The Untold Story of “The Witcherton Affair”
By Stephen “Steve Mel” Melillo & Jonathan “Jon” Heap
Mayor Bambolini said, “Anyone can make an omelet with eggs, the trick is to make one without eggs!”
In 1974-75, a bunch of high school kids made a film. In love with Bruce Lee and James Bond movies, we embarked on the adventure under Jonathan's direction. Think low-budget “Cobra Kai”, complete with HS actors who look like the Kai kids.
This film wasn't just a passion project; it was a phenomenon. Screened at the Greenwich HS auditorium, "The Wicherton Affair" swept numerous contests, including the prestigious East Coast Film Festival. Remarkably, but maybe not, the filmmakers who applied with this film as their credentials got accepted into Ithaca's film school!
At one of the contest screenings, Jonathan and I sat in the audience ribbing each other. Poor Jonathan. He had to film me making out with his high school crush. After the scene, I said, “Hey, I did it for you, man!”
The judges were adjudicating the film as if somehow it was an actual “MOVIE”, but here now, after 50 years, is how we made The Wicherton Affair! If you can transport yourself back to that era of cutting lawns to buy film reels, and then cutting more lawns to develop them, you'll experience The Wicherton Affair like witnessing Beethoven compose with a quill by candlelight!
We shot on super-8 film, creating a "silent" movie reminiscent of the pre-talkies era. After tedious old-school editing with splices and tape, Jonathan sent the film (in reels) out to be "striped," coating one side with magnetic recording tape.
Now, picture this wild scene: each reel running through a projector in one of our actor's bedrooms, pillows muffling the motor noise. Props everywhere, limited dialogue at the ready, and a rudimentary mixer with a cassette playing pre-recorded sound effects. A record player spun Maynard Ferguson and John Barry tunes. I, the "film scorer," dropped the needle, all by eye and on the fly!
We rehearsed tirelessly because every reel had to be perfect in ONE take. No re-recording over that magnetic stripe! Here is what went down simultaneously:
1 Dialogue synced with lip movements. (This also meant limited, terse dialogue when the actors spoke!)
2 Live Foley sounds like splashing water, car engines, breaking branches, fight scenes, etc.
3 Cassette-pre-recorded foley mixed in.
4 Needle drops on the vinyl record for just the right music cues. (All done by eye and feel!)
The process was crazy, maybe even insane, but we pulled it off. Jonathan went on to film school, where I scored his graduation film with the Ithaca Symphony Orchestra. His "Dark Reflection" premiered at the New School with an introduction by Alfred Hitchcock's biographer, Donald Spoto. A few years later, Jonathan's short film, "1201PM," earned an Academy Award nomination, and I had the honor of scoring it.
Here's a wild S.A.T. story connected to "The Wicherton Affair."
You'll see Al Miller in the super-8 with a .38 revolver. We planned to film his scene right after the football game. I marched that day’s halftime show with that revolver in my band jacket, loaned by the Greenwich Police Department. Can you imagine?
But it gets better. I woke up that day and remembered we had to take the SATs. We didn’t prepare for it in those days. We just did the test. Can you imagine THAT? Later as a Teacher, I witnessed kids crying in the hallway from the STRESS induced by the SATs. My own kids had special books and an SAT Prep course! Back in 1974, I went to the SATs with that .38 revolver in my band jacket, took the test, did the half-time show, and then left to do the scene for Jonathan.
Can you IMAGINE anything like that happening today?
"The Wicherton Affair" brings back these wild memories and so many more. We made other films too, like "Devotion," which I’m still trying to track down. Willy? Al? Bob? Heap? Anyone?
In one scene from “Devotion”, we predated the famous Indiana Jones moment with a martial arts master getting taken out. Sorry Steven, we did it first! And a 1975 Greenwich Time article shows how we foreshadowed the vibes of "The Karate Kid." Ah, high school kids with a super-8 camera, and a whole lot of, shall we say “daring” stuff that thankfully, never made the Final Cut! (My Mom would have spanked me with the broom!)
So break out the popcorn, sit back, and watch a short super-8, literally made in a time before the Empire!
Enjoy & Godspeed! S
The Wicherton Affair, Part I:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/966245934
The Wicherton Affair, Part II:
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/966264350