Friday Questions

Last Friday Questions for this rather uneventful month.  What’s yours?

Blair starts us off.

Was Martin’s chair designed and created for “Frasier” or was it an actual historic piece of furniture?

No, I think it was just an old junky chair that I suspect came out of the prop department.   The producers probably had several to choose from and just selected that one.  

The idea was for the chair to really look out of place in Frasier’s chic apartment.  Our motto: find ways to make Frasier frustrated. Kelsey plays frustration and angry so funny. 

I believe in time a second identical chair was purchased or made just as a back up should anything happen to it.  

I used to kid John Mahoney “Do you have your blocking down this week?”

From Paul W:

When you did Dancin' Homer, did you know that you wanted Baby Elephant Walk for the music or do you have to give different option in case there are licensing problems?

Yes.  We wanted that song specifically.  The studio had to pay for the rights, which was very nice.  And unusual.

Most studios have a music catalog of songs they own.  And most producers are asked to only use those tunes.  That’s why on Paramount shows you’ll hear “Moonlight in Vermont” on every show.  

Scotty B wonders:

I've seen you mention in a number of your posts about those TV actors who seem to always be *everywhere*. I grew up in the 1960s-70s, and I remember several child actors who seemed to be *everywhere* all the time, too -- often in character roles on Starsky & Hutch or Emergency. Lisa Gerritsen and Michael Link are two that I remember well. Who are some of those child actors that you remember?  

I’m afraid my answer will be shorter than your question.

Moosie Drier, Billy Mumy, Rusty Hamer, Angela Cartwright, Ann Jillian, Moochie, Annette, Eddie Hodges — to name but a few.  

And finally, from  Philly Cinephile:

Have you ever had to change the name of a character because of clearance issues?


Yes, and the extreme example was when were doing MARY, the 1985-86 Mary Tyler Moore comeback vehicle.  We were in the week of production for the pilot and legal research wouldn’t let us use James Farentino’s character name, which I think was Frank DeSantis.  

An added problem was that we had a frosted door to his office with his name beautifully painted on the front window.  Every day there was a new script and new name.  Finally, on the fourth day they let us keep the name, Frank DeMarco, which was good because we were running out of doors.  
 



from By Ken Levine

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