TOM ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS...

What were your thoughts when you took over the role of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet?

I could not envision the popularity of the show. That it had the potential to make TV history and be remembered by loyal fans for more than half a century. We had a very limited budget, but that was standard in early TV. Those first scripts, done by our story editor Albert Aley, were good, with strong elements of suspense and mystery... and the thrill of taking place in the Age of the Conquest of Space.

One element of the show's success had to be luck. The other members of the cast were very easy to work with. I did not know, or know of, any of them, save Carter Blake, who played Commander Arkwright. He had been the stage manager of "Remember the Day," the play I had done with my father on Broadway. George Gould, our first director, tended to let us alone to play our characters as we saw fit. He was very talented with the camera, special effects, and the like, but since we were happy in our parts and tried to be inventive with our roles, he was quite willing to let us alone, as was our producer. The latter, Mort Abrams, fought for increased production money and got us some very effective major sets. Considering it was 1950, we got a number of things right. When the Apollo missions actually landed on the moon about 20 years later, and our men descended from their craft in their space suits, they did look a lot like Tom and the boys leaving the Polaris.

What were your thoughts when SPACE CADET, Tom and the Polaris crew left the airwaves forever in 1955?

There is a very common reaction to this kind of situation. Any actor who has played the same part for a long time and is finally "at liberty" is firmly convinced that he will never work again. And I was not sure that I wanted to work again! I had had the best of Broadway and the stage, motion pictures, radio and early TV. In 1955 live TV was fading and being replaced by midget movies, which is what we have now. But when it was live and that red light on the camera went on, it was now or never. Much the same feeling you get when the curtain goes up on a play.

TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET served as the beginning of the careers of many performers, such as Jack Lord, Jack Warden, Jack Klugman.. and that's just the Jacks! But TOM was really the end of my performing career... all the things those young fellows were striving to do, I had already done.

What motivated you to begin writing Sherlock Holmes novels in the 1970s?

That's quite a story. Let's see if there is genuine interest in this, and, if so, I will cover the matter in another Space-o-Gram to you.

The space shows are almost 50 years gone yet the "space heroes" have kept the spirit alive since. Also, you have done other things during the time since. Yet you take the time to show up and keep it going. Beyond that, both you and Ed Kemmer have said that it was surprising to see the reaction to the space shows and the long term effects. Add to that that you really had to bust hump to make the '02 Williamsburg with what you had been going through AND you came through at full space speed. Where do you get the motivation for all of this and the oomf to make it work?

Laser (Clyde Lyman)

Just lucky, I guess. But remember, my whole life was wrapped up in show business. My Mother, my Father, my Uncle, my Aunt... all were of the profession, and we loved it. So maybe, just genes.

Spaceman's Luck!

Tom

I too would like to know how Frankie got started writing the Sherlock Holmes novels. And how was he allowed to write new stories using characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? Did he have to get permission or approval, or were the characters public domain and wide open for any writer to use? Whatever the case, he did a damn fine job!

Chuck Lassen

[SpacEditor's note: Frankie gave the following answer to a question about his Holmes novels, back in 2000 when he gave a talk on his radio, TV, film and stage career to SPERDVAC, an organization for fans of old radio. He says today it remains an accurate summary.]

Well, when I was about 7 years old, William Gillette, a famous actor, who had played Sherlock Holmes since 1899, and this was about 1931, was making his last tour playing the immortal sleuth Sherlock Holmes. An actor friend of my father's, Raymond Calendar was his name, was in the company playing Holmes's cohort the butler, and he got me what they call an "Annie Oakley," a ticket that's pre-punched twice, a freebie, you get in for free. And I sat on the front row of the Empire Theatre and watched Gillette as Holmes, and I just was fascinated with the character. So when I decided not to do any more television and radio writing... maybe I didn't decide it, maybe I just didn't get any more offers... I thought of doing some novels, and I figured if I could write Holmes. I wouldn't have to write (a) seduction scenes, which I'm no good at anyway, and (b) women, because Holmes did not trust women. So with Holmes I wouldn't have to write either one of those things. You know, it would be like Tom Corbett! Pure adventure. So that's why I wound up writing nine Holmes novels. They were all published, thank God, but strangely enough the only country where all nine were published at first was Germany. Then they published them all in Israel. Four of them were published in Russia... and the Russians paid off on time. I never met or talked to Conan Doyle's family... the daughter, I guess, was the only one left at that time.

Sherlock Holmes Series By Frank Thomas

Sherlock Holmes And The Golden Bird (Pinnacle, CA, 1979) paperback original. Sherlock Holmes And The Sacred Sword (Pinnacle, CA, 1980) paperback original. Secret Cases Of Sherlock Holmes (?, 1984) paperback original. Sherlock Holmes And The Treasure Train (Pinnacle, CA, 1985) paperback original. Sherlock Holmes And The Masquerade Murders (Medallion, 1986, Otto Penzler, NY, 1996) paperback original followed a decade later by hardback. Sherlock Holmes And The Bizarre Alibis (?, 1989) paperback original. Sherlock Holmes And The Panamanian Girls (Author22, NV, 2000) trade paperback Sherlock Holmes Mystery Tales (Gryphon, NY, 2001) trade paperback; short stories Secret Files Of Sherlock Holmes ( Xlibris, NY, 2002) various formats; short stories Frankie counts 12 volumes in his Holmes series. The other two are bridge-related, namely, Sherlock Holmes, Bridge Detective and Sherlock Holmes, Bridge Detective Returns, (both published by Pinnacle in the late 1970s). Sherlock Holmes And The Sacred Sword has recently been reprinted by Xlibris. Panamanian Girls and Bizarre Alibis will be reprinted by Xlibris in the near future. German paperback editions of some of Frankie's Holmes novels   Notice! Frankie Thomas, Jr., died on the evening of May 11, 2006, at the Sherman Oaks Hospital, of respiratory failure while recovering from a stroke. We've lost Tom Corbett... Regretfully, Jan Merlin Return to TOM CORBETT.