Yo Ho Ho , Me Matey - Mel Fisher and Yours Truly

Kanye West?  KEY WEST!

I struck up a rich friendship with "Treasure Salvor" Mel Fisher in 1985, when he found the Atocha shipwreck and its incredible $450,000,000 bounty of gold coins, mountains of emeralds, and other riches just miles off the coast of Key West....

 The National Geographic Society had supported Mel's research with expedition grants, much as they had supported Bob Ballard in his quest to locate the Titanic.  In a barter for exclusive rights to 'break the story' in its own pages, NGS funded numerous promising, interesting explorers, expeditionists and researchers such as Jane Goodall (chimps), Dian Fossey (gorillas), Louis and Richard Leakey (homo erecti), and Sylvia Earle (sharks) - along with aforementioned gents Ballard et Fisher.  In 1985-86, both of these gentlemanly bets would pay off spectacularly.

"The Atocha Motherlode" as it is known amounted to nearly half a $Billion worth of gold and silver - over 40 tons (and the intervening years have been very kind to the commodity price of precious metals).

Mine, Mine, it's all Mine ...

Even as Mel began hauling the Atocha loot to the surface, word reverberated around the Geographic headquarters - and especially within the TV Division, where our leader Dennis Kane had earlier made a personal investment in Salvors, Inc. (the romance of discovery aside, Fisher is a shrewd businessman; note the prominence given Investor Relations on Fisher's site).

Mel Fisher had to fight the state of Florida over ownership of the trove (Mel won it all at the Supreme Court; he's donated 20% of the find to FL).

We were prepared, and we hastily accelerated a prime time documentary to air on WTBS as a Sunday evening National Geographic Explorer Special.  On Thursday of that week, a panicked call came from Atlanta, where the ad sales office at TBS had noted Mel's personal purchase of a pair of spots, to air during Explorer, in which he personally pitched jewels, coins and artifacts with an (800) #, direct to viewers.

It was the cheesiest commercial imaginable: home-made production values like you'd see in a spot for a local car dealership, Mel draped in gold chains over a Hawaiian shirt, glowing and lit up like W. C. Fields.

Total Class!

The National Geographic saw its sterling reputation for taste, quality and accuracy about to go down the drain! ... and instructed my boss Tim Kelly to talk Mel out of the buy, which he did.

The special, "Atocha: Quest for Treasure" was a giant hit, eclipsed only a year later when we presented "Secrets of the Titanic" following Ballard's histrionic find.  In both cases, we in the hated TV Division had to fight the powers that were, in order to scoop the Magazine where 'breaking news' could be turned into a cover story.. 9 months later at earliest.  So we had to vanquish Bill Garrett and the magaziners in order to get on the air.

Swashbucklers Two: Fisher & Porter

We were victorious in our little battle, so was Mel in his grand quest, and That's The Way It Was.

Discovering Mickey Hart

I am first and foremost NOT a "Dead-head."  My wife has dragged me to latterday Be-Ins with Furthur, RatDog, the Other Ones, and sundry spin-off projects but it isn't working.  I guess it's over my head.

WORLDBEAT IT!

Groovin' & Grateful

But in 1990 I really enjoyed meeting Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart a few times while he was forging his career as ethno-musicologist on the Smithsonian Institution's dime.  My close colleague Denise brought Mickey in to Explore Our World and develop a Discovery Channel TV miniseries co-production for our "People & Places" strand.  On one occasion, Mickey had worked a hat-trick on his DC tour - an honest day's work at the Smithsonian, a pop-in to see us at Discovery, and then a performance at the Cap Center.  After our afternoon meeting, my colleagues went to the show; I passed.

Mickey had great energy and charisma.  He was comfortable pitching and fielding ideas - not desperate nor conniving as was the case with some of the shysters who came to Landover to shill projects.

A real delight to get to know.

Mickey gave me a 4-CD set of project work that he had produced, which I later gave away in a lead-up to courtship with Mrs. Porter.  In the end, Mick and our gang did not work out a TV deal.  But no matter: Mickey was busy establishing what now amounts to a tremendous cornerstone in the World Music movement, in partnership with Smithsonian.  Some of this stuff is interesting, although it doesn't have the "razor edge" that I usually listen for...

... and I still lack the Vision to appreciate the Dead or their ilk!

But check out the Mickey Hart Band if that's your cup of T . . . .

My Friend Russ Meyer

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to a HAPPY MAN

One of the true great joys in my life was to know and share laughter with the amazing, brilliant filmmaker Russell Albion Meyer.

I was already a fan dating back to 1975 and SuperVixens, and in awe of the Meyer 'intensely personal and unique vision of the world,' when we met in Las Vegas in 1989 and became friendly.  Over the next several years we saw each other many, many times.  Russ was a guest in my home in Washington DC, and I his guest numerous times in the Hollywood Hills and out in Palm Desert.

We enjoyed a great many meals, film screenings, nights on the town, and sundry adventures - including a rendezvous in Paris, and a day shooting cutaways in the Mojave Desert.  One of the great nights of all time was our dinner, twenty years ago tomorrow night, celebrating Russ's 70th birthday.

Magnum Opus

I was staying at the Bel Air Hotel, and we'd arranged to celebrate in style on the premises. He drove across town, arriving late, and laden with armloads of artwork - Annie Fannie-style illustrations he called "Bust-oons" that he was having prepared for his long-awaited, by then much-unfinished masterpiece "A Clean Breast."  He laid these out on the table at dinner.

We talked about the book, the production hassles, his can't-miss film project ideas (a shot-for-shot remake of Faster Pussycat, Kill! Kill! with LaToya Jackson, for instance), the usual recounting of amorous escapades, and life as an iconoclast in the company town.

Then we turned to his third marriage, to Edy Williams. It turned out the 1970 wedding had taken place on the premises, in the Garden of the Bel Air Hotel.  Russ's tardiness arriving for dinner was due to his having rooted around in the garden on the way in, but he'd gotten lost; we agreed that after dinner we'd scout around to see if we couldn't find the 'scene of the crime.'  Many glasses of wine later, that we did.

To stand under the stars at midnight, stumbling about on the rolling lawns of the Bel Air, while Russ rhapsodized about Edy Williams' charms even as he brandished the rolled-up Bust-oons in the air, batting wildly at the stars, railing against her "shrewishness!" - "But I have no regrets, Sir - I have None At All !"  Pure heaven.

Over many years' time, Russ introduced me to a cavalcade of characters, among them Dave Friedman, Stuart Lancaster, James Anthony Ryan & Bert Santos, Charles Napier, John Lazar and others, as well as trusty Janice and his leading ladies Melissa Mounds, Haji and Tura Satana.  Here is a beautiful clip that provides a glimpse of the work, the spirit and joie de vivre of old RM.

I learned so much from this unique man.  And our friendship meant and still means very much to me.

Thanks for the memories.

Happy 90th Birthday, Russ.

Julie Montgomery: The Girl Next Door

All American Beauty Julie Montgomery

Growing up, my favorite adventures were always to visit cousin Frank in Livingston, New Jersey.  We used to run around at night and ring doorbells, or climb on the roof of the school and throw firecrackers, sometimes with other nerds on the block.

As we 'came of age,' lo and behold but the girl literally next door to Frankie-boy, Julie Montgomery, got work as a regular on One Life To Live in the popular and long-running role of Samantha  Vernon (see video 0:10 - 0:30).

Long-running enough, that is, that she ultimately played Samantha Vernon Buchanon, later still becoming Vernon Buchanon Garretson

Julie moved west to try her hand at films and made a bunch of interesting entry-level projects - Senior Trip ('xploiter), Girls Night Out (slasher), eventually progressing to Stewardess School ('xploiter), and so forth . . . Until the big break in 1984: Revenge of the Nerds (0:49:00) as Betty Childs.

Some recall that Julie bared it all for the screen in this classic.  I certainly do.

It's Tom. My Aunt Next Door Needs A Cup of Sugar

Julie later starred in Revenge III and IV.  But II ? Well, legend - on the always reliable Internet - has it that :

"Julia Montgomery refused to reprise her role as Betty because in the original script Betty is caught cheating on Lewis. Montgomery felt it betrayed the change in her character from the first film. Joe Roth offered to have the scene re-written but Montgomery still refused. She eventually returned for the following sequels. Lewis is shown packing a picture of Betty in the beginning of the film implying they are still together. Ironically, this means that Lewis cheated on Betty with Sunnie."

Fascinating, don't you think?!

What Nerds We Were

The ground was fertile on Rock Hill Drive, and Julie's older sister Suzanne was an even more beautiful brunette, although she didn't go into acting as far as I know.

Still, reaction-inciting Hill-Topper classmates up the block at the local public school included the eventually notorious funnyman Jay Greenspan (a.k.a. Jason Alexander), attitude snot Chelsea Handler, and Governor/future President Chris Christie.  Must have been something in that Livingston water.

The great news is, after nearly 20 years off the screen, Julie is coming back in 2012 in a flick called "Altered Reality."  More to come on this.  Until then,

Have I but One Life To Live - after this one, that is - surely let it be with Julie Montgomery...

One More Degree from Breitbart: On-Site with Soledad O'Brien

Up the Down Staircase/In Thru Out Door

She looks more than a bit shrill, shilling for the President on CNN last night, over the BreitbartTV release of Vetting, part I (of ___n.?)

. . . but in 1997-1998 she was a cute and perky hostess of a wacky show on new cable network ZDTV (later TechTV; later than that: G4).

Youthful Indiscretion

The show was called The Site, and was conceived to be a little bit like the TV equivalent of then-popular Yahoo! Internet Life magazine.  Our Soledad led the microscopic but hyped-up audience through a travelogue of sorts: a tour and review of neat websites.

Lordy, How We've Grown

It was my good fortune to work with the ZDTV-ers to launch and distribute the channel.  In the early days we spent a lot of time working and hanging out in the cool studio in San Francisco.  The internet was hot, The Site was new, and Up and Down the Spiral Staircase we ran, like giddy schoolkids.

Soledad and I were introduced and she won me over with her friendly smile, and funny name.

We didn't know each other well, nor for long, but I still perk up when I see her and I imagine she would make a worthy sparring partner.

The CNN implosion over the Breitbart "Vetting" video is striking - because she's usually a very good feature reporter.

Oh well!

One Degree from Breitbart - An Arthur Sando Moment

Arthur

This day, after Andrew Breitbart's untimely collapse and death in Brentwood, I am remembering Arthur Sando - a hot-shot PR executive at Superstation TBS when I met and worked with him between 1986-1989 to promote National Geographic EXPLORER in the prime 8-10pm Sunday TBS timeslot.

Sando connected with Breitbart less than 24 hours ago, last night at The Brentwood in L.A.  Here's a nice account of their very brief acquaintance and conversation.

I thought of Sando as a bit of a Koren character in a suit and, back in the 80's during our collaboration, when Ohio band Royal Crescent Mob put out its album Omerta (Get On The Bus, Blow One Off, etc.), I fixated on the coda to the cut "Mob's Revenge," in which a voice behind the groove pronounces, like Wolfman Jack naming a song dedication, "This is for Upper Sandusky"  I always, always sang along "This is for Arthur Sando!"

Andrew

R.I.P. , Andy.  Thank You.

My Two Dates with Kathleen Turner... and a 28-Years-Late Thank You!

Do you remember where you were when you saw Body Heat in 1981?  I do... both times.

I had success on a first date with a college co-ed early that autumn, after watching the intensely seductive film together.  We spent the next three months together, and then parted ways when she had to leave town.  By December, I was barking up another tree and invited my new flame to watch Body Heat with me.  It had worked once, so why not?

"You're not very smart, are you? ... I like that in a man."

Well, this next relationship lasted two and a half years.

Nearly thirty years later, Kathleen visited our little burg of Amherst MA to help celebrate the Amherst Cinema and Pleasant Street Theater in our first annual Gala.  It was a beautiful night, and she really captivated the room.  No question that she's Still Got It.

Heat vs Humidity

After Q&A in which the Hollywood and accomplished stage actress shared brash insights and frank anecdotes, I saw my opening and pinned her down.  She locked on an listened to every word, every lurid detail of my story - chuckling, raising an eyebrow, tossing her hair...

"WELLDIDITWORK??!!" came the demand.

What do you think? was my reply.

We'll Meet Again...

Hearty-and-I-mean-hearty guffaw and a Big Wink from the star.  "I SHOULD HOPE SO!  ATTABOY!"

Twenty-six years ago tonight at the 1986 Academy Awards, Ms. Turner was a nominee for Best Actress in Peggy Sue Got Married.  But she and I go back a bit further than that, to two lovely, portentious nights.  We'll always have heat.

As I told Ms. Turner, I'll forever be grateful

Drinking with Mad Scientist Dean Kamen

Dean & his Segway

May, 2007 (Chicago):  NCIIA, a great organization that encourages technology entrepreneurship by preparing engineering concepts incubated on the campuses to launch, was at the Chicago Art Museum to participate in presentation of the Lemelson-MIT "EurekaFest" Awards to technology innovators.  I was part of the scene and our patron, the Lemelson Foundation, had invited an impressive guest-list.  Included was the great but enigmatic Dean Kamen - originator of the FIRST competition (similar to NCIIA's work, but targeted at high school age science whiz-kids) and inventor of numerous products including the Segway.

Father Jack had a bent for the dramatic

I was cutting through the crowd with a glass of fine red wine when I spotted the diminutive Kamen, clad in trademark denim work shirt and pants.  Strode right up and introduced myself - he certainly knew of NCIIA and I also had a personal card to play: My mother-in-law and her late husband had owned a vacation home on the perimeter of StoneBridge Golf & Country Club in  Boca in the 1980's-90's.  Their next door neighbors and friends were Dean's parents, Jack and Evelyn.

Jack had been an illustrator for Weird Science,  Tales from the Crypt, and MAD Magazine in the 1960's.

Well, Dean and I shot the breeze for a bit; he had mixed memories of Boca Raton and obviously preferred the inventor's bench and the life of the mind to life on the golf course.  Dean was a bit of a nebbish - but he's the awesome nebbish who invented the Segway!  He seemed interested in my tales of Discovery Channel's groundbreaking Australian co-pro "Beyond 2000" and two years later he would combine with Discovery's Planet Green network to create the series "Dean of Invention."

Valpo "Reverser"

We saw the awards given out, and the wine bottles cleared away.  Next morning, early, I drove into Indiana to pay a visit to the Valparaiso U. engineering department and survey their Tech. Entrepreneurship program.

Toward the end of the tour, Dr. Doug Tougaw stunned me with a visit to the lab where his senior class quirky cap-stoners had reverse-engineered a Segway to build a clone from scratch, "for less than $1,800!"  Doug had his guys fire that thang up and give it a go.

Total boldness: the vehicle wheeled and dealed.

Innovation Run Wild

I marveled, and later that evening wrote to my new friend Dean, alerting him to the work of these enterprising engineers.

I imagined he might take an interest in the program, or at least offer a word of encouragement.  However, he never acknowledged my note, nor our conversation.  Oh well.

... The great screenplay "The A-Rabs Are Coming! The A-Rabs Are Coming!"  includes a magnificent scene with a pair of octogenarian blue-bloods cutting figure eights in the driveway to their Nantucket manse on a pair of birthday Segways.  Thank you, Dean Kamen!  Thank you.