Jane Purdy writes to ask…
I have a question concerning your recent anecdote about visiting Larry Fine at the Motion Picture Country Home/Hospital. How exactly did you get in there? Did you know Mr. Fine previously? Was it just a matter of knowing who was in residence at the time and asking if they were willing to see you? Or did you just walk in like you had business there and see who was around? I think that was your successful strategy for infiltrating the sets of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and The Dean Martin Show.
A friend of mine had gone out to visit Larry Fine. I'm a bit fuzzy on how he arranged that but I think he heard Larry was out there and wrote a letter to him c/o the place, then got a callback either from Larry or some nurse there inviting him out. He told me he'd gone out there, told the desk, "I'm here to see Larry Fine" and they sent him back without checking…so I just drove out there and told the person at the desk, "I'm here to see Larry Fine" and they directed me to his room.
I poked my head in, saw him sitting there watching TV and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Fine. Could I meet you?" He immediately invited me in, had me turn off the TV and directed me to his guest chair. He was very happy to have a visitor.
I don't know how it works out there these days. The last time I visited the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital (that's the full name of it) was 1992. Security just about everywhere has tightened since then and of course, they're now dealing with the coronavirus out there so it's probably not a good place to visit.
The NBC Studios in Burbank are no longer the NBC Studios in Burbank but even before the building changed hands, it was a lot more difficult to get inside. In fact, I would say — and this is not a joke — in the seventies when I went there, it was easier to get in without a pass than it was the last time I went and I had a pass. All the TV studios and movie lots I've visited since 9/11 have drastically tightened security and I don't think all of that was because of 9/11. (One lesser but significant reason was people just sneaking onto sets and walking away with props or costumes.)
The first time I visited NBC Burbank was in 1969. I was a writer for Laugh-In magazine and actually, the magazine had stopped publication at the time but there was still a deal in place for the publishing company to do something further involving the show. It was arranged for me to go over and visit the set a few times and I did…and while in the building, I visited a few other stages and no one stopped me, no one said, "What are you doing in here?" So thereafter, I felt free to wander.
To get in that first time, I went in the Artists' Entrance and, as instructed, asked one of the guards there to call a certain person in the Publicity Department who cleared me to get in. The next time I went, I asked the same guard to place the same call to the same person. He didn't get an answer but he remembered me from the previous visit and I did know the name of someone on the inside…so he just waved me in. The next time, he just waved me in. The next time, another guard waved me in and that was how it was after that. I'm not sure to what extent it was because I looked familiar and to what extent it was because I looked like I belonged there and knew where I was going.
In 1983, I wrote for a TV show that taped there on Stage 3. The first time I walked in for that show, I was with Dick Clark and of course, no one asked either of us for a pass or our names or anything. For the run of that series, I walked through that door at least once a day alone and no one ever asked me for I.D. or where I was headed. There may have been a rule that once you'd been seen with Dick Clark, you could get in anywhere…and I mean anywhere: Any studio, any lot, anywhere in Show Business. If there was such a rule, I kinda doubt it's still operative.
