Merv Griffin, 1980 "PHOBIA" release.

Dom Delouise also a guest

Merv...You all know my next guest as a streetwise cop from Starsky and Hutch. After four successful seasons he has branched out into his first starring role in a big movie, a suspense thriller called Phobia, directed by John Houston, would you welcome Paul Michael Glaser.

That was the first time that has ever happened in 16 years of doing this show.

PMG...What?

Me rv...I mention a guests name, your name and she got so excited she lifted her whole dress up and hit her face, it was fun.

PM G...I won't tell you how I felt.

Merv...He cut off his ear he got so excited.

PMG...They just said Paul Michael Glaser next.

Merv...But I don't want to depress you girls, but he's no longer an eligible bachelor, Paul is a married man, nice Paul. I don't want to point this out but geeze, no speed record on your part.

PM G...I did take a while, didn't I.

Merv...Five years.

PMG...Five years, well it's a long way from standing to kneeling.(laughs)

Merv...Oh yeah, and that was just the ceremony.

PMG...Yeah, that's right.

Merv...What finally after five years made you pop the question? She threatened to leave right.

PMG...That's one way of looking at it, the thing just kind of came to fruition.

Me rv...Fruition.

PMG...That's a good word, isn't it?

Dom...Did you actually say the words will you marry me, did you actually say that? Lets get married.

PMG...Well I kinda said how would you like to get married.

Merv...How would you like to.

PMG...How would you like to, you know kind of offhand as I was falling off a chair or something.

Merv...And she said don't bug me right?

PMG...No she said your kidding.

Merv...She said your kidding.

PMG...No, no, no, I don't remember what she said, I think the only other thing that makes me more nervous besides being on the show is talking about that.

Merv...Oh, really.

Dom...You don't like being on the show?

PMG...Oh no.

Dom...You don't like talking about that, you exude confidence, when we look at you, look at you body language, you look like your totally confident.

Merv...Coolness, coolness.

Dom...Yes, that's the impression you give, you might as well assume that's what your giving off.

PMG...That's right.

Dom...Sure.

PMG...That's right, I'm very comfortable.

Merv...Is it working?

PMG...Keep talking(laughs)

Dom...The marriage.

PMG...Oh, were talking about the marriage, the marriage is working very well.

Merv...Was it a big wedding?

PMG...No, it was a very private affair, very private, the Rabbi...

Dom...Did you go?

PMG...They tell me I was there.

Merv...And the Rabbi.

PMG...They tell me he was there too.

Dom...You broke the cup and everything.

PM G...I did the whole...

Merv...But your not Jewish.

PMG...Of course I am.

Merv...Oh, then that's a good reason to have a Rabbi, did you break the glass?, did you wear the hat?

PMG...Yes

Merv...Yeah, they give good weddings, I like that, but there was only just a couple of folks.

PMG...Just a few friends, that was it.

Merv...What about the honeymoon?

PMG...We went to Europe , and I ended up at Venice for the film festival.

Dom ...Where did your wife go?

Merv...She stayed in London .

PM G...(laughs)You caught that Dom, no we went to Venice for the film festival.

Merv...Was Phobia shown?

PMG...Yeah, Phobia was being shown.

Merv...Did they like it?

PMG ...Yeah.

Merv... Good.

PMG...Then I went to...we went to, see I keep thinking I, I guess I'm not including married yet am I?

Dom...You got the wedding band on. I always say I'm going to my room and my wife says our room.

PMG...Oh yeah, I'm very conscience of that, when we were with people I'll say come on over to my house...our house sometime.

Merv...It is a big change in ones life.

PMG...It is, it is.

Merv...You change pronouns and everything.

PMG... Yeah.

Merv...You must have had a lot of fun over there because that show is such an incredible hit in Europe .

PMG... Starsky and Hutch has been accepted around the world, it's in over 60 countries. It was like going back to the second year of Starsky and Hutch here in America , in Spain , in Amsterdam and of course in London .

Dom...Yes, in London they went mad for it.

PMG...Yeah, and now it's in reruns and their still mad.

Merv...And not to mention another country, Israel .

PMG...Oh Israel is wonderful.

Merv...When we did this show from Israel everybody wanted to know about Starsky and Hutch.

PMG...Yeah, I went there as a matter of fact with Elizabeth and I took my folks and they were such adamant fans, they were so adamant that I ended up spending more time in my hotel room.

Merv...Yeah, their really intense fans.

PM G...I remember a lady coming up to me in the street and saying to me with a Hebrew accent saying could I have your autograph, and I said absolutely and I took her piece of paper and a pen and I wrote an autograph, she took it and said this is an autograph?

Merv...Oh yeah.

PMG...She called me on it, you know because my autograph is a scrawl, it's kind of an excuse to keep from falling down, it kinda goes off the paper.

Dom...So you mean you made it neater?

PMG...So I made it neater.

Dom...That's not nice.

PMG...Well I had to do something, she would have called her friends or something and attacked me(Laughs)

Dom...No, just tell her that's how I write, now go away.

Merv...You can't say that in Israel , everybody has a burp gun, in case you burp.

PMG...You can't say that, you gotta give them another shot.

Merv ...A surprising country though, isn't it?

PMG...It's an amazing country.

Merv...Have you been to Jerusalem ?

PMG...Yeah, I'd been there in 1959, I was there for about 4 months, and then I went back about 3 years ago, and it was so grown up, I mean when I was there in 1959 I drove through Beersheba and there was 2 huts and that was it.

Merv... Beersheba is now a big city.

PMG...Yeah, you come over a sand dune and there not even sand dunes anymore, it's all grass and alfalfa, and you look and there's this incredible thing sitting there, it looks like Steven Spielberg built it.

Merv... McDonalds?

PM G...(laughs) No, but it's close to that you know domes and it looks almost like a mirage.

Merv...You have been fishing too, haven't you?

PMG... Yeah.

Merv...Were did you go?

PM G...I go every year to Jackson Wyoming, and I fish and I thought that after this hectic trip, we traveled through Europe in 12 days, which was kind of insane, and I thought after that the best thing would be to go to Wyoming and do some fishing and relax. But 2 of my friends, a rancher out there and a friend of mine, we'd been talking for a long time about taking 2 weeks and going off into the wilderness, to places no man had gone fishing, you know this was the description of it. And we went on horseback into the wilderness and it was late in the year and it was raining and snowing and it was an incredible experience, but we were all fighting off bugs and different viruses and eventually one hit me in the stomach, and I couldn't eat for 3 or 4 days, and I was nauseous all the time.

Dom...3 days of not eating, my hat would fall off.

Merv...How did you get out of there?

PMG...They got lucky, a hunter had fallen into the river the night before, he'd broken into a cabin, the cabin was open, there was a radio there so they called for a chopper, the chopper came in and took me out.

Dom... I'm thrilled!

Merv... Phobia, this is a very strange thriller.

PMG...Very strange piece yes.

Merv...John Houston, I love him, I've interviewed John Houston all over the world, in Ireland , in Mexico , he's really an interesting men.

PMG...He is, he's fascinating.

Merv...Is he a taskmaster to work for?

PMG...Well sometimes he can be that way, but he's been around for a long time. I think the thing that's most fascinating about him is that he has survived as long as he has, that he manages to fly as low as he does.

Me rv...Yeah.

PMG...And keep his eye on the ball, he's a fascinating man, in our society we really get off on legends and we look towards them and he's one of the few remaining you know, we lost the Duke.

Merv...Yeah, what's Phobia about? Is it about a person with phobias?

PMG...It's about a psychiatrist who's treating a bunch of patients with a radical new treatment plan for their phobia's, you know a phobia is any given fear elevated to the point were it renders you incapable of functioning.

Dom...You know heights.

Merv...You have a phobia?

Dom... Water and fire.

Merv...So it's a real chiller?

PM G...I don't know, you know it's like a 10 little Indians, that's the way John Huston describes it, and I think that's a pretty good way, it's a hard film to talk about because it's a suspense thriller, so if you talk too much about it you give away the suspense.

Merv...Well, what's the scene were going to see?

PMG...The scene, I was told..

Merv...With patients.

PMG...Your going to see a scene with patients, and there were a couple of other scenes that I would rather of shown, but they kinda tip it off a little too much, and so this is kinda an interesting scene of me dealing with patients after we've lost one of the patients.

Merv... Whoops!

Dom...You mean while your curing the patient of their phobia they fall off of something?

PMG...This particular patient met their death relative to her particular phobia.

Dom...Oh, isn't that interesting, so it's really a radical treatment..

PMG... Yeah.

Dom...You know what I mean? I mean if my phobia is chocolate chip cookies, you lock me into a room with chocolate chip cookies, when you open the door...whoa!, you die from that many cookies, and then you know he melts away. So now this is interesting, so it's not just a film talking about brains, it's talking about there's a dangerous element here.

PMG... There is a dangerous element.

Dom... Fabulous.

Merv... Which film is it?

Dom...His film!

Merv...Oh Phobia, lets see a scene..Paul Michael Glaser.

Dom...Oh, I'm so excited!

Merv...Okay, watch your set.

Dom...Were is it?

Merv...(points up) It's up there.

Clip from Phobia shown.

Merv...Oh, I like that.

PMG...You did?

Dom...Oh, that's wonderful.

Merv...That strange mood.

Dom...That promises a lot, that's nice, you see a great deal of energy of the film, that's lovely.

Merv...But he seemed to have more of a phobia than the patients.

Dom...What did they mean when they said we will all go back to jail.

PMG ...I didn't explain that, you see what that is that the program is so radical that the only people that they allow me to work with are convicts who sign up voluntarily for the program.

Dom...In an effort to try to shorten their sentences.

PMG... Right, but it's so radical and such dangerous..

Dom...That your losing them fast.

Merv... Terrible ending to it?

PMG...Well you see the fascinating thing about a film like this is when you consider the things were afraid of, were afraid of heights, afraid of being smothered, afraid of open spaces, were afraid of so many things.

Dom... Meatballs.

PM G...(laughs) Meatballs especially.

Dom ...A big meatball rolls over you, you have nothing to say, you just go fast, you get a little gravy in your eyes, that's it, fast, very fast, what a way to go though huh? alright...so then..

PMG...When are we going to do a comedy together?

Dom...We are doing one now.

PMG... Right, so the interesting thing is that it offers so many possibilities for the ways in which people can meet their individual or collective demise, what's the plural of demise... demises?

Dom...Big dead.

PMG...Did you see deem eyes!

Merv ...I can't wait to see it, it looks like a good one, Phobia with Paul Michael Glaser.

transcript by Pam

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