Say,
who's that guy talking to Mary?
It
was 1962 or '63, Buster and Helen Major take daughter Mary Beth to
Ohio to visit their favorite son and Mary's favorite brother, Jack,
who's working at the Akron Beacon-Journal. Among his assignments:
going to Cleveland to interview celebrities who appear on The Mike
Douglas Show (which eventually would move to Philadelphia).
As
Mary's luck would have it, one of her favorite TV stars was on the
Douglas show, while another was in Cleveland to film an episode of
his hit TV series. Both actors were not quite what they seemed, but
meeting them was memorable, nonetheless.
Up
first, Richard Chamberlain (above), who was charming and friendly,
taking time after the Douglas show to have a quiet, almost private
conversation with Mary, who had the perfect celebrity experience,
every bit as pleasant as this Beacon-Journal photo indicates.
From
there, Mary and Jack went to a Cleveland estate being used for an
episode of Route 66. There Mary got a taste of the simmering
feud between co-stars George Maharis and Martin Milner. Maharis is
why Mary wanted to visit the set. He, too, was charming and friendly,
though he enjoyed playing to a wider audience, which included anyone
within 25 feet, particularly members of the show's crew.
As
filming was about to resume, Maharis advised Mary to take a certain
chair along the perimeter of the set. Minutes later Milner arrived
and informed Mary she didn't belong in that seat and told her to go
elsewhere. His manner was borderline rude, though it softened a bit
when we explained why Mary had taken that particular seat.
A
few days earlier, I had made my first visit to the set and was told
by the show's publicist that I could interview Maharis on condition
that I speak to Milner first. The actor was upset because many journalists
wanted to meet Maharis, then one of TV's biggest stars, but few were
sticking around to interview Milner.
Since
I also wanted to meet Milner (whose movie credits include the classic
Sweet Smell of Success), I readily agreed to the publicist's
condition. However, as we were on our way to Milner's trailer, we
were intercepted by Maharis who introduced himself and became all
friendly and talkative. His purpose, apparently, was to annoy Milner,
and he did. Milner was noticeably irked when I met him a few minutes
later.
–
JACK MAJOR
Contact
us at:
JMajor9863@aol.com
