1976–1977 C
h
a
p
t
e
r
F
i
f
t
e
e
n
Of Apes and Arks
I
n 1976 we embarked on our first-ever legitimate live theatre production. Remember the Guest of Honor and The Great Young Americans shows we commissioned, shot, and pitched as an educational series? With those shows functionally dead in the water, we decided to take three of the best scripts and create three one-act plays for the college theatre circuit. We used Norman Corwin’s scripts about Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr and began approaching colleges, and Columbia Artists in New York. We got producer and actor John Houseman—from The Paper Chase—involved as a potential director, but he wanted us to combine them all as one single play. Corwin rewrote them, but we had some theatrical flash-forwards and asides to the audience, which Houseman didn’t like, so he dropped out, as did Columbia. Then one day Joe Cotler, who worked at Warner Bros. TV syndication, called us from the offices of Gordon Crowe, a theatrical producer and agent. Shortly thereafter Crowe signed on as a co-producer. We began booking the show, now called Together Tonight, in which the fictional John Lenox moderated a conversation between the tough Aaron Burr, the humble Thomas Jefferson, and the elitist Alexander Hamilton, set at a Philadelphia meeting hall in winter 1799. Corwin directed it. Together Tonight! Jefferson, Hamilton, and Burr debuted at Indiana University in January 1976, with Monte Markham as Burr, Howard Duff as Hamilton, Dana Andrews as Jefferson, and Alan Manson as Lenox. It played Western Michigan University on January 24th, at Philadelphia’s Philadanco as of April 20th, and in Huntsville, Texas. Because of the bicentennial, we did 75 playdates set up at 65 colleges nationwide, touring through mid-April. We had put about $200,000 into the entire project from the original pilots to the stage show, though only about $75,000 of it was for mounting the show. Little by little it brought in a profit. Together Tonight! was later broadcast on National Public Radio on election day—November 5, 1996—under the title “No Love Lost” with voices by William Shatner as Jefferson, Lloyd Bridges as Hamilton, Jack Lemmon as Burr, and Martin Landau as Lenox. It was a live performance at the Museum of Broadcasting in Los Angeles, which had been filmed and recorded on August 6th of that year. And on May 7, 2011, Corwin celebrated his 101st birthday at a new performance of the show at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in Hollywood, with Markham returning to the show as well, though this time playing Jefferson. Filmation’s involvement in the play isn’t well known or well publicized—we weren’t even listed in the ads—but we were there from the start.
Opposite: Promotional sell sheet for Ark II Above: Program cover for Together Tonight! CHAPTER 15: OF APES AND ARKS 129