SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES OPEN

How it was created

Jack D. Stratmeyer

Director, Producer, Production Manager — WVTV, Channel 18 (1974-1983)

Color slide used at the commercial breaks. (Courtesy of WVTV)

The "SATURDAY NIGHT at the MOVIES" open was created at the request of the promotion department and designed to create an eerie, "Shock Theater" open, but without a host. I collaborated with the promotion and art departments on the scene/setting and elements of the shot. They provided the books and arranged for the tarantula with the Milwaukee County Zoo, as they only wanted to shoot slides for movie bridges. My assignment was to bring it "alive" with visual and sound effects. I set the shot with the background: the "cube" (the station ID/logo — which had to be in the shot for identification purposes), the rope and candlestick (which I brought in from home the morning of the shoot as a last minute idea/prop).

I had done a storyboard (scene-by-scene drawing) of how I wanted the shot. Starting tight on the title on the book, then gradually zooming-out to include the tarantula, cube, and ending with the candle on the left side — all the while having lightning flashing and weird, eerie music and sound-effects going on. (The volume level of which would be lower so that the announcer — Bob Beringer — could provide a voice-over of the movie title each week.)

The music and sound effects were a combination of base music and several effects that I told the audio man to make "as weird as he could." (There is no way to replicate it. He mixed the audio while I was in the studio setting the shot with the tarantula. Rick Geske did a great job!)

In the studio, I had the keeper set the tarantula ("Shirley") on the book and then had the cameraman pull to the wide-shot (final position), so I could set the candle in the proper position. As I was concentrating on the shot by looking at the studio monitor, I asked the spider’s keeper how could we get her to move across the book. (We had set aside three-hours of studio time — a full one-hour of video tape — not knowing if, or how, the tarantula would move or react in the studio.) Ken responded by saying: "There’s no way to tell what Shirley might do, or how to make her move. She actually can instantly jump 10-12 feet, land and bite. She is not defanged.” At that point, my hand was moving the candle about 8 inches away from her. My response was: "That’s good enough for the shot! I’m going to the control room." (Exit stage left!) The cameraman was not too keen on staying in the studio, but we convinced him he would be "okay" as Ken was right there.

"Shirley" the tarantula leaves the hand of her keeper, the Milwaukee County Zoo’s Ken Schoenrock. (Courtesy of WVTV)

Back in the control room, we proceeded to cue-up the music, set the tape for recording and test the lighting effects. Everything was set for the first take. I called back to the tape room: "Roll tape! Come up on the close-up of the title. Spin the music. Cue the lightning. Start slow zoom-out. Cue the tarantula!" (jokingly)

As if on-cue, Shirley started walking across the book. We did not know how far she would crawl, or if she might just stop — but she performed EXACTLY AS I ENVISIONED! WOW!! In the control room, we all looked at each other in disbelief. I jokingly said: "Okay, we’re done!" (Knowing we had set aside three hours of tape time for a shot we did not know if we could even get to happen.)

On cue, "Shirley" crawled up the book. (Courtesy of WVTV)

As any director would do, I cued the tape for a second, backup shot — just to see if there might be a better take, or if Shirley might move differently — we could always sync/overlay the music to match the shot later. We reset the shot, came up on the close-up, started the zoom-out, spun the music, started the lightning effects and "cued" Shirley again.

As if she heard me, she AGAIN moved across the book perfectly on cue and in the same position. This truly was unbelievable!! Twice on cue! Within an hour of setting the shot, we had accomplished the exact shot/scene I had visually created on storyboard.

The rest is history! I’m amazed as to the continued interest in the shot/open. When I talk about my broadcasting production background, I often mention the open, and most everyone remembers it — amazing! It’s become a little part of Milwaukee broadcasting history. I never thought of that at the time — I was just creating a movie open for the station. I’m flattered that so many people are still interested in its creation.