Let’s travel back in time for a visit with Rod Taylor in 1966. His parents were visiting from Australia and he was in the midst of making “Chuka.” Hope you enjoy these as we mark Rod’s January 11th birthday!
The following snapshots were taken poolside at Rod’s first Palm Springs getaway, which he owned in the mid- to late-1960s. The house was at 444 W. Mariscal Road, in the area known as Little Tuscany. It was across the street from Dean Martin’s and not far from the Racquet Club. (Rod was an avid tennis player.)
Rod and his father.Rod and his daughter
These two snapshots aboard a boat show (1) Rod with his parents, Bill and Mona, and his then-wife Mary and (2) Rod with his agent, Wilt Melnick.
Finally, here are some snapshots of Rod with his parents and wife on the set of “Chuka.” Also pictured behind the scenes are actors Ernest Borgnine and John Mills.
A special message from Rod Taylor and an unusually heavy snowfall in Britain brought a glimpse of a white Christmas to summertime Australia in 1967.
The Christmas Day broadcast also delivered a sneak peek at Rod’s next movie, “The High Commissioner” (1968), one of many special promotional efforts for the film in which Rod Taylor plays an Australian detective on an important assignment in London.
Rod Taylor, at far right, recording special messages for Australia.
Rod recorded the Christmas message on the grounds of the Hall Barn estate, a grand old ancestral home in Beaconsfied, Buckinghamshire, about 20 miles northwest of London. The setting was a frosty one, as England saw an unusually snowy winter in 1967-68.
“It was a notable occasion,” declared the Australiasian Exhibitor in its Jan. 4, 1968, issue, stating that it was “the first time that a film distribution company and an Australian television network had combined to present a Christmas message from an international film star whilst his current film was still in production.”
Australia’s Channel 7 network scheduled the message in peak viewing times in all the major city stations across the continent on Christmas evening.
Millions of people saw Rod’s Christmas greeting and also were treated to a scene from the movie. “The High Commssioner” (known as “Nobody Runs Forever” in the U.K.) was not scheduled to wrap shooting until the end of January 1968 and wouldn’t be released until later in 1968. Thus, it was quite an achievement to get a film clip for the December 1967 TV broadcast.
Coordinating the message and the film clip took six weeks of organization between Sydney and London, involving British Empire Films, Pinewood Studios, the Rank Organisation’s overseas publicity department, and Channel 7 executives. The latter had to arrange special time slots and distribution of the film for all the stations — Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberrra.
Director Ralph Thomas actress Camilla Sparv and Rod Taylor, in his Aussie shearing jacket.
In “The High Commissioner,” Rod plays an Australian detective on a major assignment in London. It was one of the rare times in his career that Rod, an Aussie, actually played an Australian.
A London-based contributor to the Los Angeles Times, Sally K. Brass, interviewed Rod while he was filming in “the drawing room of the Australian High Commissioner to London.” She described Rod as “standing against an elegant background of antiques, objets d’art and valuable oil paintings which furnish the Jacobean mansion in Beaconsfield where ‘Nobody Runs Forever’ is being filmed.”
“His shooting schedule was tough that day,” Brass wrote, wryly. Rod’s scenes called for him to make passes at Camilla Sparv all morning. Then, the afternoon would be devoted to rehearsals for a bedroom scene with Daliah Lavi.
Daliah Lavi and Rod Taylor
Lunchtime was spent at the Saracen’s Head, a pub also known as the Royal Saracen’s Head thanks to a legend that King Richard the Lionheart once drank there. The complete Los Angeles Times article is here (PDF).
Another big promotional effort for “The High Commissioner” occurred in September 1968, when Rod went to Australia for the movie’s premiere and met with Prime Minister John Gorton. More on the movie and the meeting can be found on the page for “The High Commissioner” on the Rod Taylor Site.
Welcome to Rod Taylor’s place, circa 1956! With the stability of an MGM contract under his belt, Rod moved from a tiny Hollywood apartment into this house at 19210 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California.
Rod shared the three-bedroom/two-bath house with two roomates (more on that later). It was built in 1948 and is located along Las Tunas Beach.
So, here’s a treat for Rod’s fans while we observe his January 11th birthday.
Scroll through the following galleries for scans from a series of proof sheets. The photo shoot took place in 1956 to accompany a Photoplay magazine article that ran in March 1957. Rod has his “Raintree County” haircut at this time.
Below, we go inside for a look at Rod reading, joking and playing Mr. Fix-it!
A quick change of shirts and here’s more of Rod around the house.
For the series of pictures below, the photographer must have asked Rod to pretend he’s getting an early call? Cute way to get Rod in bed!
Finally, Rod hits the beach and romps in the surf with dogs and surf board.
Here’s the result from the photo shoot, leading in to a nice feature story about Rod in Photoplay, March 1957 (PDF). Surprisingly, only one other photo was used to accompany the article, making the above galleries even more special.
Rod shared the Malibu pad with fellow actor Jeff Richards and casting director Bob Walker. Other roomates came and went, including Charles Bronson. A neighbor was Russ Tamblyn. Below are Bob and Jeff at a cafe in Malibu from the same photoshoot as above. The one of Rod and Jeff fishing was taken at another time.
Finally, below are two later renovations of the house, which is now valued at more than $2,700,000. There’s a Zillow listing that shows the interior and its views. Quite a difference from 1956!
Left, likely a pre-2014 view of the house. Right, a 2017 view of the house.
Rod Taylor was born on this day — January 11 — in 1930. The Complete Rod Taylor Site was launched on this date in 2001.
Rod, who passed away on Jan. 7, 2015, would have been 91 today. The website is a robust 20 years old, which I must say is quite a milestone in internet years!
Last year, I had resolved to do a renovation of the website to make it more modern and mobile responsive. That goal was going well, but was derailed by a combination of stresses both global and personal.
Nevertheless, the Rod Taylor site remains a tribute to the actor, his life and his work. And TCM is airing a daylong tribute to Rod Taylor!
One of these movies, “Trader Horn” (1973), has never had a home video release, so it is quite a rarity. Although it has deep flaws, it’s a treat to be able to see it on TV.
Many thanks to TCM for regularly saluting Rod Taylor on his birthday!
Rod Taylor was the producer one film during his long career: a 1967 Western titled “Chuka” in which he also played the title role. I’m working on a lengthy project about the film, but in the meantime, I thought I’d share some special snapshots from behind the scenes.
Rod’s parents, Bill and Mona Taylor, made the trek from Australia in 1966 while Rod was making “Chuka.” These photos are from a small photo album that had once belonged to Bill Taylor and were acquired through the magic of eBay.
‘Chuka’ co-star Ernest Borgnine with Mona and Bill Taylor.
Mona and Bill Taylor check out a prop while an amused Ernest Borgnine looks on.
Mona and Bill Taylor with Mary and Rod Taylor.
Mona Taylor, actor John Mills, Bill Taylor, and Rod & Mary Taylor.
In “The Liquidator,” Rod Taylor’s character was duped into a mission to bump off the Duke of Edinburgh. In real life, their encounter was a much more civilized affair.
Fifty-five years ago, on June 16, 1965, Rod Taylor attended a gala reopening of the Theatre Royal Windsor, a venerable London-area establishment that had been undergoing much-needed renovations.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, attended the event with his wife, Queen Elizabeth II. Rod Taylor was there with his wife at the time, Mary Hilem.
Rod Taylor and then-wife Mary at a formal event in 1965, quite possibly the Theatre Royal Windsor reopening.
The royal party included 37 people who were the queen’s guests at Windsor Castle for Ascot Week. Among the dignitaries were the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Princess Alexandra and Angus Ogilvy, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
In addition to Mary, Rod’s entourage consisted of his friend, assistant and stunt coordinator, Fred Hakim, and Fred’s wife, Delores.
The queen was patron to the Theatre Royal Windsor Trust, which raised about £75,000 to support the renovations that were unveiled at the event. Rod was a donor to the cause.
In “The Liquidator,” Rod Taylor and Jill St. John went gunning for the Duke of Edinburgh amid a plot of double- and triple-crossing. Trevor Howard, left, stood in for the duke at the crucial moment later in the film.
The Royal Treatment
Movie-making, royal and real worlds collided as Rod was completing work on “The Liquidator.” The schedule for the spy romp had begun on April 5, 1965, with four weeks of filming at locations along the French Riviera and in Monte Carlo.
Production moved to London on May 1 and later, Rod was joined by his wife, Mary, and baby daughter, Felicia, for a three-week visit.
Rod described the royal invitation in a letter to Hedda Hopper, the empress of Hollywood gossip columnists: “Mary and the baby are enjoying London and we are getting very social and kissy next week by being presented to the Queen. Mainly I think because I donated some dough to improve the dressing rooms at the Royal Windsor Theatre, which is under her patronage.”
An article in the October 1965 Rod-Lore fan newsletter reported that the “dough” amounted to $1,000 (about $8,000 in today’s dollars).
Rod discussed the event with another grand dame of the Hollywood gossip scene, Sheila Graham, in an August 1965 column.
“The queen brought her guests from Windsor Castle,” Rod said. “We didn’t actually meet her. But we saw her.”
Graham wrote:
“And the queen saw Rod. She smiled and whispered to Prince Philip who whispered to Princess Margaret and they all smiled in the direction of Rod Taylor.”
Sounds like a scene straight out of “The Crown”!
All the gentlemen in the audience wore black tie, Rod said, but “the people with the queen were in white tie, black tails, with their coats featuring red lapels and red cuffs.”
What Rod was describing is the Windsor uniform, a piece of royal attire introduced by King George III in the 1770s. Early versions featured a bicorne hat with ostrich feathers, and heavy gold braiding on the coat. In more recent times, the Windsor men have sported dinner jacket versions, like the one Prince Philip is wearing in the portrait below.
Prince Philip, in Windsor Castle wearing the Windsor uniform. The painting was done to commemorate his retirement from public duties at the age of 96. By Australian artist Ralph Heimans, 2017.
Renovations and Reopenings
For the reopening festivities, Rod and the royals enjoyed a production of “The Rivals,” a classical comedy of manners by Richard Sheridan that, like the Windsor uniform, dates to the 1770s.
Their surroundings were somewhat more modern. The theater was built in 1910, albeit on classical 18th century lines and rather austere.
The renovations in May 1965, funded by contributions to the Theatre Royal Windsor Trust, added decorations in a color scheme of crimson, white and gold (suggested by the Queen Mother). Work also included installing a crystal chandelier from Paris, improving refreshment service areas, upgrading the air conditioning and wiring, and modernizing the dressing rooms (thank you, Rod).
More Theater Royalty
The Theatre Royal Windsor has undergone ups and downs over the years, but it seems on the upswing right now, with another reopening of sorts. After closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the venue has begun “socially distant” rehearsals for a production of “Hamlet” that will star Sir Ian McKellen as Shakespeare’s moody Danish prince.
More information about the theater and its history can be found at its website.
Remember in Part 1, there was an idea for a sequel to “The Time Machine” that featured going back in time to Atlantis?
And in Part 2, scripts were being developed that would have the Time Traveler rescue his friend Filby from perishing in World War I?
Well, Part 3 brings some of those ideas together, based on five pages of notes that were hand-written by Rod Taylor in the mid- to late-1990s.
A Puzzle
Rod’s notes are fragmentary, but we can puzzle out a bit of the story.
What if, Rod muses, we duplicate but improve upon the Time Traveler’s return to the laboratory as depicted in “Time Machine: The Journey Back”? But this time he would go earlier, to 1911, to talk to a newspaper friend and somehow trick Philby out of dying in World War I.
Spoiler alert! That may actually be the end of the movie.
The film would open with Filby giving a lecture to a “pompous scientific gathering of fuddy duddies.” He’s reading from the journal of his friend George, the Time Traveler, as he fights to preserve George’s house as an historic monument. “The property is not for sale,” Filby declares amid jeering, mustachioed audience members. “I believe in my friend.”
But the fuddy duddies don’t believe. They demand proof of time travel! What will convince them? A photograph from the distant past! Maybe Henry VIII. Elizabeth I. Stonehenge.
From there, Rod proposes scenes that would show how the Eloi had progressed after George returned to the future and built a life with Weena. The Morlocks have been vanquished and the Eloi have become artists and craftsmen – kind of “brilliant hippies.” George has taught them with the benefit of “the three books” from the original 1960 movie.
This idyllic existence is shattered when the Morlocks return and kidnap Weena, George and their young son and daughter.
It appears that only George survives. Another scene would show a solemn group of mourners, with George’s narration telling us, “It was over. I felt not like a man, but the empty shell of a man. I had lost my children and now my beloved wife.”
After the funeral, George and an Eloi friend, Acron, travel in time to the distant past. (For this sequel concept, the time machine now has a passenger seat, as Rod mentions at the end of Part 2.)
On one of their first stops, they meet the druids in 1500 BC, but move on at George’s insistence.
Then, it’s on to visit the survivors from the submerging of Atlantis. George and Acron arrive at a white temple (Stonehenge location?). The people of the distant past are giants – gentle web-footed servants who saved the Atlanteans from drowning when Atlantis was engulfed. The Atlanteans are beautiful, tall good guys, Rod writes. He proposes that there is only one villain: a beautiful aristocratic woman perhaps.
Rod’s notes do not describe what happens next, but he writes that Acron will remain in the past to create a statue of the Time Machine and George, wearing the costume of Atlantis.
Then, George changes into his familiar 1890s jacket for the journey in time to get Filby. The idea possibly was to take Filby with him back to Atlantis. As Rod said in a 1994 magazine article, “We’ll go backward in time instead of into the future.”
Still Standing
Rod’s notes also refer to the Great Fire of London. It’s unclear where this would fit into the plot, but his notations are fun.
Rod suggests a location that could be used – the Wig and Pen Club in London. The Wig and Pen was a members-only club, located across from the Royal Courts of Justice, where lawyers and journalists exchanged court gossip. It was built in 1625 and survived the Great Fire in 1666. It’s one of the last standing examples that era. Perfect for a movie about time travel!
Plus, Rod notes, “I was an honorary member.”
Mysteries Remain
As mentioned in Part 2, many people involved in the creation of “Time Machine: The Journey Back” were enthusiastic about going on to produce a full sequel to “The Time Machine.” They included director Clyde Lucas; Rod Taylor and Alan Young; film historian Bob Burns and his wife, Kathy; and screenwriter D.C. Fontana, famed for her work in the Star Trek universe.
Fontana wrote an outline for a sequel, as did Alan Young. Lucas has said that he, Rod and Alan Young continued to meet to discuss story ideas. Rod’s notes are likely a result of those meetings.
As I’ve taken this recent deep dive into Time Machine sequels, I’ve been delighted to find a lot of new-to-me resources. I also have been disappointed by a promising lead.
What I really need is a time machine to go back and ask questions! But until one comes along, I’ll keep digging and hope to unearth more treasures.
Part 1 of this series explored director George Pal’s efforts to follow up his 1960 version of “The Time Machine” with a sequel.
Part 2 will look at the making of a sequel scene within a 1993 documentary directed by Clyde Lucas.
And because this part became longer than I expected, there will be a Part 3 that describes Rod Taylor’s own notes and ideas for a sequel film.
The Documentary
“Time Machine: The Journey Back” (1993) is a 48-minute documentary narrated by Rod Taylor and featuring many of the creative and technical geniuses behind “The Time Machine.”
The project was the brainchild of Clyde Lucas, a producer/director/composer who first saw “The Time Machine” at a drive-in theater at the age of nine. He was dazzled. The allure of the Time Machine remained a constant in his life as he moved toward a career in filmmaking.
The Time Machine also had quite an odyssey, as detailed in the documentary. The prop was sold at the infamous MGM auction in 1970. After years as a traveling sideshow attraction, it was discovered in shabby condition in a thrift store in Orange County, California.
Enter film historian, collector and performer Bob Burns. He had been immensely outbid on the prop at the MGM auction, but the Time Machine was his at last. Parts of the Machine were missing or damaged, but Burns had the aid of blueprints from George Pal and a restoration team that included special effects artist Tom Scherman and renowned “Star Trek” script writer Dorothy (D.C.) Fontana, among many others.
In a screen capture from the documentary, D.C. Fontana, Tom Scherman and Lynn Barker work on the chair for the restoration of the Time Machine prop in 1976.
Their work paid off when the Time Machine became the centerpiece for Burns’ annual Halloween show in 1976, with a delighted George Pal in attendance.
One of the people who saw the Time Machine at Burns’ house in the mid-1970s was Clyde Lucas. When they met again in the 1990s, Burns “started to tell me about the places the Machine had been, and that’s how we came up with the concept of making the (documentary),” Lucas said in a Starlog magazine article, January 1994.
The documentary, filmed in June 1992, has three key segments. First, special effects wizards Wah Chang and Gene Warren describe how they achieved the 1960 movie’s Oscar-winning special effects. Next, the film shows how the Time Machine prop was created and the ways it has been put to use over the years, including details about its painstaking restoration.
But third and most endearingly, “Time Machine: The Journey Back” includes a 13-minute sequel featuring three of the original’s actors, penned by its original writer.
The Sequel Scene
To write the sequel scene, Lucas went to the source, locating retired screenwriter David Duncan in Washington state. According to Duncan, “The scene was supposed to be a prologue but ended up as an epilogue.” (Don Brockway’s Time Machine Home page, 2000.)
An epilogue is more fitting, as the scene stars Rod Taylor and Alan Young – 32 years after they appeared in “The Time Machine.”
From Starlog magazine, Clyde Lucas and Rod Taylor in Bob Burns’ basement with the restored Time Machine prop.
Filming for most of the documentary took place at the home of Bob Burns. There, Rod did the narration and introductions that connect the segments. The opening of the sequel scene, with Whit Bissell reprising his role from the 1960 film, also was shot at Burns’ house.
Then, production moved to a soundstage in the San Fernando Valley.
Don Coleman, the creator of the Time Machine Project website, has recounted the two-day creation of the sequel scene.
On the first morning, the Time Traveler’s workshop was constructed at the sound stage, replicating the set from the 1960 movie. Shooting began later that day, filming the actor who portrayed “young George” as he invents his time machine. (So, there is an element of prologue to the scene!)
The next morning, the stars came out. First, Alan Young arrived and filming began on his solo part of the scene. Rod Taylor arrived sometime in the morning and was in wardrobe. “He had brought with him the smoking jacket that he had worn in the original film, and it still fit him,” Coleman exclaimed.
Meanwhile, the Time Machine prop was being trucked from Bob Burns’ basement to the workshop set.
After lunch, Rod and Alan performed their scene together. Here’s a brief summary:
The Time Machine materializes just as Filby is reminiscing as he closes up his friend’s house. George has been gone for 30 years, building a “magnificent” future with Weena and the Eloi.
For Filby, only 15 years have passed, but this is a key moment in time. He has his orders and is flying to France in the morning.
Knowing Filby’s fate in The Great War, George implores him to get in the Time Machine and accompany him to the future. “We can leap the years … Leave this war in the past.”
But Filby wants no part of time travel. “I don’t like a device that might alter what the fates have in store for us,” he says. Filby threatens to destroy it, but George calms him and Filby bids his old friend good-bye.
George gets back into the machine, pledging to return. He knows that Filby is destined to die on May 15, 1916. Next time, he muses, he’ll travel to May 14, 1916, to try to persuade Filby again. “Maybe then my friend will come with me.”
Viewer’s Guide
“Time Machine: The Journey Back” is easily found. It’s included on the DVD and Blu-ray editions of “The Time Machine.” It also can be streamed on Amazon Prime.
A stand-alone version of the 13-minute sequel scene, titled “Time Traveller: What Fate Has In Store,” also is included in a compilation called “Victorian Tales” available on Amazon.
A Sequel Movie?
After filming this epilogue scene, Clyde Lucas was brimming with enthusiasm for a full-length sequel to “The Time Machine,” as captured in his January 1994 Starlog interview.
“The Time Machine is the Enterprise and Rod Taylor is Captain Kirk. And Alan Young is a combination of McCoy and Spock,” Lucas said, employing some apt “Star Trek” analogies. “Anybody who ever has a chance to do a full sequel to this movie is out of their minds if they don’t put those people in it — not in cameos, but as part of the movie. … Somebody ought to pick up that torch (from George Pal) and run with it.”
That “somebody” turned out to be Clyde Lucas himself, with help from Bob and Kathy Burns, Alan Young and Rod Taylor, and D.C. Fontana of “Star Trek” fame.
“D.C. wrote the first outline,” Lucas said in a subsequent interview. “Then, later, Alan wrote one. Rod, Alan and I had several meetings about story ideas.”
By October 1994, Rod was anticipating co-producing and acting in a sequel.
“The plan is to recreate (the Time Traveler’s) role at a later period in the character’s life and include his former buddy, Alan Young,” Rod said in an Oct. 29, 1994, ActiveTimes magazine article. “This time, the Time Machine will have a passenger seat so I can take my friend along. And we’ll go backward in time instead of into the future.”
Regardless of writer, Lucas’ sequel pitch met the same fate as George Pal’s attempts.
“I, as producer, along with Gross-Weston Productions, made pitches to every major studio, including MGM and all TV networks, including the SciFi Channel,” Lucas said. “But at the time they did not want to do any Victorian time travel movies or series.”
Up Next, Part 3
In Part 3, read ideas for a sequel from the pen of Rod Taylor, including a trip to Atlantis.
COMING SOON! “Return of the Time Traveler,” starring Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux! Produced and directed by George Pal! Special effects by Ray Harryhausen!
Ready? Just hop in a time machine, create an alternate reality, and you’re all set!
For a while after the release of “The Time Machine,” it appeared that a follow-up was on the fast track.
But a direct sequel – one that included George Pal and Rod Taylor – never came to pass. Ideas, scenes, books, notes and drawings have surfaced over the years. George Pal and Rod Taylor both tried their hand at writing or producing a follow-up. Bad timing and lack of financing thwarted their efforts.
This post will take a look at George Pal’s attempts at a sequel. Part 2 will look at “Time Machine: The Journey Back” (1993) and Rod Taylor’s turn at writing.
Immediate Reaction
In July/August 1960, “The Time Machine” opened to critical acclaim and audience enthusiasm. Its pre-release buzz prompted MGM to put a sequel on its roster for 1961.
Director George Pal was eager to do it. According to an item by Los Angeles Times film critic Philip K. Scheuer on Aug. 9, 1960, Pal moved up the filming of a sequel to January 1961 while pushing back the making of “The Brothers Grimm” (1962).
Initial plans for “Return of the Time Traveler” included reuniting Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux and adding newcomer Anthony Hall to the cast. Hall, a.k.a. Sal Ponti, had just completed work on another George Pal project, “Atlantis, the Lost Continent” (1961).
Scheuer wrote that one sequence in the sequel would have the trio go back in time, overshoot their mark and find themselves in Atlantis. “Smart, huh?” Scheuer wrote. “The sets are already made.”
However, Pal never got a script together, and time marched on.
“George wasn’t quite sure what the plot was going to be,” Rod said in a July 1986 Starlog magazine interview. “He had some marvelous ideas, but he kept changing the concept. He told me about five different storylines, but I never read any completely finalized script.”
To the Future
Some of the early concepts for the sequel appear in comments and drawings by George Pal.
In a 1975 interview for Castle of Frankenstein magazine, Pal was asked if he’d ever thought of doing a sequel. He replied:
“Yes, yes. I would have, but we just never got to it at MGM. We had very difficult times with just the changing management. I would have loved to make a sequel having the Time Traveler go back in time, or — there was a great sequence which … just didn’t fit in our plot [of the original] — to go back to the same place [A.D. 802,701] and then go further into the future when the crabs took over.
“It was very beautiful. I can just see Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux, just the two of them there, go in there where the crabs are and the ocean is flat and doesn’t move any more and the sun is hot all the time. I think we could have developed a very interesting story of the loneliness of these two people.”
In his book, “Keep Watching the Skies” (1986), author Bill Warren described the first-announced sequel script:
“The Time Traveler was to go on into the future even farther, as in the novel: Pal prepared moody sketches of this unimaginably distant time, with the prescribed crabs and the huge, dim sun on the horizon. But he also included giant insects, and human beings who hide from them in huge honeycombs. The Time Traveler was to do for these people what he wanted to do for the Eloi.” That is, help them escape their oppressors and become peace-loving and self-sufficient.
As time went on, Pal reportedly got his old friend Ray Harryhausen involved. (The renowned visual effects artist and filmmaker got his start in Hollywood working on Pal’s Puppetoon films in the 1940s.)
“George and I were going to do a sequel to ‘The Time Machine,’” Harryhausen said in the afterword to David Hughes’ book, “The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made” (2008).
Harryhausen was to do the stop-motion animation and creature designs based on a story that Pal and he were working on. But, Harryhausen lamented, the real-life space program was going on at the time and computers were becoming a big thing. MGM decided that the Time Machine sequel needed to be more “modern.”
Pal went back to the drawing board, this time with screenwriter Joe Morhaim (who worked with Pal on “Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze,” 1975).
Son of Time Traveler
In a December 1977 Starlog article, Pal said that he and Joe Morhaim were busy writing a new screenplay as well as a novel. You can sense Pal’s excitement as he relates the story:
“This is actually how the film will begin,” he says, relishing every moment of his storytelling. “We open it up with the Time Traveler and Weena rushing back from the future. They’re both in the time machine, Weena is pregnant, and the Time Traveler … wants his son to be born in his own time, his own place. He drives so recklessly and so fast that the machine hits the wrong moment and place and freezes during the London Blitz of 1943. It cracks. Tumbles and cracks. Weena runs out into the street in panic. He runs after her to try to protect her from the bombing with his own body. He gets killed and, then, she gets killed. The planes leave. And there’s a long, long silence. Suddenly, we hear a baby cry. Then we pan over to the time machine and next to it is a 1977 version of the machine. A brand new one. A young man stands there … He has just witnessed the death of his parents and his own birth. That’s the way we start!
“From then on in, it’s the story of the young man trying to find his parents in the future and warn them not to try to go back in time. Because if they do, they’ll be killed. He would rather not be born than to have his parents die. Isn’t that a great idea?” Pal asks gleefully.
A Starlog article a few months later (May 1978) reports that the script was ready, the book version was near completion, and Pal was eager to bring the production to the screen.
What was Hollywood’s reaction to the spin-off? “Nobody is interested right now,” Pal sighed. “They all say it’s impossible to bring to the screen. That’s Hollywood for you.”
Unfortunately, time was running out for George Pal. He died in 1980. But the idea of a Time Machine sequel lived on.
A Novel Idea
The novel “Time Machine II,” by George Pal and Joe Morhaim, was published in 1981, a year after Pal’s death.
It includes the exciting opening scene Pal described and a story focused on the son of the Time Traveler. He’s an orphan who learns the truth about his parents, builds a time machine and meets up with them in the year 802,701ish. He finds George and Weena living a peaceful life among the Eloi. But this reunion is short-lived and he is whisked off millions of years into the future. This is where the son encounters the monstrous crabs, the dying sea, the big red sun, the huge insects and the honeycomb people from Pal’s original script concept. Perils ensue, followed by timeline paradoxes. The novel ends with the George, Weena and their son united. But it also raises the question, what world is this? Have they created a parallel universe?
The description of the second time machine, circa 1970s, seems to fit the studios’ demand for Pal to make the Time Machine more techy and modern. It has dials, a time traveling radar detector and a canopy that looks more like the machine in the 2002 “The Time Machine” movie with Guy Pearce.
[The “Time Machine II” novel is described in great detail and with insightful analysis by RJ Onyx Moonshadow in a May 10, 2018, article for the Time Travel Nexus website. Don’t forget to travel back here after you’ve read it!]
Genius with a Broken Heart
Rod Taylor has expressed his admiration for George Pal on many occasions, and he also has been able to offer perspective on why the filmmaker’s lovely qualities were a handicap when going up against hard-nosed studio types.
“George Pal was a genius,” Rod said in a 1986 Starlog article. “He was a lovely, warm-hearted man. I thought of him as a funny little elf. He was surrounded by tiny puppets and toys, which he brought to life in his movies.”
But, Rod added, “He had so much trouble getting his movies made, because he lived in another world. The studio executives treated him like a weird little fellow who couldn’t make money. He just didn’t inspire confidence in the moguls, who were only interested in profit.”
Rod echoed his sentiments in a 1994 Starlog piece. “Pal tried to schlep around town to do ‘The Time Machine II’ and a few other movies, and they told him, ‘You’ve had your time, George. It’s all over.’ I honestly believe he died of a broken heart.”
But Wait, There’s More!
In Part 2, we’ll visit an epilog to “The Time Machine” in a scene from the documentary “Time Machine: The Journey Back.” Plus, we’ll take a peek at Rod’s notes about his own attempt at fleshing out a sequel screenplay. Stay tuned!
Rod Taylor did a lot of writing throughout his acting career, from simply changing lines to rewriting scenes to crafting complete screenplays.
One script that made it to the screen (or, at least, to video) was “The Treasure Seekers.”
Another script that Rod pushed extremely hard to make was “Last Bus to Banjo Creek.” His efforts on that project enjoyed considerable coverage throughout the 1960s and ‘70s.
Another script, “Black Opal,” has not enjoyed such attention despite thrilling action sequences, dazzling Australian scenery and a touch of the supernatural.
A draft of the screenplay, dated Jan. 11, 1997, tells a great story. It starts with a vivid description for the opening shot: The camera swoops down, past “the monstrous coat-hanger shape of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and on over the shining bug wings of the Sydney Opera House” and descends on a scene of seafaring action. Despite the obviously modern-day establishing shot, the action features pirate ships of bygone days.
The next scene reverts to the present day, as preparations are being made for a major sailing competition from Sydney to Auckland (modeled after the famous Sydney Hobart Yacht Race).
Opening conversations at the yacht club In Sydney establish the characters. Personalities and rivalries are established and then it’s off to the races, with 25 boats setting sail. Our protagonists are in one called Black Opal.
Soon after the start, two competitors almost collide. But this bit of danger is a mere taste of the trials to come. A fog bank rolls in and engulfs all 25 boats. They vanish from sight. Radio communications turn up nothing but static.
Back in Sydney, a group of concerned family and friends decide to take off after the sailboats and find out what’s going on. One of this group is a newspaperman named Eddie Collins – likely the part Rod wrote for himself.
The would-be rescuers enter the fog bank and find the Black Opal and their friends. But the danger is just beginning. Ghostly figures emerge, with evil intent. These phantoms from another time gradually eliminate the present-day sailors and rescuers.
Meanwhile, back in Sydney, spectators are amazed to see that the racing boats have re-appeared. Everyone is stunned, including all the crew members. One boat remains missing: the Black Opal.
Back at sea, one survivor of the spectral murders rushes back to Sydney Harbour. Just before he is about to emerge into the dazzling light of home, one of his crewmates appears, begging him to stay, dragging him back into the fog.
Inspiration
Real-life tragedy and local myth likely inspired Rod in the writing of this screenplay.
In 1979, the five-person crew of the yacht Charleston set sail from Hobart, Tasmania. Their mission was to bring the sleek new boat to Sydney to enter the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Several days went by after the crew’s last communication, near Flinders Island (between Tasmania and Australia). The Charleston failed to arrive at Sydney, and searches commenced. No evidence of the yacht or its crew has ever been found.
Australia also has its version of the Bermuda Triangle — the Bass Strait Triangle, which lies between Tasmania and the Australian mainland. Boats have gone missing for centuries in this treacherous area. The first aircraft that went missing, in 1920, was engaged in a search for a missing schooner. Of more recent vintage is the disappearance in 1978 of Australian pilot Frederick Valentich, a UFO enthusiast. Alien abduction, in addition to human error, has been investigated as a possible explanation of his fate.
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