I enjoy learning about the goings-on behind the filming of the original series and the TOS cast movies. I've read the autobiographies of the cast members, and some other books. I like to think that the facts and tidbits in these books are fairly accurate, but... In Nimoy's second book he states that after the filming of the last TOS episode, there was no wrap party, no shared goodbyes, but Shatner recalls the complete opposite in "Star Trek Memories". Are some biographies/recollections considered more credible than others by a considerable margin?
The accuracy of the biographies?
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I find that, generally, Shatner's memories of the 60s are quite skewed. Certainly, Majel Barrett's last ever scene in "Turnabout Intruder" is preserved in the Blue Pear LP, "Star Trek Bloopers", cobbled together from audio tapes found in a studio dumpster. Someone realises she's finished for the season and they all say, "Bye Majel".
Joan Winston spent a whole week on set for that episode, and wrote it up for "Star Trek Lives!" a short while later. Shatner was heavily dosed up with the flu that week and probably wouldn't have been interested in attending a rap party. Nichelle Nichols wasn't even in the episode; instead she'd been replaced by Barbara Baldavin at Communications (she was the wife of the casting director, IIRC, and was returning as Angela/Lisa).
Most celebrity autobiographies (including politicians) are peppered with glorified memories, fuzzy recollections, and plain old tall tales. They can be interesting reads but are usually not good as historical documents.
That is why I don't believe things from multiple parties. That is also wrong with some individuals, they choose to believe in what they read from their own perceptions and respond as such.
Which is the strange thing about the Herb Solow/Bob Justman book - they even remember word for word details of conversations they had with many people.
^ Or, at least, they think they remember those conversations.
All memories are faulty. Even the books written with the best of intentions are going to be skewed by the passage of time. And then there's stories that are purposely exaggerated in order to make them more interesting.
All memories are faulty. Even the books written with the best of intentions are going to be skewed by the passage of time. And then there's stories that are purposely exaggerated in order to make them more interesting.
The Solow/Justman book is fairly well researched, though. They interviewed most of the people mentioned in the book who were still alive at the time, AFAIK. Of course, conversations remembered years later won't be 100% accurate, but they seemed to interview everyone they could on the other end of those conversations.
There are still errors that cropped in, though (Justman seems to be mis-remembering the toy/phaser situation early in the series, and Harlan Ellison has criticized some of the book's portrayal of his behavior, which seems to have been based on untruths related to the authors by Don Ingalls).
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The Shatner books have their moments, but his memory is off in quite a few places.
Exactly. For any of the regular convention celebs, you have to remember that some of them have been telling their anecdotes up to forty times a year for four decades! As they tell them, they monitor audience reactions, and they'll keep/expand the bits that get maximum laughs and tweak the boring bits 'til they, too, are more engaging. It's very unusual that an interviewer can crack it for an untold story.
I have a hilarious anecdote of a bizarre fan wedding I once attended. I'm sure it's exaggerated out of all proportion now, having retold and acted out bits over many years. Although, at other times, I realize the unexaggerated version is probably just as unbelieveable.
True. I can't make heads or tails of the "first interracial kiss" debate. Nichols stands firm that they kissed, Shatner's memoir claims they didn't, but in the tv version of Shatner's Memories he says they did. I'm honestly not sure they even remember what really happened at this point. I guess the lesson here is to just enjoy these recollections for their entertainment value, rather than seek any hard and fast facts...
Which raises the question "Who could forget if he'd kissed Nichelle Nichols?"
It doesn't really matter about the kiss anyway. Because they event was nowhere near as significant as claimed even if they did kiss.
First off, they weren't the first interracial kiss on television by any means. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were of different races and frequently kissed throughout the run of I Love Lucy. Also, on Trek itself, Shatner had already kissed multi-racial actress Barbara Luna in "Mirror, Mirror."
Even if you want to limit it to a white/black interracial kiss, they weren't the first. That honor goes to Sammy Davis, Jr. and Nancy Sinatra on the show "Movin' with Nancy." But that wasn't actually a SCRIPTED show, you say? Well, then, how about an interracial kiss that took place on the British drama Emergency Ward 10.
Plus, remember that the kiss between Kirk and Uhura was forced and not voluntary.
So....
"Plato's Stepchildren" was the first kiss between a white man and a black woman depicted on American scripted television with the provisos that they may or may not have actually kissed and they were being forced to do so.
Sounds groundbreaking to me.
First off, they weren't the first interracial kiss on television by any means. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were of different races and frequently kissed throughout the run of I Love Lucy. Also, on Trek itself, Shatner had already kissed multi-racial actress Barbara Luna in "Mirror, Mirror."
Even if you want to limit it to a white/black interracial kiss, they weren't the first. That honor goes to Sammy Davis, Jr. and Nancy Sinatra on the show "Movin' with Nancy." But that wasn't actually a SCRIPTED show, you say? Well, then, how about an interracial kiss that took place on the British drama Emergency Ward 10.
Plus, remember that the kiss between Kirk and Uhura was forced and not voluntary.
So....
"Plato's Stepchildren" was the first kiss between a white man and a black woman depicted on American scripted television with the provisos that they may or may not have actually kissed and they were being forced to do so.
Sounds groundbreaking to me.
How were Desi and Lucy even remotely "different races?"
Both of their ancestries were European.
What are you talking about?
Caucasian doesn't stop at the Pyrenees mountains, and the Iberian Peninsula is part of Europe. People whose ancestry originates there are Caucasian (which includes, but isn't exclusively, white). Hispanic is a ethnicity, it's a cultural identity and not a race.
This from someone who is half Spanish, and half Brazilian.
^ I presume you're kidding, but people of Hispanic descent are always classified as being of a different race than those commonly called Caucasian. Check your local census form.
My local census form definitely does not differentiate between Hispanic and Caucasian. Then again, I'm European. I've never considered them different races.
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