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My Adventures in Dr. T Land---Part 2
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Ok, so it’s been a while since I published part one of my adventures in Dr. T land, always like to keep my audience riveted. Back on eBay, I really started to look at the names of allthe people who were constantly bidding on “5,000 Finger” materials. That got the old neurons racing, could there be fans out there that are even more fanatical than myself? I email a few of the names, especially those who kept beating me out of merchandise. The answer is yes.
In addition, a few of the web sites that I visited mentioned that a musical was in the works. Most of those were about Seussical, The Musical, but one or two mentioned the “5000 Fingers” by name. This really intrigues me. One site had a stage design link that was no longer working. Another had a list of Broadway productions due to premier in 2001/2002. Among them were “5000 Fingers” and “The Producers”, an old Mel Brooks film. Now that I’d love to see on stage, Spring Time for Hitler, anyone? Another site was a list of child actors with one biography stating he had the lead in the upcoming “The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T” musical.
About this time I started to get responses from my eBay emails, try saying that ten times fast. One in particular struck me as being a real fan. After a few emails I got the mysterious message from him that said,” I have a very special interest in the movie. Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine.” Now that really got me going. This person happened to be an AOL member and he filled out his user profile with real information, not the same old dirty words spelled out phonetically to avoid the internet police.
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Under occupation it said music composer. I figured he had an interest in the music so he must have had a relative involve in the original movie or he is working on the stage ersion. My follow up email described my research on the film and I ended it by guessing his interest in the film involved the stage version.
Surprise, he was the producer and the composer of the Broadway version and just as big a fan of the film as myself, maybe just a little more than me. And he is writing all new songs for the Broadway version. He really doesn’t want to compete with the film, he wants the stage version to stand on its own merit, and besides, if he didn’t write new music, what would he really be bringing to the project. That was a shock! No “Dress Me?” No “It’s Time We Got Together?” What about all the songs that were cut from the film that very few people have heard? Well, be prepared, he sent me a sample of some of the songs and I felt like I had found a whole new stockpile of songs cut from the movie. They were so good that I research him on the internet, remember, anything can be found on the net, and it turns out that he is an Emmy winning composer.
At the same time I received more responses to my eBay emails, some basically saying don’t bug me, to put it kindly, but some were serious fans. Not one, but two of them expressed an interest in producing a CD with all the outtake songs on it. Of course, that brings up the same old problem, who owns the copyright? Well it’s Sony and if a full-blown CD is going to come from anyplace it’s going to come from them. As a big side note, there are rumors about a DVD being released this year, but don’t look for a fully restored version. The best we can hope for is a digitally restored soundtrack, a cleaned up print and the trailer.
Ok, so what about my search for a complete version of the film? After all that is what started this whole crazy journey. Well it seemed as if I had hit a brick wall, so there was only one thing to do, try another direction. I started to research Tommy (Tom) Rettig. What a career he had! A child star with an impressive list of feature films including; “At Gunpoint” (1955), “The Cobweb” (1955), “The River of No Return” with Marilyn Monroe (1954), “The Egyptian” (1954), “The Lady Wants Mink” (1953) and of course “The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T” (1953). Then he lands the role of Jeff Miller on Lassie. Like all child actors he out grows the role, gets married, has trouble finding
acting jobs as an adult and drops out of public life. Along comes the PC revolution and Tommy becomes Tom, the Guru of dbase. For the last ten or so years of his life he was a computer software developer working on office applications. He was regarded as an expert in the area of Ashton-Tate's dBase product line and related products. He was responsible for a good portion of the programming that helped to make computer programs easier to use and he shared his knowledge freely with others. I’ve talked to people who didn’t even know he was a child star.
Although very little is written about his private life, I did find out he was married and had children. Now, how to find them? Where else, but the internet. Do I repeat myself or what? Here’s the fun part, I found his wife’s name on a web site run by Jon Provost. Now don’t tell me you don’t know that name. (If you are under 30 I might believe you.) He was Timmy, the child actor who took over Lassie when Tom exited the show. They, Jon and his wife, have also been looking for Tom’s wife to discuss her husband’s work on Lassie and her memories. Jon’s wife, Laurie, was very nice, (another great person related to my search) and was really interested in my research and any help I could give her finding Tom’s wife.
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After several more internet adventures I came up with a phone number for a Tom Rettig. What could I lose, I called the number and left a message quickly explaining my search, and really didn’t expect to hear back. But, surprise, it was Tom’s son and his wife called me to tell me they had gotten my message. Talk about being surprised! Turns out he grew up with props from the film, including the elusive beanies, and still attends showings of the film, telling stories about his father’s adventures making the film. He even emailed me his notes. My favorite; Columbia would not allow the film to exceed 1 hour and 45 minutes (it is 1 hour and 28 minutes) although Kramer says there was 2 hours and 20 minutes of fantastic film. So there it is, more evidence that all the missing scenes were shot!
And that brings the story up to date. The two Lassie families are excited to be
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sharing memories together, with a possible book coming from Jon Provost. The Broadway version is in production and due to hit the stage this year. I now have 7 of the 8 lobby cards from the original release and prices on eBay continue to climb. There have been many side adventures, including an email from a member of a band from down under called “The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.”
Ok, so I didn’t discover the Holy Grail, a complete version of “The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T.” My adventure in Dr. T. land did have its high points. Talking with Mary Healy, Mrs. Stanley Kramer, Tom Rettig, Jr. and the producer of the Broadway show. And don’t forget all the great fans of the film that are now on my email list for all the new web sites I find and any information I discover about the film. The end of my quest may not be the way I envisioned it, but the journey has led to many wonderful people with a common love of a film, which in some way has touched all of us.
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Work for the Happy Finger Method, must go on!
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