Tod and Buz 30 Years Later

For Martin Milner and George Maharis, the memories of "Route 66" are still vivid.

Martin Milner also starred in the TV series "Adam-12, and Swiss Family Robinson. Milner launched his acting career with a stage role at the age of 12 and two years later moved to Hollywood with his family. His film credits include Life With Father (1947), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Marjorie Morningstar (1958), and Valley of the Dolls (1967). Milner has also appeared on Broadway and in other stage productions, and has recently worked on a number of movies for television. He was interviewed from his Del Mar, Calif., home by Kermit Park in December 1989.

CQ: "Route 66" often dealt with controversial subjects. Who pushed for this and why?
Milner: Well, I think that (chief writer) Stirling Silliphant and (producer) Bert Leonard made most of these decisions together. Stirling always had a finger on the pulse of what was happening before the general public seemed to know about it. We did a show on LSD called "The Thin White Line," when nobody really knew what LSD was. I had certainly never heard of it, but Stirling had. I think he was kind of in the vanguard on things like that. And Bert Leonard had the good sense to go along with him on those things.

CQ: How did you feel about those subjects?
Milner: I thought it was wonderful. I thought we were breaking new ground. I was always very happy with the storylines on that show--most of them, anyway.

CQ: What did you like best about the show?
Milner: The fact that we were pioneering a very innovative way to make television--to do it on the road, in the actual locations. We were doing something nobody else had ever done, and nobody really has done it since, either. But one of the sad things is that we weren't in color, because we were in so many beautiful spots, like being in Vermont in the fall when the leaves were changing.

CQ: What did you like least about the show?
Milner: The traveling--being on the road with my family--was sometimes very difficult. We had four kids by the time that show was over, and we spent quite a bit of time traveling with the kids. Oftentimes it was very difficult to find family accommodations for the two and three weeks that we were in a town, so we would wind up in a hotel suite with a hot plate. We would really feel like gypsies after awhile, sort of living out of suitcases.

CQ: How much of your real personality of that of George Maharis is reflected in the Tod and Buz characters?
Milner: I think they wrote the characters and then found the actors who fit them. But anytime you do a series, as it goes along, the character often becomes more and more like the person--the actor. You might do a certain thing one week, and you do it really well because it's close to you; it's easy for you to play. And without realizing it, the writers will write that again. They'll say, "Remember when George did this and how good that was? Let's write a thing like that for him again." So over the life of a show, even if it doesn't start out that way, it often involves characters that become pretty close to the actors who are playing them.

CQ: Were you or George given any freedom in character development?
Milner: We always had a lot of input. Anybody doing a series has input as far as character goes. And if something arrived at a location and we didn't like it, all we had to do is get on the phone. We didn't always win those fights, but we sure had an opportunity to have our input.

CQ: Did this freedom that you had in character development have any influence on the writer's inspirations for future storylines?
Milner: Sure it did. In many cases, shows were written that way; particularly shows that were done on the water--Tampa Bay and a couple of other places. I've always been pretty good with water sports, so, yes, I could say certain shows did cater to us. They did take advantage of whatever expertise we had in certain areas.

CQ: How much ad-libbing or free-wheeling went on during filming?
Milner: Very little. In most filmed television, with the possible exception of a show like "Roseanne," where you're using stand-up comics, decisions to change dialogue are made before you shoot. You don't have the time or the budget for a lot of experimentation while you're filming. Occasionally, something will get ad-libbed and it will stay in, but more often than not, you're sticking pretty closely to the script.

CQ: What's your favorite episode of "Route 66"?
Milner: I think my favorite is the one I did in Philadelphia, "The Thin White Line," where I got the LSD by mistake. That was the toughest for me as an actor, because I had to run through a wide range of emotions. I had a wonderful director on that, a man named David Lowell Rich, who did a lot of shows for us. He has gone on to do very well.

CQ: Could the "Route 66" formula be successful on TV today?
Milner: If it was new, and up-to-date, and good, sure, it would e successful, But just the fact that you're remaking a show isn't enough. If you don't have the good solid creative people behind it, people will tune it in the first time, they'll sample it, and if they don't like it, they'll turn it off.

CQ: There don't seem to be as many regional differences in the country today. Would that make a show less interesting?
Milner: I don't agree with that. I travel quite a bit and I still see vast differences in attitudes and habits and customs in different parts of the country.

CQ: If it were offered, would you ever consider doing the series again?
Milner: I don't think so. I'm too old for it now. There is something wrong about a 58-year-old man wandering around the country trying to find his roots and deciding what he wants to do with his life. It's swell when you're 25, but I think if this show were done now, it would have to be done with a focus on somebody younger that George and me. For a while, we contemplated making a movie, which was going to be a comedy, and I think that would work fine. I would find it very difficult to find a way to justify two old guys going around the country in a Corvette now.

CQ: Suppose the premise was modified slightly, so that you and George would be revisiting some of the people you ran into earlier to see how things turned out, using flashbacks from the original show as a general storyline? Milner: It might work for a movie of the week. But a lot of times, you'd just be looking for people who just aren't around anymore, or who have become such big stars that you couldn't get them to do it. Besides, you'd be undercutting old black and white footage with new color footage. It might work as a onetime thing, but I don't think it would work as a regular series.

CQ: What do you think accounts for all the recent interest in "Route 66."?
Milner: I must have had calls from at least five different authors who were doing books on "Route 66." I suppose its time has just come.

Corvette Quarterly
Summer 1990
By Kermit D. Park
Transcribed by L.A. Christie

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