The Archive's Dick Clark interview featured on TV Land Online

Bandstand fans: check out this new 5-minute video produced by our partner TV Land Online featuring excerpts from the Archive's Dick Clark interview (conducted in 1999). In the photo-filled piece, he discusses his journey from radio to hosting American Bandstand -- the show's groundbreaking racial integration, the move from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, and the many cultural changes the program reflected throughout the decades it aired.

Writer Mel Tolkin Dies at 94 - Archive Interview Online

We're sad to report that comedy writer Mel Tolkin passed away yesterday, November 26th, at his home in Century City. Mel Tolkin was interviewed for the Archive of American Television for four hours. In his interview, Mr. Tolkin discussed his long writing partnership with Lucille Kallen (also an Archive interviewee) and writing for such shows as Admiral Broadway Revue and Your Show of Shows, Caesar's Hour, The Sid Caesar Show and The Danny Kaye Show, as well as writing for All in the Family. The interview was conducted by Bob Claster on November 4, 1997.

Link to his New York Times obituary.

From his Archive Interview:

On teaching comedy.
First I'd say that humor cannot be taught. Humor is an attitude towards life. It's a rather cynical approach. It's a negative approach. It's saying people misbehave. People put on shows. People wear masks. People are proud of what they shouldn't be. People compete unfairly. If you think life is wonderful, you don't belong in comedy. Of course, there's a lot that can be taught and at UCLA I taught very detailed things. Some of the things I mention here: how people recognize themselves on the screen and so on. What people are funny? And I quote the opening line of Anna Karenina by Tolstoy when she says, happy people are alike in their happiness. Only unhappy people are different from each other, and that's all there is. Because she proceeded to have one of the unhappiest marriages of all time, Karenina. But she left him. So that's an important lesson. Happy people are dull conversationalists -- no fun to be with and probably vote Republican.

On how he would like to be remembered.
I will be remembered and that's good enough. I speak about that subject to my son, Michael, and said if I never wrote another line, I've done my share. I'm pretty proud of what happened up to now.

Click here to access Mel Tolkin's Archive of American Television Interview.

I Love Lucy: The Complete Series DVD Set Released

Just released: The I Love Lucy: The Complete Series collection is a definitive compact, 34-disc set that includes hours of bonus material from the previously released individual complete season sets, plus new special features.

Gregg Oppenheimer, son of I Love Lucy creator Jess Oppenheimer, served as executive producer for this special complete series DVD box set, and, as a supporter of the Archive, has generously included the Archive's 4-minute promotional reel on the Bonus Disc!

The total running time is 89 hours, 54 minutes. The set includes all 179 regular half-hour episodes, all 13 of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” episodes, plus the long-lost “I Love Lucy” pilot and the rarely-seen 1956 “I Love Lucy” Christmas Show, all digitally remastered and restored.

New Bonus Material Not on Previous Releases:

• “Lucy Goes to Scotland” in color—Using color publicity stills, color home movies of the dress rehearsal and the latest in colorization technology, this episode is presented just the way it was originally seen by those who were in the Desilu studio audience on the evening of January 6, 1956.
• “I Love Lucy: The Movie”—In 1953, three classic first season “I Love Lucy” episodes were edited together with newly filmed connecting scenes to create this never-before-released feature-length film. This movie was lost for nearly half a century after Desilu shelved it in 1953 to avoid competition with Lucy and Desi’s first MGM movie The Long, Long Trailer.
• Lucy and Desi’s First Joint TV Appearance—Rare kinescoped highlights from Lucy and Desi’s historic guest appearance on “The Ed Wynn Show,” broadcast live on December 24, 1949, from Studio A in CBS Columbia Square, Hollywood.
• “I Love Lucy” at the 6th Annual Emmy Awards—In these excerpts from the earliest existing Emmy Award telecast, Vivian Vance accepts the Emmy for Best Series Supporting Actress and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz accept the Emmy for Best Situation Comedy of 1953.
• On Set Commercial from the Series Premiere—Who was the first actor ever seen in the Ricardo apartment by American TV viewers? No, not Lucille Ball or Desi Arnaz. It was John Stephenson (the voice of Fred Flinstone’s boss, “Mr. Slate”), who did this opening commercial for the show’s sponsor, Phillip Morris, from the Ricardo living room.

Original bonus material included:

• 37 episodes of Lucy's radio show: "My Favorite Husband"
• Flubs
• Lost Scenes
• Deleted Footage
• "Behind-the-Scenes" Featurettes
• Audio Commentaries by Keith Thibodeaux ("Little Ricky"), Barbara Eden, Doris Singleton ("Caroline Appleby"), and “I Love Lucy” writers Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Schiller
• Original Series Openings
• Original Animated Sequences
• Vintage Series Promotional Spots
• Original Cast Commercials
• Colorized Christmas Show Scenes
• Photo Galleries
• Script Excerpts
• English Closed-Captions
• Spanish Subtitles available on all 181 half-hour episodes and I Love Lucy: The Movie
• Spanish Audio available on most episodes
• Scene Selections
• Song Selections
• Production Notes
• Guest Cast Information

After you've watched the 90 hours (!) of material on the DVDs, don't forget that the Archive of American Television interviewed many significant talents behind the series. Here are the interviews currently available online:

Dann Cahn: editor
Bob Carroll & Madelyn Pugh Davis: writers
Barbara Eden: guest star
Jay Sandrich: assistant director
Bob Schiller & Bob Weiskopf: writers
Doris Singleton: recurring character "Carolyn Appleby"

Archive of American Television interview with producer Robert Halmi, Sr., featured in Emmy magazine

The latest issue of Emmy magazine (Issue No. 5, 2007, with Cane's Jimmy Smits on the cover) includes selections from our Archive of American Television interview with producer (nearly 200 television movies and miniseries) and chairman of RHI Entertainment, Robert Halmi, Sr. He was interviewed for two hours in May, 2007.

Halmi’s credits include many of the most acclaimed broadcast and cable productions of the past four decades: Lonesome Dove, The Josephine Baker Story, Gypsy, Gulliver’s Travels, In Cold Blood, The Odyssey, Merlin, Moby Dick, Dinotopia, The Lion in Winter and Human Trafficking. At eighty-three, Halmi maintains a busy schedule. He lives primarily in New York and London and spends the first week of production on location for every one of his films. He runs RHI Entertainment with his son Robert Halmi, Jr., having reacquired the company in 2006 from Hallmark, which bought it in 1994.


Below are some excerpts from the article:

Q: You did some documentaries for television, then moved to features, but quickly returned to TV. Why?
A: I decided that maybe features were not for me. They were too complicated. I wanted to do television, but I didn’t want to go to t do it on my own. So I went to General Foods — they were fully sponsoring television shows then — and said I would like to make a film of the Hemingway short story “My Old Man.” This was to be my very first television movie, 1979. Typical for television — General Foods loved it, but the “problem” was, it was about an old man and a boy. They wanted a girl in the lead because the demographic was female. I had to get permission from the Hemingway estate to change the character to a girl. I hated it, but thehe networks. I thought I couldn I found Kristy McNichol. She was such an incredibly good actress — she made everybody cry. I think the movie got a 46 share.

Q: How did you begin your association with Hallmark Hall of Fame?
A: They saw my movies on CBS and approached me. Hall of Fame at that time was past its real glory — there had been too much competition. They did good, solid dramas, not exploitation stuff. It was family entertainment, and the name pre-sold it — you knew it was going to be good.

Q: Before Hallmark acquired RHI, what was the state of your company?
A:When I started, there were three or four of us. Before the acquisition by Hallmark, we had maybe thirty employees. Now we have 140, because of the Hallmark Channel, which my son [Robert Halmi, Jr.] created. We really grew because Hallmark Channel needed fifteen original movies a year. We opened offices in London and Australia.

Q: What is your philosophy regarding miniseries?
A: Two hours is a very short time, and on television it’s even shorter. In eighty-five minutes, you cannot really develop characters, you can- not go into somebody’s mind or heart, especially when it’s a complex story. You cannot do Captain Ahab [of Moby Dick] in 85 minutes — it’s too much character. [Halmi’s Moby Dick ran as a four-hour miniseries on USA Network in 1998.] These stories need time. I decided I’m not going to do anything but miniseries from now on. I’m finished with the two-hour versions of things.

Q: Why did you decide to reacquire your company from Hallmark?
A: I couldn’t face passing on and not owning my company. I want to leave something to my son and my kids. I want to leave them a library.

Q: What is the key to your success?
A: I don’t know if I’m successful. I like what I’m doing and I would not do anything else. I feel very strongly about the material and the process, actors and directors. It’s nice to be surrounded by these people, and my son gives me great pleasure because he does these things so brilliantly. To have a father-son relationship that works within a business is unique.

Q: There’s an international appeal to your work. How does that figure into your business?
A: Classics are better known in the rest of the world. They’re sought after and looked after. When I did Crime and Punishment for NBC, they didn’t want to put Dostoevsky’s name on it. They said, ‘It’s a deterrent.’ I said, “You’re crazy! In Europe, they would be proud. Dostoevsky comes first, and then Crime and Punishment!” Here, it’s sad.

Q: Have you always felt that way?
A: When I started, I only knew about American audiences, and the movies reflected that. Once we became bigger, we realized half of the income comes from the other parts of the world. On any movie, we have to satisfy that world.

Q: What is your proudest career achievement?
A: Making people sometimes cry, sometimes laugh, sometimes think.

Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: As a good storyteller.

You can find the issue at some newsstands, or it can be ordered through the Emmy Magazine Webpage.

Archive Celebrates Fran Allison's Centennial

The Archive celebrates the centennial of Fran Allison (1907-89), born on November 20. Fran Allison was the host of the classic television series Kukla, Fran, and Ollie (in photo with puppeteer Burr Tillstrom). The series is called by the Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television as, "the first children's show to be equally popular with children and adults." The series was done live and the dialogue was unscripted. The series began locally in Chicago in 1947 and went on NBC's midwest network in 1948 opening to the east coast in 1949 and the West Coast in 1951. As described in the Encyclopedia of Television, "Allison acted as 'straight man' to [the puppets], but her role was much more. A quick wit in her own right who could maintain the pace set by Tillstrom, Allison served simultaneously, according to Tillstrom, as 'big sister, favorite teacher, baby-sitter, girlfriend, and mother.'"


The Archive of American Television interviewed director Lewis Gomavitz, who spoke about about Kukla, Fran & Ollie in parts 2-5 of his interview.

Click here to access the entire nine-part interview with Lewis Gomavitz.


The Archive of American Television interviewed NBC stage manager Lynwood King, who spoke about Fran Allison ("Fran had a very quick wit, very fast thinking") and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie ten minutes into Part 2 of his interview.

Click here to access Lynwood King's entire six-part interview.

Lewis Gomavitz Interview Description:

Lewis Gomavitz described his involvement in the Chicago experimental station, W6XBK during World War II. After the war, he was hired on to the station, renamed WBKB, and served as a stage manager until he was tapped to direct a new show starring Burr Tillstrom's puppets and Fran Allison. The show, originally called Junior Jamboree, evolved into the classic, Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Gomavitz directed the show for ten years, until it went off the air. After that, he moved to Los Angeles where he directed and associate-produced various specials. In the 1970s, he worked as the prop master on Sanford and Son until the show went off the air. Mr. Gomavitz retired in the late 1980s. The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on February 2, 2000.

Lynwood King Interview Description:

Lynwood King talked about breaking into television in 1949 at Chicago’s WNBQ. He described the famous “Chicago School” of broadcasting pioneered by such legends as Dave Garroway and Studs Terkel. King talked about his work as a stage manager on such network series (originating from Chicago) as Studs’ Place; Garroway at Large; Zoo Parade; and Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. He recalled working as a director on such series as Hawkins Falls and, in New York, Tonight! America After Dark: the late night series that ran in between the Steve Allen and Jack Paar Tonight shows. King also talked about his work in public broadcasting and on such documentary series as Project 20. King spoke in great detail about his work as a director on the Today show, which reunited him with Dave Garroway. King also discussed his later freelance work on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and on soap operas, including Ryan’s Hope and One Life to Live. The interview was conducted by Jeff Kisseloff on November 20, 2002.

What are your memories of Kukla, Fran, and Ollie?

"Mary Kay and Johnny," American Network TV's First Sitcom, Celebrates its 60th Anniversary! Archive Interviews Now Online

Mary Kay and Johnny was a live domestic comedy that centered around a young couple that lived in Greenwich Village: he worked at a bank and she was a homemaker. It debuted on November 18, 1947. Mary Kay and Johnny (1947-50) originally ran on the Du Mont network (for nearly a year), then (except for a brief stint on CBS) spent the rest of its run on NBC.

Among the true-to-life storylines used on the show: Mary Kay got stuck in an elevator; Mary Kay left the apartment with a cake in the oven, leaving the "culinary-challenged" Johnny to finish the task; and, most importantly, Mary Kay's pregnancy and birth to son Christopher William (on December 19, 1948: that night's episode was done thirty minutes after his birth and showed an "expectant" Johnny Stearns pacing the waiting room floor). At the age of ten days, Christopher William made his debut on the show, and became a regular, years before there was a "Little Ricky."

Variety's October 13, 1948 review opined: "Much of the show's charm is traceable directly to the femme half of the team, who displayed a pleasant personality that prototyped the average conception of a young American housefrau.... Storyline picked them up with Mary Kay making plans for her first baby, which is due in a couple months, and her difficulties in buying the right baby carriage. It was that simple, but also that good. Whether the gal is actually going to have a baby wasn't made clear, but it would be a neat idea for the series..."

The Archive of American Television interviewed both Johnny Stearns (creator/writer/co-star) and Mary Kay Stearns (co-star) of this pioneering program. Click here to view their entire 4-part joint-interview (parts 1 through 4).

Interview Excerpts:

Mary Kay on breaking into television:

I went back to New York to start looking for work, and I got a call from an agent saying that there was a television job that I should go and see about. And of course, at that time, I didn’t know that much about television. But you know, a job is a job. So, I went down into the garment neighborhood of New York, and had an appointment with a man named J. Jostle, who owned a junior dress company. And he said, “yes, I’ll-- it’s fine, you can do it.” And I said, okay, so I went at the appointed time to Du Mont studio, which was downtown in New York, in what was Wannamaker’s Department Store... And so it was a fifteen minute program [modeling dresses] and during the 15 minutes, I think we had something like five dresses so it was quite hectic.

Johnny Stearns on convincing the sponsor of Mary Kay's previous show to consider a sitcom:

So I want up to this garment district and up in the elevator, and met J. Jostle, a very nice man, and he said, “you know,” he said, “we're all madly in love with your wife. She’s the cutest thing we ever saw. But I’m going to get out of TV, because the only sets in New York City are in bars, and I don’t think I’m going to sell too many J. J. Junior dresses to fellows drinking beer in a bar.” And I said, well, I think you’re absolutely right. And I said, however, if you’re going to go off of the air, how about letting us have one performance, because there’s something I’d like to try. And he said, “what is it?” I said, well, in radio, there’s a great many domestic comedies and comedies, I mean, The Jack Benny Show, and The Easy Aces and Henry Aldrich, and you know, all of these... but there’s never been anything like it on TV. So, I’d like to try it. He said, “well, I’ll tell you what. I have a friend who manufactures compacts that have a flashlight in them so that women can powder their nose in the dark.” And he said, “I’m going to give you 200 of those.” And if you can do anything you want to on the air, and just offer these to the viewers, and if you can get rid of all 200 of them, give them away free, maybe I’ll continue.” So, we went home to our little apartment, and I wrote a script about a young married couple-- well, we hadn’t been married very long. And so we did the program, and at the end of the 15 minutes, Mary Kay said, “and now, in honor of our first performance of the Mary Kay and Johnny show, we want to give you these--” And then we went home and prayed all night, because we thought, how embarrassing it’s going to be if no one likes them. And about 11 o’clock the next day I called up Mr. Jossel and I said, are you getting mail? And he said, “come on down.” And I said, but did you get any-- and he said, “come on down.” Wouldn’t tell me, so I went down there, climbed up to the office in the warehouse district, and he had something like 8000 letters, telegrams, over night mail, and a contract this long for Mary Kay and Johnny show, to sign. And which flabbergasted us. And I said this was the start of Mary Kay and Johnny show.

Johnny Stearns on the show's plotlines:

I can remember an episode that we did, and the reason I remember it, I also used it as an audition for U.S. Steel when they were considering hiring us. And it consisted of the two of us in the living room. I was reading the paper and Mary Kay was at a writing desk, writing a letter. And she said: “Darling.” And I’m lost in the paper. She said, “Darling.” I said, “hum?” Not looking up, the paper’s around. She said, “how do you spell ‘scrumptious?’” And I said, ‘scrumptious’? Just they way it sounds.” And Mary Kay went, “No, that isn’t one of the words you can do that. How do you spell it?” I said, “s-c-r-u-m-p-- shush.” And she says, “shush?” And I said, “yes.” And she said, “are you sure that’s right?” And I put down the paper and I said, would I have any reason to lie to you?” And she said, “well, I’ll take your word for it. It looks funny, but I’ll take your word for it.” I said, “well, you are you writing to?” She said, “I’m writing to the president of U.S. Steel.” And I said, “oh, how long have you two been carrying on a correspondence?” She said, “Not long. This is my first letter.” I said, “well, what are you writing him about?” And she said, I’m writing about our stainless steel flatware that we just bought.” And I said, “well, what are you saying?” She said, “I’m saying it’s ‘scrumptious’.” And, you know, it went on kind of-- so this was kind of little bit of the flavor of the thing that ah-- generally the situation was that because of Mary Kay’s big generous heart, she would create a situation that would put me in a real bind, but then by the time the half hour was over, she either intentionally, or unintentionally would get me out of the bind. That was kind of basically what would happen. But there were all sorts of things done.

Johnny Stearns on getting revenge on a critic:

I remember one we did where I was returning some glasses to a neighbor across the hall because we had had a party. And Mary Kay said, “be very, very quiet, because I’ve finally gotten Christopher asleep. So I went out the door, to return the glasses, and when I came back, she inadvertently had put the chain on the door. So I you know, “Mary Kay, Mary Kay,” which obviously she couldn’t hear, and Christopher couldn’t hear. So I was stuck. I was outside, couldn’t ring the bell. So went down the hall and climbed out a window and went along a ledge, you know, a little tiny ledge and we had-- this was on film, so you could shoot all this kind of thing. It’s perfectly safe, but it looked great, and while this was going on, Mary Kay had the radio on very low, and an announcer was saying, “there’s a cat burglar in such and such an area of New York, has been spotted, so we just want to warn people. So at this point, I was pulling the window up from the outside, and Mary Kay was, you know-- so she got a vase, and as I-- because the room was dark. And she got a vase, and as I came in, she hit me over the head, and boom, I went down. And so Mary Kay ran to the phone and asked information, the number for the police station. And at this point I began groaning, and so she said to the information, “oh, hold the line a minute,” she went back and hit me again.” And finally, she got off the phone and she turned on the light, and she said, “oh, it’s you, darling.” Well, we had gotten a bad review from a columnist by the name of Harriet Van Horn. And you know, when someone writes a bad review, there’s no way you get back. You can’t write a bad review about them. So when Mary Kay said, “oh, it’s you, darling.” I said, who were you expecting, Harriet Van Horn?

Interview descriptions:

John ("Johnny") Stearns (1916-2001) talked about growing up with a theatrical background, as his mother founded the “Petersborough Players,” in Petersborough, New Hampshire. This town was the model for Thorton Wilder’s “Our Town” and Stearns described how Wilder staged “Our Town” there himself, making this theatre the first summer theatre to do the play after its Broadway run. Stearns described his days in the theatre on the New York stage and his entrance into television on the experimental Philadelphia station WPTZ-TV. He described his work on stage and in film (Boomerang) with Elia Kazan. Stearns described how he became the creator, writer, producer, and star (along with his wife) of the very first television situation comedy, Mary Kay and Johnny (1947-50). He described the week by week production of the show, storylines used, and a description of its run on three different networks (Dumont, NBC, CBS). He also talked about his several year stint in the 1950s as the spokesperson (along with his wife) for U.S. Steel, appearing in commercials during the U.S. Steel Hour. He talked about other series he produced and directed such as: The Steve Allen Show (the WNBC show which would later become the Tonight show), Faye and Skitch (1953-54), Make Me Laugh (1958), Music Bingo (1958-59), and Seven Keys (1961-64). He also described in detail producing the long running agricultural program AG, USA, which began in 1961.


Mary Kay Stearns described her stage debut at age 2 and a half at the Pasadena Playhouse in California. She talked about her appearances on stage and in film on the West Coast before moving to New York to appear on Broadway. She described her television debut on the Dumont network on a show called J.J. Juniors, in which she modeled junior fashions. The timeslot was then taken by the Mary Kay and Johnny show (1947-50), television’s first situation comedy in which she described her co-starring role with her husband. She later found herself on television in Mary Kay’s Nightcap, in which, from 1951-52, she “signed-off” for NBC by telling the viewers what would be on television the following day and doing occasional interviews. She talked about appearances on “live” television shows such as the Armstrong Circle Theatre and Kraft Television Theatre. She also talked about her several year stint in the 1950s as the spokesperson (along with her husband) for U.S. Steel, appearing in commercials during the U.S. Steel Hour.

Director Delbert Mann Dies at the Age of 87 -- Archive Interview Online

Delbert Mann who helmed "Marty" for television and film died on Sunday. Mann won an Academy Award for the feature film adaptation of Marty (1955) that originated as a "live" television presentation in 1953.

Click here to access Delbert Mann's entire nine-part interview.

Interview Description:

Delbert Mann talked about studying at Yale Drama School and his transition to television following his service in the Air Force during World War II. He spoke of his days during the war, and his further inspiration to pursue theater after seeing various productions at the Old Vic in London as well as realizing the temporality of life. He talked about joining NBC in the summer of 1949 as a floor manager and described working his first show as a director shortly thereafter on the series Theater of the Mind. Mann related how his experiences as a pilot during the war prepared him for television, comparing piloting a B-24 to sitting in the hot seat of a live television show. He spoke in great detail about working with producer Fred Coe and their association on Philco-Goodyear Playhouse, one of the preeminent “live” television anthologies of the day. He described his celebrated production of “Marty,” written by Paddy Chayefsky, originally produced for Philco and later made into an Academy Award-winning feature film. He spoke about several of the actors he worked with in television including Grace Kelly, E. G. Marshall, and Laurence Olivier. Lastly, he discussed several of his most notable made-for-television movies including David Copperfield and All Quiet on the Western Front. The interview was conducted by Morrie Gelman on May 20, 1997.

"Meet the Press" Celebrates 60 Years on Television

Network television's oldest show, Meet the Press, debuted on NBC on November 6, 1947. The guest on this first show was James A. Farley, former postmaster general under Franklin D. Roosevelt and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee; the show was created by Laurence E. Spivak and Martha Roundtree (who served as moderator). Meet the Press made its radio debut in 1945. The series moved around the week in its first few years but since 1950 has been a Sunday staple, as Tim Russert's tagline suggests: "If it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press."

The Archive of American Television has interviewed several members of the team responsible for the show over the years and we're happy to highlight two of these interviews:


Tim Russert was interviewed for a half-hour on the set of Meet the Press in Washington, D.C. Russert spoke about his early years growing up in Buffalo, NY and his decision to go to law school. He then spoke about his transition to television news, joining NBC News in 1984 as vice president -- working very closely with his mentor, NBC president Lawrence Grossman. In 1988, he became the Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief of NBC News and in 1991 he joined Meet the Press as its moderator. He spoke about his meeting with Meet the Press co-creator Lawrence Spivak and outlined his philosophy for moderating a news interview show. He also spoke about what he considered the biggest news story of his career to-date, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America.


Betty Cole Dukert was interviewed for four-and-a-half hours. Dukert spoke of her early interest in journalism and her brief production experience in local radio and television. She spoke in great detail about her tenure at Meet the Press, which spanned five decades, for which she ultimately served as executive producer. Dukert offered a history of the show from its earliest years as well as discussing her personal experiences behind-the-scenes. She chronicled her overseas trips, guests who appeared on the show, and the relationship between the series and the world’s political leaders. Additionally, she described the working methods of the moderators who served on the show during her years including: Ned Brooks, Lawrence Spivak, Bill Monroe, Marvin Kalb, Roger Mudd, Chris Wallace, Garrick Utley, and Tim Russert.

Sidney Lumet's Interview Is Now Online

With Sidney Lumet's critically praised film "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" now in theaters, the Archive of American Television has posted his three-hour interview online in which he discusses his career that started in the theater and in the "Golden Age of Television."

Soundbites from Sidney Lumet's six-part interview.

On “live” television:
The pressure was wonderful. And because it wasn’t insane, the pressure was, can we do it? Because nobody knew what we could do and what we couldn’t do. And nobody could say no to you because nobody knew. It was literally learning to walk. Ah, so there was nobody to say no….. From a technical point of view, anything we wanted to try, we could try. The lighting [was] very flat, just pan lighting, just scoops in ever set. And slowly, like everything else, became more and more refined and interesting…. It was quite extraordinary how much mood you could get in my still staying within the general perimeters. Also, the cameras needed a certain basic level of light simply to function…. The amount of noise in the studio was enormous. The cameras carried behind them cables about that thick. And those would just slide on the floor. And you could hear it. So if a pot wasn’t being used, it had to be closed and opened on a cue. It was out of this that all of these developments came. The same thing was true of the boom mikes, which started out-- the old RCA ribbon mikes, which movies had been using for years. But they picked up everything. And so, slowly [there] developed highly directional mikes, which are being used in movies today. All of the technical advancements, which came in movies, television brought them, because movie companies never gave a damn, they never invested the money in them. The networks had to. They started with old movie equipment…. If you put a cable into this wall, for this camera, and put a cable into this wall, for this camera, you’d better not wind up like that, because if you got your cables twisted, the cameras wouldn’t be able to move. All these things had to be figured out in meticulous detail. The greatest leap forward, I must say, belonged to me when all of a sudden, I got so tired of being limited by where I could move my cameras, because there were cables coming out of walls, I thought, aha! I know what we do. We’re going to run them up the wall into the grid, and drop them down the middle.


On using blacklisted writers in the 1950s:
It’s one of the great romantic stories. Artie Manoff and Walter Bernstein and Abe Polonsky were a triumvirate. They were close friends— close personal friends, close political friends. And all three of them had been writing for ah, fairly openly on “Danger”…. When blacklisting hit and the three of them were immediately knocked out of the box. They said, look, we don’t know which of us will get hired, again, if ever. Why don’t we set up a co-op? And ah, let’s find fronts…. what we will do is if one of is hired, we all three split the check. If things go good, and there’s a lot of work-- you may have to do the first act, and I’ll do the second act, and Abe, you do the third act if we're on deadlines, and things like that. So they set up that kind of a co-op. This was all done through the wonderful [“You Are There” producer] Charlie Russell, who didn’t have a political bone in his body. He was just a sweet, open guy from the Midwest, who thought this was too fucking unfair, and he was going to do anything he could to break it, or fight it, [and] hopefully, not putting himself in any jeopardy. He also was very careful, not only trying to protect himself, but he wanted to protect me, and if I ever wanted to talk about [the script], he would say, give me your notes, and I’ll bring them to the writer. So I didn’t know, for a number of months, about this arrangement that the guys had. Charlie was protecting me. And also, that way, protecting himself because if I ever got called, he didn’t want me in the position that I would say what I knew or didn’t know.

On using politically subversive scripts for “You Are There”:
They were deliberate choices because of the situation…. And in fact, I remember when we did “Salem Witch Trials,” we hired, for the prosecutor, I believe his name was Vince Harding. [Editor's note: according to our research, Vinton Hayworth is the actor's name.] And Vince, who was a very good actor, was one of the guys who gave names to the Red Channels.

On his reputation of being an "actor’s director":
I think because I was an actor myself, I know what they’re going through. The process of acting is extremely painful. I know that doesn't sound logical to most people, but all good work is self revelation. And that’s true for performing artist as well. And actors, the only instrument they’ve got, it’s not a violin, it’s not a piano, ah, it’s not just their bodies, the way a dancer is, there’s no disguise. That’s them up there. And the better they are, the most of themselves they’re using. That process of self revelation is extremely painful. I understand that process. Ah, if I can help them to feel any more secure, and any more ah, unafraid of releasing whatever part of themselves, they have to, I understand that I can help them that way.

On the 1960 television presentation “The Sacco-Vanzetti Story”:
Steve [Hill] did the great Vanzetti address to the Judge, you know, that you get in every lit class in college. And he was just brilliant. It was just underplayed and so simple, and so direct. And [producer Robert Alan Aurthur and writer Reginald Rose] both wanted more. Feisty and more angry, and I said, no, no, no, the speech is so great, it’s simple and better. “Will you try it? Just try it the other way?” I said I’m not going to try it the other way because then when we edit it, once I’ve left, you’ll have the editor put the-- the way you want it in there, so no, I’m not going to do it another way. And Bob Aurthur, one of the sweetest men that ever lived, and sensitive, a writer, a wonderful man, said: “look.” And he took some back page of my script and said-- he was the producer-- “Sidney Lumet has final cut on this show.” Signed, Robert Alan Aurthur, producer. Wouldn’t have been worth anything, but that did it, and I did it the other way, and when it was over, Bob and Reggie said, no, you were right. But ah, it was the first time I had ever gotten into this discussion about final cut, which then became a big thing in my own movie career.

On the feature film "Network":
It’s a peculiar movie. Everybody keeps saying, oh, God, what a brilliant satire. [Writer] Paddy [Chayefsky] and I keep saying, what satire? It’s sheer reportage. Everything that was discussed about television in that movie has happened, except we haven’t killed anybody on the air yet. That’s the only thing that hasn’t happened. Deliberately. But other than that, everything has happened, news as entertainment. I mean, ah, could anything be sillier than the way poor Dan Rather has to stand up there on 48 Hours, or whatever that silly show is, and try to make believe that he’s a magazine editor, or what have you, and be serious about this nonsense that they put on night after night? Ah, and you know, it may have been a little much to have the prognosticator-- he came around on a revolving stage, tell you what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I don’t think it’s too far fetched.

On the highlight of his career:
It’s all one piece to me. I’m not being coy, I’m not avoiding it. There’s a continuum that’s just so sensible to me, I like it. I like it all.

Interview Description:
Lumet spoke of his work as an actor on the stage before he became a director in television. He recalled his work on the television series Danger (1950-55), and You Are There (1953-57) both “live” dramatic shows of the time. He discussed the use of blacklisted writers on these shows and how the material they wrote often reflected the era of McCarthyism. He also discussed other television dramatic anthology series he directed for including Omnibus, Goodyear Playhouse, The Alcoa Hour, Studio One, and Kraft Television Theatre. He described his direction of the well-known television special The Sacco-Vanzetti Story and The Play of the Week: “The Iceman Cometh” both of which aired in 1960. He spoke of his transition to a feature film director with 12 Angry Men in 1957 and his work on such other feature films as the Paddy Chayefsky’s Network (1976).

AAT Staff Spotted Again!

Every Halloween we let the
AAT Vault Wizard out.

Look who else
"came 'on down"!

HOPE YOUR HALLOWEEN
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