Mark Lindsay: Happening

HAPPENING.....

"HAPPENING '68" (later called "HAPPENING") was a Saturday afternoon show which debuted on January 6, 1968, and ran through September 20, 1969.

"IT'S HAPPENING" was a daily series that ran from July 15, 1968 through October 25, 1968.

They were both co-hosted by Mark Lindsay and Paul Revere and featured many performances by Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Co-Host Mark Lindsay on the Set

TV ACTION HAPPENS!

The Just Like Us! CDs have just arrived, and it's a great package -- extra pictures, bonus cuts, and not one, but THREE sets of liner notes! -- the original ones by Dick Clark, and some new comments by Terry Melcher and myself. All three sets mention the impact of "Action", and it got me to thinking....

Occasionally I get asked about the days of "Where the Action Is" and its successor "Happening", and if any strange things happened to us while we were shooting the shows. Of course, many strange events did occur, on an almost daily basis. After all, we were a fun-loving group where slapstick chaos could -- and did -- break out during the shoot at any time. But I think some of the action that happened behind the scenes rates highly also...

Like the time we were filming an opening scene for "Happening '68." The location was on the sand dunes up the coast, not too far from Santa Barbara, the same place they filmed parts of "Rat Patrol." Dunes, dunes, and more dunes.

And when Paul and I arrived, there were two shiny new dune buggies gleaming in the sun in their garish metal flake paint, waiting for us to drive them. Oh boy. I had never handled a dune buggy before, so while director Kip Walton and the production crew were setting up the cameras to get ready for the shoot, I asked if I could go out for a spin so I could get the feel of the "beast."

One of the production assistants asked to ride along, so I said, "Sure! Just buckle in real tight." And off we went, leaving a small rooster-tail of sand in our wake.

I had previously asked someone for a good challenging dune to jump, and I was headed in the direction where he had pointed. I got a pretty good run at the hump of sand I thought he had indicated, but when we "jumped" it, we didn't get any higher than three or four feet. After we landed on the other side, I slid to a stop and said to my company, "That can't be the one he meant -- we barely left the ground!"

He replied, "Well, it was OK for me!" But I was convinced we had the wrong dune -- it was just a baby!

Ahhhhhh, ahead was a high mountain of sand, and I gunned my way to the crest. Stopping on top, I peered ahead, and I was looking down a steep slope that bottomed out into a gentle swale and then up -- and up -- a giant dune of vast proportions. Yes, this must be the one I was supposed to jump.

Meanwhile, back at the camera location, the director had spotted us poised at the top. He must have seen that I was looking ahead with severe determination.

"Oh my God! Lindsay's gonna jump the big one! Quick! Get the film in the camera!" As the camera operator struggled to get the film threaded up, I had stomped on the "Go" pedal and we were hurtling down the steep slope. I quickly went through the gears and when we reached the bottom of the valley of sand we were hitting 65-70 miles an hour. Back at the camera, Kip was shouting, "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" as the operator was still fumbling with the film.

I kept my foot in it and suddenly we were headed almost straight up. It felt like a roller coaster! And then the dune ended in a perfectly ruler-flat top. But we were still going UP! We shot into the air -- some estimates were thirty to forty feet, but it felt more like a hundred.

Kip, the frustrated director, could only watch as we sailed a world distance record in a high arc, landing (as they later measured it) 144 feet from our take-off point.

As we were coming down, I thought, "Uh oh..." It didn't seem quite right to be in an almost 90 degree from horizontal nose-down attitude. I gripped the wheel in a death-lock, and then.... KABOOOOOOOM -- we hit so hard in a cloud of sand I bent the steering wheel forward. My companion somehow got a slight laceration on his forehead from the top of the windshield, and we were both badly shaken, but we were alive. ALIVE!

As we slowly drove back toward the camera crew, Kip greeted us with hopeful enthusiasm. "Damn! That was spectacular! But we didn't get it on film! We're ready now -- can you do it again?"

"AGAIN?! Are you kidding?!" The white-faced production assistant had shakily exited to find some minor first aid, and it was just sinking in. I really was lucky to be alive.

And that is why, if you ever get to see any of these vintage TV episodes featuring the dune buggy scenes, I doubt if you'll see much more than two or three-foot-high jumps coming from me. I have cheated death on many occasions throughout my life, but once per day is quite enough, thank you!

- MARK LINDSAY

Reprinted from the June 1998 issue of Mark Lindsay's Steppin' Out!

FROM THE IT'S HAPPENING PRESS KIT...

HAPPENING '68 THEME SONG

Click to hear REALAUDIO clip of HAPPENING '68 from the SOMETHING HAPPENING CD
(If you need REALPLAYER, scroll down)

I know that something's happening

Something in the air

Listen to the sound now

Come from everywhere.

You know you got to hurry

You don't want to be late

People don't you worry

What's happening is great

It's a happening

And I know that it must be

The first time it's happening to me

Run down to the corner

Tell the people there

Brother get your sister

Comin' from everywhere

To everybody here now

We got to gather round

And get it all together

What they're puttin' down

It's a happening

And I know that it must be

The first time it's happening to me

By Mark Lindsay

The song first appeared as the "B' side of the TOO MUCH TALK single ~ Columbia #4-44444 ~ released 1/19/68

Then appeared on the "Something Happening" stereo LP ~ released 6/1/68

Also appeared on the Special Coin Operator Release ~ "Something Happening" EP - Columbia #7-9665 ~ released 10/22/68

Now appearing on the "Something Happening" CD ~ released 11/96 ~ this CD also contains the previously unissued TV version heard above

It's Happening had its own instrumental theme song, also included on the "Something Happening" CD, but there was a version with vocals that was performed just once on the TV show, then locked in the CBS vaults until the "Hard'n'Heavy (with Marshmallow)" CD was released.

Click to hear REALAUDIO clip of IT'S HAPPENING (VOCAL VERSION) from the Hard'n Heavy CD
(If you need REALPLAYER, scroll down)

Dick Clark (the Show's Producer) with Mark

Thanks to Roger Hart for the picture from his collection

Autographed copies of JUST LIKE US!, SOMETHING HAPPENING, and HARD'n'HEAVY
available at Mark Lindsay's GROOVY STUFF....

CHECK OUT MORE HAPPENING PIX!

If you need RealPlayer, download it here...

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