THE GREAT SOUNDSTAGE BICYCLE HEIST OF THE SEVENTIES
The studio lights were always blazing hot, and when you are shooting fourteen hours a day, you have to find ways to keep the energy alive. I was…
THEY WALKED THE DIRT ROAD YEARS LATER AND HEARD IT AGAIN
The hike up through Malibu Creek State Park is not an easy one when you are no longer young. The California sun beats down exactly as it did…
THE UNFORGETTABLE DISASTER OF HAWKEYE PIERCE AND THE RIBS
I was doing a podcast interview recently, just a relaxed conversation about the old days of television production. The host and I were having a great time, bouncing…
WHEN FRANK BURNS DESTROYED THE SWAMP DOOR
The studio mic was positioned perfectly, and the conversation had been flowing for nearly an hour. The podcast host leaned forward, shuffling a few notes on the table….
WHEN CORPORAL KLINGER MET A REAL FOUR STAR GENERAL IN A DRESS
We were recording a retrospective podcast about classic television when the host caught me completely off guard. He leaned into the studio microphone and looked directly at me….
THEY WALKED THE OLD SET EXPECTING LAUGHS BUT FOUND SOMETHING ELSE.
Malibu Creek State Park doesn’t look like a war zone anymore. The brush has grown back, thick and golden in the relentless California sun. But if you know…
THE SOUND THAT BROUGHT THE PAST BACK TO MALIBU CREEK.
It was supposed to be just a quiet afternoon among old friends. Decades had passed since they last wore the olive drab uniforms that defined their careers. Loretta…
HE PLAYED THE COWARDLY ARROGANT ANTAGONIST… BUT HIS REAL HEART WAS PURE GOLD
Every week, millions of television viewers tuned in to watch a man they absolutely loved to hate. On the screen, he was the embodiment of bureaucratic incompetence, a…
THE MOST FAMOUS COWARD ON TELEVISION… BUT HIS REAL LIFE WAS FIERCE LOYALTY
We all remember the man who played Frank Burns. On screen, he was the character everyone loved to despise—a bumbling, hypocritical military man who hid behind regulations because…
HOLLYWOOD’S COANXIOUS REBEL… BUT HE CHOSE THE SILENCE OF THE BIRDS
In the late 1970s, television sets across America were tuned into the frantic, chaotic energy of the 4077th. Among the ensemble, there was a young man who played…