Author Archives: Ralph

To Play Or Not To Play

FILMED December 1970 I think one of the most interesting and meaningful relationships in the creation of a film can be that between the director and the writer of the project. Ideally the director would be involved during the script’s … Continue reading

Posted in The Partridge Family | 8 Comments

When Mother Gets Married

FILMED June 1970 (The film clip of me is from a recent interview by the Archive of American Television, a division of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation.) My previous nine outings on THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER … Continue reading

Posted in The Partridge Family | 7 Comments

The Road To You-Know-Where Is Paved With You-Know-What

FILMED November 1969 The third episode in this back-to-back bunch, THE ROAD TO YOU-KNOW-WHERE IS PAVED WITH YOU-KNOW-WHAT, was written by Blanche Hanalis, who would later create the much-loved series, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.  I didn’t meet Hanalis at … Continue reading

Posted in The Courtship of Eddie's Father | 1 Comment

The Mod Couple

Filmed November 1969 Just a year after I went out to MGM to meet Jimmy Komack the first time, I returned to the studio to direct another package of THE COURSTHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER, this time four episodes back-to-back. And … Continue reading

Posted in The Courtship of Eddie's Father | 3 Comments

Bully For You

Filmed July 1969 A little more than twenty-four hours after I said, “Cut, print,” on the last scene in AN F FOR MRS. L., I said, “Action,” on the first scene in BULLY FOR YOU. This was the first time … Continue reading

Posted in The Courtship of Eddie's Father | 5 Comments

An F For Mrs. L.

Filmed July 1969 Six months after completing THE LIBRARY CARD, I returned to MGM to direct three more episodes of COURTSHIP. Six months can produce major changes in a production company as I had already learned, but this time the … Continue reading

Posted in The Courtship of Eddie's Father | 3 Comments

The Library Card

Filmed December 1968 Two weeks after I completed photography on my first COURTSHIP, I started filming my second one, THE LIBRARY CARD. Unlike the opening teaser vignette for GUESS WHO’S COMING TO LUNCH, the one for this show was not … Continue reading

Posted in The Courtship of Eddie's Father | 5 Comments

Guess Who’s Coming For Lunch

Filmed December 1968 And so the first leg of this journey is completed. In the seven years between October, 1961, when I filmed JOHNNY TEMPLE and August, 1968, when I filmed THE THOLIAN WEB I directed 66 films. But then … Continue reading

Posted in The Courtship of Eddie's Father | 4 Comments

Girl In The Night

FILMED November 1967 As I wrote earlier, Googling my name on the internet could leave readers thinking that I directed my seven outings on STAR TREK in a compact ninety days rather than spread out over the twenty months it … Continue reading

Posted in Ironside | 14 Comments

The Train

FILMED February 1967 You hear that driving pulsating beat of the theme song for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE? That’s the way I remember feeling when I was directing THE TRAIN, the assignment that could almost have been labeled an impossible mission. I … Continue reading

Posted in Mission: Impossible | 6 Comments