Second Pilot Episodes Before Star Trek?

Still from an unaired, early version of 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' (1965)

According to behind-the-scenes lore, when Desilu produced 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' in 1965, it marked the first time a second television pilot was produced for a single series. Like many bold claims about Star Trek, this one seems to have began its life in the pages of Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry's The Making of Star Trek (1968):

NBC shattered all television precedent and asked for a second pilot. This caused quite a stir within the industry, because up until that time no network had ever asked for a second pilot. 

--Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, The Making of Star Trek (1968), p.126

To be fair to Whitfield (the nom de plume of Stephen Edward Poe, who shared credit with Gene Roddenberry, but wrote most of the book himself), he wasn't claiming that a second television pilot had never been produced for the same property before — only that, prior to Star Trek, no television network had ever asked for a second pilot episode after rejecting the first one.

In the years since Whitfield's book was first published, however, the record-setting mythology about Star Trek's second pilot episode has only grown. By the time The Making of Star Trek—The Motion Picture (1980) was published, Star Trek's second pilot episode had become unprecedented in and of itself (for now, I'm ignoring the other inaccuracies in this passage):

After knocking on all the doors in town, he [Roddenberry] eventually got Desilu Studios to put up the money for the first Star Trek pilot, “The Cage.” It was rejected by all three networks. Later, an unprecedented second pilot was ordered (“Where No Man Has Gone Before”), and NBC added Star Trek to its fall lineup for 1966.

--Susan Sackett and Gene Roddenberry, The Making of Star Trek—The Motion Picture (1980), p.9*

Although I believe this was the first time that Star Trek's second pilot episode was described as being "unprecedented," it was hardly the last. These are just some of the examples I found with the help of Google Books:

After spending $630,000 on "The Cage," NBC felt the series format deserved a second chance. For the first time in television history, a second pilot was commissioned. Amid the chatter of disbelief within the industry, NBC let Roddenberry and Desilu know that some changes had to be made in the "Trek" format.

-Allan Asherman, The Star Trek Compendium (second edition, 1986), p.17 

The pilot was submitted to NBC in February, 1965. They rejected it. But the project wasn't canned; NBC still saw promise in the series and authorized an unprecedented second pilot—including an almost entirely new cast. 

--Author Unknown, Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (1988), p.86 

However, instead of dumping the project, NBC did the unprecedented, giving Gene the go-ahead to film a second pilot that they hoped would be more appealing to the network’s sensibilities. 

--William Shatner with Chris Kreski, Star Trek Memories (1993), p.66 

However, the executives were impressed enough by Roddenberry's efforts to make an unprecedented request for a second pilot, a more adventurous story by Samuel A. Peeples called "Where No Man Has Gone Before." 

--Jeff Bond, The Music of Star Trek: Profiles in Style (1999), p.14

NBC then made the unprecedented decision of asking Roddenberry to shoot a second pilot, but with changes... 

--David J. Shayler and Ian Moule, Women in Space: Following Valentina (2005), p.146

But they [NBC] requested a second pilot. This was unheard of in NBC history.

--D.C. Fontana, Star Trek 365 (2010), from the book's introduction

NBC executives were impressed enough with "The Cage," Star Trek's rejected original telefilm, that they took the unprecedented step of ordering a second pilot rather than abandoning the concept. 

--Mark Clark, Star Trek FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the First Voyages of the Starship Enterprise (Kindle Edition, April 2012)

Roddenberry was hoping Mort Werner was going to make good on his word and order a second pilot, even though such a thing had never before been done. 

--Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season One (First Edition, August 2013), p.199.

Still from 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' (1965; broadcast 1966)

Like any oft-repeated claim about Star Trek breaking television precedent, I have to ask the question — is any of it true? Did 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' mark the first time a series had a second pilot episode? Was NBC the first television network to order a second pilot after rejecting the first one? Did the move cause "quite a stir within the industry," as first claimed in The Making of Star Trek?

Contemporary accounts in newspapers and trade magazines are helpful in answering these questions. Consider the following, from the Los Angeles Times:

Desilu is reshooting two pilot films. Star Trek, which reportedly cost $500,000 the first time around, is being filmed again without Jeffrey Hunter. The Good Old Days is undergoing script and premise revisions and will be shot a second time with another actor replacing Darryl Hickman.

--Inside TV: Eddie Albert to Play Rural Lawyer, Los Angeles Times (May 3, 1965), p.D28

The passage above was not the lead in the newspaper's regular "Inside TV" column — that was dedicated to announcing the series that would become Green Acres (1965-71). The news about Star Trek's second pilot was buried in the column's fourth paragraph and, notably, was announced alongside the news that another Desilu program for NBC was also receiving a second pilot and recasting its lead.

Nine days later, Weekly Variety covered the same story in a little more detail:

Two Desilu pilots shot for next season, but not sold, may yet be aired. 

NBC-TV has okayed production of a second seg of "Star Trek," hour-long sci-fi series, and William Shatner will replace Jeffrey Hunter as the lead in this projected series. Web has also okayed three more scripts, and is interested in "Trek" for a mid-season or 1966-67 start. Second seg rolls around July 5, with Gene Roddenberry, who produced the first one, producing it. 

Second Desilu pilot involved is "The Good Old Days," half-hour comedy starring Darryl Hickman. NBC-TV, for which it was made, and Desilu execs are talking of the possibility of reshooting this pilot, and there may be a change in its cast if this is done. 

--'Definite Maybe' for 2 Unsold Desilu Pilots, Weekly Variety (May 12, 1965), p.167

Buried on the bottom of page 167, the news about Star Trek wasn't treated as a prominent story by Weekly Variety, either. And, once again, it was covered alongside the news that another Desilu series for NBC was being slated for a second pilot. In light of this information, the claim that 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' was causing "quite a stir within the [entertainment] industry" seems rather dubious at best.

Having established these facts, however, I could find no evidence in the Hollywood trades that a second pilot was actually produced for The Good Old Days, a proposed half-hour sitcom "about a caveman who goes searching for adventure." Does that mean 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' really was the first time a second pilot was produced for a single series — or, at least, the first time the same network ordered a second pilot after rejecting the first one?

After further research, I'm sorry to report that the answer is a resounding no — not even close. What follows is a chronological list of ten pilot episodes that were rejected, but followed by a second pilot episode. Not all of these second pilots became series (like all television pilots, many didn't sell), but all of them were produced before Gene Roddenberry began developing Star Trek at Desilu.

This list should not be viewed as comprehensive, as my research into this area has been far from exhaustive. If there are other programs with second (or even third) pilot episodes that do not appear here — especially if they were produced before 1965 — I would love to hear about them in the comments section below.

Still from Lum and Abner's second pilot (CBS, 1949)

Lum and Abner (Pilots: 1948, 1949, 1951, 1956)

The earliest program with a second pilot on this list is Lum and Abner, an attempt by CBS to translate their successful radio program into a weekly television series:

The first Lum and Abner TV pilot was filmed for CBS in 1948 and tried to emulate the daily fifteen-minute format of the radio show...CBS president William S. Paley supposedly like it but felt that the market for fifteen-minute television programs was rapidly going to disappear. He commissioned a second pilot, which was filmed during the summer of 1949. 

--Tim Hollis, Ain't That a Knee-Slapper: Rural Comedy in the Twentieth Century (2008), p.148-149

The first Lum and Abner pilot is not available, but the second pilot can be seen online. Surprisingly, after rejecting the second, half-hour pilot late in 1949, CBS decided to try again and made a third television pilot about a year later:

A third Lum and Abner pilot actually made it onto CBS' airwaves in February 1951...Although the pilot received favorable reviews after its airing, it still did not lead to a series. 

--Tim Hollis, Ain't That a Knee-Slapper: Rural Comedy in the Twentieth Century (2008), p.149-150

A few years later, a fourth attempt to launch a Lum and Abner television series resulted in three half-hour episodes filmed in late 1954 and early 1955, but these trio of pilots for a proposed series were never broadcast. Instead, they were hastily spliced together into Lum and Abner Abroad (1956), which was released theatrically to poor reviews.

Still from The Great Gildersleeve television series (1955-56)

The Great Gildersleeve (Pilots: 1954, 1955)

Like Lum and Abner, The Great Gildersleeve was an attempt to bring a successful radio program to television. After showing their first pilot episode in 1954, NBC announced they were commissioning a second pilot:

Apparently dissatisfied with audience reaction to its "Great Gildersleeve" pilot film, NBC yesterday announced that it has signed producer Robert S. Finkel to film a new pilot for the long-time radio program.

"Gildersleeve was previewed twice on the net this fall in order to gauge viewer response. The second pilot film, also starring Willard Waterman, will first be aired on January 6.

--NBC Sets New 'Gildie' Pilot, The Billboard (December 25, 1954), p.7

The Great Gildersleeve's second pilot led to a weekly series, but it struggled to replicate the success of the radio show, and was finally cancelled after one full season on NBC.

Still from Fibber McGee and Molly (second pilot, 1959)

Fibber McGee and Molly (Pilots: 1954 and 1959)

Fibber McGee and Molly was also a popular radio program, broadcast on NBC from 1935 until 1959. NBC twice attempted to develop the property for television. Their first effort was a half-hour pilot produced in early 1954:

NBC signed Frank Tashlin to produce and direct a pair of pilot telefilms for the "Fibber McGee and Molly" and "Great Gildersleeve" shows which the network owns. He reports next week and expects to finish the assignment by the end of February.

--NBC Sets Tashlin To Guide Telepix On 'Fibber' & 'Gildersleeve, Weekly Variety (January 13, 1954) p.26

Variety reported that sponsors were bidding on the pilot in May of 1954, but a series failed to materialize. Two years later, Weekly Variety reported that a second pilot was in the works:

Jim and Marion Jordan are once again interested in a television version of "Fibber & Molly" and a second pilot may be coming along soon...

--From the Production Centres, Weekly Variety (March 21, 1956), p.30

Interest, apparently, took a while to develop into action, but three years later the second pilot was finally ready to go before the cameras:

As a video entry, F & M will have Bob Sweeney and Cathy Lewis playing the lead roles. Pilot is being shot this month in Hollywood with Bill Lawrence as producer.

--Johnson Wax Still Loves That Fibber, Weekly Variety (March 18, 1959), p.32

The second attempt to bring Fibber McGee and Molly to television was only a little more successful than the first. Although it became a weekly series produced by William Asher for NBC, it only lasted twelve episodes before being cancelled.

Still from Have Camera, Will Travel (second pilot, filmed February of 1956)

Have Camera, Will Travel (Pilots: 1955 and 1956)

Have Camera, Will Travel never became a series, but not before going through two pilot films produced by Hal Roach Studios for NBC. In June of 1955, the first pilot was filmed:

Paul Gilbert pilot, to be filmed by NBC-TV, has been set to roll at Hal Roach Studios on June 6. Program, to deal with the adventures of a pair of photographers, has been titled, "Have Camera, Will Travel."

--NBC-TV Skeds June 6 Start for 'Camera,' The Billboard (June 4, 1955), p.13

NBC rejected this pilot, but ordered a second one:

A second pilot of the Paul Gilbert starrer, "Have Camera, Will Travel," will be shot from a new script, the thinking being that the concept is a sound one but that the first half-hour, lensed at Hal Roach Studios last spring, was mis-written and miscast.

--NBC-TV Bears Down on Color Programs, The Billboard (October 22, 1955), p.14

The second pilot (which guest starred a young Charles Bronson) was filmed in February of 1956, and can be found in three parts on YouTube here, here, and here. Daily Variety reported that this pilot was screened for NBC executives in April of 1956 along with four other potential shows. That screening must have been unsuccessful; afterwards, I can find no mention of the pilot or the proposed series in any of the Hollywood trade papers.

Double Indemnity (Paramount, 1944; source: Filmmaker IQ)

Double Indemnity (Pilots: Unknown and 1963)

I have been unable to find detailed information about the first of these two pilots, but a Weekly Variety story from late 1965 mentions that neither resulted in a series:

U TV has ventured into other Par pix as potential series, but not always with success. It made a pilot based on "Double Indemnity," the Par hit of yesteryear, but it didn't sell. A second pilot of the same property was made last season as a spinoff, but it didn't make the grade either. 

-Universal TV Tries More Old Par Pix as Video Vehicles, Weekly Variety (October 13, 1965), p.34

The spin-off mentioned above was an episode of Kraft Mystery Theater (1947-58), an anthology program which often broadcast potential pilots. Entitled 'Shadow of a Man,' and first aired on June 19, 1963, the pilot was a very loose adaptation of Double Indemnity with Broderick Crawford and Jack Kelly in the roles originated by Edward G. Robinson and Fred MacMurray in Billy Wilder's 1944 film version. This pilot can be viewed in full on YouTube here.

Promotional still for Tombstone Territory (1957-59; source: Shout! Factory)

Tombstone Territory (Pilots: Both 1957)

From 1948 until 1960, Ziv Televisions Program, Inc. was a major supplier of syndicated television, sold directly to local television stations to fill out their schedules outside of prime time. Ziv also employed Gene Roddenberry early in his career, hiring him to write scripts for series including Mr. District Attorney, I Led Three Lives, Highway Patrol, Dr. Christian, Harbor Command, and West Point.

Beginning in 1956, Ziv also began selling programming directly to the networks, which was the case with Tombstone Territory, a half-hour western that began its life as a pilot called Tombstone in 1957:

Ziv TV today rolls pilot for a new western vidpix series, “Tombstone.” Jan Merlin co-stars with Richard Eastham and Norman Foster directs.

--Daily Variety (February 12, 1957), p.11

Daily Variety later reported that the series had been sold to a sponsor, re-titled Gunfire Pass, and was set to appear on ABC:

“Gunfire Pass,” oater [Western] series starring Richard Eastham, has been sold by Ziv TV to Bristol-Myers, and will be seen on ABC-TV next season....Pat Conway has a featured lead in “Gunfire” series, which will be based on stories of Tombstone, Ariz., produced by Frank Pittman and Andy White. The 89 episodes go into production around the first of June. 

--Ziv Sells 'Gunfire' To Bristol-Myers For ABC-TV, Daily Variety (May 23, 1957), p.9

Although the sponsor (Bristol-Myers) was satisfied with this pilot, apparently ABC had second thoughts, forcing Ziv to produce a second pilot with significant revisions:

Following reshooting and recasting of a pilot nixed by ABC-TV, Ziv TV's second pilot, called "Tombstone Territory," has been okayed by the network and will be seen on ABC next season, with Bristol-Myers sponsoring.

Ziv had originally lensed a pilot called "Town at Gunfire Pass," which BM bought, but ABC termed "unacceptable." As as result, pilot was recast, with Pat Conway, who was second lead in the first pilot, upped to top lead, and the second pilot proved acceptable both to the sponsor and the network. Pilot was directed by Eddie Davis.

Conway plays role of a sheriff of Tombstone, while the crusading editor of the Tombstone Epitaph - originally the lead character - is now relegated to a secondary role. Series will be on Wednesday nights following "Disneyland."

--Ziv Tombstone' Passes Muster After ABC Nix, Daily Variety (August 22, 1957), p.15

Tombstone Territory's second pilot was enough to convince ABC to go forward with the series, which premiered with its second pilot episode on October 16, 1957. ABC eventually broadcast the first pilot (with a new title, 'Guilt of a Town') on March 19, 1958. Tombstone Territory lasted for three seasons and a total of 91 episodes.

Still from Collector's Item (2nd pilot, filmed late 1957)

Collector's Item (Pilots: Both 1957)

The earliest mention of this Vincent Price-Peter Lorre television vehicle I've been able to find is a casting item that appeared in an early 1957 issue of Daily Variety, indicating that the pilot would begin filming on January 29, 1957:

Jockey Billy Pearson has been cast by producer Julian Claman in pilot of "Collector's Item," new telepix series 20th-Fox rolls tomorrow for CBS. Vincent Price, who appeared with Pearson on "$64,000 Challenge" stars in series, as does Peter Lorre.

--Collector's' Mount For Billy Pearson, Daily Variety (January 28, 1957), p.3

Variety followed this story a few weeks later with more detail on the prospective program:

An adventure-comedy series co-starring Vincent Price and Peter Lorre called "Collector's Item." This is a wholly-owned CBS property created by west coast program exec Hunt Stromberg Jr., the idea stemming from the audience excitement generated by Price's recent participation in "$64,000 Challenge" with Edward G. Robinson. However, this one's not a quiz show; strictly comedy with adventure overtones in which Price portrays the owner of a N.Y. art gallery with Lorre as a phony art dealer who goes to work for Price. Web's hopes are particularly high on this one.

--Hopes High on 30-Min. Bundle, Daily Variety (February 20, 1957), p.23

A few weeks later, according to a story in the March 16, 1957 issue of The Billboard, Collector's Item was ready to be shown to advertising agencies in New York, in search of a potential sponsor. Apparently, however, CBS was unsuccessful. Not ready to abandon the project, however, CBS hired a new writing team to script a second pilot:

Gwen Bagni and Irwin Gielgud have  been  signed  by CBS-TV  to teleplay pilot of a new vidpix series, "Collector's   Item," which will  star Vincent Price and Peter Lorre.

--Pair Plotting "Item," Daily Variety (July 10, 1957), p.3

Bagni and Gielgud did not work out, leading CBS to go with Herb Meadow instead:

CBS-TV has signed Herb Meadow to a five-year pact as producer-writer and assigned him to produce its new series, "Collector's Item," starring Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. Meadow scripted pilot, which rolls soon. First pilot of series, made long ago, was junked.

--Herb Meadow's 5-Year CBS-TV Prod.-Writer Pact, Weekly Variety (November 6, 1957), p.52

By the end of the year, the second pilot was completed (it can be viewed in three parts here, here, and here), and CBS again went looking for a sponsor for the show:

Collector's Item—Remake of last season's pilot, starring Vincent Price as an art collector who becomes embroiled in crime and mystery.

--Nets Vary Widely On Show Types For Fall, The Billboard (February 3, 1958), p.6

Once again, however, the network came up empty, and the second pilot ended up on the shelf. Interestingly enough, however, this was not the last time the series would be mentioned in the Hollywood trades. About eight months later, Weekly Variety reported that CBS still thought the core idea of Collector's Item had potential, and was considering filming new episodes:

The question of what to do with shelved pilots again is being bandied around, but this time with a new twist.

If the basic idea is good, why give up the ghost if the execution didn't come off well?...

CBS along with its syndication subsid, is pruning all of the unsold pilots, discarding those which it feels don't have a good basic idea. But those such as "The City" and "Collector's Item," dealing with fraudulent art practices and starring Vincent Price, are being revived. New episodes may be shot on the latter. Reason for the approach is that what are considered basic good ideas for a series aren't too plentiful. Advertisers and agency execs will be urged to give the second tries a fresh look. Plan will be abandoned if the new pilot is met with that "I've seen that one before" comment, when screened along Madison Ave. 

--What to Do With Old Pilots, Weekly Variety (September 24, 1958), p.23

There are a few more references to the potential series in late 1958, which indicate that CBS considered producing the series for syndication with a different lead. Ultimately, however, it appears that nothing came of it. As far as I can tell, neither pilot was ever broadcast.

Poster for Tarzan and the Trappers (1958)

Tarzan (Pilots: 1957 and 1958)

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan stories have been filmed on many occasions. Relevant to Star Trek is the 1966-68 television series, which featured Nichelle Nichols in two episodes and served as Star Trek's second season lead-in on NBC (to disastrous results; Tarzan went from being a top thirty show in the 1966-67 broadcast season to a cancelled flop in 1967-68). Also relevant: an unmade film version written by Gene Roddenberry in 1968 (the project Roddenberry left the Paramount lot to go work on during Star Trek's third season).

Prior to both those versions, however, producer Sol Lesser twice attempted to bring the character to the small screen with veteran Tarzan actor Gordon Scott. The first attempt was made for NBC in early 1957:

Deal has been finalized for NBC to be partnered with Sol Lesser in his "Tarzan" theatrical films under an agreement concluded with Alan Livingston, the net's program vee-pee in Hollywood. Included in the joint control is "Tarzan and Lost Safari," now being released by Metro, and the library of animal and native tribe footage shot in Africa. Lesser will produce the half-hour "Tarzan" telepix series for NBC, with Laslo Benedek directing the first episode. Lisa Davis has femme lead opposite Gordon Scott.

--NBC, Sol Lesser Partner in "Tarzan," Daily Variety (March 22, 1957), p.16

Ultimately, NBC passed on the project, but Lesser was undeterred:

With a "Tarzan" theatrical film now before the cameras, Sol Lesser has reactivated his plans to shoot a vidpix series based on the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Previously, Lesser filmed a pilot with Gordon Scott and Lisa Davis co-starred but objections and a legal hassle with Commodore Productions at that time curtailed continuation of the "Tarzan" telefilms. Now, however, Lesser is resuming shooting on the "Tarzan" telepix and has already completed filming a second pilot film at Desilu-Culver.

Eve Brent, femme lead of the theatrical version, co-stars with Scott in the televersion. Rickie Sorensen, also in the theatrical film, will recreate his "boy" role in the series.

Pilot, it's understood, is entitled "Tarzan and the Trappers." Latter pic is now in the editing stages and ' will be available for agency screening shortly.

--Lesser's Tarzan Telepix on Again, Weekly Variety (February 19, 1958), p.25

Unfortunately for Lesser, Tarzan and the Trappers did not sell. Following a shake-up in leadership at Lesser's company, it was decided to forgo television exploitation of Tarzan altogether:

Lesser had completed a pilot film for the possible introduction of Tarzan as a telepix series. However, after analyzing the costs and market potential, it was considered "complete insanity," according to Howard, to go into TV. Howard's point being that it would be suicide to destroy a property which has grossed some $ 200,000,000 in 40 years. Since 1918, there have been 32 Tarzan films and, according to Howard, there has never been a loss on a Tarzan film. He said the smallest profit has been $ 500,000.

--Untried Blood Guiding New Lesser Co.; More Films, One Message: 'Escapism,' Weekly Variety (July 23, 1958), p.4

Tarzan and the Trappers was Sol Lesser's final producing credit. Eventually, it was re-edited and broadcast as a TV movie.

Still from I Remember Caviar (1959)

I Remember Caviar (Pilot: 1959) and All in the Family (Pilot: 1960)

I Remember Caviar was a thirty minute sitcom pilot that starred Pat Crowley, about a wealthy family forced into poverty. It was produced by Screen Gems for NBC, but was not picked up. However, NBC and Screen Gems decided to try again, shooting a second pilot called All in the Family (not to be confused with the Norman Lear show that would be produced a decade later — after three different pilot episodes, incidentally), again with Pat Crowley in the lead:

Stars of one of last year's unsold Screen Gems pilots, "I Remember Caviar," reportedly are being recalled to the studio... Although sources at the Columbia vidsubsid will admit only that there is discussion of doing a second pilot of the vehicle, Pat Crowley, who starred in the original, has been paged for the return chore.

--SG 'Caviar' Pilot Stars Recalled To Serve Up Another, Daily Variety (November 5, 1959), p.6

Unlike Star Trek, after giving the Pat Crowley-starring series a second chance, NBC passed on the prospective series. Both pilots ended up being broadcast as installments of Alcoa-Goodyear Theater (a popular graveyard for failed pilots, including the Gene Roddenberry scripted 333 Montgomery, which starred DeForest Kelley), one in 1959 and one in 1960.

Still from Head of the Family (filmed 1958)

Head of the Family (Pilot: 1958) and The Dick Van Dyke Show (Pilot: 1961)

When Carl Reiner first developed a half-hour sitcom about a television writer and his family, he intended to star in the show himself. Indeed, Reiner starred in a pilot that he wrote, called "Head of the Family," in 1958. Ultimately, however, this pilot did not sell, and it ended up being broadcast on CBS during the summer of 1960:

CBS-TV will inject a dubious element of freshness info three of its summer time slots with series consisting entirely of unsold pilots. Two of them will be devoted fully to comedy pilots-the "Hennessey" replacement Monday at 10 and the Red Skelton slot Tuesday at 9: 30. Third show will consist of dramatic pilots mostly CBS' own, on Fridays at 9...

Comedy lineup includes Carl Reiner in "Head of the Family," which he scripted and starred in and was produced by Peter Lawford...

--Like Old Razor Blades, What Do You Do With Unsold Pilots? CBS Giving ' Em Summer Airing, Weekly Variety (May 25, 1960), p.27

Later, with producer Sheldon Leonard, Reiner re-conceived the material for actor Dick Van Dyke. A new pilot episode, "The Sick Boy and the Sitter," was filmed on January 20, 1961. This incarnation picked up a committed sponsor, Proctor & Gamble, and the series (now called The Dick Van Dyke Show) debuted on CBS on October 3, 1961. It lasted for five seasons and 158 episodes.

Still from 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' (1965; broadcast 1966)

Ultimately, what can be said about 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' is that it was unusual for television in 1965 — but it was not unprecedented. In the early history of television, when a pilot did not sell, that was most often the end of it. Cast contracts certainly had no contingency in them for second pilot episodes. Most typically, actors were signed for a pilot episode, and the studio had an option to continue their services — if a weekly series materialized within a set time frame. Such was the case with Star Trek, which is why Jeffrey Hunter could walk away without repercussions when he declined to do the second pilot.

In a few cases, however, one or more of the entities involved (be they the studio, the network, or the sponsor) liked a pilot enough to produce a second or even a third version of the concept. As I have outlined above, this happened at least ten times prior to Star Trek.

Images from 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' courtesy of Trek Core.

Special thanks to Neil B. for offering many corrections and suggestions after reading an early version of this post. Any errors that remain are entirely my own.

Sources:

The Making of Star Trek (Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, 1968)

The Making of Star Trek--The Motion Picture (Susan Sackett and Gene Roddenberry, 1980)

The Star Trek Compendium (Allan Asherman, 1986)

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (1988)

Star Trek Memories (William Shatner with Chris Kreski, 1993)

The Music of Star Trek: Profiles in Style (Jeff Bond, 1999)

Women in Space: Following Valentina (David J. Shayler and Ian Moule, 2005)

Ain't That a Knee-Slapper: Rural Comedy in the Twentieth Century (Tim Hollis, 2008)

Star Trek 365 (Paula M. Block with Terry J. Erdmann, 2010)

Star Trek FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the First Voyages of the Starship Enterprise (Mark Clark, Kindle Edition, April 2012)

These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season One (Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, First Edition, August 2013)

Fact Check: CBS Watch! Magazine (Star Trek Special Issue)

December 2014/January 2015 issue of CBS Watch! Magazine

If you've paid a visit to the supermarket this month, you may have seen the latest issue of CBS Watch! magazine, which is devoted to the original Star Trek television series. As I indicated last weekend, although the magazine is filled with beautiful and rare photographs taken during the production of the series, the text often leaves something to be desired. Rather than write a more traditional review, I've decided to do a fact-check of some of the magazine's more bizarre claims, in the order that they appear in the magazine. The text of each claim is quoted as it appears in the magazine, not paraphrased.

Without further ado...

Selections from Roddenberry's RIT lecture can be found on Inside Star Trek (1976)

Claim: At a lecture at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1976, Roddenberry joked about the original failure of his dream. "The first pilot was rejected on the basis of being too intellectual for all you slobs out in the television audience," he said. "It did go on to win the international Hugo award, but I suppose many things turned down by networks would win awards." (Page 12)

Verdict: False. Although it incorporates much of the footage from the first pilot, "The Menagerie, Parts I and II" was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1967, not Roddenberry's original pilot. Star Trek's only two-parter beat out "The Corbomite Maneuver" and "The Naked Time," which were also nominated, along with Francois Truffaut's adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 and Richard Fleischer's film, Fantastic Voyage.

The impressive bridge set built for "The Menagerie" (1964)

Claim: "We spent more on those sets [for the first pilot] than any studio in television had ever spent before in building a comparable thing. I think probably we spent more than even any motion picture had spent," Gene Roddenberry later said in Star Trek: The Making of the TV Series, which he co-wrote with Stephen E. Whitfield. (Page 14)

Verdict: Partly true. Although the first pilot was enormously expensive for television -- the final budget came in at $615,781.56 -- this number simply doesn't compare to the money being spent on contemporary A-pictures. Consider the costs of films like 1963's Cleopatra ($32 million), 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty ($19 million), and 1959's Ben-Hur ($15 million), the cost of producing television sets (even for an expensive show like Star Trek) just doesn't compare.

Ricardo Montalban in "Space Seed" (1967)

Claim: "I don't think Gene had ever written science fiction before," [Samuel] Peeples told author Joel Engel for the biography Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek. (Page 16)

Verdict: False. Roddenberry's familiarity with science fiction before Star Trek is debatable, but he had written science fiction at least once prior to Star Trek. Roddenberry's script for “The Secret Weapon of 117,″ part of the anthology program Stage 7, first aired on March 6, 1956. Although the episode is not currently available for public viewing, it reportedly stars Ricardo Montalban "as one of a pair of aliens trying to assess whether or not Earth has the technology to retaliate against infiltration and invasion by their species" and was definitely science fiction.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock in "The Menagerie" (1964)

Claim: Nimoy's Spock was one of the few crossovers from the original pilot to the later incarnation of Star Trek: The Original Series.

Verdict: Partly true. Although a few performers from the first pilot (Edward Madden, Jon Lormer, Robert Johnson, Majel Barrett, Janos Prohaska, and Malachi Throne) later appeared as different characters in subsequent episodes, Nimoy was the only actor to reprise his role from the first pilot in a subsequent episode. Although the character of Christopher Pike appears in "The Menagerie, Parts I and II," he's played in those episodes by Sean Kenney, not Jeffrey Hunter.

Still from "Arena" (1967)

Claim: "Arena," most memorable for its battle sequence, was adapted by scriptwriter Gene L. Coon from a short story by popular science fiction writer Fredric Brown. (Page 18)

Verdict: Partly true. Although Brown gets screen credit, Coon wrote "Arena" as an original teleplay. Credit was awarded to Brown only after de Forest Research pointed out numerous similarities to Brown's short story that could result in litigation against Desilu. Chalk it up to a case of cryptomnesia on Coon's part.

Jeffrey Hunter in "The Menagerie" (1964)

Claim: After his role as Christopher Pike, Hunter returned to feature film acting. While filming a movie in Spain in 1969, Hunter was severely injured, and he died during surgery on May 27, just a week before the airing of Star Trek's finale. (Page 21)

Verdict: Partly true. Although the story goes that Hunter turned down the second Star Trek pilot to focus on feature film roles, he continued to work in television thereafter, even going as far to star in another pilot (Journey into Fear) in 1965. Hunter was seriously injured during the filming of ¡Viva América! (1969), but his death actually happened several months later, when he fell at his home in Van Nuys and hit his head on a banister.

Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek pitch document (1964)

Claim: Roddenberry's pitch even included some eerily familiar ideas for future episodes, including "The Day Charlie Became God," which saw one of the Enterprise crew members given incredible powers, much like the second Star Trek pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before." (Page 22)

Verdict: True. Roddenberry's original pitch document, available here, includes six one sentence story concepts and nineteen longer story ideas, a number of which became the basis of later episodes. "The Day Charlie Became God" was later developed into a teleplay by D.C. Fontana called "Charlie's Law," and produced as the first season episode "Charlie X."

John Hoyt as Dr. Philip Boyce in "The Menagerie" (1964)

Claim: Dr. Phillip "Bones" Boyce, played by John Hoyt, whose nickname would carry over to DeForest Kelley's Leonard McCoy... (Page 24)

Verdict: True. Although Boyce isn't identified by his nickname in any final dialogue, Roddenberry's aforementioned original pitch document from early 1964 identifies the doctor as, "Captain April's only real confidant, 'Bones' Boyce considers himself the only realist aboard, measures each new landing in terms of the annoyances it will personally create for him."

Still from "The Menagerie" (1964)

Claim: For the production of "The Cage," the southern California desert became the planet Talos IV--known as Clesik to its native inhabitants. (Page 27)

Verdict: False. Behind the scenes photos (which can be seen on birdofthegalaxy's fabulous flickr page, here and here) show that the exterior of Talos IV was actually built on a soundstage with a painted backdrop, which is pretty obvious in the episode itself. Pages 6-10 of Bob Justman's shooting schedule (available here) confirm these "exteriors" were actually shot on stage 16 at Culver Studios.

Leonard Nimoy and Peter Duryea in "The Menagerie" (1964)

Claim: Leonard Nimoy's Spock looks on as Peter Duryea's Lt. José Tyler fires his phaser... (Page 28)

Verdict: False. Dedicated fans know that the term "phaser" wasn't coined until after the first pilot was completed. Captain Pike and company carry "Laser pistols" according to the revised teleplay dated November 20, 1964, and dialogue in the complete episode refers to "hand lasers." The same caption also refers to Number One leading an "away team," a term which wouldn't be used until Star Trek: The Next Generation; Star Trek instead referred to "landing parties."

Majel Barrett in "The Menagerie" (1964)

Claim: Her [Number One's] presence was one element of the pilot that caused NBC to pass on it, asserting that it wasn't "believable for a woman to be in charge." (Page 32)

Verdict: Probably false. Roddenberry often repeated this claim, which can be found in print in The Making of Star Trek (1968) and heard on Inside Star Trek (1976), but Herb Solow vehemently denied it in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (1996) and elsewhere. Recalling NBC's response after the first pilot, Solow says the network told the production, "We support the concept of a woman in a strong, leading role, but we have serious doubts as to Majel Barrett's abilities to 'carry' the show as its costar" (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, page 60).

Still from "The Savage Curtain" (1969)

Claim: In July 2014, former Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl Bar Rafaeli [sic] made a bit of a blunder when she posted a quote attributed to President Lincoln to her Instagram feed. not realizing that the words were Gene Roddenberry's from "The Savage Curtain" script, not really Lincoln's. (Page 39)

Verdict: Partly true; partly unknown. Bar Refaeli did quote from the script to "The Savage Curtain" in a July 16, 2014 Twitter post, mistaking it for a genuine Abraham Lincoln quote. However, the teleplay to "The Savage Curtain" was written by Gene Roddenberry and Arthur Heinemann; without examining the various script drafts of the episode, it's hard to say if the quoted words were Roddenberry's alone, as the magazine claims.

Lucille Ball

Claim: Lucille Ball, the comedy legend and star of I Love Lucy, was a producer on Star Trek because of her position at the studio and, because she was a big believer in the show, was instrumental in helping Roddenberry keep it alive. Using her pull as a studio head -- a rare amount of power for a female in the 1960s -- Ball was able to convince the higher ups to give Star Trek a second chance. (Page 46)

Verdict: False. Ball was the head of Desilu, and in that position, instrumental in getting Star Trek made, but she was not in any useful sense of the word a "producer" on Star Trek. Also, according to Herb Solow, Ball had little to do with convincing NBC to order a second pilot. In Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, Solow recounts a meeting with Mort Werner, held soon after the NBC schedule was announced for the fall of 1965 (and Star Trek wasn't on it):

Mort, Grant [Tinker], and Jerry [Stanley] were still taken by what we'd accomplished. And Mort had a complaint: 'Herb, you guys gave us a problem.'

'Sorry, Mort, we tried our best.'

'That's the problem. I didn't think Desilu was capable of making Star Trek, so when we looked over the pilot stories you gave us, we chose the most complicated and most difficult of the bunch. We recognize now it wasn't necessarily a story that properly showcased Star Trek's series potential. So the reason the pilot didn't sell was my fault, not yours. You guys just did your job too well. And I screwed up.'

I shook my head in awe. No, no, this wasn't a network executive talking to me. This was the Good Witch of the East come to lay gold at our feet. I conjured up all my good thoughts. 'So let's do another pilot.'

'That's exactly why we're here. We'll agree on some mutual story and script approval, and then, if the scripts are good, we'll give you some more money for another pilot.'

-Herbert F. Solow, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (1996), page 60

It appears that this myth about Lucille Ball first originated in an online piece by Will Stape in 2007, and has been repeated in several other places online since, including this piece from blastr in 2013.

Leonard Nimoy in an early Star Trek publicity photo (1964)

Claim: Nimoy used these small parts as stepping stones to bigger television roles, including a memorable guest spot on Gene Roddenberry's The Lieutenant in 1964, where the writer and producer was already starting to cast the nascent Star Trek. (Pages 57-58)

Verdict: False. Nimoy's guest appearance on The Lieutenant, in an episode titled "In the Highest Tradition," first aired on February 29, 1964, and probably was filmed in late 1963. Roddenberry's written pitch for Star Trek wasn't completed until March 11, 1964, and he didn't have a meeting (or sign a deal) with Herb Solow at Desilu until April of 1964. Whenever Roddenberry began considering Nimoy for the part, he certainly wasn't starting to actually cast the series when Nimoy guest starred on The Lieutenant. Moreover, actor Gary Lockwood claims he's the one who suggested Nimoy for the part to Roddenberry, but only after The Lieutenant was off the air (the last episode of the series aired on April 18, 1964).

Gene Roddenberry, DeForest Kelley, and Jake Ehrlich, Sr. (1960)

Claim: [DeForest Kelley] worked steadily in TV and film until 1960, when he auditioned for a Gene Roddenberry-directed pilot called "Sam Benedict." The role ultimately did not go to Kelley, but Roddenberry kept him in mind for future roles and invited him to the premiere of "The Cage." (Page 63)

Verdict: False. Gene Roddenberry never worked as a director in film or television, and he never wrote a pilot called Sam Benedict. Roddenberry did write a pilot in 1960 called 333 Montgomery, based on a book about famous lawyer Jake Ehrlich, which starred DeForest Kelley. Ehrlich's life later became the inspiration for the short-lived series Sam Benedict, which aired during the 1962-63 season, but that show didn't involve Roddenberry or Kelley. 333 Montgomery is currently available on YouTube in three parts: here, here, and here.

Walter Koenig as Chekov in "Catspaw" (1967)

Claim: In 1965, the Soviet media had criticized the "utopian" Star Trek's marked absence of Russians. Agreeing that the other space power of the day should be represented on the U.S.S. Enterprise, Roddenberry began the search for a suitably Slavic ensign. (Page 67)

Verdict: Contested. Roddenberry did write a letter to the editor of Pravda on October 10, 1967 in which he said, "about ten months ago one of the stars of our television show, STAR TREK, informed us he had heard that the youth edition of your newspaper had published an article regarding STAR TREK to the effect that the only nationality we were missing aboard our USS Enterprise was a Russian." Whether or not the editorial in the alleged youth-edition of Pravda actually existed remains an open question, but Roddenberry's letter suggests the story was more than a publicity stunt. More can be read about the issue at Snopes.

Still from "Plato's Stepchildren" (1968)

Claim: [Recalling "Plato's Stepchildren," Nichelle Nichols says,] "That is how the first interracial kiss happened on TV." (Page 68)

Verdict: False. This myth was pretty thoroughly debunked by The Agony Booth last month, and I offered some additional comments regarding the scene here.

Still from "The Trouble with Tribbles" (1967)

Claim: It wasn't until the first episode of the second season, "The Trouble with Tribbles," that the [Klingon] race began to emerge as the perfect foil to Kirk and Co. (Page 76)

Verdict: False. The Klingons, established in season one's "Errand of Mercy," first re-appeared in season two's "Friday's Child," the third episode produced for the second season and the eleventh to air. The Klingons actually make their third appearance on Star Trek in "The Trouble with Tribbles," which was the fifteenth episode aired during season two, and the thirteenth produced. As for the first episode of the second season, "Amok Time" was the first episode to be aired in season two, and "Catspaw" was the first produced.

Lawrence Montaigne in "Amok Time" (1967)

Claim: [Lawrence] Montaigne, who was originally considered for the role of Spock before Leonard Nimoy decided to leave Mission: Impossible for Star Trek, played the Vulcan Stonn in "Amok Time" as well as the Romulan Decius in "Balance of Terror." (Page 98)

Verdict: False. Although Desilu did have Montaigne at the ready in early 1967, in case contract negotiations with Nimoy for the second season fell through, there's no evidence that Montaigne was in the running for the role of Spock in 1964 and Nimoy never left Mission: Impossible for Star Trek. Indeed, Nimoy didn't appear on Mission: Impossible until after Star Trek was cancelled, when the actor joined the cast as Paris for two seasons from 1969 to 1971.

Special thanks to blog reader Neil B. for loaning me his copy of the magazine for review, and suggesting this article in the first place.

Select images courtesy of Trek Core.

Sources:

The Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (1964-1969)

The Making of Star Trek (Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, 1968)

Inside Star Trek : The Real Story (Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, 1996)

CBS Watch! Magazine (December/January 2015)

An Evening with Robert Butler: Full Transcript

Director Robert Butler and Archivist Mark Quigley (January 24, 2014)

Last month I promised I would transcribe the rest of the Q&A with director Bob Butler if there was sufficient interest. There was, and today I finally finished that transcription. Enjoy!

(Recorded January 24, 2014 at the Billy Wilder Theater in Los Angeles, California)

Robert Butler: I don’t see any costumes.

(Audience laughter)

Butler: I welcome you whole-heartedly, with the confession, with the admission that I have spent a couple hours lately on the Star Trek DVDs that show the gatherings in various cities around the country. I was trying to figure out you, the Trekkies, and the legs, the popularity, the quick popularity of the show. The thought I’m left with is that I found you Trekkies a little less weird than I thought you might be.

(Audience laughter)

Butler: I drew the conclusion that between us normal civilians and weirdness and Trekkies and civility must be a measure that’s identical.

(Audience laughter)

Butler: Anyway, welcome Trekkies, whoever you may be. We’ll find you out!

(Audience laughter)

Mark Quigley: So, this pilot, NBC decided they wanted another pilot. You had already worked with Gene Roddenberry on The Lieutenant. Do you remember the reaction to this pilot? You were offered the subsequent pilot, but you turned it down.

Butler: Yeah, I turned it down simply because I’d been there. I think it was a couple years later. We were talking about that. Gene had gone ahead, I think, and produced more of a television series that he had on the air at the time and I moved on to other things. And then he came to me with the offer and I passed because I’d been there. I had heard, at the time, probably reasonably, that the network thought and said, “We like it, we believe it, we don’t understand it, do it again.”

(Audience laughter)

Butler: So Gene moonlit another script as he was making his subsequent existence, work, and the show was the result of that.

Quigley: And then this episode ended up getting cannibalized when they ran out of money later in the season with 'The Menagerie.'

Butler: Yes. I looked at 'The Menagerie' the other night and thought a lot of the manipulation was kind of clever. They had this Captain, Jeffrey Hunter, as a very distorted remnant of what he used to be, enabling an actor to sit and play him scarred and in the present at that time, answering with light signals and so on. It was kind of creepy and probably a very good idea at the time. Incidentally, fifty years ago, I saw a lot of innocence and sweetness and trust and less cynicism than we see now. Not that I endorse either one, but this is very aimed at us fifty years ago, when we were more acceptable. I mean, the special effects are a little questionable in spots, and we can see budgetary all over the screen compared to what we see today, and yet those legs, that suspension of willing disbelief that we all seem to do, happens again. We follow the damn thing. It has some beckon for us that works.

I felt that when the first shot kind of goes into the flight deck and we see the crew there, sitting there in control, and then there’s that subsequent Doctor-Pike scene that’s so good. We’ve seen that scene thirty, sixty, a thousand times – the enervated hero needs a lift, confessing to his mentor, whomever – and yet, that beckon was in there. Those legs were playing and (chuckles), in spite of the directorial superiority, the damned thing works. It’s okay!

Quigley: I had fun teasing you about this the other day, but let’s talk about your proposed title change for the series.

Butler: Yes, I thought Star Trek was heavy. I tried to get Gene to change the title to Star Track. That seemed lighter and freer.

(Audience laughter)

Butler: It’s not my business to be able to do that, and yet I was trying to convince him. I believed in it and, you know, water off a duck’s back!

(Audience laughter)

Butler: Which is okay.

Quigley: Let’s spend a few minutes going back, because you have the type of storybook beginning that people can only dream about now. This really wouldn’t be possible. You started as an usher at CBS.

Butler: Yes, I sure did. I wore a uniform for about a week with the Uni High quarterback with whom I shared some celebrity at Uni High. He and I, Ray Bindorff and I, put on the blue uniform and passed out the tickets on Hollywood and Vine to get people to come to the radio and occasional television shows. That’s pretty fascinating. Ray is here somewhere.

Then, seven years later he was on into his business career and I left TV City to take a job with my next partner, Gene Reynolds, with whom we shared an early comedy, Hennesy. We alternated for six episodes until we were both dumped and then we were out on the marketplace wailing away. Ray was there first, Gene was there second, and we’re all here now together, which is good.

(Audience applause)

Quigley: In between your being an usher and working on Hennesy, you worked your way up through what we now call the Golden Age of Television, as an associate and assistant director on Climax! and Playhouse 90. That was where you cut your teeth.

Butler: Television city at Fairfax and Beverly was the best kindergarten for learning the alphabet of storytelling that you can imagine. It was live, you went on the air every week, every other week, whatever, you saw your results that night. I watched terrific directors, associate directors, producers, writers, actors – I mean the whole operation. The cast being put together as the story told unit was just 3-D schooling. It was breathtaking and I learned a lot in those seven years. A lot of it shows, some of it’s still pretty green here, beyond the green dancer.

(Audience laughter)

Butler: But that was a great experience.

Quigley: I think you were telling me, you threw one of the first cues out of TV City onto television – the first broadcast from TV City.

Butler: Great point. TV City was being constructed and finished and was to go on the air on a given night. Shower of the Stars was to go on at seven or eight or whatever, and at that time I was a stage manager and I threw the first cue to the background projectionist who rolled the film that projected starbursts on a screen in front of which our host stood. So, I started that.

(Audience laughter and applause)

Quigley: Now, from there, after Hennesy you did The Dick Van Dyke Show [and] The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. How did you become the go-to guy for TV pilots? How did that start?

Butler: Well, after crediting Television City and all that good experience, I happened on a pilot where the director had gotten gun shy or something and needed to be replaced on a given afternoon. They weren’t shooting yet, they were in preparation, and my agent said, “I’m going to get you a show.” He got me into that producer, and we talked, and I got the job of Hogan’s Heroes. A half-hour, one camera comedy, in black and white, and black and white helped the Nazi comedy, if that isn’t an oxymoron.

(Audience laughter)

Butler: But, it was a terrific experience and that was early in my working life. I don’t remember what the second pilot was, but with that start, and that good, hit reaction that that show made, I’m sure that’s in the mix there, somehow an issue.

Quigley: And then, shortly after that, would have come Batman.

Butler: Yeah…

(Audience laughter)

Butler: I say that out of admiration for preposterousness because that’s totally what that was. Lorenzo Semple was a good family friend – a terrific writer, a well-known craze-o, intellectual, creative guy – whether Lorenzo turned that crank or the reputation about pilotry [sic] was at work, I don’t really know. I remember thinking that the material had to be treated very genuinely because it was so crazy. I mean, Batman explains the villain to the police commissioner, the Riddler, “He contrives his plots like artichokes. You have to strip off spiny leaves to reach the heart.”

(Audience laughter)

Butler: Well, that isn’t a joke, exactly, but it sure ain’t reality, either. So I was aware it had to be carefully handled and I did, with good support from the studio boss at that time, Bill Dozier, who was very wise to have hired Lorenzo in the first place. I mean, that’s crazy writing, and really good, and your friendly director got it, and understood it, and delivered it in an appropriate style for it.

Quigley: You came up with the motifs of having the canted angles for the villains and some other things that just stayed with the series – became hallmarks of the series?

Butler: I just felt we couldn’t not, because when you opened a Batman comic book, which I certainly did as a younger kid, why, the pows, and the zowies, and the biffs and bapps were highlights of the action sequences in the comic strip. Well, how do you do that in Technicolor without biff, boom, bang? You know, [we] just had to. It sounds like an innovation, and honest to God it’s just something that we were conditioned to do. We couldn’t not, so that’s directorial genius again.

(Audience laughter)

Quigley: Now, you and I have talked about this, but Batman was a cultural phenomenon at the time, but for you it was just – you moved on relatively quickly. You did, I think, three sets of two, and one of your villains was George Sanders?

Butler: Yes, yes.

Quigley: But you didn’t get caught up in the cultural phenomenon that was Batman at the time?

Butler: No. I’m paid not to. You know, I’m paid to get that story told and delivered and the disbelief suspended as effectively as I possibly can, and that’s what I do and always did concentrate on, maybe to a fault, but that was my interest: the story, the behavior of the characters, the assistance to the actors in doing what they were trying to do, and the delivery of all that to the audience. There aren’t any tens, there’s no pure vacuum, and the actor is never quite right, the scene is never quite right, [and] the finish has not been applied until take two plus all the post-production and the appreciation. Then it gets…closer to good or excellent or perfect. Perfect is just way below what I’m talking about, somewhere else.

Director Robert Butler and Archivist Mark Quigley (January 24, 2014)

Quigley: Decades after Batman, you’re called to launch another comic book series with The Adventures of Lois & Clark.

Butler: Yeah, Lois & Clark was much the same thing. The writing wasn’t as crazy…it wasn’t less established, certainly. Superman was certainly as established as Batman, and yet there was more sadness in Superman, because here was this person from somewhere else, who was trying his best to fit in and being too, too, too exceptional, etc. That rode with that character a lot, and it was in the writing and in the concept, maybe. I don’t remember the comic strip that well. I have a feeling it probably wasn’t included in the comic strip. It probably was increased for the living rooms and the understanding of a superhero. We were always pleased with the thought that Batman was a human being, who had resources and Superman was this invincible…beyond person. One was for sure going to win; the other, Batman, had to engineer and persevere his winnings. But, on the other hand, Superman had the sadness. He was a freak, he was a foreigner. It cracks me up to think of the guy, you know, and that was played, granted, not a lot, but that’s in there. That brought legs. The audience is being carried in the suspension of disbelief being pursued and realized.

Quigley: In the history of TV, statistically, I mean I haven’t done the analysis, but I really don’t think there’s any other director that directed as many different series as you did. Part of that was by design. You didn’t like to stay in one place too long, but if you look at the scope and scale, you went from Batman to Ironside to Kung Fu to Hawaii 5-0, just to rattle them all of. What was it that propelled you to all these different [shows]? You were welcome wherever you went, you could do any show you wanted, and you did as many, it seems, as you could.

Butler: Well, the freelancing I adored. Doing different things, not knowing what two months was going to bring, and where the pay window was. I loved the freedom and the disconnection of all of that. I mean, it took me a year and a half to get used to it because, you know, I was a middle class kid raised on order and process and repetition and all the rest of it. As a young kid musician I may have gotten into that less known pattern, and maybe that’s why, and I really adored that and was confident that it would turn up in three weeks or three months. It was luck. One can’t dismiss the marketeering and concentrate on the issue. You’ve got to do both and for some reason I did much more of the storytelling preoccupation than the marketeering of myself and the results were good enough so that positive results followed me, or something.

Quigley: I think one of the other most remarkable things about your career is that decades after you started you had reinvented the medium with Batman in the sixties and with Star Trek and then this kind of all culminates in Hill Street Blues, which, again, is something that redefined television, and redefined television in the eighties. Let’s talk about Hill Street Blues and let’s talk about that whole philosophy of “making it dirty.”

Butler: It was a great collision of a number of elements. Timing, of course, had a lot to do with everything. I was at a point where I could act on some of my hatreds, namely, cleanliness. I hated cleanliness. Star Trek was so cleanly [sic]. I tried to get the scenery butchered up as though it had been in use, and I couldn’t do it. The production designer was already working, and I lost that argument. It’s largely as many arguments as you can win. The more arguments you win, the more singularity the yarn has. It’s not rocket surgery, it’s singularity, recognition of people at work and at play consistently and clearly and understandably. That’s what we’re trying to do, so we win as many arguments as we can.

I took Remington Steele to Grant Tinker, who was a friend of mine on The Dick Van Dyke Show. We’d known each other a long time. And he said, before I give you an answer on Remington Steele, let me give you a script, and he sent Hill Street Blues to me. And, immediately, the directorial disdain surfaced.

(Audience laughter)

Director Robert Butler and Archivist Mark Quigley (January 24, 2014)

Butler: Do we really need another cop show? So that kind of cleared my head and I knew I had to go to work again. And, I had the boss’s ear. Grant Tinker was the boss. I had the certainty, which was that cleanliness was hideous and messiness was appropriate, and more real and more recognizable also, so I was able to shake that execution of that story up, overlap the dialogue, [and] make the lighting look kind of routine and hideous and improper in places. Truly, the cinematographer, a very knowledgeable Hollywood guy, knew when I said, “Look, let’s make this thing look awful. I want it to look awful.” He knew I was talking about Hollywood awful.

I mean, we were going to be able to see everybody, it was going to work fine, but it just was going to be less shiny, glossy, perfect, surface-y, clean. So he would come up to me, I think just to assure himself, and he would say, “Listen, man, it’s looking pretty bad.”

(Audience laughter)

Butler: And I would always say, “Good. Make it look worse.”

(Audience laughter)

Butler: And that’s really the truth of the way we worked. You know, the show had legs. Let’s face it, it had legs. I remember the fourth act in the hour form having not much action. There’s a tie-down situation around a liquor store where there’s some hostages inside. That’s not a very big opportunity for a chase with people tied down and movies finish with some form of action, chase, gunfight, whatever, and I remember mentioning to the guys, “Guys, we’ve got a talky fourth act.” I mean, sure, the EATers, Emergency Action Team that Howard Hunter, Jim Sikking, he’s here tonight with us, were active and they blew up the back door and then shot up the liquor bottles, etc., but it was clever and it was wordy and it was somewhat action-less. I expressed this as humbly, secretly, arrogantly, as I possibly could, and blank faces. You try to win an argument three times and if you don’t you forget it and move on because the clock is ticking, the sun’s going down, the teacher is going to take the kids away from you, and you have to get the damned thing shot. So, I gave in, and your friendly director was wrong, man, because the fourth act played great. So bet on me less than a hundred percent of the time.

Quigley: Well, they invited you back to direct more than just the pilot of Hill Street, so you did something right. We have time to take some questions and then we want to come back to introduce Columbo, but let’s first take some questions.

Audience Member #1: Hi, you said you went to Uni High here in West Los Angeles. What were your goals as a high school student, and how did you get into directing? You started as an usher, but what was your experience in directing, and did you learn directing in college like they do these days? What were your goals when you were in Uni High?

Butler: My answer, the director’s answer, is get as close to the scene as you possibly can. The making of the scene – the actors, the directors, what’s happening there. That’s where the action is. That’s where the storytelling takes place. You combine the page with the actor with the cinematography and all of it, and you deliver that to the audience. I knew in high school with my dance bands, because I led them easily and got good results in the rehearsals and so on, that I was some kind of idea man, but I didn’t know what, so I sent letters out to studios and got no results and went to work at CBS as an usher and, more importantly, got into production, got near the storytelling. Not at it yet, but near it. Usher, receptionist, production clerk – a couple, three years of production clerk. What lenses are to be ordered, what cable pullers are to be ordered, how many extra cameras, production, how you do it, the tools that make it work – production assistant. Then stage manager, handling the cast, being there during rehearsals, and watching the director and the actors put the show together and make it recognizable and kind of real and believable. I stood right next to the directors as that was happening as a stage manager. Then, co-pilot, associate director. I did it with directors and now I’m in the booth, in the control room, with the pilot, and I’m like the co-pilot, readying the shots and taking care of the crew, all well-rehearsed under the director’s captaincy, of course, but then co-piloting and then getting a break on Hennesy. Those are the steps.

Sidebar – I’m sitting at NBC playing trombone with the teenagers on a radio show. That’s radio show.

(Audience laughter)

Butler: I’m watching this guy called a contact producer – he’s the director – Ed Cashman, apparently a very well-liked, effective guy. Brooks Brothers suits, kind of jazzy, I knew it wasn’t totally sincere, his act. I realized there was a lot of frosting going on there, but I was watching this guy. He fascinated me, and the idea dawned on me, and this is partly in answer to your question, he’s having fun while he’s working for a living. Ding!

(Audience laughter)

Butler: That was new to me at age sixteen or seventeen, and I carried that with me, and have told our kids, “Don’t work for a living. Find another way.” That’s in the mix, but that’s a capsule of moi.

(Audience applause)

Audience Member #2: As you look over your respected career being the director of so many pilots, I wanted to ask, as you look as the pilots transitioned to series, did you agree or disagree within any casting changes between the pilot and the series, and on those few pilots like Sirens, The Brotherhood, and Our Family Honor that were not a success that Star Trek and Batman and Hogan’s Heroes were, did you understand, perhaps, why those pilots or series did not follow the success of your initial presentation?

Butler: The second part of the question very much has to do with legs. Does it work? Is it believable? Do the audiences recognize the people? Do they sympathize with them? Do they pull for them? Does the notion have legs? Does it carry its audience? Certain ideas just do and certain do less so. Cop shows, wearying as they may be, have legs. The doctor shows used to have, more than currently in our lives, legs. And that’s very mysterious. Only you really know what legs are. We’re trying to figure them out and label them, but you know, and we, as we sit with you in test nights, we can – it’s amazing the way you speak to us as we’re watching a piece of work – where you’re quiet, where you’re fidgety, where you chuckle, where you laugh, whether you’re quiet as a cemetery. All that is clear beyond our knowledge – you know what legs are and we’re always trying to figure out legs and retrospectively, I can see largely, that some of the shows, have better legs than the other[s].

The first part of the question I think has to do with casting and execution further down the line. That’s very personal. That has to do with winning arguments, as I say. You’ve got the character on the page, and the actor walks in, and in eighty percent of the cases you can tell within the first six footsteps across the room whether that actor is going to be in the neighborhood for this part or not be. It’s very clear and it’s very personal. You have to win the argument with the others in the room, the producer and the network, whomever. That’s kind of wordy. What it has to do with is, as you’re telling that initial story, you try to make it as clear as you possibly can with the use of the casting trickery, whatever that may be. Later, as you watch the show, you don’t care, man, you’re on to other things. You’re interested in the next job, not the last one, the next one, or something.

Audience Member #3: What was your technique with the actors, and did it change if it was a pilot, or did it change according to the actor?

Butler: Yes, it did change with almost each actor, slightly. What you’re trying to do is get the actor to be his or her best. I don’t necessarily mean shriekiest [sic] or loudest or more teary or with bigger whimpers. There’s something else inside that’s organic that they are expressing, the character they have read on the page, with who they are. Relaxation, like in sports, is the best way to get there. I ‘m told that in baseball, when you hit the home run, there’s not a crash or a bang or a crunch, there’s a click. All the energy is channeled and it’s efficient and the thing goes over the fence. If you’ve got the actors confidence to the extent that he/she can relax and believe what you’re saying, or question what you’re saying, and go 180 to argue with you. If they’re comfortable enough so that they can get conversant and comfortable with what they’re trying to do, and you chose them or didn’t in those first seven steps across the office, then you’re doing a good job with them. As it changed through the years…

[At this point, my phone reached its recording limit, resulting in about 30 seconds of missing audio.]

Butler: You’ve realized that they’ve done semblances of what they’re going to do with you thirty, fifty, a hundred and fifty times. They know how to do that. Now, the thing’s that different, is that the words are different and their partner is different. So you’re getting a new combination of a recognizably comfortable character like Tilly who lives down the street or George on the next street over. You recognize those people and you don’t want to get beyond, too far, you want to be a little beyond the recognition, which is another point I grant, but you want to be a little beyond the recognition so it’s fresh and unusual and slightly startling. Slightly – not usually startling because you don’t know what the hell you’re looking at, except it’s an odd combination of the discreet sell-out (chuckles). The intelligent sell-out with the audience being considered at every turn, every single constant turn, only the audiences know for sure.

Director Robert Butler and Archivist Mark Quigley (January 24, 2014)

Quigley: That’s a perfect segue to talk about one of the most distinctive shows, if not the most distinctive television series of the seventies, which is Columbo. [It] basically broke a lot of rules, and there was a lot of reasons why it worked and a lot of it had to do with the directors that were working on it and the star as well.

Butler: Yeah, I was going pretty well, so it wasn’t unreasonable of me to be offered a Columbo or two and the producer was a terribly good guy and a funny guy and so on. Peter, as a trained accountant, with his accountant and lawyer, had determined before I got on the scene in the third or fourth season that everybody was making a zillion dollars and he didn’t have to grind them out so bad. They were all scheduled at nine days, and they all went ten, eleven, twelve, and nobody was saying anything. You go over a day or two and boy, they’re on your back, they’re above you like flies, and I kept looking around and there was nobody there. I had a good time, but it was odd and questionable, and really fun. The content was fun, Peter was fun, very respectful, interested guy, who said, “Great, let’s move on. Oh, oh, oh, no, man, let’s just, let’s just, do we have time for one…” [Peter was] always sane, reasonable, encouraging, [and] respectful. “Do we have time for one more shoot?” What am I going to say? No?

(Audience laughter)

Butler: “Yeah man, sure, let’s do it! Go, guys, let’s go.” That’s where the time goes – Peter perfecting and refining. Again, there’s no perfect, it’s refining what he’s doing for that audience. And I said, to Roland Kibbee, the producer, because of the conditions I’ve outlined to you, [it] was strange, I said, “You know, this is really a good show. I’d love to direct one sometime.” And he said, “Yeah, I’ve got a lot of writers not writing ‘em, too.”

(Audience laughter)

Quigley: Really quickly, your take on the Columbo character that you can enlightened Peter Falk a little bit, in a way, is pretty interesting.

Butler: Yeah, Peter hadn’t thought of an idea that was obvious to me, and I hung my interpretation on, and that was that Columbo wanted everybody he dealt with not to be guilty. He wanted them to be innocent (chuckles). I mean, you know the scene. “Listen, Mr. Stone, I’m so sorry that I had bad thoughts about you. I promise that I won’t do that again, sir. Really, good luck in your life, and all your thievery, and all the rest of it.”

(Audience laughter)

Butler: “I just want to say it’s been an honor being with you, sir.” And he walks to the door, and he stops, and he turns around and says, “There’s just one thing…”

(Audience laughter)

Butler: And you know that in the next three minutes the villain is going to get it in the neck. That’s the way the show was built. In answer to Mark’s question, it was an absolutely magnificent marriage of the man on the page and the actor. Whether all that fiddideling [sic] that Peter did was in the original material, or whether it was just suggested, I don’t know, but his training, his orientation, his positivism, I guess, with that character was just strong as an ox. As we will see, he is irresistible. The people around him are good, the performances are good, good people are hired, Jim Sikking is in one of the scenes… It’s just a very, very well-mounted, well-organized, supremely performed show. Now, we can get snobby and say it gets a little cute at times, and what he does is a little redundant, but try and resist it. Try and resist it! You can’t, man. The guy knows the character, he knows the show, and he knows how to reach us, and he did time after time after time.

Watch for one scene. Mariette Hartley, a very nice actress, plays an editor in the show [‘Publish or Perish,’ a season three episode of Columbo], and she and he have a scene that’s just very quiet and natural. It’s not unlike the Doc and our Star Trek hero, Jeff Hunter, that early scene that I’ve said we’ve all seen many times before. There’s a solidity and a familiarity and an ease by them and by us because we know what they’re dealing with and what they’re doing is so terrific and solid. You’ll notice that scene with Mariette and Peter in Columbo.