Welcome! As part of its ongoing mission to document the Art and Production History of Star Trek, this site will present technical articles on Star Trek prop and costume authentication - focusing on The Original Series - with detailed photos and episode screenshots to complement the information presented; as well as feature pictorials to showcase Star Trek memorabilia in private & public collections, present rare Behind The Scenes TOS imagery & discuss other topics.
Gerald Gurian is a 40+ year collector of screen used Star Trek memorabilia and a passionate fan of TOS
     
- Star Trek TOS At Auction Part I - Gurian Collection Highlights - Greg Jein TOS Hero Type II Phaser
-Authenticating a TOS Communicator -6 Myths About Star Trek Prop Design -Star Trek 3rd Season Command Tunic
- Design Features of TOS Tricorders -Star Trek Props At National Air & Space - TOS Leatherette Tricorder
- TOS Federation Sciences Dress -Desilu Studio TOS Prop Fabrication - Unreleased Allen/Gurian Prop Photos
- The Beautiful Women of TOS Part I -TOS U.S.S. Enterprise 11' Filming Model - Captain Kirk's Chair from TOS
- Spock Ears -TOS Control Panels & Displays - Mr. Spock's Science Station
- TOS Soundstage at Desilu -TOS Shatner Romulan Pants - The Beautiful Women of TOS Pt. II
- TOS Galileo Shuttlecraft -Greg Jein TOS Cage Laser Pistol - TOS 3rd Season Midgrade Type II Phaser
- Dr. McCoy's Sickbay on TOS -TOS Balok Puppet Head - Captain Kirk "Mirror, Mirror" Tunic
- Greg Jein TOS Hero Tricorder -1992 Smithsonian TOS Cast Video - TOS 1st Season Command Tunic
- TOS "Where No Man" Silver Contact Lenses -TOS Special Effects: The Transporter - The Art of Matt Jefferies
- TOS "Space Seed" Gold Mesh Jumpsuit -Gorn Costume from "Arena" - Rare TOS Behind-the-Scenes Videos
- TOS Stunt Type II Phaser -1993 Bill Theiss Estate Auction - TOS Shatner Command Dress Tunic
- TOS Elasian Royal Guard Tunic -TOS Finnegan Silver "Shore Leave" Tunic - TOS Science Officer Tunic "The Cage"
- TOS Shatner Early 1st Season Command Tunic -William Shatner TOS Tunics At Auction - TOS Shatner Late 1st Season Command Tunic

Monday, October 25, 2010

"Inside Star Trek": 1969 TOS Casting Director Joe D'Agosta memo "A Note On Casting"

From July, 1968 through mid-1969; while Star Trek: The Original Series was still in production for its third and final season and those last 24 episodes were being filmed and aired - a series of monthly fan magazines were published by editor Ruth Berman for the growing Star Trek fan base. These publications were created with full and unprecedented access to the Desilu Star Trek soundstages and their preparation was often assisted by members of the Star Trek production crew and the actors themselves - who either granted special interviews or prepared written contributions to the fan magazine - entitled "Inside Star Trek". The efforts of Dorothy Catherine "D. C." Fontana; who was originally Gene Roddenberry's secretary and later Story Editor for the show - and who authored such memorable TOS episodes as "Tomorrow is Yesterday", "Friday's Child", "Journey to Babel", "This Side of Paradise", and "The Enterprise Incident" - are particularly noteworthy. Fontana was a regular contributor to "Inside Star Trek" and her interviews of Set Decorator John Dwyer, Art Director Matt Jefferies, Costume Designer Bill Theiss, and Assistant Director Charles Washburn; as well as Ruth Berman's interviews with Makeup Artist Fred Phillips and actors William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, and George Takei are fascinating to read and contain outstanding, behind-the-scenes details.

While reviewing some early Trek convention papers, I recently re-discovered my complete set of 12 editions of "Inside Star Trek"; and am pleased to include a new series of posts on this site that will present some of the best content from this first official fan club and fanzine for the show. Articles will be reproduced as full page scans of the original pages of the publication; so readers will share - somewhat - the same viewing experience as the original subscribers to the magazine in 1968 and 1969.

This twelfth article, from INSIDE STAR TREK No. 7 (January, 1969), presents a memo by Original Series Casting Director Joseph D'Agosta entitled "A Note On Casting"...

(Please click on the images to enlarge)