Does anyone know about the history of the Patty Duke Unaired Pilot?

[mg184]

I recently purchased the unaired pilot on DVD. The episode was identical to another episode. I think the "cousins" episode where Cathy first comes to America to live with Patty and the Lane family. Martin Lane was played by Mark Miller (Please Don't Eat the Dasies) and Ross was played by someone else. Natlie was the the same Actress "Jean Byron" and the location was not "Brooklyn Heights" it was "San Francisco" Martin Lane was editor of the San Francisco Express. I was curious what was the reason for the change of Location and the change in Actors. As a resident of San Francisco. It was kind of surreal to see the opening credits of the pilot, Eddie Applegate jumping out of his car in San Francisco (It looked like somewhere in Pacific Heights) and walking up to the Lane House to meet Patty.

[mego73#2]

There is nothing unusual about a pilot show differing from the settled on show. Look at the first Star Trek Pilot, Leave It To Beaver's pilot, Gilligan's Island pilot and others.

I don't know the exact reasons for the cast and location changes but there are almost always changes between the pilot and actual show

[Shindigger]

As far as cast changes, the examples of what happened with Gilligan's Island and That Girl may give an idea of why the cast changes were made on The Patty Duke Show.

In both cases, the pilot was shown to test audiences and network executives. The shows sold, but suggestions were made that one or more actors weren't right for their parts for one reason or another. To get the shows on the air, the producers made compromises in some instances.

I'm sure the same thing happens all the time with every show we've ever seen on television. Someone sees something that they feel needs "tweaking" or revamped. Sometimes reading the behind-the-scenes ordeals of casting for shows is very eye-opening. When casting the role of Ginger for Gilligan's Island, I believe they tested hundreds of actresses on both coasts, and I understand it was one of the more difficult roles to fill. Interestingly, Tina Louise herself developed the character into a more Marilyn Monroe-type of character. Originally, Ginger was supposed to be more wise-cracking and "brassy," but Tina, better understood what was needed to make the character truly work- I think she was right!

Yes, I took a big detour here, but it does illustrate just some of the aspects that go into getting a show on the air. Sometimes a pilot will be good enough to sell a show, but between audience testing, sponsor and network "suggestions," sometimes the show you end up with isn't anything like the show you began with...

[treky]

yea, some of the caracters in the GILLAGANS ILSLAND pilot were different (I know I misspelled some words; but hey; I'm tired!)

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...Sidney Sheldon doesn't mention the original unaired pilot in his autobiography, "The Other Side Of Me". Nor does he mention the fact that Peter Lawford's production company, Chrislaw (named after his son), was involved in it as well. For some reason, he wants us to believe that production began right from the start in New York. I've seen the original pilot, and it WAS different. My guess is that New York became "headquarters" for the series because Patty's legal guardians (and agents), John and Ethel Ross, were living in New York and wanted to keep a VERY close eye on her. Sidney did mention that he had to shuttle between both coasts to work on "I DREAM OF JEANNIE" (and his other projects) while writing Patty's show at the same time.

I DO know that he utilized footage from the unaired version of the pilot episode and refilmed it as a "flashback" episode at the end of the first season, in April 1964 ["The Cousins"].

[Hippie]

Hello, guys

All the comments posted previously are true, in varying degrees.

The main reason that the location of the show was shifted from San Francisco to New York was because of the Child Labor Act laws in California. In 1963, when the show started, Patty Duke wasn't quite 17 years old yet, and the Child Labor laws precluded her working as much as her role on the show required. With those restrictions, they'd never be able to film Patty's parts in time to have them broadcast on the appropriate dates.

Ross' part (played by Charles Herbert in the original pilot, and by Paul O'Keefe in the series itself) was much smaller and didn't come into conflict with the laws. New York's Child Labor laws were much more flexible than California's were, so they moved the show to New York, both in script, and in physical location. The fact that the Ross' "base of operations" was in New York didn't hurt, either, from their point of view.

By the time Patty turned 18, during the third season of the show, in 1966, the physical shooting location was moved back to San Francisco, with the setting of the series remaining in New York. If you observe the outside of the Lane house, shown much more frequently during the third season, you'll see it differs vastly from the previously shown shots in the first and second seasons. The move was done to cut down on shooting costs as the show was then based much closer to the studio than it was while being shot in New York.

With regards to the actor changes, I'm not sure exactly what prompted them. I know that Mark Miller's delivery of Martin's lines weren't deemed as being appropriate and sardonic enough. This didn't detract from Miller's acting ability, only that he wasn't playing the character as envisioned when Sidney Sheldon wrote the part. William Schallert's delivery impressed the studio execs far more, and he was then recast as the new Martin Lane. I imagine something similar was the case for Charles Herbert being replaced by Paul O'Keefe.

Hopefully that helps

[jimmo]

Originally Posted by Hippie

Hello, guys

All the comments posted previously are true, in varying degrees.

The main reason that the location of the show was shifted from San Francisco to New York was because of the Child Labor Act laws in California. In 1963, when the show started, Patty Duke wasn't quite 17 years old yet, and the Child Labor laws precluded her working as much as her role on the show required. With those restrictions, they'd never be able to film Patty's parts in time to have them broadcast on the appropriate dates.

Ross' part (played by Charles Herbert in the original pilot, and by Paul O'Keefe in the series itself) was much smaller and didn't come into conflict with the laws. New York's Child Labor laws were much more flexible than California's were, so they moved the show to New York, both in script, and in physical location. The fact that the Ross' "base of operations" was in New York didn't hurt, either, from their point of view.

By the time Patty turned 18, during the third season of the show, in 1966, the physical shooting location was moved back to San Francisco, with the setting of the series remaining in New York. If you observe the outside of the Lane house, shown much more frequently during the third season, you'll see it differs vastly from the previously shown shots in the first and second seasons. The move was done to cut down on shooting costs as the show was then based much closer to the studio than it was while being shot in New York.

With regards to the actor changes, I'm not sure exactly what prompted them. I know that Mark Miller's delivery of Martin's lines weren't deemed as being appropriate and sardonic enough. This didn't detract from Miller's acting ability, only that he wasn't playing the character as envisioned when Sidney Sheldon wrote the part. William Schallert's delivery impressed the studio execs far more, and he was then recast as the new Martin Lane. I imagine something similar was the case for Charles Herbert being replaced by Paul O'Keefe.

Hopefully that helps

You are correct about all you wrote regarding that pilot for "The Patty Duke Show." I would only add the reason the late Charles Herbert probably wasn't retained to portray "Ross Lane" in the eventual series is the fact his family was situated in the Los Angeles area, and since it was known the series' filming would be relocated to Chelsea Studios in New York (to take advantage of that state's more lenient child labor laws vis-à-vis series star Patty Duke, and thus also her ability in NY to work longer hours) it was also probably known (or presumed) Herbert, a minor, would remain with his family in Los Angeles.

By that point Herbert had a long résumé of film and television work in Hollywood. But the truth was Herbert needed the work, since he was the principal income-earner for his family with disabled parents. And with awkward adolescence the job offers for a young actor who had previously played adorable boy parts was drying up.

Paul O'Keefe, a Boston, Massachusetts area native, was eventually signed to portray "Ross Lane," and already based in New York. O'Keefe had, in fact, been appearing as "Winthrop Paroo" (the role originated by Eddie Hodges on Broadway, and Ronnie Howard portrayed in the film version) in the original Broadway staging of Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man" starring Robert Preston. O'Keefe had also once sung "Dear Old Donegal" in a 1959 Saint Patrick's Day episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show."

[RetroTVNitekatt]

Originally Posted by Hippie

. I know that Mark Miller's delivery of Martin's lines weren't deemed as being appropriate and sardonic enough. This didn't detract from Miller's acting ability, only that he wasn't playing the character as envisioned when Sidney Sheldon wrote the part. William Schallert's delivery impressed the studio execs far more, and he was then recast as the new Martin Lane.

Having played a similar role as Archie Andrew's father in the unsold live-action ARCHIE pilot (based on the comics and radio show) around the same time may have also helped Schallert getting the part as Patty's Father.

Chances are a screen test was a formality.

[RetroTVNitekatt]

Originally Posted by jimmo

Paul O'Keefe, a Boston, Massachusetts area native, was eventually signed to portray "Ross Lane," and already based in New York. O'Keefe had, in fact, been appearing as "Winthrop Paroo" (the role originated by Eddie Hodges on Broadway, and Ronnie Howard portrayed in the film version) in the original Broadway staging of Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man" starring Robert Preston. O'Keefe had also once sung "Dear Old Donegal" in a 1959 Saint Patrick's Day episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Paul had also done some New York based TV shows prior to "The Patty Duke Show" (Different Characters on "Car 54", a "Naked City",etc) so he had TV experience as well.

[stevea]

All the info. about the originally-unplanned filming in New York, ABC's desire to continue beyond 3 seasons, in color (and UAs balking at the cost of color, which I'm sure ABC wanted them to foot), and other interesting stuff, like filming details, are in the show's Wikipedia article. I just read it yesterday--quite interesting.

[treky]

Originally Posted by stevea

All the info. about the originally-unplanned filming in New York, ABC's desire to continue beyond 3 seasons, in color (and UAs balking at the cost of color, which I'm sure ABC wanted them to foot), and other interesting stuff, like filming details, are in the show's Wikipedia article. I just read it yesterday--quite interesting.

and we all know that Wikipedia's ALWAYS 100% accurate

[CosmicCharlie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RkUC4-kU6s

Unaired Pilot