Page 5
Wayne Connnionity College
March 6, 1969
James: Approximately how much fan mail
do you get?
Mr. Baker; How is that mail handled?
Mr. Nicholson: (laughing) No, but I can **
imagine what happened! *
*
Mr. Shatner: Yeah! And I'm looking—I'm *
lying on my back—and they say, "Are you *
looking?" and I say, "I'm looking," and *
across the screen flies the Enterprise!! *
*
(general hearty laughter) *
The idiots—on my tax money—(more *
laughter) had spent four hours making this *
model to televise it. And when I got out *
of the Apollo ship—I had to climb down *
some stairs—there were two or three *
himdred engineers laughing! They had *
played a practical joke on me! Oh, it *
was hysterical; it was the funniest thing *
that had ever happened! And they handed *
me the model to autograph and I wrote *
down on it: "When you get to the moon, *
I'll see ya!" (laughing) *
*
*
*
*
Mr. Shatner; It's varied a great deal. *
In the early days of the show, we were *
getting many thousands of letters a week. ^
It's slakened off since then and I don't *
know what it is now. *
*
James: Have you ever received any marriage *
proposals from your fans? *
*
Mr. Shatner: (laughing) Yes! I've *
received a number of marriage proposals— *
and other kinds! (general laughter) *
And I don't read too much of the mall. *
There’s so much coming in and there’s so *
much to do that I see very little of it.
*
*
*
*
Mr. Shatner; It's handled in two manners. *
If the person vrriting in says, "I'd like *
a picture," that's automatically handled. *
If there's a more extensive letter, there's *
a service which tries to answer in as *
brief a manner as possible. *
*
Karen; Do you think it will be easy for *
you to shake the character of Captain Kirk? *
*
Mr. Shatner: To shake it? Yes. I made *
quite a good living before I went into ^
"Star Trek" and I hope I'll be able to
make a good living by playing other parts
after "Star Trek." Actually, the char
acter of Captain Kirk is merely a Greek
hero in futuristic terms.
Karen; I saw you in "Alexander the
Great."
Mr. Shatner; That's right. It's "Alex
ander the Great." The same company that
produced "Combat" wanted to produce
"Alexander the Great." I did a pilot
film on it. And I call "Alexander the
Great" "Combat in Drag!" (laughing)
And he, too, was a hero, of course.
Captain Kirk is a hero in the same
classical terms as Alexander was.
Karen: I've been in the military all
my life, so I sort of relate to orders,
etcetera. I've often wondered what
would happen if the Enterprise (laughing)
didn't pass inspection,
Mr. Shatner: (hearty laugh) That'd be
funny!! That's a good idea for a story!
James: Do you play a musical instrument?
Mr. Shatner; I have a guitar that I can
strum, but I don't play it very well,
so in effect, I don't play a musical
instrument.
James; What's your favorite pop hit?
Mr. Shatner; Pop hit? (sigh) Well....
there's so many great songs that have
been written in the last few years.
Jimmy Webb is, you know, the new sensa
tion. The Beatles are simply great.
And Simon and Garfunkle are, perhaps,
the minstrels of today. Those three
are the great artists in the modern
music.
Karen; Which were your favorite episodes
of "Star Trek?"
Mr. Shatner: Well, I liked two of them.
I liked performing them—that which I
can remember, 'cause they all begin to
fade into (laughing) one giant "Star
Trek!" But, there was one in the early
season that I played where I played the