Celeste Yarnall on “The Apple”

Celeste Yarnall played Martha Landon in “The Apple” and she has some interesting observations on the episode. These quotes are from Marc Cushman’s These Are the Voyages: TOS, Season 2.

On NBC Broadcast Standards:

They were very concerned. They didn’t want it thought that I was spending too much time in this hut with these four or five men. It was explained to them by the producers that this is the 23rd Century; that men and women are equal; there’s no reason for concern. But it didn’t matter. This isn’t the 23rd Century. This is 1967. And this is American TV. So they had some changes made, and some good moments were left on the cutting room floor.

On the fight scene: 

None of us were singled out as not being capable. I participated in a fight scene. It was very good for the liberated spirit of today’s woman because, I think, we were treated as equals. The show was progressive that way.

She also talks about how, just before filming, she’d had to have the nails of one hand drilled off as a result of an infection due to a cosmetic product she’d used on her nails. So in most shots in the episode she hid her hand, and while she’d discussed this with the Director of Photography, she hadn’t with Walter Koenig.

“Now, it comes time to do the kiss with Walter. And I need to keep that hand down. So I have to lean in a certain way. But he’s trying to lean in a different way…I didn’t know at the time that he hand’t been told about my hand and the reason why we were positioned as we were.”

Koenig interpreted her moves as an aggressive attempt to have her face, not his, dominating the camera frame. 

In case you missed it, click here to read my review of “The Apple”.

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