On the evening of March 10, 2000, in a sold out event, the Museum of Television and Radio in Los Angeles paid tribute to one of television's most celebrated science fiction series. Those who stood before some 500 fans included actor Martin Landau, producers Joseph Stefano, Robert Justman, associate producer Lou Morheim, and series cinematographer Conrad Hall.
Read all about it here.
That was a really engaging article, Dave, in which I learned a lot of new info I hadn't been privy to about the COMPANION's history. Bravo to you yet again!
ReplyDeleteAnd a spontaneous shout-out to all those wonderful people who came together in serendipitous creative fury to give us this amazing show---and then were so cooperative in helping you chronicle it.
(But you really must confide someday the ID of the "truculent" one! I have my suspicions, based on nothing more than hearsay and an attitude slip, here and there!)
I should also note that Frank Garcia became very much the point man for documenting all aspects of the revived series in 1995 — he wrote the book-length coverage that appeared in a Cinefantastique double issue (September 1998), with particular emphasis on Joe Stefano. If anything good came out of that latter series, Frank covered it.
ReplyDeleteMy prediction on the DVDs came halfway true, in that DVDs were done. But they used the same transfers as the VHS issue, submitting those to digital processing that in some cases was so horrendous that for certain episodes, the VHS tapes actually look better than the DVDs. It's not so noticeable when it's a Kenneth Peach show shot for TV composition, but come to a Conrad Hall show, for example, and suddenly the top of everybody's head is missing. I wrote all this up for VIDEO WATCHDOG in 2002, which we'll probably get to eventually, here.
Thanks for sharing this article. I too was very interested to read about the background of the book. I can remember finding the 1986 edition on a bookshelf in this dingy little SF/Fantasy bookstore in San Francisco that has been gone now for countless years, and being so excited that someone had finally written a book about the OL that I marched it right to the cash register without even looking inside! Fortunately, when I did read it, it turned out to be everything I could have hoped for on the subject, and I still refer to it to this day, whenever I rewatch episodes. Somehow I never even heard about the second edition until after it was sold out--wish I had that too, but it seems unlikely now, given the going rate. If you ever come up with edition three, I'll be there!
ReplyDeleteThe Companion was truly a remarkabe accomplishment and a treasure for OL fans everywhere. Thanks! But now I wish I had the updated version instead of the original.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had been at this show, too. I attended the one for Boris Karloff back in the 80s, when Vincent Price showed up to pay tribute. This one came after I left L.A.
One degree of separation. I had story published in that Twilight Zone Magazine called "Edison Came to Stay." I was more excited about that than some of my script sales, even though it wasn't even enough money to pay to have my turntable fixed at the time.
(But you really must confide someday the ID of the "truculent" one! I have my suspicions, based on nothing more than hearsay and an attitude slip, here and there!)
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna take a SWAG (stupid wild-ass guess) and suggest it might be Dominic Frontiere. The word on the street is that he insists on being paid to do interviews. Get in back of the line, Dom . . . Yea, that line over there that starts with Goldsmith, Morricone, Bernstein, Herrmann, Newman, Zimmer, Jarre, etc.,
Just so everyone knows, the above photo from the March 2000 tribute shows (L to R) our pal DJS (who is not identified in the caption above and who only HOSTED the damned thing!), Lou Morheim, Bob Justman, Conrad Hall, Martin Landau and Joe Stefano.
ReplyDeleteDave--sometimes your modesty floors me, so please stand up and take a friggin' bow!
Incidentally, seems there were rumors of a video of this tribute....(?)
LR
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Thanx Peter!
ReplyDeleteUTW- posting from a suburban sports bar
UTW-
ReplyDeleteI'll send you my snail mail address so's you can send me my half of the green(bay)backs! Congrats!