Alternate "Fantasy"

If you've been wading around The Underworld for a while, you know that I was once fixated on highlighting some of the many, many guest stars who made their way through the Aaron Spelling series Fantasy Island, a sort of tropical rendition of The Love Boat, but often with more threatening or suspenseful storylines. Each week promised a small planeload of visitors to the island in question, presided over by Ricardo Montalban as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his pint-sized sidekick, the frequent source of comic relief.

Having begun with a pair of TV movies, the series proper took to the airwaves in 1978 and was an immediate hit (airing right after the aforementioned Love Boat.) Villechaize's pronouncement in the opening credits "De plane! De plane!" as he rang the bell signifying the arrival of the guests via a small aircraft turned into a national catchphrase. 

After a while, however, things became a bit grim behind the scenes of the show. The producers as well as the always and ever professional Montalban were distressed at the erratic behavior of Villechaize. The diminutive actor suffered from health issues, depression, prior suicide attempts and an increasing propensity for propositioning women on the set along with heavy salary demands, which let to conflicts with the producers. 

The producers had attempted to quell things a bit in 1981 by adding a third staff member of the island, Wendy Schaal as Julie, but this did not work out at all. The rather simple character neither blended in nor demonstrated chemistry with the others and she was swiftly reduced in screen time and eventually written out. Now producers were left in a quandary. What to do with two costars who were by now at considerable odds with one another, yet both very popular. What if one or both of them were to quit or be let go?

Spelling ordered a test run to be shot of a new rendition of the show. He wanted to see if the concept could withstand a new star as the lead if he opted to overhaul the series and go in a new direction. Thus, he arranged for a 38 minute "pilot" of sorts to be produced by different hands. If it came down to where he needed to use it, more footage could be added to pad the material into a full hour show. If not, he could use introductory and closing footage with Montalban to "bookend" the material for use in the next season's lineup of episodes. 

The pilot featured Mr. Roake's cousin, clearly on his father's side since this man's name was also Mr. Roarke (!), to be played by Lorne Greene. Greene had enjoyed a lengthy, popular run on Bonanza and the cult favorite Battlestar Galactica as well as just having headlined another short-lived show called Code Red. 

He possessed the requisite friendly, fatherly image, yet could also be counted upon to provide a certain amount of mystery and even menace. He even sat in a large wicker chair similar to that of Montalban's.

Spelling, unable to utilize the familiar trappings of the regular series without raising considerable eyebrows from the regular cast and crew, tried to replicate the general feel of Fantasy Island by peopling the program with plenty of sarong-clad natives, hula dancers and even a pig roast! All the lush color, bongo drums and so forth were on hand.

In order to avoid anything with "De plane!," guests for this version of the show arrived by helicopter and touched down on a pronounced helipad next to the main house, a large lodge with comfortable guest quarters.

The first guest turns out to be none other than Aaron Spelling favorite Robert Urich. He portrays a Vietnam veteran who had fallen deeply in love with a field nurse from whom he was separated when an encampment was destroyed. He'd been severely injured and shipped out while she stayed behind, never to be seen or heard from again. His fantasy is to be reunited with her again. (Prior to fulfilling his fantasy, he takes a jog on the grounds of the lodge and returns to his room in the teensiest of gym shorts, as seen below!)

Greene informs an anticipatory Urich that he believes he can help him locate the young lady, but that merely finding her won't guarantee happiness since so much has happened in the intervening years. He also implies that perhaps even Urich himself may not be completely ready to commit to his long lost love.

He sends Urich off on a trek to a remote area of the island where this lady is believed to be living. (Because, you know, long lost and missing army nurses always turn up living on Fantasy Island! But I guess that's as good an explanation as any would be...)

When, after an arduous journey, Urich does come upon his adored one, she turns out to be none other than Miss Barbara Parkins! Sporting a curly, frizzy 'do and decked out in flimsy island-wear, she has been seeking personal retreat from the world following her disturbing tour of duty in Vietnam. The two begin to reacquaint themselves with long strolls on the beach.

But as Green intimated, all is not paradise. Urich begins to experience what we now know as post traumatic stress disorder. He begins to imagine the enemy closing in around him and takes off into the jungle, clambering through vines and over rocky waterfalls trying to escape the enemy!

He's finally rescued and calmed down, but then it all begins again and he starts to think of Parkins as one of the enemy soldiers who nearly cost him his life during the war! She's faced with talking him down from his latest hallucination while held at gunpoint.

The other guest at Fantasy Island is a priest, played by Pernell Roberts. What's fascinating about this casting is that Roberts portrayed Greene's son Adam Cartright on Bonanza for many years, eventually departing the series over concerns about its quality. He later scored a hit of his own, Trapper John, M.D. (which was in fact in the middle of its successful run at this time.) Roberts had long since abandoned his toupee while Greene still held firmly to his...

Anyway, Roberts is facing a crisis of faith. He is considering leaving the priesthood because of all the evil in the world, believing that he's not accomp- lishing anything of note within the bounds of his collar. He wants to confront evil head-on without the restraints of his religious confines and, predictably, Greene warns him of the dangers therein.

With a symbolic chessboard before him, Greene explains to Roberts the complex battle that exists every moment of every day between good and evil. He warns Roberts that once he has set out on his trek, he will be unable to offer him any assistance at all. The determined Roberts shrugs off such warnings and eagerly heads off into the deep wilds of the island.

After fierce struggles with merely the island terrain, Roberts delves deeper and deeper into the dark recesses of the island, exploring a cave than winds up housing unspeakable demons!

After practically being shredded to death by them, he manages to overcome them and escape with his life and, in the bargain, a level of renewed faith. He is, however, an irrevocably changed man.

Lorne Greene threw himself into this makeshift project and one can see that, although he lacks the charming warmth and flair that exuded from Ricardo Montalban. He did, however, have the necessary mystique and severity to helm the program if it did indeed shift gears to a more serious show. But it was not to be...

In the end, Villechaize was fired from Fantasy Island and one Christopher Hewitt was brought in to serve as Montalban's reserved and far less cutesy companion. Where Villechaize once rang a bell in a steeple to announce guests arrivals, Hewitt merely pushed a button that rang a bell to signify their arrival. The show only lasted through the rest of that season, being cancelled in 1984. Hewitt, of course, went on almost immediately to his own sitcom Mr. Belvedere, which ran from 1985 to 1990.

By the way, if any of this sounds unbelievable to you, I must direct you to examine the calendar date for this post and wish you a very happy April Fool's Day! Most of this post is factual, but everything involving the alternate pilot (except for the one photo of the demons) was taken from a two-part episode of Urich's series Vega$ and the images have nothing to do with the text I've assigned to them! Did I get you or were you on to me from the start?  :-)

Fun Finds: TV Radio Mirror, August 1966

It's time again for another traipse down memory lane with a showbiz magazine from Hollywood's days gone by! This time, we have a mid-'60s issue of TV Radio Mirror (cover price $0.35 for a 90-page magazine!) that features a parade of photos and stories, many of which center on gals with the last name of Lennon or participants in the then-hot prime-time soap Peyton Place (1964-1969.) The colorful cover depicts two movie actresses who had made successful transitions into the world of television, Barbara Stanwyck and Dorothy Malone. (FYI - You may find these various page scans easier to read by opening them in a new tab or window.)

Most of us who are familiar with "Old Hollywood" recognize the name of columnist Earl Wilson who was a pretty prominent showbiz journalist in his day. His column "Inside Story" begins by questioning whether an actress (namely Marlo Thomas) can achieve what's necessary for a successful career without becoming too "mannish" in the process. Mention is made of her brother Tony, who'd been flirting with an acting career as well, but he ultimately turned to producing (in fact, he executive produced Benson, 1979-1986, and The Golden Girls, 1985-1992, both considerable hits, among other shows.) Also included is a picture of Miss Stanwyck accepting an Emmy (for The Big Valley) and blurbs about Sheila MacRae taking over from Audrey Meadows for The Honeymooners and Johnny Carson's recent bon mots.

The second page recounts a tribute to Mike Todd, created by his son Mike Todd Jr, and notes that Elizabeth Taylor refused to take a check for her times spent contributing to the project. Other blurbs concern upcoming TV specials with Tony Bennett and Robert Goulet and a blind item concerning an unruly music group. Photos include one of Sammy David Jr with his then-wife May Britt as he accepts a Man of the Year award from the Friars and another of Bill Cosby with his wife and mother. Forty years ago, his wife couldn't have dreampt what lay in store down the pike!

The end of his column has a sizable entry on actress Pamela Raymond (who I had never heard of) relaying her experiences as a heroine on the daytime drama The Secret Storm. Strangely, this article has her married to a writer named Larry Martin while today's www sites such as imdb.com and wikipedia.org have her married to actor Ben Cooper from 1960 to her death in 2008! He finishes up with bits about Jack Jones, Burt Ward and a plea for reporters to stop attacking celebs en masse when spotted at the airports or press conferences.

The next section, called "What's New?" is by Eunice Fields and centers on the recent Emmy Awards ceremony. Danny Kaye and Bill Cosby had co-hosted it from two coasts, something that seems almost surreal now although technology would actually make it far easier to accomplish. BTW, I love Mary Tyler Moore's hair in this photo, far removed from the usual way she wore in on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966) or The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977.)

As the column continues, we get a rare photo of John Wayne and Claire Trevor reunited a dozen years after the last of their four movie collaborations. There are also blurbs about Batman (1966-1968) stars Adam West and Burt Ward, Yvette Mimieux and a new pet jaguar (!), a piece on how film actors were invading the Broadway stage, the infamous "singing" star Mrs. Miller, Ed Ames and Phyllis Diller.

Finally, she recounts the broken engagement between Aaron Spelling and Leticia Roman (which I hadn't ever known about), suggesting that Carolyn Jones might be re-entering his life. In actuality, he'd recently met Candy, who would become his longtime wife and the mother of his children. Roman soon went into California real estate with great success. She also touches on Raymond Burr, Bill Cosby, Nancy Sinatra, Natalie Wood & Stuart Whitman (!) and Judy Garland's latest failed marriage.

This featured biography of Cliff Robertson was done just prior to his marrying Dina Merrill. They were wed in 1966, but divorced in 1989.

This next segment "Show Biz" speculates about the televising of Luci Johnson's (daughter of then-President Lyndon Johnson) upcoming wedding as well as whether the President's other daughter Lynda would wind up married to actor George Hamilton. Luci's first marriage ended in 1979 while Lynda married a decorated marine who proceeded to a successful political career.

Some great pictures come up next, featuring Charles Chaplin, daughter Geraldine and Marlon Brando on the set of the huge flop A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), Honor Blackman of Goldfinger (1964), Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones during the premiere of the Broadway show "It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman," opera star Gladys Swarthout, Hedy Lamarr, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and the merry-go-round love lives of Barbara Parkins and Ryan O'Neal. In the accompanying article, Superman star Bob Holiday is touted as sure to go places on screen, but he never acted in any TV or film projects beyond those associated with Superman.

The next page has a photo of Christina Crawford on her wedding day with her famous mother (and matron-in-law) Joan. The article refers to their sometimes "stormy" relationship, though producer Herman Cohen claimed he saw Crawford slip her daughter $5,000 (a quite considerable sum then) to ensure that the newlyweds would have a terrific honeymoon. This first husband of Christina's reportedly never heard word one about any child abuse from her. There's a shot of Robert Vaughn and his son by Joyce Jillson (I had no clue...) At the bottom is a photo of Corinne Griffith, a silent movie actress who shaved twenty years off her age and disavowed her prior career during an annulment hearing with her fourth husband! Her behavior led to the writing of the novel Fedora by Tom Tryon.

Capsule summaries (and candid opinions from the author) of some then-in-release movies are found on this page of TV Radio Mirror.

Now we come to a succession of articles, some with fun color portraits like this one of Eva Gabor (of Green Acres, 1965-1971) and her fourth husband Richard Brown. Brown was a textile manufacturer and stockbroker who later worked for Filmways production company.

The article proceeds to cover all sorts of jibber-jabber about their marriage and home life (these magazines always have long, text-filled articles that look like so much, but which say so little!) More captivating are the various staged photos of their ornately-decorated home and glamorous existence together.

This was the longest-lasting of Gabor's five marriages, but even it was not to be forever. They divorced in 1972 and she wed for the last time in 1973, a union that ended in 1983. None of her five marriages resulted in a child. Ms. Gabor suffered a fall in 1995 at age seventy-six and complications from that eventually led to pneumonia and respiratory failure. Her equally-famous sister Zsa Zsa is still alive today at ninety-nine, though in miserably poor health.

This article about Dick Van Dyke's journey from young Christian to Athiest and back to believer. The article later describes his rise from the theatre to a starring role in Bye Bye Birdie (1963) when Laurence Harvey (!) couldn't fit it into his schedule and how Gower Champion made a dancer out of him when he doubted that he could even waltz.

 This is great color photo is of Chuck Connors of The Rifleman (1958-1963), currently starring in Branded (1965-1966) with his wife, Indian actress Kamala Devi. She costarred in Geronimo (1962) with him and appeared in several episodes of his series. 

Devi was extremely lovely on screen and was a decent actress, though she all but gave up her career to serve as Mrs. Connors (as the article states.) Things went swimmingly until about 1973 when Connors filmed Soylent Green and met one of the curvy ladies playing "furniture" (the sexist term for female companionship in the futuristic movie.) He and Devi divorced in 1973 and a couple of years later he married the gal in question. (They, too, divorced in 1980.) His first wife bore him four sons, but that marriage had ended in 1961.
  

This next article is really something. The tone of the piece is extremely friendly, fawning and positive and yet the whole thing is laced with a tinge of mystery and secrecy.  On the surface, it's about how Rock Hudson discovered and helped a small town guy named Harvey Lee Yeary, who would eventually become Lee Majors.
  

Here we see the young star from The Big Valley (1964-1969) enjoying a moment with his rod & reel in his home with a large portrait of Hudson looming in the background over his shoulder.
   

This is one of the rare instances in which I'm going to include the whole article because rumors of this association have been bubbling up for decades and decades. I knew better than to even mention Majors' name to my aunt who went to Eastern Kentucky University at the same time he did.
    

The rumors have included all sorts of things including those of a sexual nature. It's a nearly forgotten fact now, but Hudson used to come to Kentucky for the Derby, but keep a house nearby for all sorts of shenanigans. One year he allegedly took some of the players on the 1962 U.K. football team to bed, causing a huge local scandal! We may never know the exact circumstances of this scenario.

Now entering Lennon World! At left is the fairy tale wedding of Janet Lennon to then-stage manager Lee Bernhardi. (He later went on to become a producer and TV director.) This was quite obviously one big, splashy ceremony!
   

Seen on this page is the patriarch of the gargantuan family of singers, Bill Lennon. The caption reads that he will "long recall" this day, but in actuality he was horribly shot and killed by a deranged fan of Peggy Lennon just a few years after this (and at only age fifty-three.)

This is a great and gorgeous photo of the young couple on the big day with Maid of Honor Kathy Lennon by their side.

The magazine also includes snapshots from the large reception.
   

But it doesn't stop there. Now the story continues onto their honeymoon in Palm Springs!
   

Photo ops galore continue as the couple is shown in a variety of active or romantic poses.
   

This part of the article describes the way Bernhardi would continually surprise his love with a yellow rose throughout their courtship.
   

Not too long ago, the over-the-air channel Buzzr was showing vintage episodes of Tattletales from the early 1970s and Lee and Janet were on as a couple. Sad to say, after ten years of marriage and three children, they divorced. Janet remarried the same year (1976) to a man that remains her husband today.

Just when you thought you'd crossed the threshold on Lennons, we find christening photos from Dianne Lennon's son's big day.
   

This Lennon marriage is one that took. Dianne and her husband Dick Gass (yes, you read that right) are still wed today and have been since 1960.

Now we come to the story on Jill Ireland and her new love Charles Bronson. The one hitch was that she was still married to Bronson's friend David McCallum! The painting on this page is by Bronson, by the way.
   

The article notes that the portraits of McCallum and Bronson were inserted for the purposes of illustrating the story and were not on display this way in real life! Ireland and Bronson had met several years prior, but grew closer when they became partners in a gallery called "Art Actually." Ireland declares in the article that she and David were heading for separation long before Bronson entered the picture. She and Bronson wed in 1968 and remained that way until her death of cancer in 1990 when she was but fifty-four.

The cover story (or half of it) concerned the "man" that Dorothy Malone wept over. Who it turned out to be was her younger brother Bill, killed at sixteen when a freak storm blew up on the golf course for which he was a caddy and he was struck by lightning! That occurred in 1954 and in 1956 when Malone won her Oscar for Written on the Wind, she reportedly said, "This is for you, Bill..." unplanned and from her heart.
   

The man that Miss Stanwyck "weeps for" is also her brother, who'd recently passed away. Stanwyck was the youngest of five children. There were three older girls, then her brother Byron and then her. When Stanwyck was two, her mother (pregnant again) was dealt one of those cruel blows that seem to haunt the lives of so many people who later went on to movie stardom. A drunken man on a streetcar fell and kicked her in the stomach. She later began to hemorrage and died along with the unborn baby.
  

As a result, Stanwyck and her brother were passed around between their older, married sisters and a variety of families who kept them temporarily during hard times in New York City. Ultimately, Byron grew up to become the loving head of his own family and worked in the business as an extra (the siblings are seen here during an episode of The Barbara Stanwyck Show, 1960-1961.)
  

 Now we find another happy couple, costars of Peyton Place (1964-1969) Christopher Connelly and Pat Morrow.
  

The article is heavy on suggesting a pending engagement announcement for the pair, and they do seem blissfully happy in their variety of romantic poses.
   

The photos in this collection have the earmarks of one of those dating montages that you'd see in many movies of the late-'60s and early-'70s (later lampooned in the movie The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad, 1988, by Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley!)

Unfortunately, this tan, toothy twosome was not to be. In 1969, Connelly married former teen actress Cindy Carol and in 1975 Morrow wed Rosalind Russell's son. That union lasted about eight years while Connelly's lasted until his untimely death in 1988 from lung cancer. He was forty-seven.

The results of a recent write-in poll reveal to all who was deemed "TV's Most Beautiful Girl" in 1966. Runners-Up were Sally Field (of Gidget), Linda Evans (of The Big Valley), Kris Nelson (of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - and mother of the twin singers who later made up Nelson!), Inger Stevens (of The Farmer's Daughter) and Anne Francis (of Honey West.)

While the winner (the "Queen!") was determined to be Barbara Parkins of Peyton Place (but soon to be selected as one of the leads in Valley of the Dolls, 1967.)
   

This lovey-dovey couple is Burt Ward (who played Robin on Batman from 1966-1968) and his wife Bonney. (She was the daughter of composer and musical director Mort Lindsey.) They'd met a couple of years prior and were wed in 1965.

At this time she was pregnant with their daughter Lisa, though (despite the goo in this article) this marriage would soon be kaput and Ward married an actress who'd appeared on Batman as one of The Joker's gang. Today Ward is married to his fourth wife (since 1990), having grappled with insurmountable typecasting from his days as The Boy Wonder.

Before we close, I'll leave you with two color advertisements from the magazine. The first one has a young lady enjoying the hell out of life thanks to Tampax tampons. This sort of approach led to the infamous joke about the boy who came into the drug store and demanded a refund on a box of tampons he'd recently purchased. When the clerk asked why, the kid responded that there was false advertising. The box had proclaimed that with these he could ride a horse and a motorcycle, play tennis and swim!  Ha ha!

The last one is one of the many, typically-oblique ads for Modess sanitary napkins. The campaign ran for years and usually consisted of a highly glamorous model in a gown with only the words "Modess... because" as copy. And that about does it till next time!