Out Of The Depths

TAPED May 1975

OUT OF THE DEPTHS was the first of the INSIGHT scripts written by Fr. Terry Sweeney that I directed. Like his I WANT TO DIE, the other one which came two years later, it made a powerful statement, but unlike I WANT TO DIE and the other INSIGHT scripts with which I was involved, it was more religion-related  — but strictly non-denominational church and non-recruiting.

One day in the rehearsal hall Lynn Hamilton (the janitoress) stopped in the middle of a scene and proclaimed in a loud, clear voice, “Ralph Senensky is the only director who doesn’t believe in taking a break so his actors can go to the restroom.” We obviously took a break.

Lynn was the only one of the three principals with whom I had worked before. Sometime in the early 70s, our first collaboration was a live public-service one-act play about racism. The production, which toured the Los Angeles area, was available free of charge to corporations and businesses. Its goal was to educate workers and improve racial working relationships within companies

In 1973 she starred in a two-hour movie-pilot I directed, A DREAM FOR CHRISTMAS, an attempt by Lorimar Productions to bring to television a series that we euphemistically referred to as a black Waltons. When we were having difficulty getting network approval for Lynn to appear in A DREAM FOR CHRISTMAS, Lee Rich, the head of Lorimar called Fred Silverman, the head of programming for ABC and told him, “No Lynn Hamilton, no A DREAM FOR CHRISTMAS. You can read and see more detail about this on my post for A DREAM FOR CHRISTMAS.

Fans of THE WALTONS will recognize Lynn for her recurring role of Verdie Grant Foster. Verdie first appeared in THE SCHOLAR (an episode in the first season which I incidentally did NOT direct) when she came to John Boy and asked him to teach her to read. Lynn’s performance was so successful, Verdie returned sixteen times during the series’ run.

We taped the clip you just viewed with four cameras in one long fourteen and a half minute take. That was more than half of the show. Good actors love doing that. It was like acting on stage. They were able to build and sustain character; it helped in playing emotional scenes. I think live television and later live on tape added another avenue for actors, combining stage acting with film acting. True there was an added demand, an added pressure placed on them. Because of the multiple cameras, their movements were constricted. They needed to hit assigned marks at designated times so that shots, framed in rehearsal could be taped as planned. But there was an added benefit. No longer were they required as in film to replay scenes over and over endlessly for the different camera setups.

That was the first and (unfortunately) the last time I worked with Cliff De Young (Joe). A native of Los Angeles, Cliff’s career started in music, when he was the lead singer of the 1960s rock group, Clear Light. After the band broke up, he headed east and starred in the Broadway productions of HAIR and the Tony Award-winning STICKS AND BONES. He had returned to the west coast just two years prior to this production.

Even in rehearsals for something as stark as OUT OF THE DEPTHS, there is always room for humor, although sometimes it is dark humor. The day of taping for an episode of INSIGHT the company provided a catered lunch, usually served in one of the rehearsal halls. If another episode was in rehearsal at the time, that cast was also fed. OUT OF THE DEPTHS was in rehearsal on such an occasion, and John Astin told me that Patty Duke, who was married to him at the time, was going to be joining us for lunch. Lunchtime came, but no Patty Duke. She arrived a little later, still in time as I remember to eat, and she told me why she was late. As she was leaving her house, she saw a paramedic vehicle across the street. A fire engine! She immediately went across to her neighbors to discover a member of the family had had a heart attack. There was much confusion, some very emotional family members, and Anna (Patty’s real name) did her best to comfort and console. Ever the director I suggested that she should emotionally remember what had happened; there would certainly come a time when she could use it as an actress. She smiled at me and said she already had it stored away.

Did you recognize John Astin (Harry) as having played the kooky patriarch Gomez Addams in THE ADDAMS FAMILY? Before that he had been Dickens to Marty Ingels’ Fenster in the sitcom, I’M DICKENS, HE’S FENSTER. His resume is loaded with comedy roles, at which he was so adept. Another reason beyond the philanthropic that encouraged actors to offer their talents to INSIGHT — usually given gratis — was the opportunity to be given roles they were not often offered in the marketplace. Which brings me again to Fr. Terry Sweeney. Not only did the scripts he write present themes of social problems in a clear and dramatic way, he wrote very believable characters in interesting turmoil, and he wrote dialog that was intelligent and for the performer very actable. You say, “But isn’t that what all writers do?” And the answer is, “It should be, but it isn’t always.” I think Terry Sweeney was a remarkable playwright!

The journey continues