Forum Member on Travel Channel

[RJNorton]

One of the members of the forum, Richard Sloan (emma1231), will be on an upcoming Travel Channel show dealing with the Lindbergh kidnapping. Kudos, Richard!

Richard writes:

"The Travel Channel's "Mysteries of the Museums" show usually devotes ea. of its one hr. episodes to 2 half-hour topics,. It makes occass. exceptions. One of these recently dealt with the Lincoln assassination, which you may have seen. (It's repeated very often, but unfortunately, it didn't turn out very well, despite the appearances of our friends Kate Larson and Mike Kauffman. The May 31st episode, at 9 pm, will deal entirely with the Lindbergh kidnapping, which has more controversy than the Lincoln case! An entirely different crew produced it. (So far, I know only that it will be repeated at noon on June 2.) I'm going to be on it for perhaps four or five minutes.

Curator Mark Falzini will show relics in the Lindbergh Kidnap Archives in Trenton (such as the kidnap ladder). Harry Kazman will talk about the trial from inside the restored Flemington courtroom. I was taped in front of Dr. Condon's house (Lindbergh's go-between) and while en rte. to (and at) the spot in the cemetery where he paid the ransom money in the dead of night. The crew also taped inside the old Lindbergh home where the crime was committed.

How well I did remains to be seen. You see, I was at the mercy of being handed pages of script at the last minute -- lines to memorize just before each shot was taped. Although I know the Bronx part of the story well (and had recited it from memory to participants in over two dozen tours I conducted of Bronx sites connected with the story), most of my words -- instead of being adlib -- had to be scripted responses to questions posed by the on-camera narrator (a terrific guy by the name of Don Wildman). Most of what the script called for me to say was fine with me. However, there were a couple of lines I told the director were erroneous. Those were either changed or eliminated. (Nevertheless, due to the pressures presented, I think I may have misspoken once or twice. So if you are one of those who spots a mistake I may have made, please don't throw things at your TV!) The entire crew and the fabulous director were great to work with, and it was quite a professional operation. (Having worked first as a cameraman and then as an audio man on TV shows for almost half a century, it was so much fun to be on the other side for a change!) My adrenalin was way up, and it was a terrific experience, except for the average temperature during taping being about 30 degrees (It fell to 25 degrees at night - at the cemetery! Yes, I wore my long johns!) I hope they kept the night shot of us crossing Tremont Avenue at night to the cemetery. It was taken by a drone camera about 75 feet in the air!) I think the show will mention some -- not all -- of the controversies surrounding the case, but I doubt it will attempt to answer any of them. There is just too much to cover in what probably amounted to only 3/4 of an hour (after commercials). I sure hope it all turns out well and that you will find it interesting and entertaining!"