WEBVTT 00:16.100 --> 00:17.900 I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 00:17.900 --> 00:21.200 My name is John Dave black. 00:21.200 --> 00:24.100 and 00:24.100 --> 00:25.300 I don't think I have anything else to say 00:25.300 --> 00:27.200 on the subject. 00:27.200 --> 00:28.900 I married black 00:28.900 --> 00:30.400 when I was at Star Trek. 00:30.400 --> 00:32.400 I was Mary Stillwell 00:32.400 --> 00:33.300 met John 00:33.300 --> 00:34.800 at 00:34.800 --> 00:37.100 city college where he was directing 00:37.100 --> 00:38.400 while he was also 00:38.400 --> 00:39.500 breaking into 00:39.500 --> 00:44.700 writing for film and television. 00:44.700 --> 00:47.300 Went to school a lot 00:47.300 --> 00:53.500 was in the army during the Korean War. 00:53.500 --> 00:55.100 Work for the LA times where I got my 00:55.100 --> 00:56.400 first job. 00:56.400 --> 00:58.200 I mean, I got my first job through 00:58.200 --> 00:59.900 an ad in the LA Times 00:59.900 --> 01:01.700 and went to sell the man 01:01.700 --> 01:02.600 every 01:02.600 --> 01:04.800 redo of his ad he was looking for a 01:04.800 --> 01:06.200 screenwriter 01:06.200 --> 01:07.500 and I said you have to put the ahead 01:07.500 --> 01:08.500 and save the six bucks. 01:08.500 --> 01:09.600 I'll do it 01:09.600 --> 01:10.600 and I can't 01:10.600 --> 01:12.900 and he accepted me 01:12.900 --> 01:15.400 his name was Boris Petrov 01:15.400 --> 01:17.200 Brookdale Peters professionally 01:17.200 --> 01:23.900 and the United States. 01:23.900 --> 01:27.000 Got to 01:27.000 --> 01:28.300 marry got me an agent. 01:28.300 --> 01:30.300 She had a friend who worked at the agency 01:30.300 --> 01:31.000 with him 01:31.000 --> 01:33.700 who was connected with an agent. 01:33.700 --> 01:35.300 And 01:35.300 --> 01:36.200 the agent was very nice. 01:36.200 --> 01:37.800 I wrote a story a day every day and 01:37.800 --> 01:39.300 a script a week 01:39.300 --> 01:40.500 till I could break in 01:40.500 --> 01:44.000 and still didn't took some years. 01:44.000 --> 01:47.400 Broken the night before a writer's strike 01:47.400 --> 01:48.900 delivered the script 01:48.900 --> 01:51.300 with the Writers Guild permission. 01:51.300 --> 01:53.300 That was for a show called Johnny staccato, which 01:53.300 --> 01:56.100 is an old old old series. 01:56.100 --> 01:58.000 My favorite shows that I wrote before I'd got 01:58.000 --> 01:59.000 on the truck was mr. 01:59.000 --> 02:00.200 Novak, 02:00.200 --> 02:02.300 which was about a Polish kid from Pittsburgh, which 02:02.300 --> 02:03.500 I happen to be 02:03.500 --> 02:05.400 who went to Pitt which I happen to have 02:05.400 --> 02:06.300 done 02:06.300 --> 02:08.400 and 02:08.400 --> 02:14.400 So I understood the character very well. 02:14.400 --> 02:15.700 Well, I want to mr. 02:15.700 --> 02:17.500 I won The Writers Guild award for mr. 02:17.500 --> 02:19.600 Novak 02:19.600 --> 02:20.600 and 02:20.600 --> 02:22.200 was cold. 02:22.200 --> 02:23.800 Cameron is what the hell burn his hand look 02:23.800 --> 02:25.500 like 02:25.500 --> 02:28.100 from the John Henry was about working people 02:28.100 --> 02:29.800 which was one of my favorite subjects at the 02:29.800 --> 02:31.500 time. 02:31.500 --> 02:33.600 And after the 02:33.600 --> 02:35.800 award ceremony was over gr. 02:35.800 --> 02:38.000 Gene Roddenberry 02:38.000 --> 02:40.300 came over to the table and he said I'd 02:40.300 --> 02:41.500 really like you and your 02:41.500 --> 02:43.600 party to come to the house 02:43.600 --> 02:44.100 a couple of 02:44.100 --> 02:45.000 Is later. 02:45.000 --> 02:46.900 I didn't realize that was a setup, but I 02:46.900 --> 02:48.800 was being 02:48.800 --> 02:50.200 you know. 02:50.200 --> 02:52.900 Audition 02:52.900 --> 02:54.300 because Jean and I talked for a couple of 02:54.300 --> 02:55.000 minutes 02:55.000 --> 02:56.500 alone 02:56.500 --> 02:57.900 and I got a call 02:57.900 --> 03:00.000 from my agent who said Gene Roddenberry want you 03:00.000 --> 03:01.900 to go to work on Star Trek. 03:01.900 --> 03:02.700 I 03:02.700 --> 03:04.600 really was not a science fiction 03:04.600 --> 03:07.100 expert at all 03:07.100 --> 03:08.800 knew about writing 03:08.800 --> 03:10.100 but not science fiction. 03:10.100 --> 03:12.300 My first Association was science fiction 03:12.300 --> 03:13.500 was when I was at 03:13.500 --> 03:15.100 about 17 or 18 03:15.100 --> 03:16.600 living in New York 03:16.600 --> 03:18.800 trying to break in as an actor. 03:18.800 --> 03:19.000 I 03:19.000 --> 03:20.600 wanted to be an actor before I 03:20.600 --> 03:22.000 could write because I didn't know what it was 03:22.000 --> 03:24.100 like that somebody else's words in your mouth. 03:24.100 --> 03:27.600 And before you write you should really know that 03:27.600 --> 03:29.600 and so 03:29.600 --> 03:30.900 I got a job 03:30.900 --> 03:34.400 working on a show called Tom Corbett Space Cadet. 03:34.400 --> 03:37.300 The star was Frankie Thomas 03:37.300 --> 03:38.600 and I worked on that show. 03:38.600 --> 03:39.700 I was a venusian. 03:39.700 --> 03:43.100 I was a captain at the Space Academy. 03:43.100 --> 03:44.600 And the reason I got the job was because 03:44.600 --> 03:47.300 I was so tall. 03:47.300 --> 03:49.400 He stood about six three 03:49.400 --> 03:55.200 Mary came with me. 03:55.200 --> 03:58.200 John was the 03:58.200 --> 03:59.400 executive 03:59.400 --> 04:00.600 story 04:00.600 --> 04:01.700 consultant 04:01.700 --> 04:04.300 and co-producer. 04:04.300 --> 04:06.900 So she freaked out associate producer 04:06.900 --> 04:09.200 balancing with Bob Justman 04:09.200 --> 04:10.500 and 04:10.500 --> 04:12.400 I was John's 04:12.400 --> 04:13.900 secretary. 04:13.900 --> 04:14.700 That was the 04:14.700 --> 04:16.600 title 04:16.600 --> 04:17.400 as Dorothy. 04:17.400 --> 04:20.300 Fontana was Gene roddenberry's 04:20.300 --> 04:21.800 secretary. 04:21.800 --> 04:23.800 That was her title at that time. 04:23.800 --> 04:25.100 Dorothy was 04:25.100 --> 04:26.200 actually 04:26.200 --> 04:27.300 working as 04:27.300 --> 04:29.000 a writer on one script 04:29.000 --> 04:31.700 but both of us functioned as executive assistants 04:31.700 --> 04:32.900 to the 04:32.900 --> 04:36.000 person that we were tied to 04:36.000 --> 04:38.100 and 04:38.100 --> 04:40.000 as secretary 04:40.000 --> 04:41.200 I 04:41.200 --> 04:43.400 typed 04:43.400 --> 04:46.200 and I just as Dorothy did 04:46.200 --> 04:48.000 analyzed material is it came in 04:48.000 --> 04:50.400 to 04:50.400 --> 04:54.000 Give an extra voice to the bosses. 04:54.000 --> 04:57.400 It's a very living thing in a production office 04:57.400 --> 04:58.800 and 04:58.800 --> 05:01.900 how it is that secretaries function 05:01.900 --> 05:03.300 is 05:03.300 --> 05:06.300 often as a kind of 05:06.300 --> 05:09.300 part grunt at the typewriter 05:09.300 --> 05:12.600 and part social secretary 05:12.600 --> 05:15.100 trying to keep everybody happy and this would be 05:15.100 --> 05:16.200 a good time to have a party. 05:16.200 --> 05:17.400 What do you say 05:17.400 --> 05:19.100 and that was a lot of foot what I 05:19.100 --> 05:20.100 would do. 05:20.100 --> 05:21.800 And I loved it. 05:21.800 --> 05:27.400 Wonderful. 05:27.400 --> 05:31.300 The personalities were very strong and very interesting 05:31.300 --> 05:33.600 my favorite part of the job. 05:33.600 --> 05:35.700 There's also the toughest part of the job, 05:35.700 --> 05:37.500 but we're just dealing with the writers. 05:37.500 --> 05:39.700 And when we were dealing with some Giants 05:39.700 --> 05:41.200 we were also dealing with some people who were 05:41.200 --> 05:42.600 not Giants 05:42.600 --> 05:45.000 but 05:45.000 --> 05:46.200 The intimidation 05:46.200 --> 05:48.700 of sitting down with Theodore sturgeon who at that 05:48.700 --> 05:50.800 time was the most anthologized writer in the English 05:50.800 --> 05:52.200 language as far as I 05:52.200 --> 05:54.600 was told I didn't know from science fiction so 05:54.600 --> 05:56.800 I couldn't verify it one way or the other 05:56.800 --> 05:58.100 but I believed it. 05:58.100 --> 06:00.800 The man was an adorable human being 06:00.800 --> 06:02.800 but his mind was absolutely incredible. 06:02.800 --> 06:03.900 We wrote a thing in 06:03.900 --> 06:05.600 the Star Trek magazine 06:05.600 --> 06:07.800 and came to the conclusion that he really was 06:07.800 --> 06:08.800 like a 06:08.800 --> 06:10.800 somebody from outer space. 06:10.800 --> 06:11.700 I mean, he was 06:11.700 --> 06:13.500 just visiting here 06:13.500 --> 06:14.800 he could talk 06:14.800 --> 06:18.100 You could speak the language you could do everything. 06:18.100 --> 06:22.500 like every any other human being except he wasn't 06:22.500 --> 06:25.000 so that was wonderful and at the same time 06:25.000 --> 06:30.600 it was terrifying. 06:30.600 --> 06:32.200 When you like somebody 06:32.200 --> 06:34.000 when you really respect somebody 06:34.000 --> 06:35.900 or you disrespect somebody and you don't think they're 06:35.900 --> 06:37.700 not good. 06:37.700 --> 06:40.100 You can't treat him any different. 06:40.100 --> 06:41.200 You have to go to 06:41.200 --> 06:42.400 you have to go 06:42.400 --> 06:43.400 not lie. 06:43.400 --> 06:44.700 You can't lie, 06:44.700 --> 06:45.500 but 06:45.500 --> 06:48.200 you have to treat them all with respect 06:48.200 --> 06:50.600 and that respect is something that's 06:50.600 --> 06:51.900 difficult sometime 06:51.900 --> 06:52.600 when somebody 06:52.600 --> 06:55.100 delivered a piece of material it was not 06:55.100 --> 06:56.400 up to their standard 06:56.400 --> 06:57.800 or hours. 06:57.800 --> 06:59.600 It's very hard to talk to them about that 06:59.600 --> 07:00.300 piece. 07:00.300 --> 07:01.700 Without saying 07:01.700 --> 07:03.800 what the hell did you think you were doing? 07:03.800 --> 07:04.900 You know, you 07:04.900 --> 07:06.700 just can't do that. 07:06.700 --> 07:07.600 So that's tough.