Back in 1979 I proposed an article on Irwin Allen's
series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" to STARLOG magazine. Happily they
agreed and my writing partner, Mike Clark, and I went off on a search for the people
behind the film and the TV series. Along the way we discovered that an executive
at 20th Century Fox had two of the original miniatures from the show on display
in his office. These were two of the smaller models, the four-foot Seaview and
one of the Flying Subs. Both were mounted on wooden bases and sitting on a shelf
in the office.
We asked if we could photograph the miniatures and
were told yes, but not in the office as it was too crowded. Instead, we were
offered the use of a soundstage as long as we didn't get in anyone's way. I
still remember the thrill of walking across the Fox lot carrying the Seaview in
front of me. I can also remember a mad desire to jump in the car and never head
back!
Mike and I photographed the miniatures from a variety
of angles and under some very hectic conditions. The stage was being prepped for
the studio's Christmas party and there were ladders and workmen everywhere. The
people working on the stage weren't thrilled about us being in the middle of it
all, so we were only able to get one quick roll of photos. Evidently these
miniatures have long since gone missing, so this is a chance to see the only
photos of them that I know of.
In addition, there are pictures of Irwin Allen in his
office at Warner Bros. during our interview for the article, as well as shots of
a large-size Flying Sub for sale at an auction, others in storage and finally
scenes of me successfully fitting my newly purchased FS-1 into the back of a
Porsche! There's also one shot of the Robot from Lost in Space before the
costume was restored. There are a total of 45 different pictures, each in the
three formats as described above, for a total of 135 images. Please
send me an e-mail if you are
interested in a CD of these photos for your collection.
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The 19-foot
model of the Seaview on display at Movie World. The setting was tacky
but it was a thrill to see the Seaview in person. |
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Irwin Allen
in his office at Warner Bros. as we interviewed him. To say the office
was impressive would be an understatement - when he later moved out
more than a dozen people were fit into that space. |
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This model of the
Flying Sub was about 10 inches across. |
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Here's the
4-footer being photographed on a soundstage at Fox. Sadly this
miniature has vanished from sight. |
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Here I am
happily celebrating my very own FS-1! This miniature was used for
flying scenes and the famous plunge into the water, so it does not
have any interior mock-up. It once held a smoke generator to simulate
damage, but that was removed before I bought it. I still have the
Flying Sub upstairs in my library. By the way, it's big - about 36
inches across. |
