on, Mary Martin said to John Mitchell, "Anyone can sell a show like this." I saw John's body shrink back again.
The evaluation of "Space Fairy Love" is mixed.The critics were mostly dismissive, but the audience reacted just the opposite.We've had a loyal following since day one, and the team continues to grow. I decided to have some stars comeo in this episode as well.Farrah Fawcett, Dick Van Dyke, Richard Mulligan, Don Rickles, Milton Burleigh all make cameo appearances. In one episode, there is a fake fortune-teller character who claims to be "better than a lamp god".I asked Joya to play the part.It was spring and Natalie was coming to see us. Joa said, "You can get Natalie a part too. It could be someone from the seance scene." I laughed, "I guess she'd be happy." When Natalie came, I asked her, "Do you want to be on TV?" "It doesn't matter." My dear mother was very calm. "Joya wants to play the role of a fortune teller, so you can play a character in a séance." She nodded, "Okay." She was about to appear on a national TV show, and this was her TV debut, but her performance was very calm. I wrote some lines for Natalie to memorize.While I was busy at the company, Joya was also rehearsing her character. I auditioned for Queenie Smith the next morning, and she's a great actress.I thought she should do Natalie's lines, so I wrote some new lines for Natalie.When I got home that night, I gave her the new lines. She looked at it and said, "Not good." I was very surprised, "Not good - what's wrong?" "I don't want these words." "why?" "Because the character I played wouldn't say something like that." That was the mouth of a seventy-year-old lady who sold clothes in Chicago. I laughed with her.I couldn't get the original line back from her, so I had to write another line for Queenie Smith. The episode went off without a hitch.Colonel Chuck Yeager himself played his own part in the show.Natalie was so good, no one could tell she wasn't a professional actress. Larry had seen her at the party, so when he found out Natalie was going to be in, he joked, "Aha, kind of nepotism." "You're right, Larry," I said. "To be fair, if your mother came over, I'd be happy to let her play a part." The broadcaster rescheduled "Space Fairy" from Saturday night to Monday night.It's not over yet.The next year it was transferred to Tuesday nights, the next year it was transferred to Mondays, and the year after that it was transferred to Tuesdays.Fortunately, our audience has followed us loyally.
Later, after Natalie was back in Chicago, the episode "Genius" aired.She called me the next day. "Thank you dear." "why?" "I've had calls all morning. I'm a big star."
We shot more than a dozen episodes, and the production company and the broadcaster were very satisfied.Joa and I were over for a dinner at a friend's house one day when we got a phone call from Barbara Eden. "Sidney, I want to see you." "Okay, Barbara, I'll be at work tomorrow morning, and we..." "No, I must see you tonight." "Is there a problem?" "I'll tell you when we meet." I gave her the address of my friend's house. She arrived an hour later.I took her to the study.She was on the verge of tears. "You have to replace me." I froze, "Why?" "I am pregnant." It took me a long time to come back to my senses, "Congratulations." "I'm sorry for causing you trouble." "You didn't cause me trouble. You stay on the set." She looked at me curiously, "But..." I said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." The next morning, I called Gurney Nelson into my office, "Gurney, I have a question." He said, "I heard. Barbara is pregnant. What to do?" "We moved the camera up, shot her from the waist up, had her dress a little more, used long shots. No problem. I didn't want to replace her." He thought for a moment, "I don't want to either." Between three weeks and eight months pregnant with Barbara, we managed to film the entire season.
And in the east, a storm was coming, so I flew back to New York to see if I could calm things down. John and Ethel discover that Patty and Harry Falk have been secretly seeing each other.They would never allow romance to happen, so they arranged to shoot the third season of "The Patty Duke Show" in California.For me, this is a good thing, because I don't have to travel to and from the east and west coasts anymore.But troubles ensued. When I got back to California, I found a nice house in Thousand Oaks that I was going to rent for myself.I knew Patty and the Roses were also looking for a house, so I suggested they look at my house and rent it if they liked it.They liked the house so much they moved in.
NASA has helped us a lot.We went to Edwards Air Force Base and Kennedy Space Center in Florida and met a lot of astronauts.Many of them are loyal fans of "Space Fairy Love".They let us use some of the facilities at Edwards Base.I also tried the Gemini spacecraft simulator and tried some dehydrated food and they were awful. The ratings of "Space Fairy Love" have been high in the first year, but the filming is not going smoothly. The problem is Larry Hagerman.I planned to have more stars comeo, but Larry was always against them.He was sullen and indifferent to them, often sulking in the locker room. He wants to be a star, and he wants to be now.But it was Barbara who was on the cover of the magazine and was interviewed.Larry wanted to prove to the world that he could be as successful as his mother.As a result, he puts a lot of pressure on himself, and everyone else. I didn't know it at first, but every morning Larry popped a bottle of champagne and drank it non-stop.Of course, this has no effect on his performance. He knows his lines very well and never goes wrong.Slowly, however, the pressure he caused began to show. One morning, after the manuscript reading, I asked everyone if they had any questions.All said no problem.When I got back to the office, I got a call from Gurney Nelson. "Help me, Sidney. Larry is crying in the locker room and won't come out." I went to Larry's locker room and had a long talk with him.Finally, I said, "Larry, I'm willing to help you in any way I can. When I write the script, I try to make the story unfold around you." I did what I said, and I started to flesh out Larry's character as much as possible, to emphasize his importance.But with Barbara Eden, who is as beautiful and charming as she is with little clothes, the actor's light will naturally be overshadowed. Larry became more and more distressed, and everyone on set was deeply disturbed.Barbara was very patient with him.Finally, I talked to Larry again. "Larry, do you like the show?" "certainly." "But you were unhappy when you were filming?" "yes." "why?" He hesitated, "I don't know." "Of course you do. You want the whole show to be about you." "I suppose so." "Larry, you are a very important role for us. But if you want to stay, you have to take the pressure off your body. I think you should see a therapist. I don't want to wait any longer." He nodded. "You're right. I will." Soon, he was telling me that he was already seeing a psychiatrist on a regular basis.Things have improved to a certain extent, but the tense state has not been completely eliminated.