Maya (MGM) (1966)

NO BED IN INDIA LONG ENOUGH FOR 66 CLINT WALKER Academy Award-winning art director Ted Haworth spent six hours in Bombay, a day-and-a-half in Madras and three days in Calcutta seeking a bed long enough to accommodate sixfoot-six Clint Walker, star of “MAYA,” new King Brothers production for MGM release, filmed in Panavision and Metrocolor entirely on locations in India. Winner of the “Oscar” for his work on “Sayonara” and a six-time nominee for “What a Way to Go,” “The Longest Day,” “Some Like It Hot,” “Pepe,” “Matty” “andes kL Wanterto sieives: Haworth has been given many a difficult assignment for movies and never has come back empty-handed. The people of India are of relatively small physique, and Haworth’s demand for a six-foot, seven-inch bed was met with both incredulity and amusement. Clint Walker portrays a white hunter who redeems his honor in the jungles of India and regains the love of his son, Jay North, in ‘‘Maya.”’ The thrillpacked King Bros. adventuredrama for Metro-GoldwynMayer was filmed in Panavision and Metrocolor entirely on locations in southern India. Maya Still Clint Walker-1850 Mat 1-D When his search throughout India proved fruitless, the art director went AWOL and hopped a plane to Spain, where he ordered a solid oak, handcarved circular bed seven feet in diameter—one befitting a star of Clint Walker’s stature. Haworth had every incentive not to fail on this job. It was producers Frank and Maurice King who were the first to recognize his talent. They snatched him from obscurity as a designer-illustrator and gave him his first break as a full-fledged film art director in their 1948 production, “Southside 11000.” HIDDEN CAMERAS CAPTURE REALISM At one period during the filming of MGM’s adventure-drama, “MAYA,” shot entirely on locations in India, the crew worked stealthily through three nights, planting hidden cameras and microphones in the Bazaar at Nanjangud in order to capture the realism of the open stalls that sell everything from bread to goats. One of the most colorful areas in the city of Mysore, the bazaar is near the Nanjanud Temple, which was built more than 800 years ago and contains the Hindu God, “Shiva,” principal god of the three trinities. Unknown to themselves, scores of natives were secretly photographed by the hidden cameras, with the microphones capturing all the noises, conversation, cries and tumult of the popular bazaar. A DEADLY TIGER IS READY TO POUNCE! White hunter Clint Walker redeems his honor in a terrifying battle with a deadly tiger who is preparing to pounce on him in this scene from ‘“‘Maya.”’ Jay North co-stars in the role of Walker’s son in the thrill-packed King Bros. production for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, filmed in Panavision and Technicolor entirely on locations in southern India. John Berry directed. Still VT-55 Maya Mat 2-C FILMING AN ADVENTURE-DRAMA IN INDIA B 4 The months we spent in India filming “MAYA” gave us some of the most rewarding, incredible and gratifying experiences of our entire career in filmmaking. Despite some of the frustrations of organizing a motion picture in India’s remote virgin territory, we wouldn’t have missed this project for anything. We filmed in villages in Mysore where transportation and communications were almost non-existent. The language barrier itself offered difficulties, Although common labor was cheap, the skilled craftsman was at a premium. Every step we took had to be sanctioned by official permits, and every one of these permits required costly, time-consuming travel. But our locations were breath-taking. Unlike most outdoor adventure films, we did not shoot “MAYA” on reservations but used previously unphotographed jungle regions, building our own roads to transport our cameras, other equipment, vehicles and personnel. Some of our locations were in the heart of the tiger country and we had to take every precaution for safety. We engaged a complete medical staff, four hunters and a native crew. The latter hand-loomed a net to block off our people from prowling animals while we worked. Complete Realism In all our years of picture-making, we can’t recall matching the realism of “Maya.” Take, for example, a sequence we filmed at the Chamarajanagar Station, thirty-five miles out of Mysore. This is the scene of the story in which Jay North arrives in India. As a background for the sensitive boy’s need and hunger for his father we assembled more than 5,000 natives. There were farmers, students, fakirs, mothers sitting with suckling babies, vendors, Holy Men, beggars, nuns, big game hunters, Sikh warriors, cows, goats, pigs, chickens and monkeys. Everyone was eager to get into the act. We had seventy-eight members of the local police rope off the area, but if you look closely you'll probably see some of their relatives in the shot. On another occasion we filmed the Bazaar at Nanjangud, near the Nanjanud Temple. Our crew worked all through the night to plant hidden cameras and mikes so that we could Frank and Maurice King capture all the nomadic realism of the open stalls that sell everything from bread to goats. The script called for Jay North to be lost, hurt, bewildered and horrified as he wandered through the Bazaar. And he was! Our director, John Berry, captured every nuance. He is unquestionably one of the most intense, energetic and dedicated directors with whom we ever have worked. In order to find the two elephants which play a vital part in our story, we searched virtually the length and breadth of India. It took some time, but we finally discovered exactly what we wanted. MAYA, the mother elephant of the title role, proved a bit wild at first but adapted herself to training. With her we had her very own baby, which we called Primo, a genuine, rare white elephant looking as though it were carved out of ivory! The demands of our story called for MAYA to perform difficult and unprecedented acts prompted by maternal love and instinct. Both mother and child acted superbly and if audiences don’t take both to their heart, we'll eat our respective sun helmets. During filming of “MAYA” in jungles, native villages, mountains and crocodile-infested rivers we moved our international crews at a pace they had never traveled before, but we never heard a single complaint. Sometimes we wondered if we would ever get the final reel of the picture into the can, but, of course, we did. And, when it was all over, we left India with regret, but not before sending up a prayer of thanks to Allah. MUSIC OF INDIA Have you listened to the sitar, tambura, sur-sanga, mridanga, vina or chikara lately? These are the native musical instruments of India used by composer Riz Ortolani in recording the score for the King Brothers MGM adventure-draima, “MAYA.” Ortolani, whose previous film score was for “The Yellow Rolls-Royce,” had an entirely different musical assignment for the new picture, which was filmed entirely on locations in India, with Clint Walker and Jay North starred, His music for “MAYA” was completely India-inspired. ELEPHANTS, TIGERS WERE JAY NORTH'S FELLOW ACTORS IN THRILLING “MAYA” Jay North has left his characterization of Dennis the Menace far behind to become one of the world’s youngest experts on animals. For the second consecutive time since winding up his four years in the popular television series, 13-year-old Jay has acted in a picture which called for close contact with wild animals, He recently returned from the jungles of southern India, where he starred with Clint Walker in “MAYA,” a King Brothers production for MetroGoldwyn-Mayer. Prior to that, he appeared in “Zebra in the Kitchen.” In both pictures he worked with a wide variety of beasts. “T love all wild animals, no matter what kind they are,” Jay states. “You know, I won’t even go fishing because I don’t like to see fish caught and killed. In ‘MAYA’ I play the son of a great white hunter (Clint Walker). He kills my pet cheeta by mistake and later shoots a ferocious tiger which has just mangled a large elephant when she comes to the rescue of her baby. But when we filmed these scenes, we didn’t really kill any of the animals.” Since the story concerns the trek Jay and a Hindu boy make with a mother elephant, named Maya, and her offspring, a white elephant named Prima, for the purpose of turning over the rare baby animal to temple priests, Jay played many of his scenes with the pachyderms. “It was a lark to let Maya lift me onto her back with her trunk,” he relates. “But getting off again was something else. I had to slide down one of her legs. Do you realize how rough an elephant’s skin can be? My legs were badly scraped for weeks.” Jay also had to work with two tigers for scenes showing the boy in danger and rescued by his father. While trainers stood by to protect him, the young actor worked close to the tigers in an area that was completely enclosed by 12-foot-high steel fencing. The cameramen operated behind bars. “T had a lot of fun watching the animals when we made this film,” he said. “They all love water. The baby elephant used to sink under the surface of the water and use its tiny trunk as a kind of periscope. It looked exactly like a submarine!” When producers Frank and Maurice King made Mysore their location headquarters for MGM’s adventure-drama, “MAYA,” starring Clint Walker and Jay North and filmed entirely on locations in India, they found themselves unexpectedly dispensing an Indian version of “‘southern hospitality.”. Every morning, at their al fresco breakfast, an extra place was set at the table—for a native guest. “Range,” a pet of the Maharajah of Mysore and the largest elephant in India, joined the producers and cast members daily for an early morning snack of four-hundred pounds of bananas! Jay North, portraying an American boy visiting his white hunter father in the jungles of India, speaks trustingly to a new found cheeta friend in this scene from *‘Maya.”’ Clint Walker portrays his father in the thrill-packed King Bros. adventure dramafor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, filmed in Panavision and Technicolor entirely on locations in southern India. Still VT-92 Maya Mat 1-C TITLE-ROLE ELEPHANT THRIVES ON APPLAUSE The inhabitants of Mysore in south ern India were agog with excitement when the King Brothers chose it for scenes in the Clint Walker-Jay North adventure drama, “MAYA,” released by MGM. Highlighting the city’s monuments is a statue of the Maharajah of Mysore, which stands in the square and served as the focal point of the filming. It is here that Jay North and his young Indian friend, Sajid Kahn, entertain a crowd with a performance by two of India’s most talented animals—Maya, a mother elephant, and her white calf. Maya discerned an avid interest in her performance among the curious faces of thousands of spectators who had gathered to watch the filming. With true showmanship, she turned to the crowd and bowed her voluptuous trunk in appreciation ! Sonia Sahni urges Clint Walker to show an understanding of the problems of his son (played by Jay North) in this scene from “‘Maya.” The thrilling King Bros. adventure drama for MetroGoldwyn-Mayer was filmed in Panavision and Technicolor entirely on locations in southern India. John Berry directed. Still VT-37 Maya Mat 2-B