- Welcome back to another segment
of "Behind the Scenes of 'The Waltons'".
Today, I'm going to be talking about the episode
from Season 1, "The Ceremony".
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I'm very excited to have video from another special guest
for this segment, Radames Pera, who played young
Paul Mann in this episode.
Radames has been a friend ever since 1972
when we filmed this episode of "The Waltons".
Radames, of course, went on to star
as the young boy in "Kung Fu".
So, he was on the Warner's lot during most of our,
a lot of our filming all while they were filming "Kung Fu",
so we used to visit him.
He used to come visit our set.
We'd spend time together at the commissary.
Anyway, he'll talk more about all of that,
but I'm very grateful that he agreed to come talk
about this episode that he starred in.
The other fun thing is that his mom was played
by Ellen Geer, Will Geer's daughter.
Paul's family has fled Germany to avoid Jewish persecution,
as Hitler takes more and more power over there.
Early in the episode, we are listening to the radio
and there was a broadcast talking about what's going on
over in Germany and the burning of books.
John Boy is extremely irate, gets very emotional about it,
because as a writer, words are so important to him.
Grandma recognizes this
and feels like it definitely means he's gonna be a writer
when he puts so much store by the written word,
and John Boy is just adamant that he's going to read
all these books that were being burned,
'cause he can't imagine that anything
that was written down should ever be destroyed.
All of that talk of book burning, of course,
is a bit of a foreshadow of our later episode,
"The Firestorm", where members of the Walton community,
on Walton's Mountain,
decide that they should burn German books.
So, they tied that storyline together
and wrapped it up beautifully in that episode.
Some interesting logistics of this episode.
The house or cottage that the Manns lease
while they are on Walton's Mountain
is actually right on another side of Druscillas pond.
We talk a lot about Druscillas pond.
It had access from several avenues,
and in this case they did some additions,
'cause that's the only time I ever saw that particular set
that was often used, was built with a false second story.
There must've been access because at one point,
you see young Paul looking out of that second story window
as the Waltons, who have come to greet the new neighbors,
get no response and walk away.
Erin looks back and sees Paul up in that window.
Another interesting point of logistics
is that when John Boy
goes up to the attic of the Mann house,
and they come up these stairs and go into the attic,
that was actually, I went, “Wait a minute, wait a minute!
That is the Walton house.“
That is the access from our stairs
coming up to our supposed bedrooms and up into our attic.
So, a very familiar set that they just kind of redecorated,
but it looks awfully similar, doesn't it?
I mentioned at one point
about there being an episode where we tried to take Reckless
up into the tree house.
Well, this is the episode.
They put him in a sling and they start to lift him up.
I seem to remember there being some bloopers
connected to this that Richard sort of instigated.
But people ask me a lot about the bloopers.
I'm sorry, I don't have them,
so I can't show you any of them.
If I did, I would, but some of them are a little blue.
Not as in the mule, but in language and whatnot.
So, perhaps better not to share.
One of the key aspects of this episode
is the fact that Paul is about to turn 13
and he wants to have his Bar Mitzvah.
When all of the Walton children
are up in the tree house with Paul,
he confesses to us, shares the secret of being Jewish.
His father doesn't want anyone to know that they are Jewish
because he is worried about the persecution
continuing, the hatred continuing,
even over here in America.
And when Ben and Jim Bob,
Jim Bob accidentally breaks a window in the Mann house
with a slingshot, and so they fear that this is continuing.
And again, like The Firestorm
when a rock was thrown through the Walton window,
when John Boy is going to print excerpts from "Mein Kampf".
So, full circle, once again.
In this case, I find it ironic that Eric,
Ben's character, is the one who keeps saying,
“Well I don't understand.
What's a Jew?“
Eric is Jewish.
In fact, the first Bar Mitzvah I ever went to was Eric's.
So for Eric to be, we laugh about that,
for Eric to be the one who keeps saying,
“Well I still don't understand what a Jew is.”
And now I will give you Radames Pera in his own words,
talking about his memories of filming "The Ceremony".
- Hi Judy, thank you so much
for inviting me to be a part of your cool project.
You asked me to talk about my experience
working with you and your co-stars
on an episode of "The Waltons" called "The Ceremony",
directed by Vincent Sherman.
First of all, it was a real feather in my cap
to be able to work on "The Waltons",
to have an opportunity to be on that show.
And of course, it all started off just with,
as all actors get a call
from their agent, saying you have an interview.
So, but it was of course, for the part
of a German Jewish boy whose parents escaped the persecution
from Germany in the 30s
and moved to Walton's Mountain
to be able to be free from it.
But the father doesn't want anybody to know
that they're Jewish 'cause he doesn't want
the persecution to start again.
So, they hide the fact that they're Jews.
And this of course causes a problem in the family,
because the boy is about to turn 13,
and has been expecting all of his young life
to be bar mitzvah'd on his 13th birthday.
And that doesn't happen because,
you know, the secrecy that the father wants.
So, a rift is caused between the father and the boy,
and such as the drama and the Waltons kids,
of course, figure it out and they help Paul
have his bar mitzvah.
I had to learn, just as every boy does,
all of the the entire spoken part
of the bar mitzvah ceremony.
So, just like every other boy, in that era,
I had a portable cassette deck
with a cantor's voice recording the whole ceremony
and believe it or not, to this day, I can still,
I still remember it.
So as all other 13-year-old boys, which I was 13,
do, I had to practice that on a recording.
And, the show was smart enough
to hire a real cantor with a SAG card no less.
Of course, probably not the hardest thing
to find in Hollywood.
And so I tell my Jewish friends that, you know,
since I, okay, since I performed, you know,
I mean I recited the ceremony by part of it.
There was a real cantor there,
and it was a fairly authentic recreation of a bar mitzvah.
I tell my Jewish friends, hey, I'm not Jewish,
but I've been bar mitzvah'd.
I've been able to enjoy saying that most of my life.
I don't do it often,
but when the opportunity arises, I'll pull it out.
I've heard that this episode, "The Ceremony",
was Vincent Sherman's, the director's,
favorite thing that he'd ever done.
I guess, obviously, it was personal to him as well.
So, I'm proud of the fact that I made him proud.
And the other fun part, of course,
was to meet all of you and work with you.
And of course, as evidenced by this recording,
we are friends to this day.
Eric actually brought his son over when his son was like,
I think 12 or something, to my house in Sunland
when I was living there before I moved to France,
and they helped me dig out a couple of ficuses
that we're taking over a planter box
next to the garage and the roots
were gonna get into the foundation and we thought,
you know, gotta get rid of them.
And he and his son showed up with shovels and pickaxes.
But anyway, that's the kind of friendship
I have with you all to this day.
And I am extremely grateful for that.
The gift of having worked on "The Waltons",
and of course, just, you know, later,
as I was doing "Kung Fu", continued to do "Kung Fu",
you guys were always extremely warm to me on the set.
I know I bring this story up every time
I have the opportunity to,
but here is another opportunity to mention
just how important and special it was
that you guys are so inclusive of me,
and me being this baldheaded kid all by myself,
no other child actors anywhere nearby,
except you guys are like across the lot.
And so when, you know, I'd run into you in the commissary,
you'd say, hey Radames, come join us.
You know, and it was just like really,
made me feel a whole lot better
than I had prior to that moment.
So, I'm grateful for the inclusion back then
and the inclusion to this very moment.
So, I love you all for that and Judy,
thank you again.
Here we are. The legacy lives on.
Here we are to this day.
So again, thanks and good luck
with the rest of your project.
And again, appreciate being included.
- And that's what I have for you
on this episode of "Behind the Scenes of 'The Waltons'".
I really want to thank Radames once again
for shooting this video and sending it,
and being a part of this.
I told him that I thought
you would all enjoy that very much.
So, feel free to share your comments to him,
and I will tell him to give a look
and read some of those comments.
Thanks for being here.
And I'll see you on a future segment
of "Behind the Scenes of 'The Waltons'".
And next up will be another segment
of "Ask Judy".
Thanks for watching.