Recollections IV – Part 1 – Starsky and Hutch Fiction Archive

Random thoughts and recminiscences from my time with the series, written from the Now: A great big THANK YOU to SH fandom, a Monk encounter, time on-set, ST/SH thoughts.

Looking back, from 2014, and remembering what it was like doing the research on, and being part of “Starsky & Hutch” from near the end of first season, 1976, through the end of the series in 1979. I was the legal and production researcher on the show, Seasons 2 through 4, and am writing from my own experiences, as I remember them. I have only recently rediscovered Starsky & Hutch fandom and am enjoying sharing some of those experiences. Memory being mutable, events and emotions I talk about may not be as others remember them, so I apologize, in advance, and sincerely hope not to offend anyone.

Thank You!

The first thing I’d like to do is thank everyone in the S&H fandom for keeping alive something I felt, at the time, was unique, never before seen on television, and soon-to-disappear: a genuine friendship and partnership between two strong male characters, and the actors who portrayed them. Most people in Hollywood saw “Starsky & Hutch,” and therefore Paul and David, as a way to advance themselves in The Biz, a way to make money by writing and producing for the show, a job (the production company and crew comprised more people, all making quite good salaries, than you should be able to imagine, unless you’ve been involved yourself), or just as something interesting and gossipy to talk about. When the show wasn’t renewed after 4th season, I thought it would fade from fans’ memories, as all prior series had. (With the exception of “Star Trek.” But that languished for many, many years before the films and four spin-off series came to be.) Perhaps I should have realized that something else was going on when “Starsky & Hutch” broke all records in syndication, but I didn’t. (More thoughts about syndication in the next Recollections.) I had never gotten into S&H fanzines because they seemed, mostly, to be slanted toward ‘slash’ and that wasn’t the way I thought of The Guys. So, after my husband and I were married in ’83, and my friend, Kay, and I were no longer working on our Concordance, I didn’t have S&H in my life.

Fast forward 30+ years and I rediscovered S&H fandom about a month ago. Many of you weren’t even born yet when the show was originally on the air, many were only children or teenagers, but here you are, still reading about them, still writing about them, still loving them! And you get it; you understand what it was all about: as I said at the very beginning of my Open Letter, if you’ve read that, it wasn’t about selling a product for the advertisers, or dramatizing egregious violence, it was about love. The show’s writers and producers never got it (I think even David and Paul didn‘t realize what they were creating; perhaps now, after recent cons and other events, they’re beginning to), but you did, and you do! The fanfic I’ve read on this, and other sites, is beautiful, thoughtful, well-written (would that the scripts I had to read had been anywhere near as good as the stories I’ve read in fanfic), producing laughter and tears in abundance, often simultaneously; in short, it’s Wonderful Stuff! Thank you all, so very much, for understanding what David and Paul were showing us: that two men could be each other’s best friend, supporting each other, watching each other’s backs, doing the best they could in a basically thankless job, and just plain loving each other (in whatever context you choose to think of that word) in a world full of hate, deceit, cruelty, distrust, anger and so many other negative emotions. Your imaginations know no bounds; you’ve written ‘missing scene’ stories, sequels, alternate endings or viewpoints, future stories and past stories, AU stories, as well as countless brand new adventures. You get into their heads and describe what they were thinking and feeling, and almost every word rings true. And I doubt that I’ve read a quarter of what’s available. I’m doing my best but, I’ve found so many stories I just have to re-read, my progress is very slow. I am amazed and deeply grateful. Keep up the great work!

A star fell on Hollywood and Vine

I don’t recall exactly when now (35 years later) but it must have been sometime in 1979; my best friend, Kay, and I (she was visiting me in Hollywood for a change, instead of my driving to her home in Ventura, to view more S&H episodes and continue compiling our Concordance); we decided to go out for dinner. Neither of us wanted anything fancy so we ended up at the KFC on Vine Street, just below Hollywood Blvd. As we stood in line, I looked around, just because I’m always curious, and there, behind us, stood Geoff Lewis. He looked like any other ‘regular guy,’ dressed in normal every-day clothes. He caught my eye and I thought a look of near-panic crossed his face. But, when I didn’t say anything, just turned around to give my order, I guess he relaxed. After Kay and I got our trays and found a table, we watched as Geoff ordered, paid, got his food, looked around the seating area, and then moved our way. It was fairly crowded that evening so he had to take the table next to ours. Not wanting to drag things out, I put a smile on my face in order to belie what I was about to say and began, “I hope you’ll forgive us, but my friend and I have hated you for a long time.” He actually smiled that lovely smile he usually hides and said, “Don’t tell me…… Monk.” Kay and I laughed out loud. He went on to tell us he got ‘dirty looks’ from people who recognized him all the time. He’d been a fairly well-known actor for many years and had appeared in dozens of TV shows and films but when people recognized him, it was as Monk and they ‘hated him for what he did to Hutch.’ He was a sweet, intelligent and very interesting man to talk to for that half hour. I hope he was able to put Monk behind him with the Clint Eastwood films, “Every Which Way But Loose,” and “Any Which Way You Can.” He deserved good things.

Time actually spent on the show

I feel I need to clarify an impression I think I have unintentionally given: that I was on the set or a location of S&H all the time. Alas, as much as I wish I could have been, that wasn’t the case. I had a full-time job and was responsible for at least six series, other than S&H, plus the occasional film, so my ‘spare time’ was severely limited. My friend on the crew, Gerry Leetch, the hairdresser for seasons 1 and 2, would call me if the schedule specified a location shoot close to where I lived, in Hollywood, that I might be able to get to for an hour or so before I went to work (our offices were on the Paramount lot), or after I got off. She’d also call me if there was a scene to be shot on the lot that she knew I’d be interested in watching, and I’d try to get over there. But, in truth, I probably didn’t spend more than two or three hours once or twice a month with the company. Also, I wasn’t officially part of the crew, I was there on sufferance. So I did my best to be unobtrusive whenever I had the chance to visit, stayed back out of the way, and just watched. I didn’t want to piss someone off and be told to leave. I was drawn to that show like nothing I’d ever known before and felt I just HAD to be there, whenever I could. After a while, I guess I became something like a servant in wealthy households, virtually invisible. In that way, I saw things and heard things because people didn’t even realize I was there. And, because I had no ax to grind and was truly interested in all aspects of production, I met and talked with people who ordinarily wouldn’t have given me the time of day. In this way, I saw and heard much of what I came to realize was creating tensions. But I couldn’t say anything to anyone; I didn’t exist in their world. I could only stand there and watch. In retrospect, almost 40 years later, I think (and hope) that David and Paul were largely unaware of what was going on around them; they were blissfully concentrated on each other and trying to make the show the best it could be. And I’m glad of that. They didn’t need any more hassle than they already knew about.

Star Trek friendship/S&H friendship

I have been informed, quite recently, that the ‘revelations’ contained in the drabble below, aren’t new; that most of fandom has been aware of such things for a long time. But please try and understand my perspective: I’ve been completely unaware of fandom for 35 years (no one’s fault but my own), and am only now attempting to participate. Many readers have urged me to share my ‘inside’ impressions of how things were and I find I’m eager to do so. But if such reflections come under the heading of Old News, or Things You Don’t Agree With, I apologize sincerely; feel free to skip this drabble. It is, after all, only my view of the ST/SH discussion.

One of Flamingo’s stories ingeniously brings Starsky & Hutch into the future and has them going to see the first (or was it the second?) in the most recent series of films that have reincarnated “Star Trek.” Her lovely story, and all the Reviews of same, talk about the relationship between Kirk/Shatner and Spock/Nimoy, comparing it to Starsky/Paul and Hutch/David. Now, please believe me when I tell you I do not wish to burst any balloons and/or offend anyone, but doing that is similar to the ol’ apples/oranges comparison, in my opinion, and the opinions of many others who knew the actors and had worked on the original ST series.

I, too, was a great fan of “Star Trek,” never missed an episode. And I believed, as TV Guide said, that Shatner and Nemoy were good friends. (Who you gonna believe if you can’t believe TV Guide?) Theirs seemed to be the kind of relationship I’d always been drawn to, a strong male friendship. I loved “Laramie,” “Hong Kong,” “Route 66,” “Combat”, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E,” “Hawaii 5-0” (but that was more a mentor/mentee relationship), “Streets of San Francisco” (mentor/mentee again), “Adam 12,” “Emergency,” etc. Somewhere in the middle of all those, “Star Trek” debuted, and I thought I’d found the best. So, for three seasons I allowed them to convince me. It was only after I got to California, working for deForest, among the people who had done the research on ST, and actually worked on the series at Paramount, in various capacities from the Art Director on down, that I learned things were not as they had appeared on TV, or were reported in the press: Shatner and Nemoy did not like each other. They were actors, and good ones, but the relationship and friendship were fictional. For one thing, I was told by many, Shatner was a virtual dictator on the set: what he wanted, he got. Nimoy was much more laid back, willing to work through problems. Shatner made demands. He was also cordially disliked by many on the crew for his arrogant, dictatorial attitude; they called him “Cap’n Fatty,” behind his back of course. He had a tendency to pork up during hiatuses, and I was told he wore a body girdle for the first few episodes of seasons 2 and 3. Whenever Shatner and Nemoy had to appear together in public they put on a good act, but that’s what it was, an act. They were not friends. I wasn’t there myself of course but I knew the people who were, and they had no reason to lie.

If you look at reruns or DVDs of ST (TOS and the first few films), and compare the interaction of Kirk and Spock to that of Starsky and Hutch, you’ll see that Shatner and Nimoy had none of the genuine closeness, the touching, the intensity, and believability of David and Paul’s interactions. In ST, it’s acting. In S&H, it’s real.

In the film Flamingo’s story alludes to, with the line “I have been and always shall be…”, “The Wrath of Khan,” think about the emotional scene when Spock is dying. I was told by one of the writers of that script, that the story had to be written so that a transparent wall was between Shatner and Nemoy, making it impossible for them to be required to touch each other. Can you imagine those two actors attempting the scenes in Huggy’s apartment in “The Fix”? Or either of the scenes outside Janos’ studio in “Coffin….”, and making them believable? I know I can‘t. But in the mid-60s ST was the best we were offered. And we loved it. And believed the press releases and TV Guide articles that said Shatner and Nemoy were best buddies.

It wasn’t until I saw the pilot for “Starsky and Hutch” that I realized David and Paul’s relationship was what I’d been seeking. So I became a disciple, moved to California, got a job doing the research on the series, and reveled in The Real Thing.

Research

I’ve been asked what my job at deForest Research entailed. In a nutshell, it was our job to keep the production company (any production company that sent us their scripts) from being sued. We read every script (and every re-write), extracting all full names, then checked them to make sure they were ‘clear’ to use. For instance, if a series took place in a real city (i.e. “Streets of San Francisco”), each character’s name had to have either lots of listings in S.F., or none. Lots of listings meant that no single person could claim the show had identified him. None, of course, meant it was okay to use. For a series such as S&H, which took place in fictitious Bay City, CA, but that everyone knew was really L.A., names had to be checked through all 8 LA phone books, as well as Who’s Who and any professional organizations the character would belong to. The evil psychiatrist in “Murder Ward” was a difficult one. I don’t recall the name contained in the original script but it didn’t clear: there was one psychiatrist with that surname in the U.S. So we came up with 3 surnames that didn’t identify an actual doctor; the producers chose “Matwick.” Company or corporate names and brand names could be even more difficult to clear, especially since such names, in a script, usually turned out to belong to evil entities. Police procedures were checked for accuracy, since sometimes there were East Coast writers writing for West Coast cops, or vice versa. When a discrepancy was found, we’d suggest the correct procedure. But, in truth, unless a name was going to get the production company sued, we had no authority to force changes. So we “suggested” a lot, and were, to a large extent, ignored. Still, our reports allowed the production companies to obtain Errors and Omissions Insurance, a vital part of the production process, so I guess we provided a needed service.

Such research would be a virtual snap these days, with all the information available online, but in the period, all we had were printed sources: phone books (we had yards and yards of shelf space devoted to most of the country’s major city directories); all Who’s Who publications, member directories for such organizations as The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, and many others. When we didn’t have a resource ourselves we would either have to call the Main Library (we spent hours a day asking those good people to check things for us; all the librarians knew us, better than they wanted to, I’m sure), or other cities’ libraries, the L.A. cop shop (LAPD had a Public Information office, created largely to handle calls from production companies; we knew each officer well), other cities’ law enforcement agencies, the FBI, DEA, even the CIA; our Rolodexes should have been kept behind locked doors. If we had too many things to check, we’d go to the downtown library ourselves, usually for an entire day. When we finally finished the research on a script, the report had to be typed on our IBM Selectrics, with 7 carbons. Only after I’d worked there for more than a year, did Paramount allow us to use their copy machines, located in a building a block away on the lot. Another year later we got our own copy machine and that was pure heaven.

Oh, also involved was ‘production research’ which required such things as finding out what a particular piece of medical equipment looks like for a property master, or what type of garments were worn by 19th century scullery maids. Not that S&H ever needed that type of research, but other series and films did. The job was always interesting but the low quality of the scripts we received, from both TV and films, made it extremely trying at times. I hope this answers everyone’s questions. If not, please write to me.

This getting is too long; think I’ll save the rest for Part 2. Stay tuned, I have some things to say regarding “Partners” next time, as well as the tag for “Sweet Revenge.” Thanks for listening.