1970 Paramount Studios Memory

What would it be like to meet Lucille Ball, Leonard Nimoy, Peter Graves, Danny Thomas, Mike Connors, Gale Gordon, Angela Cartwright, Rosey Grier and comedian Jack Carter, within about 90 minutes? I did that in the unforgettable summer of 1970. I was all of 17 years old and had flown out to Los Angeles for a two week vacation to visit a friend and his family who had moved out to the west coast.
Somehow, my friend's father got his son and I passes to go to Paramount Studios, which was closed off to the public. So there we were, two teenage guys showing up at the Paramount gate and the security guard waved us in.
We had no tour guide, we were completely on our own, so we went into the first building we saw, and walked right onto the set of "Here's Lucy", starring Lucille Ball. Lucy was standing about 10 feet from us going over some script changes. She had her back to me, and when she turned around I was startled. Lucy wore no makeup that day and she looked totally exhausted. It was then that I saw just how tiring television series work really was.
For the next 40 minutes all I heard was Lucy's commanding voice. My friend and I sat on these benches reserved for a studio audience, but since it was a rehearsal day, we were the only 'audience' so we sat right in front.
I could tell that Lucille Ball threw her whole self into that show. There were circles under her eyes and she looked so tired but she kept going over the script, over and over again. Gale Gordon, her co-star, knew his lines and sat in front of us. When the rehearsal was over Lucy walked right over to my friend and I and asked 'Did you think it was funny?'...We were so starstruck that we just sort of nodded our heads but didn't really answer.
From there we left and walked into the studio of 'Mission Impossible'. They were filming that day and we got to meet Peter Graves and Leonard Nimoy, who had joined the cast after Star Trek had been cancelled only a year before. Graves was dressed in a tuxedo and they were filming a restaurant scene. Over and over they filmed under hot lights and I remember how Graves loosened that tuxedo, sweating heavily, when the filming finally ended.
The next building had Mike Connors starring as 'Mannix' and we watched that. Once again I was quickly reminded how exhausting this work was. Connors was going over his script and looked so unbelievably tired, I sort of really felt for him.
And then 'Make Room for Grandaddy;' starring Danny Thomas, Marjorie Lord, and Rosey Grier. We watched as they rehearsed, standing only a few feet from them. They didn't notice us at all as they concentrated on their lines. I stood there just overwhelmed that I was seeing all of these legendary stars. Their charisma was just overpowering.
Comedian Jack Carter came by as well.
I also saw Star Trek stuff. The series had been cancelled the year before but there were Star Trek trash cans lying around, labelled 'Trek Trash'. I still wonder what was in those cans.
Then it was time to leave. Even now, over 35 years later, the memories are just as strong as if it happened yesterday.