Earl Hamner
page 4 of 4
Writing out of passion makes the challenge of
artistic differences quite exasperating, the Hollywood alumnus told
the University of Cincinnati students. The movie version of "Spencer's
Mountain," for example, contained pieces of script Earl Hamner
despised, but had to tolerate because the director had the final say.
Even Henry Fonda expressed his disappointment in the script, noting
that he had accepted the role based upon reading the book and was unhappy
with certain discrepancies, Hamner said.
In the end, Hamner did manage to get one scene in the movie changed,
one in which the father asks the mother, "Remember when we used
to go out in the bushes together?" "My mother was an upstanding,
Baptist, back-country lady," Hamner said, shaking his head, "and
I knew that if she saw that in the movie, she would go to her Baptist
God and die. To protect my family's honor, I did persuade the director
to lose that."
Such an attitude is exactly what one would expect from the creator of
"The Waltons." As University of Cincinnati president Nancy
Zimpher announced at the Frederic Ziv Award banquet honoring Hamner,
"All of Earl's creations distinguish themselves by high moral values
and through common human-decency trademarks, which seem to be in very
short supply in today's culture."
Hamner finds it sad that he agrees with the latter. "There are
a few too many gross sitcoms on television," he told the banquet
crowd. "And we don't need all that canned laughter, or so many
commercials. And we certainly don't need reality programs that bear
no resemblance to the reality most of us know."
Directing his remarks to the graduating seniors, he continued, "You
will inherit this medium. I encourage you to remind yourselves of the
power you have each time you write, act in, produce, direct or sponsor
a program.
"Television has the power and the ability to enlighten, to educate,
to lift viewers to new levels of experience, but there is also a lot
of vulgarity. Too much of what we see seems to be written from the groin.
I urge you to consult another organ.
"People want more family programming. They want programs they can
watch with their children, without being embarrassed. They want programs
about people like themselves, who aren't necessarily criminals or in
need of lawyers. I know, because they tell me so, in their letters and
in person.
"I encourage you to keep creating meaning for television. Only
from the heart can come universal truths.
"Without courage, honor, compassion, pity, love and sacrifice,
as William Faulkner pointed out, we know not of love but of lust. We
debase our audience. But we can ennoble and enrich our viewers and ourselves
in our journey through this good time, this precious time, this green
and wonderful experience we call life."
