From the Desk of Charles Lippincott

Some of you were so excited about the failed ad concept I decided I had to reload the complete set of failed ad concept so you understand what a failed ad concept is all about. I'll upload them in thematically themed sets. Here, you can see the slogan change:

SET 2

SET 3

SET 4

While its easy to see folks getting all excited over the possibility of one of these concepts being used, then speculating on the significance of the images -- these are failed concepts, folks. They never went beyond the stats done here.

My understanding was these FAILED AD CONCEPTS were done by Fox. Its possible an outside agency was involved, but I was under the impression it was an in-house test done by Olen Earnest.

The FAILED AD CONCEPTS were done by (or under) Olen Earnest for David Weitzner. David and I had major disagreements. In fact, I disliked him -- especially post STAR WARS as he claimed he did work I did. I thought he had no clue what STAR WARS was all about, but after the successful release of STAR WARS, Weitzner crowed about his importance in making the film a success. Needless to say, I thought he was an ass.

You can see from the FAILED AD CONCEPTS and this memo below that Weitzner had no clue how to market STAR WARS. They were looking for a hook, basing it on successful past campaigns like 2001, Midway (1976) or the multi stars' format of Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, etc. It's a shotgunning method basing a campaign on past successes that was used by a lot of people who had no clue what they were after. The only one at Fox who had an inkling how to market STAR WARS was Johnny Friedkin. Johnny's support really was an important element in successfully marketing STAR WARS. Johnny didn't get along with David either.

Here, you can see how the style of the successful MIDWAY Campaign was used for STAR WARS by clustering the characters in the center of the frame. The cluster is set up in a central pyramid where the stars are the largest, surrounded by the supporting characters, then the minor characters, in descending order. You position the eye to see who is the most important, next most important, than on down. It's a quick read for the audience.

Prior to STAR WARS, the big theatrical science fiction film was Kubricks 1968 film, 2001. The Vader silhouette could not be used because it referenced 2001, leading the audience to think STAR WARS would be derivative, plus, the general audience view of Vader's helmet was it had a Nazi reference. You have to remember you're looking at these ad concepts 40 years after the fact, with the eyes of a fan who knows what the STAR WARS symbols represents.

I've been going through my drive and trying to finish up some of the articles I started some time ago. since Today is Roy Batty's B'Day, we've had a lot of B'Day wishes for him.

This is part of an interview Bumpy did of me on WESTWORLD. This is how we work. She interviews me then we rewrite the interviews into posts. The WESTWORLD posts will cover a bit of history, including the raping and pillaging of MGM's archives, then goes on to talk about my doing publicity on the film. She thought that for the WESTWORLD posts, she'd leave part of it as an interview to break up the article format.

This excerpt deals with the problems I had using Yul Brynner to promote the film.

BUMPY: It's funny that Yul Brynner wasn't used much promoting Westworld because looking at the film, in retrospect, Brynner is the one who stands out.

CHARLEY: It's very hard to get publicity for someone who's playing an android, like Yul was, because you couldn't really take him out on the road to do a promotional tour. The main publicity with Yul was either through Bruce McBroom's shots of him with his gun, or shots of his face being peeled back to reveal his animatronics. That was all we had to work with, so it wasn't fun and sexy. Nothing you could take on the road. Plus, back then, androids weren't that popular.

BUMPY: That's interesting because a few years later, with Star Wars, you knew the robots were the stars prior to its release.

CHARLEY: Different type of robots. Yul was an android. Back then, nobody talked about androids like they were something amazing. R2D2 and C3PO were different because they had personalities that stood out. R2D2 going around with those beepbeep bop bop and falling over, sparks going off in all directions, and C3PO with his British accent, well, we knew they were going to be a hit. Somebody said they were like Laurel and Hardy. They were a comedy team. Nobody talked about robots like comedians before R2D2 and C3PO. Plus, Ben Burtt really created an anthology of sounds for the robots. So these guys were a new kind of robots who we knew would be big stars. As an android, Yul Brynner was not going to be easily marketed. He had a bland face and was evil like HAL in 2001.

BUMPY: Why do you think he's popular today?

CHARLEY: Westworld's premise is like 2001 where you have a robot or machine going berserk. That strikes a chord with folks today. If you look at it, Yul's character was based on his role in Magnificent Seven, the leading role of Chris. In Westworld nobody calls him by that name, but if you knew Magnificient Seven, you had the reference of the gunslinger who, in Westworld, goes berserk. From the way he dressed, down to the way he walked, Yul had an iconic image which worked. You had to see the connection between Westworld and Magnificent Seven to understand why he epitomized a type of western.

BUMPY: But you didn't use him to market Westworld.

CHARLEY: No, Yul was hard to market.

BUMPY: Why, through the test of time, do you think Yul is so popular today that HBO IS remaking the show.

CHARLEY: In Westworld, Yul is an android who threatens people and goes berserk. This is also the basic concept of Blade Runner and Terminator. Before Westworld, what was there? You had a Fritz Lang film with a female robot who goes out of control. And 2001 -- again, the android or artificial intelligence goes berserk. Its a fear of technology which lead to Blade Runner and Terminator. Those two films changed our views of the android. It's our whole relationship to machines, which today, is even a greater threat than it was back then. Today, robots are taking over jobs. Our robots are more powerful than they were forty years ago. The question of androids and artificial intelligence is more accepted because of films that came after Westworld.

Michael Crichton was not an easy person to get along with. When he came to the studio, the only thing he had done was a tv feature, PURSUIT, which he had written under the pseudonym of John Lange. When Crichton approached MGM with a pitch to direct his book, Westworld, this would naturally have appealed to Dan Melnick, Aubrey's Head of Production. As a new director, Crichton would be willing to work for cheap. Given the fact that the option alone of Crichton's ANDROMEDA STRAIN cost Universal $250K, Melnick knew it was a safe bet to give Crichton the go ahead to write and direct a feature based on his book, WESTWORLD. With a low enough budget, they could pretty much be assured of getting enough audiences from THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN to recoup their costs

At the time, Melnick had a young woman who started working in the story department, Sherry Lansing, who undoubtedly read Crichton's script. She was also the woman Melnick was having an affair with. Here, I'm switching format... Bumpy interjects...

BUMPY: Was he having an affair, or dating?

CHARLEY: I have to say, guys who are studio heads of production don't just start dating. That makes it sound polite. They were having an affair. So yes, Melick and Sherry were having an affair. This is not to imply Sherry slept her way to the top. She was very smart and good at her job, which is why she became the first female head of a studio.

BUMPY: Why did Aubrey pick Melnick as his Head of Production?

CHARLEY: Like Aubrey, Dan Melnick was also a TV guy who had a string of success with his partner, David Ssussking, he did some GET SMART, NYPD and other shows.

I was very interested in new technology so at the time, Woodstock was being edited in Hollywood. Prior to starting at MGM, I spent time at the Woodstock editing room and production offices. The Woodstock post production team were the first people I knew of in Hollywood who were working on a tabletop editing machine. They came out of New York and were 16mm documentary folks who were ahead of the game. While Hollywood was still working on upright moviolas, the Woodstock editors were working on flatbed using a team of editors.

Shortly after I started on WESTWORLD, I heard that Michael and his editor were in the editing room. I walked by and saw Michael and his editor standing around a flatbed editing console. They had just brought in a table top editing machine for WESTWORLD, and neither Crichton nor his editor knew how to operate it. Since I had learned how the flatbed worked from the Woodstock folks, I offered to show the editor how it worked. The editor welcomed me into the room.

"Here," I said, "this is where you lay the roll down, and how you thread it..."

After I got the machine loaded up, Crichton turned to me and said, "Who are you that you know how this operates?"

I was taken aback as he said it with this real piss ass attitude, very derisive.
That was my first encounter with Crichton, but my following encounters didn't improve my view of him. He had this class attitude about stuff which said if you did X, then that's all you did.

He thought since I was the publicist, I should not know how to edit, nor know about the latest editing technology, but even with publicity, he thought he knew best about marketing and promotion.

I started working with him, building his publicity package. I suggested to him that we should promote his work as science fiction.

Crichton said he didn't want to be sold as a genre writer.

I countered saying science fiction was very important. Look at 2001.

No, he said, he wanted to be sold as a main stream writer.

I tried to tell him that being sold as a science fiction writer would not mean his stuff wouldn't sell in the mainstream. Look at Frank Herbert, Asimov and Arthur C. Clark.

No, Crichton did not want the word "science fiction" attached to his film's publicity. He knew what he wanted, and that was how it was going to be because it was his book, his film, period. He wanted the promotion handled his way.

OK, Michael, if that's how you want it, that's how we'll play it.

Of course, several years later, after Star Wars came out, someone relayed a conversation they had with Crichton. Apparently, STAR WARS's success changed Crichton's attitude. He now regretted taking the attitude towards me he had. It would, he conceded, not have been bad promoting WESTWORLD as a science fiction film, and he regretted poo pooing me back then.

The one other story I remember from WESTWORLD is about Bruce McBroom. Bruce McBroom was the still photographer who worked on Westworld. As with the case of Bob Penn on later films, my work as a publicist meant I had to work closely with the unit still photographer. After all, they were the ones who provided me with the raw materials I needed to promote a film. Bruce had a special polaroid camera which could shoot high speed sequences. This polaroid camera could trigger fire a sequence of 8 shots in total. We needed a shot of Yul Brynner shooting. For this shot, Bruce pulled out his quick fire polaroid and did a series of shots of Yul Brynner doing his fast draw. He had to do several takes in order to get the right shot. As we were doing polaroids, he could see the results immediately. We were looking at them, deciding which one to use, and Bruce handed me one. Keep it, he said. So that's my one souvenir from WESTWORLD.

I have that shot someplace... Maybe I'll find it one day and scan it so it can get uploaded on my blog.

Bruce was a really nice guy. I really liked him. Ironically, Bruce 's biggest claim to fame is his Farah Fawcett red bathing suit shot. During the 70's, his Farrah shot bcame the major fanboy pinup poster. The poster sold an incredible 12 Million copies, turning Farah Fawcett into a major A-list star. I hope it also gave Bruce some pocket change. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. And an extremely talented guy. Bruce also did a lot of TV Guide covers, but the photo he will always be remembered for is Farah in her red bathing suit.

I'm sure you get the picture by now that Crichton wasn't one of my favorite people. But the coup d'grace did not come until we went on tour. Rather than writing up our dialog, Bumpy decided we should just include my interview verbatim.

CHARLEY: I tried to stay away from Crichton. It got really bad when we went on tour. I got pulled off the tour because I wasn't getting along with Crichton. Crichton wanted me to go out and solicit young college women for him and Lazarus.

BUMPY: You mean arrange meetings young women, or are you actually saying hook ups?

CHARLEY: Hook ups.

BUMPY: Are you serious?

CHARLEY: Yeah. If the union knew, they would've put the kabosh on it.

BUMPY: When they had you pulled from the job you didn't go to the union?

CHARLEY: No, I was glad to be out of the whole thing. Why would I want to stay with those guys?

BUMPY: Was it just Crichton, or was it also Paul Lazaarus?

CHARLEY: To be honest, I don't remember much about Lazarus. It was mostly Crichton's ideas I go out an score him some girls. Lazarus just went along with whatever Crichton wanted. But Lazarus didn't do anything to stop it, either.

BUMPY: Did this happen to you a lot when you went on promotional tours?

CHARLEY: No, this was the only time it happened. I mean, it was really over the top. You were dealing with two guys -- well, Crichton, really -- who thought he could get away with anything because he was Michael Crichton. But no, I never had anyone ever ask me to pimp for them again.

BUMPY: Why did Crichton need you to find girls?

CHARLEY: That's a good question. Why did he need Lippincott to stand in as the door hustler corralling in girls?

BUMPY: Right, why couldn't he find his own girls?

CHARLEY: No idea.

BUMPY: Did you ever talk to him again after you parted ways?

CHARLEY: No, and I had no interest. I heard rumors years later that he said he was sorry he had not followed my advice, but so what? It was too late. I never wanted to deal with him again. If I ran into him, I avoided him.

BUMPY: What about other people on the film? Like James Brolin

CHARLEY: Oh, I liked James Brolin. I got along with him really well. And although I went to school with his colleague, Richard Benjamin, who was a Northwestern grad and Paula Prentiss' husband, Benjamin was kind of a stuck up asshole. Richard Benjamin -- I think he's only remembered for one film, Goodbye Columbus, which he starred in. and Paula had a very short career because she was having mental breakdowns.

BUMPY: What about Yul Brynner?

CHARLEY: What about Yul Brynner?

BUMPY: Did you interact with him much?

CHARLEY: Yul had his son around him. His son was there, visiting his dad, so Yul was always with him. I think his son was close to 20 at the time. This was fine as there wasn't much I needed to do with Yul. He was an old hat at the promotional needs of a movie and just did what you asked him to do. Also, I had very simple things for him to do. It helped that he liked working with Bruce McBroom, the unit photographer, so that cheered him up because he knew Bruce would do him justice. You have to remember he wasn't called on to do much WESTWORLD promotion because he was playing an automaton. Crichton did the bulk of publicity, plus Benjamin and Brolin.

BUMPY: How did you get along with Benjamin and Brolin?

CHARLEY: Whenever I ran into Brolin afterwards, he was always nice. I'd see him at awards ceremonies and he's always say "Hi." Benjamin was always the fair haired boy in the Northwestern drama department who was expected to make it really big, but Paula was better known to the fans -- especially younger fans. She wasn't in the film but she was an MGM actress married to Richard Benjamin so she was always around. That may have been one of Benjamin's problems -- he was always worried about her. She was expected to make it big, and there were always people showing up who were her fans. She was kinda unstable. She was one of Viola Spolin's favorites. Viola was one of the most important drama coaches in the college circuit. But in spite of all expectations, Paula didn't make it.

Boy, have we got a job for you...

BUMPY: It's funny that Yul Brynner wasn't used much promoting Westworld because looking at the film in retrospect, Brynner is the one who stands out.

CHARLEY: It's very hard to get publicity for someone who's playing an android, like Yul was, because you couldn't really take him out on the road to do a promotional tour. The main publicity with Yul was either through Bruce McBroom's shots of him with his gun, or shots of his face being peeled back to reveal his animatronics. That was all we had to work with, so it wasn't something we could take on the road. Plus, back then, androids weren't that popular.

BUMPY: That's interesting because with Star Wars, prior to its release, you knew the robots were the stars.

CHARLEY: Different type of robots. Yul was an android. Back then, nobody talked about androids like they were something amazing. R2-D2 and C-3PO were different because they had personalities that stood out. R2-D2 going around with those beepbeep bop bop and falling over, sparks going off in all directions, and C-3PO with his British accent, well, we knew they were going to be a hit. Somebody said they were like Laurel and Hardy. They were a comedy team. Nobody talked about robots like comedians before R2-D2 and C-3PO. Plus, Ben Burtt really created an anthology of sounds for the robots. So these were a new kind of robots which we knew would be stars. Yul Brynner as an adroid was not going to be easily marketed. He had a bland face and was evil like HAL in 2001.

BUMPY: Why do you think he's popular today?

CHARLEY: Westworld's premise is like 2001 where you have a robot or machine going berserk. Yul's character was based on his role in Magnificent Seven, the leading role of Chris. In Westworld nobody calls him by that name, but if you knew Magnificient Seven, you had the reference of the gunslinger who goes berserk. From the way he dressed, down to the way he walked, Yul had an iconic image which worked. You had to see the connection between Westworld and Magnificent Seven to understand why he epitomized a type of western.

BUMPY: But you didn't use him to market Westworld.

CHARLEY: No, Yul was hard to market.

BUMPY: Why, through the test of time, do you think Yul is so popular today that HBO IS remaking the show.

CHARLEY: In Westworld, Yul is an android which threatens people and goes berserk. This is the basic concept of blade runner and terminator. Before that, what was there? You had a Fritz Lang film with a female robot who goes out of control. Before Westworld, there was 2001 -- again, the android or artificial intelligence goes berserk. Its a fear of technology which, today, is even a greater threat because our robots are more powerful than they were forty years ago.

BUMPY: What was the philosophy behind Westworld's marketing campaign?

CHARLEY: No one saw selling Westworld like a Fritz Lang film. It's a laughable comparison to even think of selling Crichton as a Fritz Lang. Crichton saw himself as the star. He was a star writer in his mind, and thought he was becoming a star director. MGM saw Crichton as a writer who had sold books, but his TV movies weren't big, so the only one who thought Crichton was big was Crichton. At MGM, no one was going to put him down, but on the other hand, they didn't see the point of building him up as a superstar director because Westworld was not a major movie. That was not even in consideration at the time because MGM was having too many problems to worry about anything other than selling tickets to a scary movie. Unfortunately, Westworld isn't structured like a scary movie, so all we had to use was promoting Crichton, who was big because of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN. His book came out in '69, and I think by the time we did Westworld, had sold a decent 120K copies. It was so popular Universal bought the film rights for $250K. Robert Wise made the movie for $6.6M and it made a decent profit, so for MGM, having Crichton direct his book for peanuts was worth the risk. they figured his name would recoup costs. and it did. But Crichton didn't see it that way. That's why he gave me so much shit. He thought he was the next Fritz Lang.

BUMPY: You think we'll be sued for libel printing the Crichton's pimp story?

CHARLEY: Who cares? There were other people around at the time who knew what was going on. Guys like that deserve to be shown for the scumbag they are.

BUMPY: Were. He's passed away.

CHARLEY: OK, were. Real asshole. We done?

BUMPY: Yep. Fini...

CHARLEY: Good. I want to go to bed.

Bumpy addendum -- In 1965, Crichton married his first wife, Joan Radam, who was his childhood sweetheart. Adromeda Strain came out in 1969, catapulting Crichton into fame. Crichton stated the success of his book caused his marriage to fall apart. He moved to the Hollywood Hills to pursue a film career, starting with writing and directing WESTWORLD. In his later years, Crichton said he grew up feeling like an outcast because he was a gangley 6'9". Was he simply, like Aubrey, a horn dog, or were there another things going on? Joan was the first of five wives. Who knows... Charley replies, "Who cares?"