#192 Classic TV Icon Angela Cartwright Talks Lost in Space, The Sound of Music, and Meeting The Beatles

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:30

All right, Julie, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You got this show going each and every week, and this week was no exception. Welcome, everybody, to Episode 192 of classic conversations, and we've got a classic one for you today. Angela Cartwright is here. That's right, penny from Lawson space, Linda Williams from the Danny Thomas show. And of course, Rashida von Trapp from the sound of music. It doesn't get classic her than this, and we're gonna get lost in space with Angela Cartwright and in just a few seconds. In the meantime, I hope you had the opportunity to check out episode 190 with Mark Llano, co owner of the legendary improv comedy clubs, so many great comedy stories of your comedy lover that episode is for you. Of course the bonus crossing the stream episodes so you always know what TV shows you should be binging so much for you to do, but right now task at hand. It's time to dive into my conversation with Angela Cartwright. Enjoy. Alright everyone, I'm excited to introduce you to my next guest actress author artists photog are for Princess of space loved her in the Danny Thomas show Lost in Space. Sound of Music Welcome to the show. Angela Cartwright.

Angela Cartwright 1:50

Hi, how you doing?

Jeff Dwoskin 1:52

Good. How are you?

Angela Cartwright 1:54

I am doing okay.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:55

You know, we know that you would remember but we met I met you once at Motor City Comicon. I have can see behind me. I got a lot of autographs and stuff. But what am I treasured ones is my Lawson space one. I've got four autographs on it. Mark, you bill and Marta. Marta wasn't there. The year I got it, it was a year like in 2011. She came by herself. This is like my crown jewel of my wall of autographs.

Angela Cartwright 2:22

How exciting.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:23

I know, they're

Angela Cartwright 2:23

forever.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:25

I know. It's so cool. So cool. So I think that was the first time I ever went to a Comic Con actually experienced like a fandom thing where there was like, you know, like it was a group. It was a group of people there like it was it was

Angela Cartwright 2:36

very, it's amazing how the legs that this show has, it really captured people's imaginations, and they have come out and followed us for many years.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:45

But the fun part about doing an interview like this is I started I go and I rewatched a bunch of stuff that I haven't watched in a while, you know, so just kind of get it fresh in my head. And it's like, I grew up with it all but you know, just relive and it was it was interesting rewatching the pilot and which actually, your launch takes place in 1997. Now it's interesting.

Angela Cartwright 3:05

How bizarre is that? That was so far away. And here we are 2023 already.

Jeff Dwoskin 3:10

I know. It's crazy. But it was what's interesting as my memory is a child watching it and reruns were all the color episodes. So season two and three, right where the tone completely changed. It was a less serious drama than the first season. It was interesting because when the movie came out when they rebooted the movie, it was it was serious. And I think I had forgotten at the time that that was what the first season was because I think I later read the black and white episodes weren't played as much

Angela Cartwright 3:38

well actually, CPS said that we were scaring the kids that first season and so they wanted it to be lighter. And you know I love that black and white no are very kind of it was it felt very real the mission control and the take off and all that just seemed so perfect in that first season. I love that first season I love the shows and then they said that we were scaring the kids and we had an early time slot so It was seven o'clock so we went on to become a little more comic a little lighter weight and of course in color to kind of be in contrast with Batman which was all colorful and them wow smash and all of that stuff. That was our competition on lesson space night.

Jeff Dwoskin 4:25

I actually have your book blast off. Expanded edition and the sound good I can The Sound of Music scrapbook here photographer and I enjoyed these books so much like there's something about scrapbooks. They say a picture's worth 1000 words and it really really is. I mean it's just it's a you get such a different feeling looking at photos, especially ones that were never seen before to really capture a story like you did with loss and space and and sound and music with with that that movie family salutely

Angela Cartwright 4:57

The Sound of Music One I'm really glad that we were able to do that because we've lost, you know, two of our villain trap folk on trap members. And it was just so nice to get everybody's memories and get their memorabilia and be able to put it together in a book, The Lost in Space one came out of, you know, just an idea of all these images that Kevin Burns who he's passed away since but he was so generous with the merchandise that he had. And he was a huge Lost in Space Fan. And so we had all these pictures, I am just totally of photography freak. I love photographs. I love altering photographs and finding old photographs. This book fascinated me. And originally it was going to be more of a picture book. But as Bill and I started to remember, you know, it's like going through your yearbook and going oh, yeah, that's right. I was a cheerleader. Oh, I remember this person, we started to do that. And it became the stories that a lot of them, we just re rethought up and remembered. And it was so much fun putting that book together and having those memories and it was just a great, great time. And then what happened was, Kevin got all these new pictures and Bill and I was during the pandemic have decided that we would start cleaning out some of the stuff we had in our house, which I'm sure many people did, because we were on lockdown. And we started going through our scrapbooks and finding all this other stuff. So we decided to do an expanded edition because there were so much more that we have not said and done. And so we upgraded it. And I'm just so proud of this book because it is brought people back and the memories that they have from that time makes them happy. So it's a fun book. It really is.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:50

It really is it you know, it's like I it resonated with me on a personal level, like I love I'm the family photographer, right? There's always one the person you talked about in The Sound of Music family scrapbook that the parents took so many pictures and that like later how thankful you were and that like when we went to Disney World, I would spend more time working on the scrapbook of it than we did on the actual trip drove the kids crazy making them take pictures every five feeds and all that. But now it's just something you can still look back on. And so like when I was looking at your books, I was like that's it just resonated with me because this is exactly how I think everything should be remembered. It's just has been so visual. It's It was great. Anyway, I loved it. So just wanted to start off with that. Let's go back in time. Let's talk about your album, Angela Cartwright sings was hoping he could sing 64 tadpoles for me.

Angela Cartwright 7:48

I'm afraid I don't remember the lines of that one. But I will tell you that that album, I make that particular album. I'm seven years old. I'd been on the Danny Thomas show for three years. I started on that show when I was four. And I did sing and I did dance and I did in several episodes also of the show. And that album My dad seems a couple of the songs. He's Mr. Jumbo. Yeah, two super waves. And then Starlight Starbright which is such a beautiful little duet. Am I shall always treasure that because that was my dad singing and he says pass. So it's those are the kind of memories you know that you just hang on to and you just love.

Jeff Dwoskin 8:30

I love that. That's so awesome. When I start to research shows like, you know around those times, like the Danny Thomas show, like you had your own line of clothes that you wore on this on the thing, right there was it was action figures. You don't see many sitcoms these days with action figures or dolls, right. I'm sorry, my boy, I said action.

Angela Cartwright 8:48

And just a funny thing about those clothes. My mom saved a lot of those Linda Williams clothes. I used to put my daughter in them and now her daughter wears them and her daughter loves those clothes. And they are beautifully made. You know a lot of clothes just aren't made with the precision that they were in those days. And she loves to dress up and when I see them. It's just it's so joyful to see that this old vintage dresses being born by your granddaughters just lovely.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:16

Yeah, you better enjoy that because you don't you have no idea how much money I could be making on eBay right now.

Angela Cartwright 9:22

I think your one son gone. Whenever they do. Maybe someone would like one of those outfits.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:28

I mean, your early movies, your first movie, it was with Paul Newman.

Angela Cartwright 9:32

I know. Lucky me.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:33

I know. And then Sidney Poitier and your second movie and Rock Hudson is make room for daddy, the daddy Thomas show was that is that where you're like where the memories start to kick in? I imagine you were so young during the other year like three right when you first started

Angela Cartwright 9:46

I was and you know, I was born in England. So it wasn't planned anything. It just was my journey. My faith, I believe because my parents never imagined that their kids would be in showbusiness mindset. Stories. Veronica is also a well known actress. It just happened. And those things do just happen sometimes in life. And I happen to get on a television show that lasted for seven years. And then of course, to go on to make the sound of music, which is kind of the dream movie to be in. I feel very blessed that I was in this movie that still people love so much. And that's apparent to add the singalongs where you know, the Hollywood Bowl is like completely sold out as they're watching this movie. That's like 60 years old, and it's just as good. I mean, it is a fabulous movie. So I, you know, so happy to have been a part of that. Anyway, I forgot the question. Now. We were talking about Paul Newman. Did I remember Paul Newman? Not really, but I did go and visit him on a set. When I was doing Lost in Space, he was working at 20 A fox and I actually made my way onto the set. And I introduced myself I said, you probably don't remember me, but I played your daughter in Somebody Up There Likes Me. And he was so cute. I know. I probably made him feel pretty old. Because I was like 12 or 13. At that time. I visually just from watching it. I remember it, but I don't really remember it done the Danny Thomas show. Those are the lessons that I really remembered. Because we did that show live every week in front of a live audience. That was like putting on a play every week.

Jeff Dwoskin 11:21

Was it scary? I mean it because it was a one take thing, right? You learned your lines you and then you shot it was that a lot of pressure for seven year

Angela Cartwright 11:29

olds, I didn't feel pressure as an adult, I would feel more pressure. I did it. Because I always knew my lines. I think just going over it and blocking it and getting ready to in rehearsal. I just knew my line. So I don't ever remember being nervous or scared about being in front of this live audience every week. And you know, I did start when I was four, I was rather disciplined, double Verto. And I, you know, was very prepared. And I've just always kind of been like that, but I wasn't scared. Now. I wasn't. And I did enjoy it. I did enjoy doing it. But it became my life because I was just so young. I didn't really know any different. That's what I thought people did, you know, went to

Jeff Dwoskin 12:15

work. It's an interesting thing. I guess I purposely didn't ask you that because you grew up. That's the way that was your childhood. It wasn't like at some point you went to in public school and then became, like, Well, I

Angela Cartwright 12:26

actually did go to us. I got my books from a parochial school every year. But I did go to school on the lot. But I did go back to school one year, and we finished and we were on hiatus, but I had to finish out my school year. And that was a little tough. Because I hadn't been in the classroom, I didn't have my friends, my clique, or my friends. And people saw me on television. So that was a little rough. But I never really let it bother me so much I was I was a very kind of introverted kind of quiet child anyway, that we wouldn't know that from some of the lines, I had to say on the Danny Thomas joke, but I did come from a British family. And it was a respectful family. And, you know, I had my chores I had to do and stuff like that. So I just kind of took it as a grain of salt. And I don't know, I really have to give kudos to my parents for that, you know, they made me feel comfortable, but not like I was, you know, better than anybody else. This was just what I did. This was just my locked in life. And so it was, I don't know exactly what they did to kind of not make me freak out. But I didn't.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:43

Sorry, gotta take a quick break. But I do want to thank everyone for their support of the sponsors. When you support the sponsors. You're supporting us here at Classic conversations. And that's how we keep the lights on. And now back to my out of this world conversation with Angela Carter, right.

Angela Cartwright 13:59

And I was very lucky later on. I never felt kind of this stage of my life was over because I was no longer a child star. I never felt that. I think a lot of young actors do. Of course, in those days, we didn't have social media and stuff. So you know, we there wasn't the competition that there is now.

Jeff Dwoskin 14:19

Right, right. Was it fun with your sister? I mean, she was a huge success as well. Right. Daniel Boone, I noticed on her IMDb she was on the Danny Thomas show for a couple of episodes. Also,

Angela Cartwright 14:31

my sister played a brownie talk show she was in a couple episodes. Her life kind of took a different turn because she did a lot more dramatic stuff. She's in the children's hour. She was in the birds. And she handled that stuff really, really well. She knew it was pretend, you know, she knew that this was make believe. She went on to have a very illustrious career. But it was tough at that age 18. You know, it's a rough period. You either make the transition or you don't and For me, I did do some things after we make room for granddaddy, I was 17 turned 18. I was fascinated by photography, I always wanted to model I did that I went to Europe and modeled there, but I was not, you know, five, seven. So I wasn't like a huge tall model did a lot of commercial stuff. And then I really wanted to have a family that was really important to me. And I found my husband and we had guard kids. And that life was enough. I mean, I really wanted to be a good mom and a good parent. But I've still kept busy and kept my toe in the water. And now I've done things continually because I like to be busy. So I, you know, art was a perfect way for me to express myself. And that's when I did I went on to write books and stuff like that art.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:46

That's amazing. You find your path and you're extremely creative and you found a different outlet for it and raise a family all amazing. When you were younger. I interviewed John Provost and he in his book, he talks about you and your friendship, did you it was he one of the folks that you hang hung out with Timmy from Lassie?

Angela Cartwright 16:05

Well, John and I think would put us together a lot like we were dating, but really we were friends. You know, they would do these fab magazine and fav magazine and Tiger Beat, you know, we would Oh, a date with John Provos. Generally he was like the heartthrob at the time is very cute boy until they put us together, but we they have us go places our parents were with us, but they'd have us. You know, they take us places like the zoo or concerts or whatever. And so it was a great way to kind of go to these places and be treated to the best of the best and be with somebody that was fun to be with is a very nice guy, you know, and they did that with several people like Sadiq Khan, I was set up with Kurt Russell. I mean, they were they were just, they needed to get their news media hasn't changed much. You know, there was a lot of fake news at that time also, but it did get people to watch the television shows.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:01

Yeah, I saw in one of the books you had. Some of the team be headlines like I was one. I had a crush on a married man. And then I met a monkey.

Angela Cartwright 17:11

How humiliating for a teenager to get that headline, and then saying that it was Mark Garner that I had a crush on. I mean, bullies until I met a monkey I you know, Mickey Dolenz. And I use on circus boy. So I knew Mickey, you know, when you were in that circle, I call it the club. You know, there were a lot of child at not a lot, but there were several child actors. And we would always kind of crossed paths in different ways. Photo shoots TV guy, you know, these things that they would set up and also a lot of charity stuff where we would be and you would just know them and you would hang with them. But you know, it wasn't. I came across one the other day 1010 Temptress 10 tips for being a temptress or something like that. I mean, really, I'm if I'm gonna give you tips on how to be. I actually think I'm gonna post that on Instagram. It's such a laugh for me, and I think people might get a kick out of it.

Jeff Dwoskin 18:11

That is hilarious. That is fun. So one piece of trivia for the Danny Kaye show they find is Andy Griffith and Ron Howard made a visit to the show and then that spun off into the Andy Griffith Show,

Angela Cartwright 18:22

right MD attributes. Danny Thomas, I think you said David Kay. Oh, that's okay. You know, Dan had his fingers in a lot of different things. He was in production. He had many television shows that spun off Joey Bishop, Andy Griffith was one of them. He played the sheriff in a town that put Danny in jail. I don't know if you saw that episode, or remember that episode. But that character of Andy Griffith was the one that Danny did the spin off for me, Barry. And that was Mayberry. Right? Yeah. And that was Rodney Howard, that you know is his son and that was that show, but there were many others on the Lucy Desi studios called Desi Lu Studios, which I can see so clearly in my mind. It's just so amazing how clear that vision of that studio is to me, it's like I mean, it's not in existence anymore. I think it was a they turned it into a tennis something teaching the tennis courts or something. But Desi lieu studios, there was Lucy on there and all these different shows Bill Bixby was somebody that played the grocery deliver on Danny Thomas show and there was something in that performance Danny saw that created, you know, a show with Bill Bixby I can't remember the name of it now

Jeff Dwoskin 19:44

courtship Fridays father, maybe?

Angela Cartwright 19:46

Yeah, that was probably it. I don't know if that was it or not, or but he went on to do something with Bill Bixby and Danny had all these different shows that he was the Danny Thomas show to me was like a classic comedy for 50s And he took that and just ran with it. He was very visionary visual with his ideas on what shows would be successful. And then I found out in some book and I can't remember the guys name, but my husband was reading this book and he said, Oh, look at this, apparently, and I don't know if it's true or not, but I I tend to believe it is that Danny wanted to play the Godfather, Vito Corleone. And so he tried to buy that book. And everybody was so terrified that he would end up playing it. I don't know if that's true, either. I think probably Danny being such a comic genius wanted something to kind of stretch his his acting abilities and his skills. And he was probably very taken in by that book, which many of us were when that book first came out and thought, Oh, I could play this part. And so he went on to buy want to buy that or, and I don't know if that's true or not, but I can see Danny wanting to do that.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:01

I think there's a million examples of comedic geniuses being so great at something dramatic. I mean, there's like a million examples of that. I mean, I always enjoyed Robin Williams dramatic, sometimes more than a comedy as well. Jim Carrey

Angela Cartwright 21:15

was another one I thought was a very good actor, but everybody loved his goofy comedy. I agree with you totally Robin Williams. Perfect example. He was a wonderful actor. So yeah, I think you know, sometimes you get in showbusiness locked into a box. And the only way out of it is for the actor to buy it up or have a piece of it, or something perfect example of that's Reese Witherspoon who played that kind of kooky blonde. And now she's like a producer that does amazing roles for different women. She's got her finger on a lot of books that come out, and she buys them up and is able to produce them. So I think that's the route that people have to take. Because otherwise you get locked into, you're always going to be that character. And you know, that's a hard box to fight your way out of.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:06

Absolutely, yeah. And race is amazing. Like it just like anything, right? If you can take control and chart your own destiny, then it's endless, and everybody's

Angela Cartwright 22:15

capable of doing it. They don't always know the way to do it. But you just have to keep fighting for what you want to happen. You can make your own destiny. There's just a lot of, I think self consciousness a lot of times that gets in the way of making it happen.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:30

Absolutely. Oh, it's I love finding trivia. So one thing I thought when you met you mentioned make room for granddaddy, which was the spin off but the before that you did two one hour specials. And those are considered the first TV reunion shows. That was the first time that had occurred. I guess up to that point. According to this piece of trivia I found on the internet. You mean that Danny Thomas? Oh, yeah, yeah, the Danny Thomas TV family reunion, consider so those were like the first reunion, consider the first TV reunion shows. Yeah,

Angela Cartwright 23:02

I'd have never heard that before. But actually, I do believe that. And I also believe that del Rey me sequence that Robert Weiss created going all over Austria singing that entire medley of dough ring me was the first music video. And that had not been done before. Yeah, he was someone else who could really see because he had started as an editor, he really could see the end result before it was even filmed. I think he was a brilliant director.

Jeff Dwoskin 23:32

That is quite a talent. Alright, so let's pivot to sound of music with Robert Wise, who also hired you for Somebody Up There Likes Me? Yeah, but

Angela Cartwright 23:39

he didn't even know that. I mean, I think as a kid, I was just like, the type of kid he liked. I don't know, because he had hired me for Somebody Up There Likes Me to play Paul Newman's daughter. And that was my very first movie acting role. And he had given me a little stuffed mouse that I hold in the movie. And you can see it, I'm shaking it and go mommy, it's only daddy. That's my line. I was three. And so it was my parents who realized that he actually had directed Somebody Up There Likes Me. So I took that to the set one day and he was genuinely surprised. He said, Oh my god, I just realized you were you were who I hired for that part. So it was a interesting little moment. I had him sign it. My little mouse I still have it.

Jeff Dwoskin 24:28

Amazing. He taught me like see, I trust my instincts have been right all this

Angela Cartwright 24:32

time. Yeah, I'm looking to do with your research.

Jeff Dwoskin 24:36

So that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. So So sounding music, I thought it was a cool kind of antidote to the story that Danny Thomas allowed you to miss the last episode let you out of the contract. So you could be in The Sound of Music. Yep.

Angela Cartwright 24:51

That's one of those things that could have been so different. Because he had every right to let's say, Now gotta be in this last show. But he was A very generous human, which of course, reflects in St. Jude Hospital, which was something he was dearly connected to. He had that vision and he made that happen. And he let me out of that last show. So I could start rehearsals on the sound of music. So I'm forever grateful for that.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:17

Yeah. Because there's a million stories that you hear about actors that were supposed to have a role that someone else got. And then it just became like a classic role. Yeah, happens all the time. So what was the audition process like for Sound of Music?

Angela Cartwright 25:31

Well, when we knew that Danny Thomas show was ending, my agent sent me on this interview for this movie that was going to be done from a play. I'd never seen the sound of music, but I went in and I met Robert Wise, Saul Chapman. And then I was called back again. And I was asked to sing, which I did. And I also was asked, I think, to dance, something I can't remember whether I danced or not, but they asked me to I probably did. And then I was called back when they had tried to make a family. The other interesting things about the family that Robert Weiss created. Usually they were all Blonde on the stage productions. But he didn't have that. I mean, if you know, several of us had dark hair. And that might have come because he wanted to cast Christopher Plummer, which was such a way out there choice, I think. But without Christopher Plummer, I don't think the movie would have been the same. He had so many lovely nuances in his performance besides being absolutely gorgeous, which I didn't even realize till I was in my teens. I think every time I see it, I see something else in his performance that makes it so real. And it's the reason that you never disliked him in the movie. You just You can tell he loves his kids, but he doesn't know how to take care of them. It's, it's just a great performance, I think. And his choice, I think was pretty wild. He was a Canadian actor. And, you know, nobody knew Christopher Plummer. And even though I know their stories that Chris thought it was so pukey and, you know, the seven mucus and all that they made a big deal about that on media. Later on in life. I think he realized he probably would never have had the career he had if he hadn't played von Trapp, Captain Mike Trout. So he was I thought he was such an amazing actor and went on to do some amazing roles to

Jeff Dwoskin 27:25

sorry, but we have to take a quick break. And we're back with Angela Carter. Right and the sound of music. Absolutely. I mean, the the combination of him Julie Andrews and Julie's

Angela Cartwright 27:37

talk several times. I mean, it was only her second movie. And Julie was so smart in how she became friends with us and literally between takes because you know a movie you take a lot of time and a lot of takes took us a year to make the sound music from beginning to end. And we have a lot of rain and Salzburg time should sing to Titus songs. We would dance. I mean, she literally was our Froylan we all absolutely adored her and you can tell in the movie how much we all cared about her.

Jeff Dwoskin 28:10

Oh, yeah, that all comes through yet it is amazing when now you go Oh, is Julie Andrews any up but Mary Poppins hadn't even come out yet when she was filming that role?

Angela Cartwright 28:20

No, actually, she was nominated for the Academy Award while we were in Oh had

Jeff Dwoskin 28:24

just come out at is that what it was? And then she got and she was just ramping up pretty hard.

Angela Cartwright 28:31

I know. There's somewhere you know, Robert Wise and powers that be recognized. This was a star definitely in the making. And yet she talks about how insecure she was because she didn't know how to make a movie. And Mary Poppins had so much green screen, you know, with the animated characters and stuff like that, we have to look at stuff. We were talking earlier about where you look on when you're doing a zoom and stuff. Unless his face we had to do that all the time, they'd have a stick with a piece of cardboard on it. And that would be our monster and we'd be looking at this stick with a piece of cardboard on it and imagining that was this you know, big green monster or some giant or something? Yeah, that's where the acting part comes in.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:17

Is it then jump well jump back just kind of using a second but they when you film something like that, like Lawson space where then they film putting the monster and stuff later when you watch it the completed while you're watching it for the first time and fully experiencing the full experience of that integration. So that must be a hoot, right? I mean, like,

Angela Cartwright 29:36

sometimes you don't know what it's going to be like other times we would know what the monster was because we did have scenes with them. Remember, this was before CGI and everything but because of the camera angle and everything that monster couldn't fit in, you know, to the side of the camera to you know, do the close ups and stuff like that. So yes, sometimes we were totally surprised. And other times you'd go wow, that that looks great. You know, especially with something like the Lost in Space movie, you know, that was on Netflix, you know so much of that they have no idea what that would look like. And, you know, you can just do so much now with, you know, your photo shop and stuff like that, although my bit I was actually sitting on a boat, and we were freezing our butts off. And I'm thinking to myself, why aren't we on a set with a fog machine? instead? I'm sitting, you're freezing to death in Canada.

Angela Cartwright 30:33

And then I'm dying of cancer and I'm drunk. So all in a day's work, what can I say?

Jeff Dwoskin 30:39

I owe so bad decided I want I had Nicholas Hammond on the show by Frederick, you guys I love in the book, like you guys had that bond and you maintain that bond and friendship. After the movie, there was an interesting quote, I think it was Nicolas Zetta in the in the scrapbook where he was like, we're so close now. But we may never see each other again. And you guys, you guys managed to reconnect periodically,

Angela Cartwright 31:06

has been very unusual. Actually, this doesn't always happen. But um, sounded music because we had this experience together, we have remained very close all of us over the years, over like 60 years, they get 60, almost, you know, we all live in different parts of the country, which is so interesting. We were you know, called together for the Julie Andrews Lifetime Achievement Award. And you know, we all flew in, and we pick up exactly where we left off. It's the most amazing thing is just like a real family that you don't see all the time. We all came in from our different places from Australia, and Michigan, and all these different places. And we just pick, oh, hi, how are you, and so on and so forth. We all know each other, we text each other, it doesn't always happen like that, and Sound of Music and lost in space, I have had that experience. Because the Lost in Space family also some of that had to do I think with conventions bringing us together that has been really great for the sound of music, it's it's mainly been events that have brought us together because you know, there has been celebrations or you know, all these things like Julie's Lifetime Achievement Award. That was lovely. You know, we all gathered in Hollywood, we all had this lovely dinner, we were able to sing to her in a way it was like, you know, giving our nod to her and thanking her for you know, being so great in the movie. But being a part of that was just so great. I'm so grateful for that. That's a great memory. But I've been lucky with that. That doesn't always happen.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:42

It's great that you were able to experience that as many times as you did. So interesting thing in the scrapbook. There was a little note there it said your mom kept a diary during this. So when you look back, was there anything that kind of popped out at any point in your life that was like that you didn't remember that you were just thankful that your mom happened to jot down?

Angela Cartwright 33:01

Well, it was a very brief diary. It was a very small diary. And on the pages, she'd say something like rain or went for wardrobe fitting in brief like that. But then there were other moments that brought back just memories of you know, shot at Hellbrunn Kimmie fell in the water, just those moments that just bring back those memories so much. You know, I do a tour of Salzburg. I've done it four times now where I take people to the locations where sound and music was filmed and my memories of shooting there. And each time it's been really neat. Sometimes we've gone to places that I haven't been to since we made the movie, you know, like up on Maria's mountain where we did Delray me we were up there, one of the times it was great, because it's a private piece of property. It's really fun. And it's it's such a great way to make memories. And I'm always been terrific people that have been on this tour. It's through craft tours. I'm doing it again in April, God willing. So this will be i usually do it at Christmas. But this time, it'll be in spring, which is when we film the movie, so that'll be fun.

Jeff Dwoskin 34:14

That sounds so cool. I love that it

Angela Cartwright 34:18

really is. I will first of all Salzburg is stunningly beautiful city worth seeing anyway. But what's so interesting, there's so much history to it. And it looks exactly like it did when we've made the movie. It's like being on the movie set again, you know, Mirabelle gardens where we are saying don't read me you can actually see it in person. I teach the routine on the steps of Delray me at the end, and it's really fun. We have a lot of laughs Do a lot of singing it for me. It's always bringing back those memories.

Jeff Dwoskin 34:49

I love that and it must be so special for them to be there with you to be their tour guide. Wow.

Angela Cartwright 34:55

A weird freaky Tobon trap take you to

Jeff Dwoskin 34:59

that's kind It's cool though. The other awesome thing in scrapbook is you talk about you wrote a story about meeting the Beatles. But then later in 1964, you actually met the Beatles. So jealous

Angela Cartwright 35:12

meeting the Beatles? Yes, that is in the scrapbook. Because Heather and I were like Beatle crazy. We love the Beatles. And yeah, I wrote this machinary story of them coming to the set and meeting us and all of that stuff. But then later on in life, I was able to meet them younger. And then later, I saw Linda McCartney's gallery showing and Paul was there. And they went with Heather and Bob, also, we sat and talked to him for a little while. So that was really cool to see someone that you had admired and kind of grown up with and be able to actually talk to them and meet them in person. That was cool.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:51

Okay, I mean, could you even hold yourself together?

Angela Cartwright 35:55

Well, I did meet them at it was at a CBS party and they were making an appearance there just for charity, but you got to go through and meet them. Some people didn't even know who they were because they were so new, but my sister knew because of a radio station that had released their first album that was published in England and so we used to listen to Beatles songs all the time. And so yeah, the picture of me with the Beatles I am looking a little oh my god that look I glide meaning my hands just leaving Paul McCartney

Jeff Dwoskin 36:33

game and imagine that had been so amazing wow, I'd so after sounding music we got lost in space right? I love lost in space. It was it was just I just remember why chant so much as a kid and just thinking it was so amazing. So great. One of the you mentioned Batman earlier they influence Batman and like I there was some cool pictures of you meeting Burt Ward dressed as as Robin and pictures with Adam last and you so I imagine the rivalry was off screen was was fun. But this is this is what you see. This is what we credit for the shift in tone from season one to two was going up against this color. You know, now you're in color. And now it's a little more whimsical then then the drama we talked about earlier?

Angela Cartwright 37:20

Yes. But that was really the rivalry I think was with the ratings. And with that, I mean, as kids we didn't care I liked out in West and met Burt Ward and they've worked right next to us on the the lot on 20 A flat. So we see him all the time. But you know, that was quite a newsworthy story to see. You know, Penny Robinson with Adam West. I was I guess.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:48

Last I mean Lawson space that the cast was a powerhouse cast. I when I put you all together me guy Williams was or June Lockhart was the mom on Blasi bill. I think I think twilight zone I think you know ham. Yeah. You know, coming from Danny Thomas show and Sound of Music. I mean, it was just like this insane cast that they hold together. So the expectations of this show must have been off the charts. I'd imagine. I

Angela Cartwright 38:16

think Irwin was really onto something. He had this idea of using these blockbuster stars later on in Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure there were always very recognizable actors and actresses in those movies, which brought people out to watch these. And when you say it like that, I've never really thought of it like that. But yeah, we were all people that people recognize from previous work. Even Mark Goddard had been in the detective I think so. Yeah, he did that. And he did that quite often with his different roles. And, you know, big movies that he made. I did Beyond The Poseidon Adventure with him when I was in my 20s and that was Sally Field and Michael Caine, Shirley Knight, and that was you know, that was a pretty awesome cast too.

Jeff Dwoskin 39:08

Yeah, that was, that was a blockbuster Telly Savalas, like did you nearly drown in that as I did I read that.

Angela Cartwright 39:16

Yep. That was the I was tough. That was really tough. And Mark Harmon it was like his first acting role. Thank God he he helped a lot with you know where to find a place to breathe. I mean, we went down into water when we went into that thing. Oh, when I think of how probably and clean it was weird. You know, I don't think that that was laid out as well as it could have been

Jeff Dwoskin 39:48

talking about your co star, Debbie the Bloop.

Angela Cartwright 39:52

Now, Gabby, she was a star girl because she went on to be the face of Planet of the Apes. They had been I mask of her face. And also she was in dark Tari afterwards, I really liked Debbie. She was very sweet. She had to wear that silly hat. And she was very patient with it. She really was. And I loved animals. So it was not, you know, any chore for me. And she was very sweet to us in the book Lost and Found in space, too. We do quite an homage to Debbie the blue because I think a lot of times, you know, animals are kind of forgotten. She was a big part of it. People just loved her. She was so cute.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:32

The head said that she wore did they sell that was that merchandise at the time? Could you buy that?

Angela Cartwright 40:37

Probably not. And you know, it probably would have brought a fortune. It was very hard. It was like made out of like paper mache. And they just would fit it on their head like a helmet. This was before all this memorabilia, you know, we bring in a fortune.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:53

So talk to me about Jonathan Harris. It seems like it'd be so much fun

Angela Cartwright 40:58

that a birthday he was he would have been 106 I think what a great guy he was. I loved working with him. Great to be around, you know, your acting experience can either be really a good experience or they can be an awful experience too. And he made every day entertaining. Funny. He's a great storyteller. We have lots of laughs on that show. We all love Jonathan. He was really something and he owned that part he made Dr. Smith when he was

Jeff Dwoskin 41:29

it just oozes that it's so the character is such a great, great character. Oh, you know, it's interesting. In the book, you talked about how they didn't really talk to you guys that there was a person in the robot. Oh, we knew that. Oh, you didn't we weren't supposed to say anything. Or you weren't supposed to say anything. It was just it was funny, because when I read it, I was like, oh, yeah, I guess there was a person in there. I just, I just accepted it as it was. Yeah, it was.

Angela Cartwright 41:58

They didn't want people to really know there was somebody in the robot because we knew Bobby May was he thought he was the robot. He was a character. But he he worked his butt off. He really did.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:09

I can imagine it must have been hot, hot in that costume.

Angela Cartwright 42:13

He always knew his lines. And he had to work the hand thing and he had to say the lines and flash the lights at the right time. Then they dubbed the lines in with Deke to failed later, because they wanted this certain pitch. But there wasn't a harder working actor than Bobby May. He loved that part. And he worked very hard at it.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:34

He was great. The robots such an amazing character. And it was funny reading that you didn't meet deck to fail yet until the 90s.

Angela Cartwright 42:43

Yeah, what a lovely gentleman he was to he's no longer with us either as Bobby, but deck was he go in do his lines. And we didn't meet him for many years for paths never really crossed.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:56

It's funny how you like when you it just seems that you would have all known each other. But yeah, I mean, the way they kind of edit things in and post production all times. So is Bill Mooney is, was Would you consider him like your best pal from all the past shows or movies that you've done? Because you guys seem to have like this such a strong friendship, strong, strong friendship

Angela Cartwright 43:17

we do. It's like being on a journey together. Nobody can really let know that journey. But you've been there together. He's a great pal, and very talented musician. And we have a lot of laughs together. We really do. We have some good times. It was great. We could do this book together. Yeah, that was just really fun.

Jeff Dwoskin 43:39

Cuz you guys were pretty much the same age, right? I mean, well, I'd give maybe a year apart at the time. So yeah, I'm

Angela Cartwright 43:45

a year older. Okay. But it was fun to be on a show with another kid. And we had a lot of adventures. I mean, we would, you know, steal around the lot. And we went to school every day together for three years. And then after that, too, they kept us on a lot. So it was a different life pranks.

Jeff Dwoskin 44:02

You guys pull a lot of pranks or

Angela Cartwright 44:04

Yeah, well. Mark Goddard was one of the great pranks. He would pull them all the time. Yeah, we we had a good time on that child who really did and I it was a great crew hard working crew and a great group of people to be around. It really was

Jeff Dwoskin 44:22

when you got noticed that it ended because they didn't bring it back for season four. And I think that was that was a surprise to everyone.

Angela Cartwright 44:31

I know. We all thought we were coming back. He's a very popular show. You know, there's been certain things that have come out about you know, what happened or when didn't have the shows written and stuff like that? Who knows? You know, there were a lot of different people I guess that had parts of Lost in Space. But we all thought the cast all of us thought we were coming back for a fourth season. And when we didn't That was shocking to all of us.

Jeff Dwoskin 44:56

When you found out you weren't coming back you had already completed season. The array right so I mean, you like it. So was it hard not having like closure with the cast? Yeah, right.

Angela Cartwright 45:05

Usually you have a goodbye party, you have a an end of series Party. And we didn't have that. I think it was hard for people who watch the show too, because it was just kind of ended. Where are they? They're still up in space. And then Bill wrote an epilogue, which kind of tied it all together and brought everybody back. But I guess he took it to Erwin and Erwin said no, if I'm going to do that, I don't even want to read it. If I'm going to do that. I'll do it myself, which I thought was pretty crummy. We actually filmed that epilogue as a reading around the table. And you can see that on the DVD. Do you have the DVD? The latest DVD?

Jeff Dwoskin 45:42

No, my version didn't come with a DVD. Oh, probably because no one has DVD players anymore.

Angela Cartwright 45:50

No, it's you know, you could get the DVDs.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:53

Oh, you mean like the seat like the series the season? It's okay. I thought. I think the original version of your book came with a DVD episode.

Angela Cartwright 46:01

That's the sound of music one.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:03

Oh, you're right. I'm confused. There was no DVD with the lowriders on it was it was sounding music. I'm confusing. All my books. You've written so many books.

Angela Cartwright 46:10

I know. You forgot to mention stowing the stars.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:14

Let's talk about it. dialing the stars. Okay, book of photographs that you put together from the from the archives. Right?

Angela Cartwright 46:21

Exactly. You know, these were pictures that were never meant to be seen by anybody, it because they were just they were filmed to use this continuity shot so that if you shot one scene one day got to have your hair look exactly the same when you leave a room, and then you pick up the shot somewhere else. It's called continuity. And these are continuity pictures that were meant to never be seen by anybody. But I remember seeing them edit. When I was filming last in space, I remember the boxes and boxes and boxes that were piled in the entrance of the stage. And I always used to think that was like so weird. And then they created a archive under the lot of all the 20th century fox stuff. And that's where all these pictures were stored. But many of the boxes have not been opened in like 30 and 40 years. Oh, wow, that was a great experience. It came out of a dream that I had. And I thought oh my god, what a great idea. This is to put together a book, you know, these old pictures of all the golden stars, you know that from all the era. I mean, there's just beautiful photographs and insight publications put it together. And they did such an amazing job with the printing and stuff like that. and Maryland and rose on the cover here that was really took me two and a half years to put that together. I did it with Tom McLaren, who was great at keeping everything in order because otherwise it would have been a total mess. But I saw so many pictures I'd never seen before of all these 20th Century Fox stars. So it was really fun experience that

Jeff Dwoskin 47:53

book. That's amazing. And I when we talked earlier, I was like the whole visual history is so amazing to me, like just good

Angela Cartwright 48:00

luck. You like trivia.

Jeff Dwoskin 48:04

That's gonna be my next my next thing

Angela Cartwright 48:06

vailable on Angela Correct. studio.com And I'll even sign it for you.

Jeff Dwoskin 48:11

Oh, I love that. Oh, it was how to turn a tomboy into a temptress in 10 Easy Lessons.

Angela Cartwright 48:17

That's the one. I've gotta put that on my Instagram.

Jeff Dwoskin 48:23

This was awesome hanging out with you. I loved all the stories. I appreciated you sharing them with me. Where can people hang out with you online? Where can you hang out with me? Online online,

Angela Cartwright 48:34

online. He's got well I have Instagram and that also connects to Facebook. It's Angela Cartwright. studio.com is my little store. I have my artwork there. I have my books there that are signed the last since Facebook, I have signed by Bill and me. And you can get that there and I'll personalize it if you want me to great present if you've got a Lost in Space Fan in your life. And the same with the sound of music book. So yeah, that's a fun little thing that I keep up is my my website with my little store my little my artwork and stuff that I do. So I also wrote art books that give different techniques on altered art, hand painting photographs and mixed emotions is a book I wrote to other ones in this house in this garden I wrote with Sara Fishburne, so I've got a couple books. It's all fun stuff. Make life is as interesting and as passionate as possible.

Jeff Dwoskin 49:30

I appreciate you making it as interesting and passionate as possible and sharing it with the world. I love that you take all this time like seriously everyone knows scrapbooks that we talked about all these books that we talked about are so cool.

Angela Cartwright 49:44

Oh, keep it up. You know, it's so easy these days to do these photo scrapbooks and down the road. You know people I know my kids and my grandkids they love looking at old pictures and old history and bringing back that stuff. Let's go Don't lose that with this digital world.

Jeff Dwoskin 50:02

Yeah. And so easy it just gets lost on your computer like gotta print stuff out. You got it tangible will never go out of style. Having something physically in your hands. Angela, thank you so much. I can't thank you enough.

Angela Cartwright 50:16

Great talking to you. All right. How amazing was

Jeff Dwoskin 50:19

Angela Cartwright's? So fun to hear all those stories. Angela was part of so many iconic things. Unbelievable. Go visit Angela. At our website and social media. All the links are in the show notes. Definitely check out those books. We talked about the sound of music family scrapbook and Lost and Found in space too. And the book styling the stars if you love nostalgia, and amazing photos, all those books are just a treasure trove waiting for you to own. We're going to take a pause on the hashtag games. I do want to thank once again, my guest, Angela Cartwright for hanging out with me. And of course, I want to thank all of you for coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

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