Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - S8E22 - Bookmarks 2019

Episode Date: May 30, 2019

This week, it’s our annual Bookmarks episode - where we tell fascinating stories from our research that didn’t make it into the regular season. Like - the shocking reason Beatles producer George Martin first met the Fab Four. Why an episode of Mary Tyler Moore was considered to be so morbid that a brand new director had to be brought in to handle it tastefully. And why there were blank spaces in Bill Murray’s original Caddyshack script. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling. Subscribe now and don't miss a single beat. We'll see you next time. new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. From the Under the Influence digital box set, this episode is from Season 8, 2019. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly.

Book clubs are for book lovers. They form book clubs for a variety of reasons. It may be to focus on a particular genre, like poetry or science fiction. It may be geographically motivated. Book clubs are a great way to meet people in small or big towns.

Or a book club might be formed to help a certain group of people learn. The list of book clubs is long and most interesting. For example, there are walking book clubs. Members all read a book,

then meet to walk and talk about it. There are knitting book clubs, where the members all read designated novels, then get together to knit and chat about the books. There is a speed dating book club. These folks believe there is no better test of a partner than whether they share the same book tastes. People bring their favorite books and move from person to person, comparing notes

in a kind of literary speed dating. There is the Crown Mazda book Club. It meets four times a year in a car dealership in Winnipeg. Then there's the Half-Ass Book Club. It's for people who are tired of book clubs telling them not to come unless they've actually finished the book. This club still gets together to discuss the parts of it they actually read. They don't even mind if you buy the book on the way to the meeting and frantically leaf through it in an attempt to find

something intelligent to say. Wine flows freely. There is a silent book club. Members get together to read but not talk. It's also unofficially known as the introvert happy hour. There is a mucky book club in London, England. This club loves erotica. But they are not interested in bad writing or cheap

thrills. They choose good books with, quote, saucy bits in them. It could be fiction, memoirs, humor, or even how-to. There are horror book clubs. One club in the UK likes to read one terror-inducing book a month. The criterion? You have to be, quote, weirded out of your pants. They have a couple of quick house rules for their meetings. One, the resurrection of the dead is strictly forbidden. Two, you must warn members before summoning spirits or demons. And three, no biting. And there is a topless book club.

Since 1992 in New York, it's legal for women to be naked from the waist up anywhere it's legal for men to do the same. So this woman's book club gathers in parks to discuss books while shirt-free. Their motto? Burn bras, not books. Welcome to our annual Bookmarks episode. I'm a book lover and books are a big part of the research we do for this program. Not all the great stories we find can fit into our season, so we save those stories for this show.

Some of the stories today are about marketing and some aren't, but they all contain an insight that can be applied to the world of marketing. And we promise not to bite. You're under the influence. I read a fun book recently about the Mary Tyler Moore sitcom titled Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted, subtitled And All the Brilliant Minds Who Made the Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic, written by Jennifer Armstrong. The Mary Tyler Moore Show won 29 primetime Emmys,

including Outstanding Comedy Series three years in a row. So many great episodes. But people often cite one specific episode as their favorite of all time. It was titled Chuckles Bites the Dust. That episode was about the funeral of Chuckles the Clown, a recurring character on the show who hosted

a children's program on the fictional WJM TV station. In the script, Chuckles' death is caused by an overzealous parade elephant that mistook the clown, who is dressed as a peanut, for a real snack. The subject matter worried CBS.

The network feared it was too morbid for a sitcom. Almost all of the show's episodes had been directed by Jay Sandridge, but he declined to direct the chuckle script. It became difficult to find someone to take the reins on the episode. That's when the job was given to a female director named Joan Darling. She was thrilled to get the job, not just because she needed the paycheck, but because she was happy for every chance she got to prove women could direct. The episode script was highly unusual. During rehearsals, the crew members didn't laugh at all.

The reaction of the crew was usually a reliable indicator of how a show would play. That made everyone nervous. But when it came time to tape the show before a live audience, the crowd laughed hysterically. As a matter of fact, the audience laughed so much the laugh time added 10 minutes to the show's length. And most of that laughter came during the funeral scene.

In that scene, Lou and Murray start to make jokes about how Chuckles died. Mary is appalled and gives them stern looks. This is a funeral. A man has died. We came here to show respect, not to laugh. I'm sorry, Mary. No more jokes. But then, during the minister's eulogy, Mary starts to giggle uncontrollably over and over again. What did Chuckles ask in return?

Not much. In his own words, a little song. A little selt salsa, darling. Then when the minister tells Mary it's okay to laugh because chuckles love to make people laugh, Mary starts to sob uncontrollably. He lived to make people laugh. Tears were offensive to him, deeply offensive. He hated to see people cry. So go ahead, my dear. Laugh or chuckle.

TV critics raved about the show. The episode gave director Joan Darling her first Emmy nomination. Her reputation as a director got such a boost, she started receiving film scripts from major studios. The Chuckles episode would show up on virtually every future list of greatest episodes of all time, usually at the top. This story underlines something I've always believed. Nine times out of ten,

if you put risky material in the right hands, odds are it's going to turn out all right. In advertising, clients are famously nervous of anything that colors outside the lines. We were always trying to talk our clients down off the ceiling when we presented a really funny script or an idea that stuck its tongue out at advertising cliches. But if the material is in experienced hands, if you impress the best against an idea with potential, chances are it's going to be really, really memorable. Maybe even brilliant.

Another excellent book I read recently is called Just the Funny Parts. It was written by Nell Scavell, a comedy writer who wrote for everyone from Letterman to The Simpsons to NCIS. The subtitle of the book says it all. A few hard truths about sneaking into the Hollywood Boys Club. Nell Scavell's story is a remarkable one.

She managed to navigate the male-dominated world of Hollywood and succeed. She had talent, guts, and experienced her share of heartbreaks along the way. The book is part memoir, part how-to. Nell offers up a very interesting insight in the book. She says,

Don't follow your dreams. Follow your talents. Nell herself learned that lesson. She dreamed of being a doctor but didn't get the grades. But writing always came easy to her. So, she followed her talent instead and ended up a success in Hollywood.

I have friends who didn't follow their talents. Sometimes they were pressured by parents to take a more sensible career path. Sometimes they wanted to emulate someone in a job they weren't really suited for. Some just went for the money.

But a career is a big chunk of your life, and Nell's advice is so astute. If you follow your talent, you'll always love what you do. I've always liked the movie Caddyshack, and I just read a book about the film called Caddyshack, the making of a Hollywood Cinderella story by Chris Naschawaddy. When actor Bill Murray arrived on the set, the script contained virtually no dialogue for his character,

Greenskeeper Carl Spackler. There were just huge blanks wherever Murray's character had a scene. But that was done intentionally. Director Harold Ramis was counting on Bill Murray's ad-libbing skills,

and Murray happily obliged. It's incredible to think that almost all Murray's scenes, including the hilarious Cinderella story monologue, were all ad-libbed. What an incredible Cinderella story. This unknown comes out of nowhere. To leave the pack,

bad Augusta, he's on his final hole. The director trusted the actor. In the 25 years I directed commercials, I always encouraged ad-libs from actors because I trusted their instincts. Often, that made writers and clients nervous. But I can honestly say the best moments in the scripts I've produced were brilliant ad libs from amazing actors. In the Caddyshack book, the author talks about the art of ad-libbing. He notes that some of the most memorable movie lines from the past 50 years have been the result of on-the-fly moments of inspiration.

A few examples of famous ad-libs are Robert De Niro's You talking to me? Scene in Taxi Driver Clemenza's Leave the gun. Take the cannoli. from The Godfather and Roy Scheider's deadpan

from Jaws all ad-libbed. You have to be open to serendipity. You have to welcome happy accidents because if you do you'll capture magic moments. Like movies, casting is an extremely important part of producing commercials. Finding just the right actor can make or break a script.

I would sometimes listen to over a hundred actors just to find the perfect one for a two-line role. One of my favorite movies of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird. I read a book recently called Why To Kill a Mockingbird Matters by Tom Santopietro. The book explores why both the novel and the movie are so captivating and why the central message resonates to this day. As you may know, the movie takes place during the Depression. It's about a small-town southern lawyer named Atticus Finch who is raising two young children on his own.

He is asked to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. The racist father of the woman is outraged that Atticus is defending a black man and hunts the lawyer's children as revenge. The movie is told from the children's perspective. One chapter of the book discussed the casting for the film. Author Harper Lee wanted Spencer Tracy to play Atticus Finch. The studio wanted Gary Cooper. The director wanted Gregory Peck.

Spencer Tracy wasn't available. Gary Cooper was ill with cancer. So Gregory Peck landed the role of a lifetime. Casting the two children was critical. The casting director held sessions all over the country and auditioned hundreds of kids looking for the perfect

scout and gem. While doing a last-ditch casting session in Birmingham, Alabama, a friend recommended she see a nine-year-old girl named Mary Battam. Mary was a bold tomboy

who had never acted before. The moment she walked into the room, the casting director knew she had found Scout. That same afternoon, a 13-year-old 8th grader named Philip Alford showed up. Philip was more interested in sports than acting, but when he found out he could skip a half-day of school to go to the audition, he jumped at it. Philip was the perfect gem. After seeing hundreds of children across seven states

and having no luck, the casting director found both kids in one single afternoon. And here's the amazing part. Mary Badham and Philip Alford only lived three streets apart in Birmingham.

There are many wonderful actors in To Kill a Mockingbird, but one of the most important was James Anderson. He played the character of Bob Ewell, the antagonist to Peck's heroic Atticus Finch. Ewell provided the tension in the movie. He was the violent father who was accusing Atticus' client of rape. The scenes between Gregory Peck and James Anderson are electrifying. You can feel the hostility between the principal lawyer and the uneducated racist in every scene.

Many years ago, I was lucky to see Gregory Peck in Toronto at Roy Thompson Hall. It was billed as An Evening with Gregory Peck, and the actor regaled us with stories from his Oscar-winning career. One of the stories about To Kill a Mockingbird was very telling. He said that he and James Anderson didn't like each other from day one. There was an immediate animosity between them. Anderson thought Peck was a pampered Hollywood star.

Peck resented the insinuation. What kind of man are you? Throughout the entire shoot, they never talked to each other. As the film progressed, that hostility increased with the arc of the storytelling. That was the visceral magic

of that pairing. It is one of the reasons the film is so captivating. The tension was real. Casting is everything. To see behind the scenes of Under the Influence, follow us on Twitter and Instagram

at Terry O'Influence. For a master episode list, go to terryoreilly.ca. And we'll be right back after this message. Another book I highly recommend to marketing people is called Predatory Thinking by Dave Trott. I've mentioned this excellent book before. Trott is a highly respected advertising creative director in the UK. His book is full of great stories wrapped around razor-sharp insights. He tells one story about a successful ad man

who always dreamed of owning a small sheep farm in the country. When he made enough money, he bought one. It was picturesque and idyllic, and it came with a flock of sheep. Not long after, the ad man noticed the sheep

were getting fatter and fatter. He worried he was overfeeding them, so he cut the amount of feed down. But the sheep kept getting fatter, so he cut the feed down further. And yet, the sheep still got fatter, so he cut the feed again. Then one day, the sheep all died. They had starved to death. It turns out they hadn't been getting fatter at all. Their wool had been growing.

That would have been pretty obvious to someone from the country, but the ad man was from the city. The lesson here is, we don't know what we don't know. Instead of questioning and exploring, we often make quick decisions based on our limited experience. In business, it's often seen as a sign of strength to have an immediate opinion on everything. But the problem with that is it shuts down exploration.

We all have blind spots. I always worry about what my blind spots are in the world of marketing, and I've been doing this for almost 40 years. As Trott says, it can be much more powerful to sometimes say, I don't know. Because I don't know opens up a door, and that door can trigger the imagination.

If we only rely on knowledge, we are fenced in by our own limitations. But as Trott says, imagination is always as far as you can possibly go plus one. And that plus one can change the world.

As you may know, I'm the world's biggest Beatles fan. And I just finished reading a terrific two-volume set on producer George Martin, written by Kenneth Womack. Volume one is titled Maximum Volume, The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, and it covers the early years from 1926 to 1966. The second volume is titled Sound Pictures and covers from 1966 to Martin's death in 2016. As a rabid fan,

I have read just about every book ever written on the Fab Four, so discovering new information is pretty rare for me. For example, the Beatles' lore is that George Martin was a producer at EMI who was tasked with finding a pop group to sign to the Parlophone label. So he began his search, discovered the Beatles, and signed them. The rest is music history. Well, author Womack suggests there was another reason at play.

In 1962, George Martin was married, but he was having a secret affair with his secretary. Len Wood, his boss, was so appalled and offended by his extramarital affair that, as punishment, he assigned Martin to a task nobody wanted, least of all, George Martin. He ordered him to record a band that had been turned down by every record label in town. And that is how George Martin came to lay eyes on the Beatles for the first time. There is another aspect to this story that I already knew but was reminded of again.

I always marvel at how huge historical events pivot on the smallest of moments. How, for example, a young Cassius Clay joined a boxing class all because his bike was stolen. He wanted to teach the thief a lesson. Or how struggling writer Stephen King was about to give up when his wife pulled a crumpled manuscript out of the garbage. That manuscript would be his breakout novel, Carrie. The Beatles had a similar moment would be his breakout novel Carrie. The Beatles had a similar moment

that doesn't get much attention. When the band walked into EMI Studios for the first time to record some demo songs, their equipment

was terrible, their songs were unimpressive, and they clearly didn't know how to act in a recording studio. As a matter of fact, sound engineer

Norman Smith described the session as 20 minutes of torture. Only one song had any potential. It was called Love Me Do. When the band finished recording, George Martin called the Beatles up to the control room

and lectured them on their lack of studio professionalism. The Beatles listened to the control room and lectured them on their lack of studio professionalism. The Beatles listened and remained mute. They didn't say a single word back. Not a single word. Finally, George Martin said, Look, I've laid into you for a while now and you haven't responded. Is there anything you don't like?

The band looked at each other and shuffled their feet. Then George Harrison said, For starters, I don't like your tie. First, there was a huge, awkward silence. Then the room exploded with laughter. The floodgates opened and the Beatles' natural humor flowed out. As Norman Smith later said, For the next 20 minutes, the Beatles were pure entertainment. By the time the

band left the studio, George Martin was completely and utterly enamored. As he later wrote, he was simply bowled over by their charisma. He felt if they had that effect on him, they could have that effect on audiences. But here's the thing. It wasn't the music. It was their humor. And more to the point, it was George Harrison's comment about Martin's tie. That remark might just be the reason the Beatles

got their shot at the big time. I remember years ago when aspiring young ad writer came in for a job interview. His ads were not very good. But as he was closing his portfolio, I noticed a piece of paper sticking out of the back. I pulled it out and looked at it.

The writer had done a parody of the old TV guide listings. My eye caught the movie of the week. It was titled Time Waits for No Man. The description said, The story of bus driver Eddie Time. It made me laugh out loud. We hired him on the strength of that one line. And he turned out to be an award-winning advertising writer.

That's the lesson George Martin learned in 1962 and I learned 25 years later. When judging creativity, you have to keep your antenna finely tuned for the smallest indication of massive potential. Books are barbells for the mind. And I've learned so much from reading. I often say the best books about marketing aren't books about marketing.

They're simply authors sharing their insights about the human condition. And what is marketing but the study of what makes us tick. When everyone was afraid of the Chuckles the Clown episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show, the solution was to put that episode in the hands of a seasoned director. Risks become calculated risks when experienced hands are on the steering wheel. The Caddyshack director knew he could count on Bill Murray's experience

as an improviser. And the director of To Kill a Mockingbird instinctually knew pairing Gregory Peck with James Anderson would drive the picture. Isn't it interesting that the ad man farmer formed an opinion about his sheep that ended up killing his flock? And that George Martin was of the opinion the Beatles had no musical talent. But, as those books tell us, quick opinions can often slam the door on potential.

And when Nels Gavel says don't follow your dreams, follow your talent, that's the kind of insight that can change the course of a life. The amazing thing about books is that they can take you to magical places. They truly are your imagination plus one. That's why I'm starting a book club. Because I read a lot of books, I'm going to start posting them on my website. I'll summarize a book a month and let you know why I think it's worth reading.

And there'll be a place there where you can recommend books to me. Just go to terryoreilly.ca and click Terry's Book Club. Let's share. So, here's to books. May they always happily keep us under their influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. If you liked this episode, you might also enjoy Bookmark's episodes from past seasons. You'll find them free in our archives wherever you download your podcasts.

See you next week. Under the Influence. The crowd is just on its feet here. Hey, I like your style. I'd like your style even more if you were wearing an Under the Influence t-shirt. Just saying. You'll find them on our shop page at terryoreilly.ca slash shop. New year, new me.

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