Great Article in my local paper

Just a quick post to share a newspaper article that came out this Wednesday in our local Salem, Oregon newspaper, The Statesman Journal.. Thanks to journalist, Geoff Parks for the great story and thanks to the paper for such a nice big color photo!

The Best of the Worst

Howdy Sheriff

This week I interviewed Bryan Jennings, son of William Bryan Jennings who played the part of the Sheriff in Manos: The Hands of Fate.  "Whatever it is you're not doing, go don't do it somewhere else."  I love that line.  I find it really interesting that both Bryan and Diane Mahree (Margaret) who I spoke with last week start off by saying, I don't have many stories or memories and then they go on to give me great stories and gold nuggets of information that no one knows yet.  This is fun.   Guess I'm becoming an investigative journalist, in a manner of speaking.  No offense to the real deal of course.

William Bryan Jennings loved theater and the church choir and was a good singer. I've asked his son Bryan to look for any video of his dad's other performances to share with you.  I do hope we can make that happen.  Bryan talked about his dad's many talents and his way of being.  He said that the character of the Sheriff was totally William Bryan Jennings and his dad probably ad libbed that classic line.  William was someone who was very valuable in working with Hal Warren to get Manos off the ground through his behind the scenes connections and experience.  He was an attorney at the time, sold life insurance as a side business and had worked in the DA's office.  He probably met Hal Warren through the life insurance business and also from their mutual involvement in community theater at the Festival Theater in El Paso.  William knew Judge Coldwell who loaned the use of his ranch back property for the filming of Manos.  He also knew Mike Sullivan who was El Paso Sheriff at the time and who loaned the guns and police car.  As an attorney, he handled the legal aspects of the project and is listed as a producer on the original contracts.

Bryan had been away at college and  was working through the summer of 1966 during the filming so he was not highly aware of what his dad was up to in El Paso at that time but over the years Manos tales would arise at the dinner table and family gatherings from time to time.  One Saturday afternoon in 1993, Bryan checked into a motel room on the Oregon Coast in Bandon and turned on the TV.  Until that time, Manos was no more than a family story that no one had seen since the premire in 1966.  Bryan was away at school and missed the premire so when he turned on the TV, saw the MST guys cracking jokes and then saw he dad step out of a police car to harrass some horny teens, he was stunned.  He said he just sat down and watched in amazement.  At the same time on the same day, my dad, The Master, Tom Neyman was up the coast a couple hour drive away, napping in his easy chair with the television on when he heard a hauntingly familiar tune, opened his eyes to see himself on the screen.  From that moment on, Manos became part of the bigger world and had gone beyond the family tales.

Stick with me while we continue to explore the making of Manos: The Hands of Fate.  Next up.  The convergence of Stirling Silliphant, Route 66, Hal Warren and Manos... and no worries, more on Diane Mahree as well.

How Diane met Hal

Diane Mahree was only 19 years old and just passing through Old El Paso when she met Hal in 1966.  She and her best friend were living in Aspen, Colorado, and, being adventurous young women living in adventurous times, they decided to take a road trip to Mexico.  So they loaded up Diane's VW van with clothes, camping gear, her dad's Phillips 66 fuel card, $12.00 dollars and set out.

Somewhere near  El Paso the engine just sort of blew up and they managed to limp into El Paso and to the shelter of Diane's parents home.  After taking the van to a garage, she learned the van needed a new engine, would cost a bundle and take a couple weeks for repair.  Stuck and broke, the girls set out to find jobs in the interim.  Diane's friend landed a job in a bank and Diane stopped in to talk to Fran Simon, the owner of Mannequin Manor Modeling School.  Diane had previously done modeling and hoped to find a couple paying gigs.  Fran had just been approached by Hal Warren who was looking for some girls to play extras in a new film he was doing in El Paso.  Although Diane had no acting experience she thought it sounded like an interesting prospect so made an appointment and went to see Hal.  She met him at his office where he asked her to do some script reading.  He kept her there for several hours reading and reading.  She began to wonder why things were taking so long and why he was spending so much time to decide whether to cast her for a simple part as an extra.  Then came the surprise.  "How would you like the lead?" Hal asked her.  To which she responded, "I've never acting in my life."  "That's OK.  If you do something wrong, I'll tell you."  She then agreed to the "job" which she learned would be shot at night and week ends to accommodate the other actors and crews daytime jobs. 

When Hal met Diane, he was scrambling to find a lead actress for the role of Margaret because he had just lost his first choice, a professional actress from Los Angeles.  This other actress had agreed to the part and traveled to El Paso to do the work.  Upon arrival, she quickly discovered she wasn't dealing with experienced movie makers, then had some disagreement and blow up with Hal before leaving in a huff.  She probably also discovered that the pay wasn't exactly guaranteed.  Diane then took the part of Margaret and soon discovered for herself that she would not be getting paid any time soon.  The filming of Manos: The Hands of Fate took about eight days to shoot and at the end, her van was repaired and the girls were ready to move on.  The good news for Diane was that her van ended up costing nothing and she got a new engine under warranty. 

Next Diane Mahree story.  How Hal signed her up for the Miss America Pageant in the hopes of promoting his film.

Diane Mahree is with us. She is with us always.

I had a wonderful chat with my friend, Diane Mahree this week.  As any self respecting Manos The Hands of Fate fan knows, Diane played the part of little  Debbie's mother and wife to Michael.  Interesting thing I had never really considered before now...We all know what happened to Michael.  He replaced Torgo as the Valley Lodge caretaker and we know what happened to poor little six year old Debbie.  She had the dubious distinction of becoming one of, if not the youngest bride in film history (This is where I count on fans of film to either confirm or rebuke my last statement).  So what happened to beautiful Margaret?  Perhaps Hal had further plans for her character in another film.  Lest we forget the very end of the film where it says "The End?".  I suppose we'll never really know, but we do know that actress and model Diane Mahree did not die in a fiery car crash as Manos mythology once claimed.  She's actually healthy and doing just fine in Colorado.  She and I had the opportunity to meet again in December 2011 back in El Paso where it all began more than 45 years before.  We were there working on the sequel to Manos.  Manos; Search for Valley Lodge.  Don't ask.  I don't know what's going on with that and can't talk about it anyway.  We spent a week together, had a great time and were amazed at our instant connection to each other.  She is still so very beautiful and has a wonderful voice which sounds nothing like the dubbed voice that emitted from her mouth in the film.  She is also a fabulous story teller and had so many great stories of her life adventures and  incredible experiences as a highly sought after model in New York and then Europe.  While talking this week, I asked if she would re tell some of her Manos related stories for me to share with you and happily, she agreed.  My  next post will be how Diane became involved in the first place.  So stay tuned and thanks so much for reading.

Debbie's Back in the World.

I'm back after more than two weeks of not posting.  Life's certainly been interesting and challenging lately, beginning with a case of empty nest syndrome when my youngest son left for California.  A few days later, an electrical fire nearly caused my house to burn just as my little dog Shanka and I were waking up in the morning. The very next day my neck and back went out accompanied by a pinched nerve For The Second Time In Six Weeks!  OMG!  The pain was second only to giving birth to both my children...simultaneously.  O.K.  Not that bad, but close.   So...after being trapped in bed for a week (Shanka loved it.  Captive owner), I'm up, gingerly moving around and ready to manifest the plans I developed while horizontal.

The reasons I'm sharing all this, besides explaining why I hadn't posted in two weeks is to say that many of these plans include Manos, The Hands of Fate.  I love Manos.  I love the creativity it inspires.  I love the fans and what a vibrant, varied and engaging community they are.  I love being a part of Pop Culture and exploring a world that is new to me.  I love what all this has done to bring my dad "The Master" and I closer together again.  There seem to be new things coming up every week about Manos.  New fan art.   Youtube videos.  The game.  The Restoration.  People in costume.  Comic Strips (Sally Worth), A mention in "How I met your Mother".  Podcasts... and of course the ones who brought it back from the dead in the first place.  MST3000.  Manos became so popular that Rifftrax did a live Manos show in Nashville on Aug 16th 2011 with all new jokes.  They simulcast it to 500 hundred theaters around the country.   Tonight, they are bringing it back to the theaters once more for a "Best of Rifftrax Live" with "Manos".  To find out more or to order tickets, follow the link Best of Rifftrax Live

On a last note for today.  Check out this great t shirt.  I always loved the artwork from the Richard Brandt article titled "Growing up Manos"  (You can read it on my press page) and thought it would look awesome on a tshirt so I contacted the artist Brad W. Foster to ask permission and guess what?  Check it out!  Available on ebay.  Manos T Shirt

Hope you can make it to the Rifftrax show tonight.  I'll be watching from Salem, Oregon.  Maybe Rifftrax will release it on DVD so everyone can see it.



 

Manos: Hands of Felt. Puppet Theater

I'd like to highlight some of the interesting, awesome and hilarious  projects that Manos: The Hands of Fate has inspired in the past.  Today's featured project is Manos: The Hands of Felt. This show was adapted for puppet theater by Rachel Jackson and Directed by Bob Koerner in Seattle Washington at the Odd Duck Studio in April  2011.  If anyone knows the whereabouts of any of these folks, please tell them to let me know if they ever do this show again.  I would so drive to Seattle to see it.

Manos, The Hands of Felt

Fondle her Elbow

Manos. Big Finish

Thanks for visiting. See you next time!

Dedicated to Hal

Today, I would like to pay tribute to a man without who’s drive, determination and Texas ingenuity, Manos, The Hands of Fate could not exist.  Harold P. Warren.  Writer, Director, Producer and Star.  Today is the anniversary of his death on December 26^th, 1985 and I would like to say a few words to honor him. 

Hal Warren came up with the idea for Manos on a bet with Hollywood screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (who had worked on the show Route 66).  Hal said anybody could make a movie.  Even he could make a movie…and so he did.  He raised about $19,000.00, mostly by selling stock in the film.  At that time, Hal was working as manager of the American Founder's Life Insurance Co. in El Paso, Texas and was active in local civic groups and community theater.  Through his connections he was able to secure many of the things and necessary people he needed for little to no money.  The Festival Theater, now known as The El Paso Playhouse was where Hal met my father, Tom Neyman who was a regular actor and director.  That was where he also met John Reynolds/Torgo and William Bryan Jennings/Sheriff.  Hal had a knack for recruiting people with a variety of talents.  Mr. Jennings was an attorney in his day job and had worked for the D.A’s office.  I am only speculating here but I imagine that was the connection to Judge Coldwell who supplied the film locations of the house and the Master and wives resting place.  Besides playing the part of the Sheriff with the classic line, “Whatever it is you’re not doing, go do it somewhere else”, Mr. Jennings is credited with being President of Sun City Films and the lawyer for Manos.  Bob Guidry was a cameraman for a local television news station and Bernie Rosenblum was a local photographer.  I understand that Bob, Hal and Bernie’s six hour Manos editing session happened one evening at that television station using the stations equipment.  My father, Tom Neyman was/is a very talented artist and my mother was a talented seamstress, so my father agreed to not only be The Master, but to clothe him, create his environment and decorate it with artwork.   My dad also supplied the kid, the demon dog and the family car.  Diane Mahree fell into the picture when she responded to a classified ad for an acting job.  Although, at that time, she had no acting experience, she needed a job.  She tells a story of arriving for the audition and then kept there for many hours reading lines.  She was going for a part as a wife and could not understand why he needed her to do so much reading until he finally announced that she was the lead actress.  After Manos, Diane left El Paso and launched a very successful modeling career in New York and Europe.  The wives were students at the Mannequin Manor Modeling School in El Paso.   During filming, Hal was heard to yell at them to stop walking the runway.  The wives costumes originally did not have the red strip of cloth underneath, but the lead wife and the owner of the modeling school were not comfortable with the revealing nature of the dresses and insisted on something more conservative.  So, based on time and budget the piece of red cloth was added.  At the premire, Hal had found a red carpet for his cast and crew to walk upon into the Capri Theater and borrowed spot lights from a car dealer to place in front of the theater scanning the sky to create a Hollywood feel.  He rented a single limo to circle the block picking up cast members and delivering them to the red carpet.  He even added the detail of autograph seekers in the form of young street boys with paper and pencils.  To be sure.  Harold P. Warren was a visionary and it would be great to hear what he thinks now of his baby.  I’m sure he would be thrilled with the Love of Manos that has built up since MST3000 brought it back to life in 1993.  So, thank you Hal for your contribution to this world and I hope you have many blessings in the next.

Blessings to you all in the upcoming New Year of 2013.  Thank you for reading.  Thank you for your Manos fandom.  “Hands down”  Manos fan are some of the best people I’ve met and I appreciate you all so very much.