BEGINNING OF PART FIVE

A: Were there any Production people you'd like to mention who made a substantial
contribution to the series that seem to have gone uncredited?

S: (pauses) Everybody on that show.

A: You worked together as a team.

S: Yeah. Absolutely. That goes through an Assistant Director named Russell
Llewellyn...

========================

NOTE: Among other very notable productions, Llewellyn worked as an Assistant
Director on George Cukor's A STAR IS BORN in 1954, Paul Newman's first film--THE
SILVER CHALICE that same year, the all-time classic GIANT in 1956, Spencer
Tracy's THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA in 1958, and ten years before SEARCH , he was
A.D. on another great movie musical--THE MUSIC MAN (in 1962). His only foray
into science-fiction listed in his imdb credits is Robert Altman's COUNTDOWN in
1968. See http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0515755/ for more details.

=========================

S: ... who would've given ANYTHING for that show, God rest his soul. Lee
Phillips, our Gaffer...

=========================

NOTE: A gaffer is another name for the Chief Lighting Technician. He is the head
of the electrical department, and responsible for the design and execution of
the lighting plan for a production. Early films used mostly natural light, which
stagehands controlled with large tent cloths using long poles called gaffs
(stagehands were often beached sailors or longshoremen, and a gaff is a type of
boom on a sailing ship).

This may be an incorrect guess on my part, but the only gaffer listing that I
could find for a 'Lee Phillips' was at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0680578/ and
his man appears to be a Head Wrangler and Actor, as well.

=========================

S: ... was a guy who would be there long after everybody else was gone, and just
as early, to make sure everything was right and ready-to-shoot within the
timeframe. They were some really good folks.

A: Any other stand-outs? I know that Russ Mayberry came back from the (PROBE)
pilot and did episodes (of the SEARCH TV series)...

S: Well, you know Russ Mayberry... how he got his job with our company... I was
the Kellogg's Sugar Pops Cowboy...

=======================

NOTE: Type in 'Kelloggs Sugar Pops cowboy' (or cut and paste
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=kelloggs+sugar+pops+cowboy&btnG=Sear\
ch) into Google's IMAGES search field, and you'll see an image of a vintage
Sugar Pop cereal box featuring a cowboy which is apparently John Strong.

==============

A: Okay! (laughs)


S: ... and Russ Mayberry directed me as the Sugar Pops Cowboy. And I brought him
in to do an episode of McCLOUD, with Leslie (Stevens). And then we hired him,
because of our relationship with him, to do (SEARCH). And he's a wonderful man.

A: Any other stand-outs? Nicholas Colasanto?

==============

NOTE: Nicholas Colasanto will always be best known for playing the
sweet-but-befuddled character of 'Coach' on CHEERS, but he appears to have been
a rather extraordinary individual in 'real life.' Colasanto served in the United
States Navy from 1943 to 1945, and was a veteran of the Second World War who was
awarded a World War II Victory Medal, a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign
Medal, and an Honorable Service Lapel Button. He spoke fluent Italian. His imdb
credits list him as concurrently acting and directing in television throughout
the late 50's to the late 70's. He can be seen in such TV series as I SPY,
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., and MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE. He was in a variety of films, including Alfred Hitchcock's last
film, FAMILY PLOT, and Martin Scorcese's RAGING BULL. Colasanto likely knew
Stevens and Strong as he played a Reporter in the FAME IS THE NAME OF THE GAME
pilot, as well as directed episodes of THE NAME OF THE GAME series. Colasanto
directed the episode of SEARCH that John Strong wrote, entitled IN SEARCH OF
MIDAS.

===============

S: Nicky was a wonderful, sweet man. A great guy. Funny guy...

A: HAD to be, doing comedy (referring to his character on CHEERS).

S: He drove Tony (Franciosa) crazy, but he was great.

A: (laughs) How so?

S: Well, you know... 'Tony' is 'Tony' is 'Tony.' Nicky was not a movie director,
you know? Tony wanted a big movie look. I mean... (unintelligible) They ALL
wanted to take a 'step above.' (SEARCH) was like a 'Movie of the Week.'

A: Absolutely. You had high standards on the show.

S: Yeah. And in their own way, they wanted to make sure that everything was
perfect. Two guys that worked for me tirelessly were David Hardberger...

=======================

NOTE: If I have the correct individual (David R. Hardberger--imdb link:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0362046/), then he has added quite an impressive
series of credits since performing opticals for SEARCH. A variety of credits too
numerous to mention here links him to various contributions to films such as
STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, BLADE RUNNER,
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, RETURN OF THE JEDI, THE ADVENTURES OF
BUCKAROO BANZAI, LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING and LEAGUE OF
EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN.

=======================

S: ... and George Silano (?) of (unintelligible)...

=======================

NOTE: Again, not wishing to overly interrupt the flow of the interview, I did
not request that Strong supply me with spelling and references for all the
individuals he talked about. This is another case where I should have
double-checked. Not sure if I have the right individual here, I'm guessing that
it might be George Silano, who has credits similar to those of Hardberger
(Camera Operator and Cinematographer), around the time of SEARCH. His imdb
listing is http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0797800/

If anyone has corrections to the assumptions I've made, please contact me, and I
will make modifications.

=======================

S: ... We had worked at Universal on something that George Roy Hill did.
(pauses) SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. And I brought them to Universal with me, and they
were my little Optical team. Right?

A: Hand-trained.

S: Hand-trained! They were the BEST in the world! Warner Bros. always used
Pacific Title.

========================

NOTE: Pacific Title (full name: Pacific Title & Art Studio) has played a major
role in the film titling and post production industry for almost 85 years. In
the 1970's (when SEARCH was being produced), Pacific Title handled many titles
and opticals duties for film and television production. See
http://www.pactitle.com/pages/home/index.html for more information, as well as a
brief company history.

=========================

S: ... and I said (Pacific Title) can't DO the work because they'll never be
able to complete it on time. So I got a guy named Dan Genis who owned a company
called Modern Film Effects...

=========================

NOTE: Modern Film Effects and Pacific Title have been competitors for decades. A
business-oriented article can be found at:
http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/1999/07/12/story8.html

There is a small Variety trade article mentioning Genis at
http://print.google.com/print/doc?articleid=0l1vuizJzKJ

==========================

S: ... and Dan said, "You know what? I'll do it better, cheaper, and never miss
a date!" Okay?

A: (laughs)

S: And he knew how I did things, and he went to bat for us, and Warner Bros.
didn't want to 'walk quietly into that good night,' and they finally let me do
it, and it was a big success!

A: They were pleased with the results, and couldn't argue, huh?

S: Not only were they were pleased with the results, but they were pleased that
it cost one-fifth of what everybody else cost.

A: Ah-HAH! The transitional effect between scenes (in SEARCH)... the 'dot
pattern.' Your idea?

S: Yep! I shot'em over in a doctor's office with a guy who had set up a
computer.

A: No kidding!

S: Yep!

A: Incredible. (Effects such as that one) really hold up. A lot of very
inventive techniques, I think, were thought up for SEARCH.

S: Well, y'know... I electronically-edited the first motion picture... ever. It
was called GARBAGE PAIL KIDS... on a system called Arriflex, invented by a man
named Herb Dow.

=======================

NOTE: If I have the correct individual, editor Herbert H. Dow happens to be the
father of actor Tony Dow, who played "Wally Cleaver"--Beaver's older brother on
LEAVE IT TO BEAVER. Dow's imdb credits can be found here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0235606/

=======================

S: Ron (unintelligible) talked me into it. He was head of (unintelligible) Video
at the time... and no one had ever done it without going to a Work Print or a
Final Print or... anything else. We transferred it onto half-inch tape.

A: Half-inch?!?!

=======================

NOTE: Home VHS machines use half-inch (wide) tape. Industrial television
recording and playback machines use a half-inch tape as well, in a Beta format.
In the pre-digital days, use of half-inch videotape in relation to motion
picture editing was unheard of, and considered quite revolutionary.

=======================

S: Half inch! Twenty machines. It gave you six cuts.

A: Amazing!

S: You transferred those over to three-quarter-inch...

=======================

NOTE: Three-Quarter inch tape was an industry standard when GARBAGE PAIL KIDS:
THE MOVIE was made, and was considered to have a better image quality than
half-inch tape--mainly because that extra quarter-inch of videotape could hold
much more audio/video information.

========================

S: ... and that was supposed to be your cut. But it didn't work. So Ronny
(unintelligible) got me a guy named Telly (unintelligible), and we invented a
machine with an output (unintelligible) generator that gave you every edge
number of the film, and we edited the movie in two weeks, and got it in the
theatres four weeks later.


A: Amazing! You were quite a trendsetter and trailblazer! And NOW look what
they're doing (in film)! They (use the techniques you created), and don't look
back!

S: And now guys like me are OBSOLETE!!!

A: (laughs) Let's not go THERE! (laughs) (In a previous conversation) You said,
"We had a helluva time making SEARCH and we worked like dogs seven days a
week--but had a GREAT time." Do you care to elaborate on that?

S: It was, um... making three movies... and delivering them two weeks later. You
had a week to shoot, a week to edit. Three days to dub... ship an air print.

=====================

NOTE: Simply put, Strong is relating that the limited amount of time that the
crew had to make an episode of SEARCH (which, because of the quality involved,
he refers to as a 'movie'), and ship the finished film canister to the network
for airing.

=====================

S: That was it!

A: Right. Any other SEARCH fans like us crawl out of the woodwork since its
cancellation? Do you talk to many people who remember it fondly?

S: Oh yeah!

A: Yeah!?!

S: Yeah, absolutely!

A: Excellent!!!

S: Absolutely. People talk to me all the time about it... and every now and then
I whip out the Scanner...

A: (laughs)

S: (laughs)

A: Well that's GREAT to know!

S: Yeah!

A: Sometime, we think we're (such a small group) who remember the series. But
when a couple of gentlemen started the (www.probecontrol.com) webpage, and
people write in from literally all around the world saying how fondly they
remember the series, we know there's a deep affection for the show.

S: Well, listen. It's like your first girlfriend. When you've got something you
like, you NEVER forget it. And, uh... SEARCH and PROBE were like a first
girlfriend. You know? It was new, and it was fresh, and it was pretty, and it
was sexy, and it was romantic. I mean, when Lockwood's necking with Elke Sommer,
and you hear Burgess Meredith's, "We have LIFT-OFF!"

A: (laughs)

S: You know? You KNOW what you're talking about!

A: Oh, sure. A little sly.

S: A little sly...

A: ...slide it past the censors.

S: That's right. We tried to break (new) ground in that show, and did it
successfully. Unfortunately, times and ratings dictate things that you don't
expect. And I think that because we'd had a lot of major talent wanting to come
aboard as guest stars... and I think that if Leslie had gone a little further...
if Leslie had stayed with the show, it would have maintained its integrity.

A: One could only guess what it might have been like. You likened (SEARCH) to a
'first girlfriend', but you'd been a trendsetter before--you'd broken new ground
before...

S: Yep! Yep!

A: THE OUTER LIMITS was TERRIBLY trendsetting, and you were breaking new ground
with that. You had GREAT guest stars...

S: THIRTY-THOUSAND DOLLARS an episode!!!

A: Great guest stars wanted to do OUTER LIMITS too, so it's interesting to ME
that you would call SEARCH 'your first girlfriend'...

S: Well, you know... there're a lot of PERSONAL reasons for it, as well. There's
relationships with people within in the cast and the show, and... OUTER LIMITS
was an anthology. You just had people come in for their three days, and go away.

A: Same crew, but different people in FRONT of the camera.

S: We started on OUTER LIMITS with talents like Conrad Hall, William Fraker,
Haskell Wexler... the greatest cinematographers of all time.

========================

NOTE: In addition to THE OUTER LIMITS, cinematographer Conrad Hall worked on
other Leslie Stevens projects like STONEY BURKE (1962) and INCUBUS (1965). He
won Academy Awards for his work on BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969),
AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999), and ROAD TO PERDITION (2002). His imdb credits are at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005734/

Among other films, William A. Fraker worked on ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968), BULLITT
(1968), and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977). More on Fraker at:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005710/

Haskell Wexler contributed to such classic films as IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
(1967), the original THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968), and ONE FLEW OVER THE
CUCKOO'S NEST (1975). More on Wexler at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005549/

Conrad Hall and Haskell Wexler are two of only six cinematographers to achieve
stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

===========================

S: ... some of the great cinematographers of all time!

A: The VERY best.

S: So, you look at things, and you say well, "I consider SEARCH a first
girlfriend" because it was a pretty, pretty show.

END OF PART FIVE




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]