More on Irwin Allen and the REAL reason Jonathon Harris is not in the new Lost in Space movie!!
=========================
Jonathon Harris............
I'm going to tell you one real story that will tell you everything about Irwin Allen, I think. This is the real Irwin Allen he had an assistant [Paul] who was also a gopher and a designer who did everything for him. And this was Christmas time and he [Allen} said 'I gotta give some guy a Christmas present'
And Paul said 'What Irwin?'
'Ah, get him a sweater'
'How much do you want to spend, Irwin'
'I don't know, get him a cashmere sweater'
'How much do you want to spend, Irwin'
'Arh.. 25 dollars'
'You can't get a cashmere sweater for 25 dollars'
'Well get any kind of sweater. 25 dollars is good enough'
'Any particular color?'
'How the hell do I know, I'm busy can't you see.?'
So Paul went out a got a sweater of some color. Paul brought it back and Irwin opened the box. 'Um hmm um hmm um hmm I like it. wrap it up I want to see ribbons, I want to see bows, I want to see a lot of streamers. go to it.'
Paul was very good at this sort of thing and came back with a gorgeous packager full of ribbons and bows and big streamers. 'Um hmm um hmm um hmm I like it. Merry Christmas Paul" [Audience Laugh]
True story. And that was the real Irwin Allen.
He was a piece of work for whom I had tremendous respect. I respected his expertise in the areas of which he worked. He was not Mr. Nice, and we did not like each other. We never said it. But we both knew it. But sly and smart as he was, slier and smarter I was. We played a game. And I established the rules. Which was he was my boss, which he was, and would treated him with the utmost respect AS MY BOSS. And I forced him to treat me like with skill.. And anything I said, and I never said it, and I really loved him.
And I will tell you one more thing about him. He was an interesting man. A very complex man. Totally devoid of humor. No Humor. To me that is so alien to my nature. Whenever he was asked, and he was frequently, by the press, by CBS, by the local 20th Century Fox [news] he was asked about Jonathon Harris he said 'Brilliant actor who's *&%$%&ing insane. I loved it. His answer Never varied. How did I know this? Because Irwin had spies on the set. Used to call him up. 'We're a quarter page behind Irwin' "Argh argh errrr' But he didn't know I had spies on the set. He didn't know who they were. So I knew everything that was going on. It was called survival. And I was always able to survive For survival you learn all manor of stuff. Basically you learn to be the best actor you can be, surrounded by a bunch of animals...who are out to kill you and who play deaf. But you learn to survive. And I think we all have to do that in whatever business we engage in. We learn how to do put up with all the crap that's thrown at us, and survive smiling. Now are there any question. I'd be delighted to answer. Once I turn on I forget to turn off.
 |
