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MYTH? Barbare Eden/Kang's slap on the back to Kirk

f14peter

f14peter

Commander
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I recently joined a TOS appreciation FB group (I know, I know), and lots of members often repeat many of the old, long-debunked, rumors and myths about the series.

I often see mention of something I don't think I've heard of before: As we all know, at the end of DAY OF THE DOVE, Kang gives a particularly hearty backslap to Kirk. Strong enough that Kirk visibly reacted, although I don't know if that was acting or Shatner was indeed a bit surprised how hard it was. The story I'm hearing on the other group, of course without any substantiation, is that Barbara Eden visited the set on the day the scene was shot and Shatner was either "hitting on her" or getting "too flirty" with her, so Michael Ansara used the slap on the back as payback and/or warning.

Any insight?

I think it's BS, for these reasons: Everything I've learned about Shatner is that he was (is) extremely professional on the set and most complaints by his colleagues revolve around his working the writers and directors to get the lion's share of dialogue at their character's expense. Also, seems like some people like to project Kirk's undeserved (speaking of myths!) reputation as an interstellar skirt-chasing uncontrollable horndog ONTO Shatner. While it may have been shaky and headed for divorce, Shatner was still married at the time, nor do I think he had a reputation of being a womanizer. For him to openly act inappropriate towards the famous wife of the main guest star of the episode I think would be out of character for Shatner.
 
My take: if a star such as Barbara Eden had ever visited the set of TOS, we would know. We have decades of interviews with the regulars, the guest actors, writers, producers, directors, and even film crew (especially in Starlog magazine). And there were all those personal appearances at conventions, where the Special Guests told their first-hand stories, needing to come up with whatever they could to keep it interesting.

I hardly believe that Barbara Eden could have paid a visit, and no one of substance would ever have mentioned it until now. There would be a credible anecdote long-fixed in our lore at this point. We would know.
 
Tosk said:
It always makes me laugh when an actor acts and people say, "That had to be real!"
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Sometimes staying in character looks like covering for something unexpected on the set. In the Gilligan's Island episode where the Mars probe lands on the island, the Skipper and Professor are looking for the missing lens. Gilligan intercepts them to hide the feathers stored in the supply hut. After some tail-chasing, the Skipper barks at Gilligan to get back to the radio.

The outro of the scene is the Skipper saying, "Now I wonder where that feather rolled..." He catches himself and rolls his eyes, corrects himself to say "lens." Russell Johnson (Professor) is holding his pose, maybe waiting for the director to yell "cut" because of the mistake. Then Alan Hale (Skipper), keeping in character, grumbles that he'd like to strangle Gilligan. Johnson looks like he's picking up the save as he reacts, and they exit the scene.

Perhaps it was all scripted and rehearsed, but it really looked like a saved fumble, especially for an uncut shot of several minutes. Actors acting, staying in character. If it was a gaffe, it made the scene even funnier.
 
It was entirely in character. The point to the hard smack and Kirk's reaction to it was that even while trying to project comradery and good will to the energy creature, Kang wasn't able or willing to completely suppress his hostile aggressiveness toward Kirk.
 
1) Barbara Eden was leading her own show at the time at a different studio. If she had the day off, would she go visit the set of Star Trek while her husband was a guest star? Maybe. Would there be on set photos if she did? Most certainly. Would we have seen them by now? Absolutely. Would this be a discovery made on Facebook? No f'n way.

Conclusion: this is bullshit.

2) Was the slap scripted? Yes. Was it harder than Shatner expected? Maybe. Did Nimoy react to this in a strangely out of character way?

Judge for yourself...

https://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/al...3/311-day-of-the-dove/day-of-the-dove-874.jpg

ZapBrannigan said:
I hardly believe that Barbara Eden could have paid a visit, and no one of substance would ever have mentioned it until now. There would be a credible anecdote long-fixed in our lore at this point. We would know.
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Hell even Cushman would have presented it as fact in his book. Not a mention.
 
f14peter said:
I often see mention of something I don't think I've heard of before: As we all know, at the end of DAY OF THE DOVE, Kang gives a particularly hearty backslap to Kirk. Strong enough that Kirk visibly reacted, although I don't know if that was acting or Shatner was indeed a bit surprised how hard it was. The story I'm hearing on the other group, of course without any substantiation, is that Barbara Eden visited the set on the day the scene was shot and Shatner was either "hitting on her" or getting "too flirty" with her, so Michael Ansara used the slap on the back as payback and/or warning.

Any insight?
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This sounds a little too much like a retread of the often-repeated story about Charles Bronson hanging around the set to keep an eye on Jill Ireland during the shooting of "This Side of Paradise".
 
Ssosmcin said:
1) Barbara Eden was leading her own show at the time at a different studio. If she had the day off, would she go visit the set of Star Trek while her husband was a guest star? Maybe.
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Sunset Gower and Desilu were less than two miles apart in L.A. at the time, so it's not inconceivable. Still not likely.
 
Serveaux said:
It was entirely in character. The point to the hard smack and Kirk's reaction to it was that even while trying to project comradery and good will to the energy creature, Kang wasn't able or willing to completely suppress his hostile aggressiveness toward Kirk.
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He seemed willing. In his own mind, that was a kiss-equivalent. Gentle as it gets.:borg:
 
Forbin said:
Do married actors hang out on each others' jobs? I can see two alternatives:
Yes, to be a supportive spouse.
No, so as to not be a distraction.
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Honestly, if I were the lead in a TV series and I wasn't needed at the studio I would either be doing something unrelated to the profession or be working on my lines. I'd see my spouse at home. But that's just me. She also had baby Matthew at home who I'm sure she wanted to spend time with. Mike Ansara would be home in a few hours, she could see him then. :)
 
Never heard this myth before, and it also sounds unlikely to me, for all the reasons stated upthread. AFAIK, the only TOS guest actress that Shatner ever dated in real life was Nancy Kovack. (There's also the blooper of Shatner continuing to kiss Joan Marshall after the director said "cut," but I think we can safely attribute that to typical mid-60s horsing around.)
 
f14peter said:
While it may have been shaky and headed for divorce, Shatner was still married at the time, nor do I think he had a reputation of being a womanizer.
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Shatner's first wife, the woman whom he was married to at the time, was Gloria Rand.

Getting slightly off topic, what is fascinating about that is that the fictional Enterprise yeoman, you know, the one who had a romantic attraction to Shatner's Kirk character, also had the surname Rand. That's an interesting coincidence, if it was indeed a coincidence.

I wonder what Shatner thought about his character's personal yeoman and potential love interest having the same surname as his real life wife.

M'Sharak said:
This sounds a little too much like a retread of the often-repeated story about Charles Bronson hanging around the set to keep an eye on Jill Ireland during the shooting of "This Side of Paradise".
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It's only two examples, but I am seeing a pattern. It seems like this type of story has legs if the visiting spouse is a celebrity. If Ansara's wife had been a non-celebrity with a name of, say Cabrera Heden, I doubt that the story would be nearly as compelling.

Serveaux said:
It was entirely in character. The point to the hard smack and Kirk's reaction to it was that even while trying to project comradery and good will to the energy creature, Kang wasn't able or willing to completely suppress his hostile aggressiveness toward Kirk.
Click to expand...
Yes. In the context of the episode's story, the hearty backslap made a great deal of sense, imo.

After Kang was made aware that the situation was due to the manipulation of the sparkling alien, Kang was abruptly compelled to play nice. But beneath the contrived cameraderie, there must have been plenty of animosity. They tried to kill each other just moments before.

Also, there already existed a history of blood bad between the Klingons and the Federation. And Kirk did blow up Kang's ship.

Kang must have had a whole lot of pent up hostility at that moment. It did look as though Kang released some of that hostility with that mighty slap. The slap looked like an act of animosity in the guise of friendship.

An elaborate behind-the-scenes story to explain away the hard hitting slap is not necessary, imo, when a plausible explanation can be gleaned directly from the scene and the episode itself.

That said, the behind-the-scenes story as described by the OP could still be true. It is an amusing story. It adds to the lore of TOS, if it is true. But what are the odds that it is true.



Both Shatner and Barbara Eden are still around, perhaps some enterprising would-be interviewer could find a way to ask them if Barbara Eden ever visited the set of TOS while the show was in production.
 
Nerys Myk said:
No more than actor Doohan and character Kirk sharing the name "James" or actor Nimoy and character McCoy sharing the name "Leonard".
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Shatner invented the name "Mr. Lemli" to commemorate his three daughters, Leslie, Melanie, and Lisabeth. It's entirely possible he suggested Rand for his yeoman's name as a nod to his wife. In fact, that's the way I would bet. They were nowhere near divorce time in mid-1966.

And Leonard was not a coincidence in McCoy's case. At least, I think I saw something indicating that he was named after Nimoy as a mild in-joke.
 
Legend has it that the ensuing crack from that clap continues to echo even to this day.
 
Nerys Myk said:
When was Rand named? Would Shatner have that kind of pull prior to the writing of Corbomite Maneuver?
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If the timing is correct, pull isn't necessarily required. Could be as simple as the writer (Roddenberry?) asking for suggestions.
 
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