Our Movie of the Month for November is actually a collection of chapters from the beloved Mickey Mouse Club serial, “The Adventures of Spin and Marty,” showing daily at 1:00 & 4:00pm (except Tuesdays, and November 19 and 24).
On Saturday afternoon November 12, a crowd of buckaroos gathered together in our digital theater and were transported back to a simpler time at the Triple R Ranch. Tim Considine (aka Spin Evans) and David Stollery (aka Marty Markham), were on hand to guide us through a “discovery of fun” as Donna Tuggle, Director of Education and Visitor’s Experience described the afternoon.
Author and Disney historian Don Peri was the moderator, and after welcoming everyone, he brought out Considine and Stollery, who received a warm welcome from the appreciative audience. Don reminded us all that the "Spin and Marty" show debuted 56 years ago on theMickey Mouse Club, which "changed the landscape of children’s programming." In addition to the show, there were books, records, and comics that helped to tell the Spin and Marty story. Over the years, the show has had many fans, including Pixar’s John Lasseter. Andy, the young boy in the Toy Story series, wears a Triple R Ranch tee shirt because Lasseter wanted to pay “homage to a show he loves so much.”
Don provided detailed biographies of the two stars of the series. Tim Considine’s father was a movie producer whose credits include the classic Spencer Tracy/Mickey Rooney film Boy’s Town, and his mother was a member of the famous Pantages theatrical family. His family didn’t encourage his desire to be an actor, but “they permitted me” to be one. He and Stollery appeared together in a film before their Spin and Marty days, Her Twelve Men, co-starring Greer Garson and Robert Ryan. Tim said of David, “he was very experienced working at that age. I was shy and bashful.” To which David replied, “I would never use the word bashful to describe Tim.” One thing is for sure, the friendship that began so many years ago on the TV show is still going strong, as the two played off of each other so well it was hard to believe that so much time has passed since they (and many of us) were younger.
At the time "Spin and Marty" was being cast, a Considine family friend who was an agent suggested that Tim try out for the show. Tim’s fondest memory of the audition was the afternoon he spent playing softball with Disney show producer Bill Walsh. “I don’t remember the reading but I do remember playing softball with him all day. I didn’t want to do the part of the snotty rich kid. I wanted the cool part.” The agent went to the studio and said “he wants to do it but the parts have to be equal. And they agreed! I had no idea he had done that until later".
Clips from "The Hardy Boys" serial were shown, and Tim talked a bit about working with Tommy Kirk, “he was a really good actor. I was very lucky with the people I got to work with.” Since most of "Spin and Marty" was shot off the lot, the first time Considine saw any of the Mousekeeters was in the studio commissary. “They came in wearing what I called 'a yarmulke with wings,' and had their names on their sweaters.” He found out later that Annette had a crush on him, but he didn’t know it at the time.
Other clips followed, culminating in the famous scene with Tim and George C. Scott (the notorious incident where the General mercilessly slaps a young soldier hospitalized for psychoneurosis, and accusues him of cowardice) in the classic war film, Patton. After he retired from acting, Considine embarked on a career as photographer, and we got to see images of some of his work.
David Stollery’s father was a radio announcer and his mother was a popular radio star. David was a child actor who got his start appearing, when he was 7 years old, on the stage in Medea with Dame Judith Anderson. Movie roles included A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court with Bing Crosby, and Jack and the Beanstalk with Abbott and Costello “I played the snotty little kid they were babysitting and I got to hit Lou Costello over the head with a breakaway vase. I still have the neck of that vase.”
He had a love of cars and motorcycles from an early age. \While co-starring in Westward, Ho the Wagons!, he was talked into riding his motorcycle onto the sound stage by actor L.Q. Jones, and he got to work with George Reeves. “I got to work with Superman, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
When he turned 18, he left show business. “I was very fortunate to have been successful. I knew I didn’t have the drive to stay in the business.” Instead, he attended the Art Center in Pasadena and became a car designer. After graduating he went to work for General Motors and then the aerospace industry. He also worked for seven years for Toyota Motors as their head of North American Research and Design. In 1978, he designed the Toyota Celica.
He experimented with three-wheel vehicles and his design for the Trihawk in the early 1980s turned that into a “cult collector’s item.”
In addition to car designs, he also worked as a set designer on the Steven Spielberg-produced television series, Seaquest.
He is still working as a designer today.
After the biographical part of the program, Don asked them both about the training they received for riding horses on "Spin and Marty." “They asked us if we could ride and we said, oh sure. Luckily, they didn’t believe us and sent us to learn.” Tim remembered. Tim rode an Arabian named Johnny and David rode a palomino named Popcorn. Popcorn’s owner played Ollie in the series.
They both have fond memories of filming at the Golden Oak Ranch in Newhall, though it made for long days because the location was about an hour's drive out from Burbank. “We left early in the morning, the bus took us out to the ranch and then back at the end of the day to the Studio. When we got home we still had to learn our lines for the next day.”
They were surprised by the success of the series, and its popularity all these years later.
They both have fond memories of Walt Disney. Walt was building Disneyland at the time they were shooting "Spin and Marty" and the best way to get to talk to Walt was to ask about Disneyland. They both still call him Mr. Disney, not "Walt."
Asked about Walt’s influence, both men still think of him fondly. “His life’s work is in the stratosphere. I’m just honored I got to work with him.” Tim said. David replied, “To have such a positive affect on so many people. It was magic.”
Too soon it was time to wrap things up.
The afternoon ended with a sing-along of “The Triple R Song,” with Tim and David joining in.
-- Lynn Zook, Digital Archivist
Images above: 1) Photo by Hillary Lyden, courtesy The Walt Disney Family Museum. 2) Photo by Hillary Lyden, courtesy The Walt Disney Family Museum.