marshallkarp
Contributor
I have been getting emails and messages about the Sea Hunt 50th Anniversary Commemorative Podcast. Thanks to you. If you have haven't listened or downloaded yet, go to Underwater Videographer.
I thought some of you may be interested in the backstory on how it was planned and put together. Also, you may find interesting what was hoped for, tried, and did not make it into the podcast.
Brian Alves, who produces the show, and I started talking about a special Christmas show for our listeners months ago. As I have been doing the interviews, one of my questions was how they got into diving. Sea Hunt and Jacques Cousteau kept coming up. Also, when you just talk to baby boomer divers, the same names come up. I suggested to Brian, why not do a Sea Hunt 50th Anniversary Commemorative Podcast. Sea Hunt went into production in 1957 and started airing in 1958. He thought this was a great idea and I went to work.
The first thing was finding people associated wth Sea Hunt that are still alive after 50 years. Check out the IMDB.com database on Sea Hunt and you see almost all the names of people connected with it are deceased. However, there are some people still living, so those are who I concentrated on. The Scuba Guy's website was the best resource that I found on all things Sea Hunt. I got some interesting ideas from that I would suggest that you check that out, too:
Sea Hunt Television Series Lloyd Bridges Zale Parry Argonaut Scuba Guy Diving Bill Jones Tors Ziv TV Authorized Official
I put out messages on this and other dive forums and message boards for people who may know people that were connected with Sea Hunt and that was a help. Four people contacted Zale Parry on my behalf, but I understand that she is busy and doing less of these things. Regardless, she is still a remarkable lady.
You may be wondering how the Jeff Bridges interview came about. I received quite a few messages about contacting Beau and Jeff. My first thought was yeah, sure right. These guys are A list Hollywood actors, how am I supposed to get access to them, let alone interview them. That would be like trying to talk to George Clooney, no way. However, in the vein of leaving no stone unturned, I found Jeff's website and emailed his publicist with what I had in mind. I sent messages back to people that suggested this with, there I did it. Boy do I feel stupid, there is no way. I was so shocked with Jeff's publicist emailed me back with, Mr. Bridges would love to do this, when would you like to talk to him? After I interviewed him, I was so pumped up, I couldn't sleep that night. Just goes to show, you never know until you try. Jeff's clear purpose for doing this was to keep the memories of his father and Sea Hunt alive.
Moving on, someone tried to contact actress Linda Gaye on my behalf. She guest starred on five Sea Hunt episodes. Her daughter emailed us back saying that she is retired, prefers to stay that way, but wishes her fans and our Sea Hunt project well.
I was unable to contact the current owner of the Sea Hunt boat, the Argonaut. I emailed and snailed him several times, but no response. I did track down the company in Pennsylvania, Trojan Boat, that built the Argonaut. The current owners know alittle of the boat story and tried to put me in touch with someone who actually worked on it 50 years ago, but no response, in the end.
Ron Ely's name came up. Remember the Tarzan TV series and Doc Savage? I never saw it, but NBC did a revival of Sea Hunt in the 80s with Ron Ely as Mike Nelson. I always thought Mr. Ely was like the actors that followed Sean Connery in the James Bond films, tough task. However, he was friends with Lloyd Bridges and he is part of the Sea Hunt history, so I put out some word and got some suggestions, but nothing came from that.
There were few other inquires that went no where along the way. Hollywood actress Susan Silo answered my email and was thrilled to do the interview. What a sweet lovely lady she is and I wish her well.
Eric Hanauer first emailed me his article about Sea Hunt and the backstory. I thought, rather than me quoting from his email and the article, he agreed to give us his in-person backstory. I found this interesting as it turned out to be toward the end of Lloyd Bridges life and his perspective looking back and on Sea Hunt. I was glad to hear that he embraced his role and contribution towards the end.
Finally, there were some lovely stories people sent me about their Sea Hunt memories. I actually did read and record the best of them, but it became a very unfortunate out-take as it just did not work out and sound the way I thought. My thanks to you who sent these to me and they were posted here on the ScubaBoard forum.
So that is how we put the Podcast together. It took alot of hard investigative work and research, but through-out, it was very much a labor of love, respect, and appreciation. I hope you enjoy listening to it. We enjoyed making it.
Merry Christmas
Marshall Karp
I thought some of you may be interested in the backstory on how it was planned and put together. Also, you may find interesting what was hoped for, tried, and did not make it into the podcast.
Brian Alves, who produces the show, and I started talking about a special Christmas show for our listeners months ago. As I have been doing the interviews, one of my questions was how they got into diving. Sea Hunt and Jacques Cousteau kept coming up. Also, when you just talk to baby boomer divers, the same names come up. I suggested to Brian, why not do a Sea Hunt 50th Anniversary Commemorative Podcast. Sea Hunt went into production in 1957 and started airing in 1958. He thought this was a great idea and I went to work.
The first thing was finding people associated wth Sea Hunt that are still alive after 50 years. Check out the IMDB.com database on Sea Hunt and you see almost all the names of people connected with it are deceased. However, there are some people still living, so those are who I concentrated on. The Scuba Guy's website was the best resource that I found on all things Sea Hunt. I got some interesting ideas from that I would suggest that you check that out, too:
Sea Hunt Television Series Lloyd Bridges Zale Parry Argonaut Scuba Guy Diving Bill Jones Tors Ziv TV Authorized Official
I put out messages on this and other dive forums and message boards for people who may know people that were connected with Sea Hunt and that was a help. Four people contacted Zale Parry on my behalf, but I understand that she is busy and doing less of these things. Regardless, she is still a remarkable lady.
You may be wondering how the Jeff Bridges interview came about. I received quite a few messages about contacting Beau and Jeff. My first thought was yeah, sure right. These guys are A list Hollywood actors, how am I supposed to get access to them, let alone interview them. That would be like trying to talk to George Clooney, no way. However, in the vein of leaving no stone unturned, I found Jeff's website and emailed his publicist with what I had in mind. I sent messages back to people that suggested this with, there I did it. Boy do I feel stupid, there is no way. I was so shocked with Jeff's publicist emailed me back with, Mr. Bridges would love to do this, when would you like to talk to him? After I interviewed him, I was so pumped up, I couldn't sleep that night. Just goes to show, you never know until you try. Jeff's clear purpose for doing this was to keep the memories of his father and Sea Hunt alive.
Moving on, someone tried to contact actress Linda Gaye on my behalf. She guest starred on five Sea Hunt episodes. Her daughter emailed us back saying that she is retired, prefers to stay that way, but wishes her fans and our Sea Hunt project well.
I was unable to contact the current owner of the Sea Hunt boat, the Argonaut. I emailed and snailed him several times, but no response. I did track down the company in Pennsylvania, Trojan Boat, that built the Argonaut. The current owners know alittle of the boat story and tried to put me in touch with someone who actually worked on it 50 years ago, but no response, in the end.
Ron Ely's name came up. Remember the Tarzan TV series and Doc Savage? I never saw it, but NBC did a revival of Sea Hunt in the 80s with Ron Ely as Mike Nelson. I always thought Mr. Ely was like the actors that followed Sean Connery in the James Bond films, tough task. However, he was friends with Lloyd Bridges and he is part of the Sea Hunt history, so I put out some word and got some suggestions, but nothing came from that.
There were few other inquires that went no where along the way. Hollywood actress Susan Silo answered my email and was thrilled to do the interview. What a sweet lovely lady she is and I wish her well.
Eric Hanauer first emailed me his article about Sea Hunt and the backstory. I thought, rather than me quoting from his email and the article, he agreed to give us his in-person backstory. I found this interesting as it turned out to be toward the end of Lloyd Bridges life and his perspective looking back and on Sea Hunt. I was glad to hear that he embraced his role and contribution towards the end.
Finally, there were some lovely stories people sent me about their Sea Hunt memories. I actually did read and record the best of them, but it became a very unfortunate out-take as it just did not work out and sound the way I thought. My thanks to you who sent these to me and they were posted here on the ScubaBoard forum.
So that is how we put the Podcast together. It took alot of hard investigative work and research, but through-out, it was very much a labor of love, respect, and appreciation. I hope you enjoy listening to it. We enjoyed making it.
Merry Christmas
Marshall Karp
