In the early 60’s he learned that producer Hal B. Wallis was planning to make a movie of the play BECKET. That subject matter was Anhalt’s absolute passion. He considered himself an expert on the era. No one knew the period as well. He went to Wallis with an impassioned plea that he and he alone was right for this assignment. Wallis made him a deal. Anhalt could write BECKET but he had another project that also needed a writer. If Anhalt would do that first he could have his coveted assignment. Anhalt happily agreed.
So in the same year Mr. Edward Anhalt wrote BECKET and GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS starring Elvis Presley and Stella Stevens.
Moral of this story: If you’re lucky enough to get an assignment on some horrible cheesy show on some streaming platform no one has ever heard of about kids in leprechaun jr. high take heart. Next year you could be on THIS IS US.
Years ago an agent was talking to a producer about an upcoming project. The producer described it as “very North By Northwestish” and asked if the agent had any writers who would be a good fit. The agent replied, “Well, I represent Ernie Lehman.” The producer looked back blankly. “He WROTE North By Northwest.” The producer considered a moment, and then proclaimed, “Nah. Too on the nose.”
ReplyDeleteTwo of my favorite examples of "writing for a living beats getting a real job any day" are Neil Simon writing for the game show BEAT THE CLOCK and Stirling Silliphant, screenwriter of IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT and 55 episodes of ROUTE 66, doing THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB. And maybe add the drive-in double feature movies Dalton Trumbo wrote during the blacklist years.
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I've seen Girls, Girls, Girls. It's not bad but the title is very misleading as Elvis only has to deal with two women...
ReplyDeleteBeckett is part of the answer to a great Oscar trivia question: who has been nominated twice for playing the same person in films that are NOT part of a series, or sequels? The answer is that Peter O'Toole was nominated for Henry II in both Beckett and The Lion in Winter.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I'm reminded of Walter Cronkite reading the news for the CBS Morning Show with Charlemagne the Puppet, who he found to be an excellent commentator on the day's affairs (thanks to the great Bil Baird), and hosting the dramatizations of "You Are There" while also discussing things like presidential elections and space shots.
ReplyDeleteThat sort of dichotomy lives on with Anderson Cooper. During the holidays, CNN aired promos for its New Year's Eve telecast featuring tuxedo-clad "showman" Anderson, while serious "newsman" Anderson pulled Christmas Day duty reporting on the explosion in Nashville.
DeleteIn doing so, Cooper joined a long list of television news people--Katie Couric, Hoda Kotb, and Brian Williams immediately come to mind--who have defied Jim Lehrer's admonishment: You are not in the entertainment business.
It's sort of like Bob Clark, directing "A Christmas Story" as a follow-up to the equally-heartwarming "Porky's" in the early 1980s.
ReplyDeleteHow many Hollywood greats started out making cheesy Roger Corman movies? Check out "Dementia 13" written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. "The Conversation" it ain't.
ReplyDeleteStrange. You didn't mention if you had any similar experiences. As far as I know you and David started at the top, i.e. "M*A*S*H." Although, you did have to write "Volunteers." Just kidding. Maybe that could be the subject of an upcoming blog; "Stuff I had to write even though I didn't want to."
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You just told a story about my Mom's very favorite movie. I wish I could tell her face-to-face, but I haven't able to do that for almost 19 years. She was such an Elvis fan.
ReplyDeleteI'm kidding, she was enormously fond of Becket and at least I watched it (perhaps together?) and we discussed it while she was still alive.
Thanks for a great story.
Allan Burns wrote the first few Cap'n Crunch commercials. He later co-created The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
ReplyDeleteAllan Burns wrote those Cap'n Crunch commercials when he was on Jay Ward's payroll.
ReplyDeleteWhile he was there, he also wrote for Rocky And Bullwinkle.
So There Too.
News & Entertainment:
Anybody here ever see The Day The Earth Stood Still (the original with Michael Rennie - you know, the good one)?
Next time it's on, pay attention to the opening:
One of the newscasters you'll see reporting on the spaceship landing is Elmer Davis, who was Director of the Government's Office of War Information during WWII.
Then you'll see H.V. Kaltenborn, who only a few years before was certain that Thomas Dewey had defeated Harry Truman (he later came around, but that's another story ...).
The landing itself is covered "live" by Drew Pearson, before he took on Sen. McCarthy.
Later in the movie, Gabriel Heatter can be heard on the radio (and there was not good news tonight ...).
And what of the '60s and '70s, when Howard K. Smith was in more movies than many top stars?
There is nothing new under the sun ...
I believe Chuck Lorre got his start writing episodes of MY LITTLE PONY.
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Mario Puzo co-wrote The Godfather films AND Superman, except there was no drop in quality or integrity when he worked on Superman.
ReplyDeleteI've recently rewatched The Godfather films and it gave rise to an observation set against the times we live in, which is that even mobsters have more principles and honor than today's Republican party. Both the fictional and real Mafia may commit crimes, but they abide by their own code, whereas the Republicans are shitting all over the Constitution they claim to respect. Don Corleone had more dignity and integrity than Ted Cruz.
I see your Neil Simon writing Beat the Clock and raise you Stephen Sondheim writing Topper.
ReplyDeleteBTW, and more on point re The Day the Earth Stood Still, Elmer Davis was an early CBS News correspondent.
ReplyDeleteI have a whole post devoted to Sondheim writing for Topper later this month.
ReplyDeleteClarifying:
ReplyDeleteElmer Davis left CBS News to take the OWI assignment; after the war, he joined ABC News as a radio-TV commentator, which is where he was when Day The Earth Stood Still was made.
Davis retired from ABC in 1953, due to ill health; he died five years later.
Just so you know ...
In the mid seventies, I lived in an apartment building in Studio City. Because of its close proximity to studios and homes to many actors, a steady stream of notables and almost notables would wander into our little courtyard to visit friends. A wonderful actor named Gene Ross hosted a number of recognizable personalities from TV. A few actresses even chose to sun themselves by our little pool. A good day.
ReplyDeleteOne night there was a lot of laughing and general commotion coming from Gene’s apartment. He and a voluptuous, animated woman wandered out to the pool followed by a relatively short, barrel-chested guy with a red complexion. I watched from my side of the pool as they drank and laughed their asses off having a great time. To be sociable and polite, Gene quickly introduced them to me and a few of my cronies. Her name was Edna, his was Ed. I said hello and went back to grilling my cheeseburger.
Later that evening I asked Gene if his friends were actors. No, he explained, Edna and Edward Anhalt were writers.
He may have been working on Luther or The Man In The Glass Booth around that time.
Judd Hirsh wandered in a few weeks later. And then Morgan Fairchild. It was a really fun apartment.
Kevin FitzMaurice, I wonder what Jim Lehrer thought of Edward R. Murrow, who hosted the celebrity interview show "Person to Person" so that he'd have the goodwill at CBS to continue making "See It Now," the news program many credit with bringing down Joseph McCarthy.
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