THE TIME MACHINE Revisted, Part Two

By: Craig Reid
Date: Thursday, June 29, 2000

In Part One of my story about the 40th Anniversary Celebration Screening of H.G. Wells' THE TIME MACHINE, I discussed the beauty of downtown LA's Orpheum Theatre and how the LA Conservancy runs an Annual Last Remaining Seats Film Festival to widen awareness that these historic monuments of yesterday are on the endangered list. Before reveling in the George Pal-directed TIME MACHINE, STAR TREK: VOYAGER's Jeri Ryan announced the surprise visit of STAR TREK's George Takei; then she entertainingly interviewed three special guests.

Arriving on the actual time machine featured in the film, Ryan stood next to giant robot Gort from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and shared with us her tribute to George Pal: 'It's been said that time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once. Many films including STAR TREK have portrayed time travel, but four decades ago George Pal created the granddaddy of them all when he brought H.G. Wells' extraordinary first novel to the screen.' She reminisced about Pal's films DESTINATION MOON, WAR OF THE WORLDS, WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE and of course TIME MACHINE then closed by pointing out that creative people seldom see the ripples they create during their lifetimes and rarely see how their works affect and inspire others to achieve greatness. She finally blurted, 'Thank you George Pal for casting your own personal creative discoveries to the world.'

After vigorous applause, she introduced the evening's three special guests: science fiction and movie memorabilia collector Forrest J Ackerman; Arnold Leibovit, director of THE FANTASY FILM WORLD OF GOERGE PAl, who hopes to remake TIME MACHINE; and actor Alan Young (MR. ED), who played Filby in the film.


RYAN: MR. ACKERMAN AND MR. YOUNG, YOU'VE BOTH BEEN IN TIME TRAVEL FILMS, MR. YOUNG IN 'TIME MACHINE' (1960) AND MR. ACKERMAN IN 'TIME TRAVELLERS' (1964), AND ALTHOUGH NOTHING TO DO WITH TIME TRAVEL, YOU'VE BOTH BEEN IN 'BEVERLY HILLS COP 2.' MR. ACKERMAN WOULD YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW WHO COINED THE TERM SCI-FI?

Ackerman: Well, I was riding around in my automobile in 1953 with the radio on, someone mentioned 'hi-fis,' science fiction had been on the tip of my tongue since 1929, I looked at the rear view mirror, stuck out my tongue and there tattooed on the end of my tongue was 'sci-fi.'

RYAN: MR. LEIBOVIT, H.G.WELLS WROTE 'THE TIME MACHINE IN 1895. WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE IT TOOK 65 YEARS TO MAKE IT INTO A MOTION PICTURE?

Leibovit: The truth of the matter is that H.G. Wells' TIME MACHINE was the jewel of the H.G. Wells estate, and nobody could get to it. H.G. Wells' son saw George Pal's production WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) and asked George if he wanted to do it, and George said, 'Yes, yes.' They took it to Paramount, and they said, 'No, no.' Six years later he did with MGM. That's another story.

RYAN: MR. YOUNG, AS THE CHARACTER SEVEN OF NINE, I'M SOMETIMES REQUIRED TO WEAR UNCOMFORTABLE MAKEUP. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR [OLD MAN] MAKEUP IN 'TIME MACHINE?'

Young: George didn't have much money to work with. MGM was going broke at the time. When I did TOM THUMB for him, he said, 'Alan, I can only give you $5,000 dollars; when we do TIME MACHINE, I'll make it up to you.' So when I came back to LA, he called me up and said 'We are going to do TIME MACHINE' but added, 'Oh, I can't pay you the same money that I gave you for TOM THUMB.' So the makeup man sent me out to buy a bottle of Stewart gum. I said, 'What's that?' He said because of the budget, George couldn't afford him, so 'when the rubber comes off your face, stick that on and press the mask back on.' We were shooting a scene on close-up until 4pm, and my face was falling apart, so we didn't do any more close-ups. [laughter]

RYAN: MR. ACKERMAN, YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO HEAR [AUTHOR H.G. WELLS) SPEAK. WHAT DO REMEMBER ABOUT THAT?

Ackerman: It was 1938. It was predicted that 100 years into the future that on top of Mt. Everest, a statue would be erected in his memory, 'First of Civilized Men.' When he spoke, because he had given us WAR OF THE WORLDS and TIME MACHINE and so on, I thought he'd have this deep, sonorous, Orson Welles personality. I was very surprised to hear he had this squeaky little voice. He had this small rolly-polly, bloody complexion and said [in a high accented voice], 'I am going to talk to you for about an hour. Today, East is West, and West is East, and they're coming together with a bang.' He was very prophetic, because unfortunately we went to war with Japan.

RYAN: MR. YOUNG, 'ANDROCLES AND THE LION,' 'CAT FROM OUTER SPACE' AND 'MR ED.' DO YOU PREFER HUMAN OR ANIMAL CO-STARS AND DID MR. ED GET A BIGGER TRAILER THAN YOU? [laughter]

YOUNG: [Giving her the 'eye'] Mae West called up asking to work on the show and said, 'I want to work with the handsomest, strongest leading man in television.' For a moment I felt great. She said she wanted to work with that horse. She was the guest star. But that's how we all felt: he was the star, and we supported him. [to Ryan] But I'd still rather room with you. [laughs]

RYAN: MR. LEIBOVIT, WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE SECRET WOODY WOODPECKER-GEORGE PAL CONNECTION?

Leibovit: Woody Woodpecker appears in every George Pal film in some way. With DESTINATION MOON (1950), Pal wanted to make a sequence that would explain space travel to an audience that had never seen space travel before. The first thing he did was go to his friend Walt Disney and ask if he could use Mickey Mouse. That was too expensive, so he had this other friend Walter Lantz. He was willing to lend Woody to the film and the sequence became a big hit to the picture. After that, George used Woody as a good luck charm, and he's in every picture. In TIME MACHINE, Woody's voice can be heard in the sequence when Rod Taylor rescues Yvette Mimieux from drowning in the river. You can hear the laughter.

Ackerman: While we're on the subject of Woody Woodpecker, years ago, at 5 in the morning, I was woken up by a real woodpecker ticking on the side of my home. After George Pal's funeral, I was in his home with some gentlemen I didn't know. I brought up the matter of the woodpecker saying, 'Wish I knew how to get rid of that woodpecker.' One person said, 'I'm the wrong person to ask--my name is Walter Lantz.' [roars of laugher]

RYAN: MR. YOUNG, HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT NOT HAVING A LOVE SCENE WITH YVETTE MIMIEUX?

Young: [Gives Ryan that 'look' again) She was only 17 at the time. (laughter) And I had just become an American citizen at the time; I didn't want to take any chances.

RYAN: MR. LEIBOVIT, GEORGE PAL'S FIRST FILM WAS 'DESTINATION MOON' (1950), A TURNING POINT IN SCI-FI CINEMA. SHARE WITH US A BIT ABOUT THE GENIUS OF GEORGE PAL'S INFLUENCE ON CURRENT SCI-FI?

Leibovit: There's no question that George Pal was the pioneer of the science fiction film, and that ripple effect you mentioned earlier is a tremendous thing. He affected so many filmmakers, director, writers, scientist and even astronauts... Speaking of STAR TREK, Gene Roddenbury and he were very close friends. In fact, Gene looked up to George as a mentor. Their offices were across from one another at Paramount, and they shared lunches, talking about the trials and tribulations of the film business. Gene told me an interesting story about how he came up with STAR TREK's transporter sound. He was trying to find a sound that, when he heard it, it reminded you of this beaming effect without seeing it. He recalled the eerie, snake-like effect sound of the war machines in WAR OF THE WORLDS, and you could imagine the war machine without seeing it. So he wanted a similar sound. The transport was similar to that. He also mentioned the TIME MACHINE and how the machine's sound concocted this vision without actually seeing the machine. Many stories like that. He had a great influence.

[NOTE: The sound of STAR TREK's photon torpedoes came from the WAR OF THE WORLD's War Machines' side-tipped, shooting lasers.]

RYAN: MR. ACKERMAN, YOU ONCE SAID, 'GEORGE PAL IS THE WALT DISNEY OF SCI-FI.' CAN YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING GEORGE WANTED IN 'TIME MACHINE' THAT DISNEY WOULD NEVER HAVE KEPT?

Ackerman: I was on the set when Weena was about to go into the river. George Pal wanted Yvette Mimieux to be nude, and she was ready, willing and able to do so. But it was a time of censorship, MGM wouldn't permit it. [sadly] Sorry I can't share a magic moment with you all. [laughter]

RYAN: MR. YOUNG, WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE FIRST TIME YOU SAW 'TIME MACHINE' IN THE THEATER?

Young: As I said, George didn't have much money for anything. They let him improvise, though. For instance, he and his dear wife went down to Mosquetel to buy the wigs for the Morlocks. When the TIME MACHINE was finished, nobody knew it was finished. There was no opening. I finally decided I'd like to see myself, so I found it playing in this little theater on Van Nuys Boulevard, drove over and saw it for the first time. I've seen it since.

RYAN: MR. LEIBOVIT, YOU'VE SPENT 20 YEARS TRYING TO REMAKE 'TIME MACHINE.' CAN YOU REVEAL ANY DETAILS?

Leibovit: We're excited, and we're involved in a very big remake of the picture being done by Steven Speilberg's DreamWorks and Warner Brothers. Our writer is John Logan, who also wrote GLADIATOR, and the effects will be quite spectacular. Casting hasn't started yet. If it was up to me, Alan would be Filby; the best Filby that ever was. [applause...then Leibovit looks at Ryan] We're looking for a blonde.

Young: [TO RYAN] Maybe we'll get to work together yet.

Leibovit: We need Morlocks. [looks at Ackerman] Forey? It will save us on makeup. [laughter]

Ackerman: 'GLADIATOR,' isn't that about cannibals? [confused look from Leibovit] He's 'GLAD-HE-ATE-HER.' [audience groans]

RYAN: ON THAT NOTE, I'D LIKE TO THANK OUR SPECIAL QUESTS FOR MAKING IT THIS EVENING.

Loud cheers as they exit and a special applause as Ryan bids 'Goodnight.'