Friday, October 18, 2013

TV & movies...1978


some bits and pieces in 1978

Before moving to join Neil Rogers on the radio in Miami I did a few things that might be of interest.
My Father had rebuilt after the 68 fire and I had a nice quiet place to live either in the summer with my folks (Mom loved the new house) or in the winter when I was alone and writing the great American novel that was rejected by a publisher.
This was when I drove over to Iowa three days to work as an extra on Sly Stallone’s new movie F.I.S.T. (see post)
I also “auditioned” for WBBM-TV CBS Chicago and hosted for one Saturday their late night TV talk program. I wasn’t hired.  But it was something I loved doing as I had been a big fan of my friend Kup (Irv Kupcinet of the Sun-Times) who brought the “lively art of conversation” to TV for years with memorable guests and topics. Check this article from the Chicago Tribune:
         
         http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-11-16/news/0311160444_1_talk-irv-kupcinet-lively                    

Also in 1978 I stopped off in beautiful Panama City in the Florida panhandle to anchor the tv news on the NBC station there. 
A couple of notes here...there was a propane filled freight car accident at Youngstown, Fl...not far away...and we got some good film so I called NBC News and they switched me to an old friend, Joe Angotti, who had replaced Les Crystal (see earlier post about the “see-thru” blouse) as producer of the Nightly News with John Chancellor.
Joe shook me up asking if I could go LIVE in the news and I backed down...having no idea how we could do that from this not so big station with technical limitations.  We did get the film to NBC Atlanta and it was used.
Also while I was there Hollywood had come to Pensacola beach to film “Jaws 2” with Roy Scheider. We tried to set up interviews but were told they were having filming problems so that didn’t happen.
Finally...the stench from the big paper mill was continually bad in Panama City (hope it’s better now) so when the offer came to go to Miami I jumped at it.

stanmajor@aol.com

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