Gino Hollander Grassroots TV 9

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• published: 29 Jan 2008
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running somebody else's crew, not as an assistant. To the North Pole? Well the same director I was with on WANTED got a job with CBS which was High Adventure an hour color series. He was gonna take a crew up to the North Pole. He called on me and said, "Hey, would you run my crew"—knew my background in the ski troops and this and that -knew what I had done with a $ 30/week start to about $800 in those days money coming out --, I'd accomplished a fair amount. 48:09 I hired the crew-- we went up with 25 people and stayed in the Arctic Circle for 6 months—and to the North Pole --we had lots of airplanes -- we didn't do it by hiking. It was a good rugged go—and brought 'em all back alive! It was a wonderful adventure. I'll tell you one little story because it's really worth it. In this crew and it was my production -- but we had the five leading explorers of the early Arctic days who were still alive. Sir Hubert Wilkins who had gone with Parry (no--corrected post-interview to Admiral Byrd), Bernt Balchen. There were 5 very famous people in going. We brought 'em all through and got 'em up to the Pole. And our narrator --you remember a name Lowell Thomas? -- very famous narrator - anyway it was his film. So at the last moment, he flew up --sitting at the North Pole he's interviewing all these people who had tried themselves. Done deal. We headed for Greenland and Bernt Balchen said, "Hey, I just heard that I'm wanted at the South Pole to test some equipment." "And would you do the same thing you're doing here for me in the South Pole?? We'd like to film it --and go directly from here to the South Pole." Well--!!! "whoosh"!! So I called up from Greenland and I spoke to my wife --and I said "what'd ya think"? Silence! I hadn't seen my newborn child. We hadn't seen each other for 6 months-- I decided against it. Maybe the only mistake that I really know - thinking all the way back. (Laughter) --Could've gone from the North to the South. You have regrets about not having done that? Regrets schmets! It's good thing to talk about anyway. 50:23 And good to be home too. And then from home we continued on films and at the some point or other--I had had an offer to go to the West Coast which meant the whole family moving to the West Coast. And we're living very well. Still in the Village, but no longer a cold water flat or over on Morton Street. We're now living in a penthouse on lower 5th, no crew, nothing free, make 2 (?) films/year -- a pretty good license not to steal but it was good work. My wife loved filmmaking, Barbara-- she just loved it— But she also had three very young children, two and one in the basket. Suddenly I knew I didn't want to make films for a lifetime. That I loved the whole thing, I was proud of what I'd done, But the hands on --it was an immediacy that isnn't in film. Filmmakers like Mark Banterman and what not who combine all the power and the resources h witthis individual thing that with anyway I wasn't finding it. Immediacy --Seven years later, knew I wanted something more personal. Hands on. I quit, had enough money to get along and played chess for 6 months to try to find out -- in a place called Figaro's in the village. I don't know 50:35 So you literally played chess? Oh I played chess -- for six months. INo idea what I wanted to do. We were going broke --But everybody thought --oh "Listen this guy's very successful, he's gonna pay." They carried the rent— I just played chess. 'Til dawn every day--that kind of chess and somewhere's along the line during that period --had seen somebody sketching. I just took some India ink—and went like this --said this is what I wanna' do. I can still remember the look on my wife's face -- I mean one child hadn't been born yet, our youngest, our son Scott. 53:44 And that was it! Helped me in every way. I took a studio in the East side— Hungarian section overlooking a cemetery --a 4th floor walk up—painted 18 -- 20 hours/day. Did you have any art training? I'm sorry Did you have any art training? Absolutely not --I couldn't draw a straight line. And, I was afraid of being taught --I was still afraid of being taught, the school thing --At the beginning -- I'd been taught by Barbara really and everybody else on films and here I was seven years later and coming up with, "Hey I don't want to do this the rest of my life. I want something more personal." And so I figured I better do it myself. New York was the center of art of the world right then. For the first time ever -- the excitement in art was tremendous. So