By Craig Henderson
Fifty
years ago, the Great Society was launched, the Ford Mustang went on sale, the
Beatles invaded America, and “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,†quite arguably the most
intriguing and original adventure series ever produced for television, debuted
on NBC. In September, 100 U.N.C.L.E. fans gathered in Culver City, Calif., home of the
once-glorious Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio where the show was filmed, to
celebrate five decades of fascination with U.N.C.L.E. The event was strictly limited to 100 attendees and sold out quickly, an indication of the show's lasting legacy.
The
two-day event, dubbed “The Golden Anniversary Affair,†started organizing only
last May. Two lifelong U.N.C.L.E. fans — Robert Short, an Oscar-winning special
effects artist who was introduced to the show even before it went on the air
when his sister got a job as a photo and stunt double on the series; and Jon
Heitland, author of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book,†the indispensable guide to
the series (still available at Amazon.com) — were moved to action when it became
clear that no one in or out of the TV industry planned to celebrate the
landmark anniversary.
“It
just felt right to give something back to the show that had inspired so many of
us,†said Short.
“This
landmark series still has many devotees who have kept the flame alive for a
half century,†Heitland added, “and we wanted to commemorate that remarkable
legacy with a once-in-a-lifetime event.â€
With
startup funds donated by Los Angeles U.N.C.L.E. fan Lisa Lazarus, Short and
Heitland moved quickly to organize an unforgettable experience that included
tours of the former MGM lot, presentations from many of the people who worked
on the show, displays of U.N.C.L.E. props gathered from numerous private
collections, and an unprecedented live concert of music composed for the show
by such film and TV legends as Jerry Goldsmith, Lalo Schifrin and Gerald Fried.
The
weekend opened on Friday afternoon, Sept. 26, with attendees dividing into four
groups to tour the Sony Pictures lot, the facility that once was the legendary
MGM studio. The back lots that evoked countless international locations and
allowed U.N.C.L.E. agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin to appear anywhere
in the world are long gone, now covered with condos and offices. But the main
lot, housing the soundstages and such landmarks as the Irving Thalberg Building
and the studio water tower, remains much as it was 50 years ago.
Studio
guides led the groups all over the lot, accompanied by hosts Heitland and
Short, and by two of the event’s guests, “U.N.C.L.E.’s†associate producer
George Lehr and director of photography Fred Koenekamp. Both men delighted the
fans and the tour guides by pointing out various “U.N.C.L.E.†shooting
locations and reminiscing about their work on the show.
The
tour wound all through the lot, past many streets, buildings and doorways seen
briefly as office buildings, airports, college campuses and other locations in “U.N.C.L.E.â€
episodes. The famous water tower “blown up†by Napoleon Solo in “The Deadly
Toys Affair†and seen in other episodes still stands at the center of the lot.
The tour went through the scoring stage where composers recorded the music for “The
Man From U.N.C.L.E.†and for so many famous pictures released by MGM and other
studios. The trip also included a visit to Stage 10, where the permanent sets
for U.N.C.L.E. Headquarters and the interior of Del Floria’s Tailor Shop once
stood. The stage is now a TV studio where Sony’s game show “Jeopardy†is taped.
And
as everyone left the tour, we discovered that the photos taken in front of a
green screen when we arrived were developed to show each attendee standing
inside U.N.C.L.E. Headquarters. With that surprise memento in hand, Friday
ended back at the event’s base at the Doubletree Hotel Westside for an informal
evening of dining and mixing.
Saturday’s
schedule was wall-to-wall fun, beginning at 9 a.m. with registration and
distribution of a fabulous swag bag provided by Lisa Lazarus, and everyone’s ID
badges, replicas of the triangular security badges worn in U.N.C.L.E.
Headquarters, of course. Panels filled the morning and afternoon: George Lehr
and Jon Heitland discussed the show’s production challenges; Fred Koenekamp
joined Stephen Sylvester, author of the must-have book “MGM: Hollywood’s
Greatest Backlot,†to talk about the tremendous advantages of shooting the
series at MGM; writer-producer Mike Thomas brought actress Sharon Farrell to
the stage for a rollicking talk about her career, which included three
appearances on “U.N.C.L.E.â€; Danny Biederman, author of “The Incredible World
of Spy-Fi†and the owner of many original props from “U.N.C.L.E.†and other spy
shows and films, discussed the show’s famous gadgets with Lehr, Gene Winfield,
the custom carmaker who built the U.N.C.L.E. Car, and Richard Conroy of Ideal
Toys, the designer of the show’s iconic gun, the U.N.C.L.E. Special.
Other guests included Joseph Sargent, one of the young directors who helped establish “U.N.C.L.E.’s†fast-paced style before going on to a long, distinguished career in film and television. And actor Randy Kirby good-naturedly discussed his thankless role as earnest young U.N.C.L.E. trainee Randy Kovacs on “The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.†spinoff series.
Two scheduled guests were unable to attend. Harlan Ellison, the famously irascible author and screenwriter who wrote two U.N.C.L.E. scripts and was an uncredited rewrite man on many others, came down with the flu just before the event. Robert Drasnin, one of the three surviving composers who worked on “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.†during its four-season run, planned to attend and appear on a music panel with colleagues Gerald Fried and Lalo Schifrin. But instead he was briefly hospitalized during the U.N.C.L.E. weekend after a fall in his home.
Schifrin and Fried appeared to thunderous applause on the music panel moderated by Jon Burlingame, producer of the four acclaimed U.N.C.L.E. soundtrack albums released by Film Score Monthly. Schifrin gamely answered questions, kidded with Fried and basked in the cheers from the audience.
While all this was going on inside, out in the parking lot fans could get a close look at the U.N.C.L.E. Car, the unique vehicle Winfield built for the show. The car, which actually made only sporadic appearances in the show’s third and fourth seasons, was saved from oblivion by Bob Short, who found it rotting in a garage 30 years ago. With Winfield’s help, Short painstakingly restored the car to its original condition — but for obvious reasons he no longer drives it around Los Angeles as he once did.
One room in the hotel was turned into an U.N.C.L.E. Museum, displaying dozens of props, pieces of wardrobe and memorabilia from the show. Real U.N.C.L.E. and Thrush guns, various versions of U.N.C.L.E. communicators, scripts, awards, rare examples of the show’s endless merchandising, original art used in the main titles, the painting in Mr. Waverly’s office and Mark Slate’s ugly corduroy hat were just some of the items on display from various fan collections.
The weekend ended Saturday evening with what for many was the highlight of the event, a concert featuring a six-piece jazz combo playing music composed for the show by Goldsmith, Schifrin, Fried and Drasnin. “I had always wanted to present a live U.N.C.L.E. concert and ‘The Golden Anniversary Affair’ afforded me that excuse,†said Short.
“Bob approached me with the idea of putting together a concert of U.N.C.L.E. music, something that had never been attempted,†said Jon Burlingame. “The only music ever done live in concert was Goldsmith's theme, as part of a TV-theme medley for his concerts.
“I had long ago tracked down the original 1960s arrangements, although we only had a six-piece jazz band so a few needed modification. And we had only two rehearsals, but because bandleader and flutist David Lamont assembled a first-rate group of experienced pros, it all came off without a hitch,†Burlingame noted.
The Summit Six Sextet, as the ad hoc group was billed, played 14 numbers in a little under an hour, ranging from Schifrin’s second-season flute-and-bongos arrangement of the theme to Goldsmith’s original “Meet Mr. Solo†and other pieces by Schifrin, Fried and Drasnin from the first, second and third seasons. Burlingame hosted, introducing each number with a bit of context. “It was honestly one of the most thrilling evenings I’ve ever experienced,†he said. “Fans told me they welled up with emotion hearing ‘Meet Mr. Solo’ live.â€
The concert ended with a standing ovation from the audience and Gerald Fried coming to the stage to congratulate the players. It was the perfect, unforgettable closing to an event that everyone in attendance agreed will never be topped.
Craig Henderson wrote Cinema Retro’s eight-part series about the U.N.C.L.E. movies. He’s the author of the upcoming book, “Solo & Illya: The Secret History of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.â€