THE LIFE AND CINEMA OF

TED V. MIKELS

By Kevin Scott Collier

THE LIFE AND CINEMA OF TED V. MIKELS

The Life and Cinema of Ted V. Mikels, copyright 2017 by Kevin Scott Collier. Published April 29, 2017. Content featuring Ted V. Mikels exclusive for the purpose of this book as a biography. Interviews with Mr. Mikels conducted from December 18, 2015 to May 10, 2016.

THANK YOU

Exclusive interviews provided for exclusively for this book: James McEachin, Maureen Gaffney, Gary Kent, Leslie McRae, Sean Kenney, Francine York, Sherri Vernon, Barry Hostetler, Tiger Yang, Foster Boom, Rusty Meyers, Sean Morelli, Cara Jo Basso, Volmar Franz, Brinke Stevens, John Baniqued, Donna Hamblin, Anthony Avery, Kellie Karl, Kevin Sean Michaels, Cory Udler, Amanda Jade, Richard Lester, Gary Lester, Beverly Washburn, Mr. Lobo, Fletcher Sharp, Sarah Dunn, Joshua (Peaches Christ) Grannell, Scott Marlowe, Dawna Lee Heising, Drew Marvick, Raymond P. Whalen, Marc Gras Cots, Art Lynch, Grant Philipo, Colie Knoke, Lani Silverman, Jade Satana, Siouxzan Perry, Sharla Rae Satana, Kevin Burke, Liane Langford, Nils Henftling, Arnie Bartz, Ken Kish and Whitney Priebe Cross.

Curated quotes: Gary Clarke from his book How It Happened, copyright 2016 Gary Clarke and BearManor Media. Tura Satana interviews via YouTube videos. Shanti (Dr. Wendy O. Altamura) via Mikels movies DVD extras. Jaime Preston Lynch quotes via her Facebook page. Jay Gowey quotes via his recollections posted on tedvmikels.com. Entries in this book concerning the four Astro-Zombies movies abbreviated and sourced from Kevin Scott Collier’s book Unmasking the Astro-Zombies, published November 2016.

Additional sources include: Bend, Oregon historic newspapers. Library of Congress newspaper collection, Associated Press, United Press International, various entertainment magazines, FamilySearch online, Find A Grave online, www.tedvmikels.com, Facebook, the entire Ted V. Mikels movie collection on DVD, The Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, and miscellaneous other materials and documents.

Visit online: The book homepage tedvmikelsbiography.blogspot.com. Author’s website www.kevinscottcollierhomepage.blogspot.com. Email the author at kevinscottcollier@yahoo.com

FOREWORD

Filmmaker and Friend

Ted V. Mikels was not an individual who entertained the notion, “This cannot be done.”

Facing any challenge, Ted’s train of thought was, How can we make this work?

Then he would made it happen.

And when it came to theatrical filmmaking, he did so for nearly 60 years.

Ted and I corresponded for the content of this project from December 18, 2015, to May 10, 2016, with literally hundreds of questions, answers and detailed follow-ups. In addition, I conducted research into all question topics when Mikels wasn’t sure of some details, then followed up to verify it with him.

Ted was touched when he discovered I was also contacting actors and actresses who had appeared in his movies, dating back to his first films, to current times. I kept him informed, sending him the kind memories they provided for the book, much to Ted’s pleasure.

He appreciated announcements of whom was onboard next. About half of the people who provided content for this book were interviewed before Ted’s passing, the other half after we lost him.

The memories they shared with me all showed not just admiration for his long career and experience, but presented a true display of overwhelming love for the man.

I want to thank everyone who helped with this book. He thanks you, too.

It was Donna Hamblin who informed me of his passing. And even though I knew Ted was ill, he was larger than life. Folks like him do not die, they are immortal. I shed a lot of tears, and I didn’t know him anywhere near as well as others did.

But I do know one thing. He was loved. He was adored. And he did achieve immortality, in Heaven and on film. Many people can leave a legacy behind, but Ted left something different. He left an enduring example of what love actually is all about.

Like the Wizard said to the Tin Man in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”

- Kevin Collier

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to: The memory of Ernest “Amby” Amburn, 1898-1957, former youth director and head of The Young Oregonian's Young People's Organization. Ted V. Mikels stated during the writing of his biography that perhaps no other individual during his youth inspired him, devoted his personal energy to, and encouraged him more on his pathway to the entertainment industry.

CHAPTER ONE

The Butcher’s Son

Long before iconic horror filmmaker Ted V. Mikels fired up the meat grinder for the first The Corpse Grinders motion picture, he grew up as the son of a St. Paul, Minnesota butcher. It was a generational family trade dating back to their native land, Croatia.

Born Theodore Vincent Mikacevich on April 29, 1929, in St. Paul, Ted was the third child born to George and Katherine Mikacevich. George arrived in America with his parents, Vinko and Mary Mikacevich, and his three brothers, in 1911. Vinko, a butcher who had learned the trade from his father, also named George, decided to settle the family in St. Paul that same year.

Mikel’s father, George Lukas Mikacevich, born on April 6, 1897 at Bjelovarsko-bilogorska županija, Croatia, married Katherine Millich, a woman he had met on a paddlewheel pleasure boat cruise on the Mississippi River.

Katherine was born in 1899 in Hungary, the only child of Stephen and Lizzie Millich. After her father died and mother remarried, Katherine immigrated to America in 1904 with stepfather John Brandt, mother Lizzie, and her three stepbrothers.

George and Katherine Mikacevich began their own family in 1920 with the birth of a son they named George. A daughter, Eva, followed in 1925. Then along came Theodore Vincent Mikacevich, better known today as iconic filmmaker Ted V. Mikels. Three more children followed, Norbert, Joan and  John.

Family folklore reveals some unusual ancestral tales, such as Mikels’ great grandmother on his mother’s side being the illegitimate daughter of an Austrian duke. His great grandfather, on his father’s side, was said to have been poisoned to death by a woman who accused him of stealing a bag of coins from her.

Mikel’s father, George Mikacevich, owned and operated a grocery and meat market out of a brick building he had built on Randolph Avenue, southwest of St. Paul, near a bend in the Mississippi River. The structure also included the family residence and a barber shop, which operated in the building, as well.

In the early 1930’s, with the nation suffering a severe economic depression, George Mikacevich saw the businesses he had worked so hard to establish collapse.

“During the depression, my father advanced so much credit to people for food that there was a foreclosure against his building, which was also the home we were living in,” Ted V. Mikels explained. “They needed food, and they had no money, they couldn’t pay for it.”

George Mikacevich had extended as much as $7,000 in credit to neighbors and the downtrodden, roughly the equivalent of over $121,000 today. His compassion and generosity in hard times caused him to lose everything—his businesses and home.

When Ted was nearly age 7, his father uprooted the family and moved to Portland, Oregon, to get a fresh start. He began attending Holy Redeemer Catholic School in Portland. It was with this move that the family name made their identity new. At the urging of Ted’s older brother George, and sister Eva, their father saw reason to change their last name from Mikacevich to Mikels.

“Everyone in Portland had the name of Smith, or Johnson, or Jones,” Mikels recalled. “Our last name was so unusual that no one could ever pronounce it.”

With the move to Portland, George and Katherine Mikels had three more children: Norbert, born in 1933, Joan, born in 1935, and John, born in 1940.

While the depression created unfortunate circumstances, by no means was Ted’s life growing up void of fun and curiosity. At age 5 he picked up an interest in magic from his sister Eva, who had attended a magic show. Soon, after learning tricks she’d demonstrated to him, Ted was performing for neighbors or anyone who would watch.

His act included stunts using a string of pencils, card tricks, and beans he would place in his eyes and ears.

“Then I would spit the beans out of my mouth,” Mikels recalled.

Ted’s fondness for comic books motivated his mother to sew him a complete Captain Marvel costume, which he often wore when riding his bicycle. He tied a coffee can filled with sawdust to the rear of the bike, and attached a string to the lid, which when pulled, cast out what looked like a cloud of smoke.

“When the sawdust hit the wind it created a big cloud,” Mikels said, of the smoke screen illusion. “Theoretically nobody could catch me, because as Captain Marvel I could not be caught.”

At age 9, Ted’s father signed his son up for accordion lessons, adding more variety to the performance of his growing magic skills, which became strikingly elaborate over time.

Mikels became quite an entertainer in his hometown. Aside from performing accordion solos, he engaged in ventriloquism, fire-eating, and Harry Houdini-esque escape tricks.

“What first made me look toward filmmaking was in doing my magic shows,” Mikels stated. “I wanted to film my show, because after a show was over, there was no record of it.”

Mikels had been developing film in his family’s bathtub via the first camera he owned, a Kodak Brownie. But that was a still camera. Thus Mikels had acquired his first movie camera, which shot 8 millimeter film.

“It gave me three minutes of film for a matter of pennies, because I would buy outdated film at the drugstore for $1,” he explained. “It was $1.50 for the film and the processing. It was a very inexpensive beginning in moviemaking.”

Young Mikels first positioned his camera in the middle of the theater, but it didn’t produce the recording he desired. The camera was then moved onto the stage, and he saw that angles and illumination were a factor.

“I could change the picture angle and the lighting,” Mikels said. “That was totally fascinating for me. That is what led me toward filming.”

Ted’s father, who had given up the butcher business back in St. Paul, became the Portland area’s leading vacuum cleaner salesman.

“He used to take me along with him on vacuum cleaner sales demonstrations,” Mikels recalled. “I used to play the accordion for possible clients, and helped them in deciding whether to buy a vacuum from my father.”

Even in youth, Mikels was just as much about promotion as production. With his help, his father’s business grew, and George Mikels was setting sales records.

“He was making decent money for a change,” Mikels said.

Ted’s father possessed a green thumb akin to Johnny Appleseed. It created a lesson on growing, literally, and figuratively. You only get back what you put into something.

“If we ate an apple, he would save the seeds, dry them, and plant them,” Mikels explained. “In another year or two we were eating apples. He did the same thing with other fruit trees, like prunes, and cherries.”

Ted’s father also enjoyed growing flowers.

“He loved roses, geraniums, and all of the other pretty flowers that he planted,” Mikels added. “They were his pride and joy.”

But the true blooming flower in George Mikels’ eyes was his wife.

Ted’s mother, Katherine, was a very giving woman who adored her children. The man who went on to create films that gave others nightmares endured some himself as a child, but his mother was always there to help Ted slip back into peaceful slumber.

“She was very sweet and attentive,” Mikels recalled. “When I was a young boy I would wake up in the middle of the night with bad dreams, and she would fix me warm milk, and sit with me until I felt better.”

Then World War II broke out.

Ted’s oldest brother George entered the Air Force, becoming a Bombardier during World War II. He was a prisoner of war in German occupied France when his plane was shot down. He was the only serviceman aboard that survived the tragedy. However, George escaped, and for three weeks found safe haven in the home of a French family before returning to the American frontlines.

Mikel’s older sister Eva secured many college scholarships due to her academic scores, and found work as a reporter with the Oregon Journal and The Oregonian.

One individual Ted V. Mikels found to be a mentor in his teen years was Ernest “Amby” Amburn, a well-known northwest youth director and head of The Young Oregonian's Young People's Organization. Amburn devoted much of his life to helping young entertainers, ages 6-18, develop their skills. The membership featured singers, musicians, dancers and even the most unusual talent, such as a cowboy rope trickster.

“He put 10 or 20 of us together to go entertain the troops during the war,” Mikels recalled. “We would go to hospitals to entertain the people, or perform a show for a community, even 200 miles away, like Seattle. Amby was like a father to everybody, and influential with me.”

Mikels took Amburn’s advice to heart, often recalling helpful suggestions on how to achieve the best result as a performer.

“I always tried to play a complicated song on my accordion when it was my turn to perform in a show. He used to tell me, ‘Please Ted, you are better off to play a more simple song that you can do without making any mistakes. You come across better to an audience when it looks like you have accomplished it,’” Mikels said. “He impressed upon me when you do a complicated song, and make mistakes, it makes you look bad. I never forgot that advice in all of my future entertainment.”

The Young Oregonian’s opened doors of opportunity for Mikels.

“The Young Oregonian’s were troopers, and we enjoyed many outings, all of which were paid for, and we traveled on a chartered Trailway bus to wherever the show was held,” Mikels said. “These were very memorable times in my life.”

When Mikels was 15 years old, he encountered someone special while teaching a class for 50 cents an hour as a member of The Young Oregonian’s.

“Walt Disney was there on one day I was teaching magic, visiting with others in the little office,” Mikels recalled.

Sadly, Ernest “Amby” Amburn never got to see Mikels make it in Hollywood. He died on May 18, 1957, at the age of 59. Amburn is buried at Rose City Cemetery, in Portland.

As a teenager, Mikels interest in filmmaking grew, and he could see the result of his work, and how to craft it, via playback on film. This compelled Mikels to shoot works in Bend, Oregon, southeast of Portland, where the sun shone 300 days a year, welcoming outdoor cinematography. Mikels also taught filmmaking in high school.

In his last year as a student at Holy Redeemer, Mikels was selected to appear in a motion picture starring actor William Powell, and Anglo-Indian actress, Merle Oberon. Powell was most recognized for his Thin Man movie series, and Oberon for her role in Wuthering Heights.

Ted Mikels was chosen out of 300 boys in the Portland area to play the role of Powell and Oberon’s son in the film. The movie, set on a rubber plantation, involved some swimming.

“The role called for me to swim little rivers, and my questionnaire seemed to answer their needs,” Mikels said. “They had me studying books like David Copperfield, and others, for a full year.”

But the experience turned to disappointment, when the movie project was shelved due to America’s entry into World War II.

“Of course, the movie was never made,” Mikels explained. “That is what gave me the intense drive to do it for myself. How foolish I was to think that I could do it. But I guess I made it happen, in some way.”

Aside from his early entertainment ambition, family has always been important in Mikels’ world. He still remains in touch with his three surviving siblings.

“My brother Norbert followed the path of my father, working in a meat market. Then he became a tax preparer,” Mikels said. “My brother John went into the Air Force, where he became a pilot and flew F-4 fighter jets, with 105 missions over Vietnam.”

John was severely injured while in the service. He recovered, and once home was drawn into the Air Force Academy based on his merits.

“I’m still in touch with him,” Mikels said. “Retiring from the Air Force he went into international sales of air-to-air missiles. He presently lives in Arizona, has his own plane and flies on weekends.”

Like Ted V. Mikels, his brother’s childhood interest became a lifetime adventure.

“John loved the idea of flying the day he was old enough to know what an airplane was,” Mikels recalled.

He explained John liked to build model airplanes from kits when he was in grade school.

“I am in touch with Eva, my sister,” Mikels added. “I communicate reasonably often with Norbert and John. We are a close family, all know each other's offspring. It has always been that way.”

Mikels’ brother George died  in 1987, and sister Joan passed in 1991.

Mikels looked back on his 66 years as a filmmaker, regardless of obstacles and relentless challenges, and recognized that his pathway in life emerged in his youth.

It became very obvious to me that my life was to be spent entertaining people. That was my love,” Mikels recalled. “Entertaining people, making them laugh, was very pleasing to me.”

CHAPTER TWO

Young 16mm Filmmaker

In 1951, Ted V. Mikels purchased a 16 millimeter wind-up Bolex motion picture camera. The Swiss manufacturer was a pioneer in the field of 16 millimeter filmmaking.

“Bolex was responsible for the creation of many motion pictures that were later bumped up by a film laboratory to 35 millimeter,” Mikels explained. “Although I filmed many things between 1948 and 1959 with 16 millimeter stock, I never thought 16 millimeter would give me the theatrical release.”

Mikels was soon making his own entertainment movies, starting with A Tall Tale, the story of a young lady in distress. Mikels played two characters in the film, a bow hunter hero with arrows at hand, and the perpetrator, a club wielding caveman about to do harm to the damsel in despair. The hunter, turned savior, took care of the savage Neanderthal.

From 1955 to 1963, Mikels produced and released at least two dozen movies with commercial intentions. These were entertainment and educational productions that were created for projection before an audience.

Mikels turned out three 16mm projects in 1955, which included a horror short titled Snow Monsters. The other two were documentaries, Reindeer Ranch and Hoarfrost. The following year he doubled up, producing a dramatic picture titled Fool’s Prosperity, an action drama titled Dream Man, and four documentaries titled All About Blaze, Bag that Buck, Rodeo and The Long Wide Trailer.

In 1957, Mikels released three more 16mm films: a mystery-drama titled Compelled, a dramatic romance titled Yellow Roses, and a drama-documentary titled Unwanted Property. The following year he released a pair of 16mm movies, a drama titled The Black Sheep and a documentary titled Outdoor Paradise.

In 1961 and 1962 several 16mm films were created, which included the documentaries Camp Ruffitt, Red Ryder Days, The Skyliners, Water Pageant and a travel and adventure production titled Beauties of Central Oregon. In 1963, Mikels sold his final 16mm film, Rockhounds, to the Lions Club of Bend, Oregon.

Using Mikels’ index of the movies in his personal collection as a checklist, along with his memories, provides this 16mm filmography. Unless you had lived in Bend, Oregon from 1955-63, where these films were projected locally, and were fortunate enough to have seen them all, this 16mm filmography is the only glimpse the general public will ever have regarding the works. None of them were ever issued commercially on DVD.

According to Mikels, Fool’s Prosperity presents a young hoodlum who double-crosses his partners in a jewelry store robbery. The traitor makes off with the stolen goods, but is chased down and cornered in a rock quarry. The end comes when, during a fight scene, the side of a mountain comes crashing down, burying the crooks.

“I did it with a friend who put 25 sticks of dynamite at the top of the cliff,” Mikels recalled. “The explosion dropped the side of the mountain onto our actor, supposedly.”

In Dream Man, two couples on a camping trip enter a Neanderthal realm via a dream sequence. The young sleeping lady who imagines all of this also appears in the adventure.

“She dreamed of a caveman carrying her to his lair in a mountain cave,” Mikels recalled. “He handed her a huge bone with meat on it from his fire to eat.”

The lady’s boyfriend shouts out her name, capturing the attention of the caveman, in order to rescue her. In the climax of the film, her boyfriend and the caveman engage in battle atop a bridge-like structure over the Neanderthal's cave. The suspenseful moment ends when the young man swings a machete to the neck of the caveman, who then topples over and falls 30 feet to his death. But that’s not the ending.

“When the young man begins shaking the girl, awaking her from the dream, it is the end of the movie,” Mikels stated.

Another 16mm classic was Compelled, a movie concerning a bad guy with “an evil eye,” who used hypnosis on his female companion, compelling her to steal jewels and drugs. The mastermind hypnotist is also a killer, having caused the murder of a detective who stood in his way.

“It dealt with young people’s gangs, drugs, alcohol, death, gang fights, but it all ending up for the good,” Mikels recalled. “We filmed in Red Rock [Oregon] and traveled many miles to a number of locations. It was quite an extensive filming endeavor, covering several months.”

It is said that Mikels used the symbol of the “hypnotic eye” in Compelled before Alfred Hitchcock did so in the movie Vertigo, released in 1958.

The movie Black Sheep features the story of a man, the black sheep in his family, who was in prison convicted of murder, where he recalls visions of his evil deed. Mikels explained it was shot on a simple set that resembled a prison cell that he had fun constructing. The enclosure was so quiet that he had to cover the housing of the camera to reduce its operating noise.

The Long Wide Trailer was a simple story concerning a parcel of land in the forest that was cleared to place a trailer upon it. The environment was “a jungle-like place,” and the movie followed the exploits of the couple who owned the trailer.

Another Mikels 16mm movie was How Little, How Big, which was an educational film that showed the relative sizes between everything from a leaf of a rose bush, to animals, to a tree, to a skyscraper, to the moon and then the universe. Actor Wayne Rogers helped finance the project and saw a return on the film. How Little, How Big featured Cherisse Mikels, Ted’s daughter.

“That movie was shown for at least 30 years in schools,” Mikels noted.

North of the Border was a 16mm movie about race relations between Hispanic migrant crop workers from Mexico, and the whites they worked for in California. The film tackles how Hispanics integrated into the school systems and influenced others with their lifestyles.

Another movie project, Stairway to Opportunity, featured a story that gave rise to the motivations of a young person to become successful and enjoy a new life. In Red Ryder Days, young men become cowboys, wrestled with spears, and rode broncos.

Mikels made the pages of The Bend Bulletin on February 16, 1957, during the making of his 16mm movie titled Yellow Roses. It was a love story where a young couple, deeply in love, grow emotionally disturbed by a second gentleman seeking the attention of the lady. The newspaper interviewed Mikels, the cast, and crew during the shooting of the project’s last scene, which was filmed in The Blue Room of the Pilot Butte Inn.

Mikels had fallen in love with the location and had received permission to film part of Yellow Roses there. The Pilot Butte Inn, located in Bend, was a hotel designed by American architects Tourtellotte and Hummel and built in 1917. The structure exhibited American Craftsman style architecture. Other site locations for the movie were Donner Flower Shop, Polly’s Cafe and Drake park.

Mikels described the 30-minute silent movie, shot in technicolor, as “an attaching and melodramatic story.”

The film starred Larry Quinn as Tony, an enterprising young writer, and Jane Cutter as his fiancée. Cutter and her husband, Dr. Robert Cutter, were the parents of future World Cup Alpine ski racer, Kiki Cutter.

Other players included Howard Krog, cast as a literary agent, Joanna Fuls as the agent’s stenographer Angela, and Bernie Price as Tweedy. At the time, Bernie Price was the general terminal manager of the Central Oregon Fast Freight transportation company.

Mikels used two cameras during the production of Yellow Roses. Lee Phelps and Frank Rutledge operated them, with Mikels assisting.

During the making of the film, Mikels hooked up with local author Dwight Newton, who was writing scripts for the Wagon Train television series in Hollywood. Dwight Newton specialized in writing Wild West adventure books. The two had plans to make a movie together, but the notion never materialized.

“I really enjoyed working with Dwight Bennett Newton, who was also a resident of Bend, Oregon. We got to visit as often as we needed,” Mikels explained. “Dwight had written a book, Border Graze, and I liked it so well that I said I would like to make it a movie.”

Mikels took out a three year option to make the project, but could not raise the money to put it into production. He did write a screenplay, and envisioned actor Woody Strode, an African-American former decathlete and football star, playing the lead character, Ross Kincaid. Woody Strode had recently appeared in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, in the role of an Ethiopian king.

“He fought with Kirk Douglas in the movie Spartacus,” Mikels noted, concerning Strode’s 1960 role. “He used to visit my house often and we sat around my outdoor fireplace. The project just never got off the ground and I still have the screenplay.”

The screenplay was based on Newton’s 1953 novel, published by Doubleday. It tells the tale of Ross Kincaid, who ventures to the little Mexican town of Apache, responding to a desperate appeal for help from an unidentified man. When he arrives, he finds nothing but trouble.

“I revised, and rewrote the script, to make Kincaid the kind gunfighter that was called in to stand up for a guy who did 20 years in prison, because evil neighbors accused him wrongfully of doing something he did not do,” Mikels explained.

The story included an African-American man falling in love with a white girl. Mikels concluded that, due to the time period, it was the overwhelming reason the project was unable to raise funding.

Mikels made two 16mm films about deer. One, Reindeer Ranch, featuring Santa Claus, originated as a story for a Canadian Broadcasting Company. The other, Bag that Buck, was all about deer hunting, including everything from what to do with it after you shot it, hanging it from a tree to skin it, and how to cut it into parcels to store in frozen food lockers.

“I shot a lot of short subjects about fishing and boating in the high lakes. It was during this time I found all of the locations, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and caves,” Mikels recalled.

Outdoor exploring, while filmmaking, is how Mikels discovered the lookout cabin used in the making of his first 35mm feature, Strike Me Deadly.

“My years of making these 16 millimeter films were meant to be my teaching tools, where I learned by doing it,” Mikels said. “I learned to write, produce, cast, direct, light, film, and edit in preparation for what I intended to be a lifelong career, with the creation of 35 millimeter theatrical movies.”

This early experience opened a door for young Mikels, via opportunities to work as an extra and stuntman, in a few theatrical releases produced in Hollywood. Mikels was chosen as the archery expert to work in the Kirk Douglas movie The Indian Fighter, released in 1955. He worked as a stuntman appearing in the film, although his role went uncredited.

“As a stuntman, I rode horses while firing flaming arrows at the fort. I was also a soldier at the same time inside the fort, and also carried buckets of water to put out the fire,” Mikels recalled. “I also played an Indian pulling a wagon on fire.”

On weekends during the making of The Indian Fighter, Mikels would host a cookout for the cast and crew. Mikels recalls Kirk Douglas’ son at these outings.

“Michael was about eight or nine,” Mikels said. “Of course he went on to be an incredible actor, like his father. I got to know Iron Eyes Cody, Lon Chaney Jr., and met a lot of Hollywood people who I looked up later.”

The Indian Fighter also featured actors Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark and Alan Hale Jr., who went on to play the Skipper in Gilligan’s Island.

Most of these people whom Mikels opened his home to for food and drink, returned the hospitality when Mikels moved to Hollywood later.

Mikels also worked as a stuntman in the movie Oregon Passage, which featured John Ericson and Lola Albright, and was released in 1957.

In fact, 1957 was a banner year for Mikels, regarding participation and connections in the world of 35mm cinema.

Aside from The Indian Fighter and Oregon Passage, Mikels worked as a photographer for the film Jungle Hell and Day of the Outlaw, was a producer, actor, and horseman in Disney’s Tonka, and was producer, editor and cameraman for the travel documentary titled Old Mexico.

In the 1958 Disney release Tonka, which was shot in Bend, Oregon and starred heartthrob Sal Mineo, Mikels played a horseman and soldier. Mineo had gained recognition for appearing in Giant, released two years earlier, in which he starred with actor James Dean. It was Dean’s final film before being killed in an automobile accident.

Mineo had to learn to play drums for his role as Krupa and one set of drums he learned on was owned by Ted V. Mikels.

“I gave a party at my house during the making of Tonka and Sal Mineo said he needed a set of drums to prepare to play Gene Krupa in an upcoming movie,” Mikels said. “So I let him use mine. He was still just a teen at the time.”

The Gene Krupa Story was released in 1959.

During the making of Tonka, Mikels was introduced to young actor Rafael Campos, cast in the role of Strong Bear. Mikels tapped Campos later, casting him to appear in three of his most iconic films, Girl in Gold Boots, Astro-Zombies and The Doll Squad.

Mikels also worked as a still photographer on the set of Day of the Outlaw, a 1959 release starring Robert Ryan and Burl Ives.

His collective meetings on the sets of The Indian Fighter, Tonka, and Day of the Outlaw led to future connections for his own 35mm film projects. One connection nearly lead to an earlier version of The Doll Squad, before it was actually produced and released in 1973.

“Strangely enough, I met a number of people on those movies, so when I went to Hollywood many years later as a producer, one of them was in charge of acquisitions at MGM,” Mikels said. “That's when I nearly made a deal with The Doll Squad. MGM offered to take on the movie internationally, with a very sizeable cash advance to me, but I could not take it because I had already committed the film elsewhere.”

All of these experiences made Mikels a standout when he went to Los Angeles with his wife, in late November 1958, to visit Hollywood studios on official business. According to his hometown newspaper, The Bend Bulletin, Mikels brought with him “a foot thick folio of pictures and information about Central Oregon.”

The intent was to garner interest in shooting a theatrical film in the area, a movie of which he would be in charge.

At the time, Hollywood was looking for versatile people who knew every area of production, including sound, music, makeup, and special effects. And Mikels was seeking advice from professionals, as he felt as if he were on the verge of something big.

Mikel’s final 16mm movie, Rockhounds, was purchased by the Lions Club of Bend, in August 1963, and made available for national distribution on the recommendation of its civil improvement committee. Dr. Orde S. Pinckney, of Central Oregon College, provided narration for the 22 minute movie.

The project featured rock hunting and how semi-precious stones are cut, ground, and mounted. It featured scenic settings, like the spectacular Smith Rock area, and the nationally recognized Priday Agate Beds of Jefferson County.

“I also used Petersen's rock garden in Redmond Oregon, which was famous for all of its structures, the house, a bridge over a waterway, and all of it made of prized rocks,” Mikels said. “I finished putting this together in Hollywood. It had very limited success, but it was, however, a commercial venture.”

One missed opportunity at the height of his 16mm filmmaking came when Paramount Studios offered him a contract. But it came with restrictions, and while opening a doorway to national distribution, the offer was hardly lucrative.

“I would not have done anything differently, except taking financing from Paramount early on when they offered it to me,” Mikels said. “The conditions they had in giving me the money I could not accept. So, I would spend my entire life putting together movies with whatever dollars I could find.”

But this is Ted V. Mikels the 16mm filmmaker. What of Ted V. Mikels the husband? The father? The sportsman? The entertainer? The community figure? It’s time to turn back the calendar to 1946.

CHAPTER THREE

Entertainer and Retailer

Ted V. Mikels attended high school at Columbia Preparatory, a part of the University of Portland teaching system, conducted by Jesuit priests.

The summer of 1946, at the age of 17, Mikels traveled with Leon Giglio, an Italian-American mentalist, illusionist, escapologist, ventriloquist and stunt performer better known worldwide as Leon Mandrake the Magician. Mikels enrolled in college after the tour, first attending the University of Portland, and then the University of Oregon the following year.

In early summer 1948, Mikels traveled with a circus on the west coast, in the role of a barker.  His job was to attract patrons to particular spectacles at the traveling show. He also performed card tricks, ventriloquism and magic.

The “attractions” were sometimes unique people in an era long before political correctness.

“I introduced the other performers, like the freaks, and so on,” Mikels explained. “One was a well-known, young Hispanic boy who was born without arms. They called him a number of names. He had flippers for arms and I was able to communicate with him very well. He would not go to eat unless I went with him, because I could understand his grunts and his signals about what he wanted to eat, and so on.”

That same summer Mikels asked a young lady named Geneva Mae Kirsch to marry him. Kirsch, born May 15, 1931, in Portland, Oregon, was the daughter of Walter and Geneva Kirsch. Her parents were of Scottish, Dutch and German descent.

Mikels and Kirsch married a short time after his proposal.

“We actually eloped, and ran away from the wrath of her mother,” Mikels said. “Which was temporary, because I became very warm and close with both her father and mother, later.”

Ted and Geneva Mikels rented a large dwelling, a renovated rest home, in Tigard, Oregon, where they began a family. Three years into their marriage daughter Celine was born. Five more children born over the next eleven years completed the Mikels’ family: Michelle, Cherisse, Janine, Theodore and Troy.

Mikels’ accordion quartet often appeared at area events and locales, making news in the Bend, Oregon newspaper, The Bend Bulletin. In fact, it was hard to open an issue of the newspaper and not find Mikels’ name, featuring news or photos of his performances as a magician or a ventriloquist.

At many such events it wasn’t uncommon for Mikels to project one or more of his independent 16mm films, adding to the entertainment experience. But Mikels was so busy scraping out a living as an entertainer, a budget for being a consumer of entertainment, like taking his wife and kids to see a motion picture at the local theater, was prohibitive.

“I was directing community theater, and still doing my magic act, ventriloquism, and accordion solos,” he said. “In fact, from 1950 to 1953, I taught accordion for grocery money for my family, and instructed a 37-piece of accordion orchestra. So going to the movies was out.”

Mikels’ versatility as a performer also included dance.

On June 28, 1954, partnered with Patricia Summers, Mikels performed an acrobatic dance number at the Bend Water Pageant and Cavalcade of Sports festivities, held at Bruin Field.  Summers, who owned a dance school in Bend, specialized in ballet. Playing piano to accompany their performance was Dwight Bennett Newton, whom as mentioned earlier, Mikels intended to made a film with, based on his novel Border Graze.

Mikels’ archery was also exhibited during the annual event festivities, where he would don authentic Native American garb.

“I was in full Indian regalia, long pigtail hair, leather leggings and boots,” Mikels recalled. “I stood in a canoe in the middle of the river, and fired a flaming arrow over the arch that was lighted. It was always a beautiful spectacle as part of the Bend Water Pageant.”

But sometimes Mikels was known to rock the boat—or rather canoe—literally, not figuratively.

“When I stood up and fired the arrow, I tipped over the canoe and dumped myself and my friend, who was rowing me, into the water,” Mikels said. “We drifted toward a small waterfall at the electric station. It could have been dangerous, but I did manage to swim to the long walkway that led to the lighted arch.”

The fate of Mikels wasn’t known until after his wife and children departed the event, in worry and tears.

“Of course I was fine, and made it home safe and sound,” he added. “It was fun to do, but I never really took it seriously.”

Mikels also made the pages of the newspaper for his archery skills, and work as a committee member of the Bend chapter of Central Oregon Bowmen.

Influenced by his time with the circus, Mikels became an attraction himself, in the role of a man possessing superhuman strength.

“In my twenties I did a strongman act, always with a young lady assistant that was capable,” Mikels said. “Aside from the main act, we did a few handstand stunts, and so forth.”

It was hardly an act when it came to fitness, however. Mikels won a local competition cup in weightlifting for his weight class, was noted for relentless one-arm push-ups and mastered one-arm chin-ups on a horizontal bar.

As a performer, one featured routine used a wooden chair and four soda bottles. Each leg of the chair would be positioned atop a bottle.

“I would climb up on the chair and do a handstand on the chair,” Mikels explained, for starters. “Then my lady partner, and I had trained two or three to do this, would grab hold of my hands and I’d pull her up, and hold her in the air with her hands free.”

If giving his assistant the appearance of flight wasn’t spectacular enough, Mikels’ high-heel pincushion act often had female spectators leaving the exhibition horrified.

“I would lay on the floor in front of a six foot step ladder, with my lady partner standing on the top, wearing high heel shoes,” Mikels said. “She would jump down on my stomach with the high heel shoes, and the women in the audience would scream.”

The optics of the stunt made its way into several of Mikels’ theatrical movies, with fictitious fatal results. It became the  “death by high heel” routine.

“But the stunt was nothing for me,” Mikels explained. “I had done so many hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of sit-ups all my life, that my stomach was like a rock.”

The Bend Bulletin frequently published articles on Ted V. Mikels and his family. The June 17, 1954 edition announced that they had chosen Mikels for their “Father’s Day Food Page,” and published his secret recipe for a salad dressing of his own creation.

The secret ingredients included: 1 cup of Miracle Whip, ¾ cup ketchup, 1 teaspoon of garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt, ¼ cup of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of prepared mustard, and a dash of pepper.

The newspaper also included Geneva Mikels’ “Quick Tuna Bake” recipe in the same feature.

The feature article, written by reporter Ila S. Grant, began with a showcase of Ted V. Mikels and his family household. It is a revealing timepiece concerning Ted’s talent and presence in his community. Grant wrote:

“Things really jump at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ted Mikels and family, 821 Columbia. And, when we say ‘things,’ we are using the word lightly. Maybe we should say ‘people.’ Accordion pupils stream in and out for their lessons, friends drop in to talk fencing, archery, or photography, Ted occasionally whips up a magic show, and now and then, he and his pretty wife, Gen, break into an Adagio dance. It all adds up to ‘make life interesting,’ as Ted might say out of one corner of his mouth. In which case, Tommy, the sassy ventriloquist’s dummy, would smirk, ‘Life is just a bowl of cherries.’”

The article also noted that the big city boy had assimilated well in Oregon, as if he were a lifetime native enjoying the scenic surroundings. Mikels would occasionally hook up the travel trailer to the family station wagon, “and head over the hills,” for some quality time in nature with his wife and children.

Mikels had learned a few things about home construction from his father, who was always handy with a skill saw. The experience of how to lay plumbing, and install electric wiring, proved beneficial when Ted V. Mikels became construction engineer of a new home he’d built for his wife and children in Bend, where they took up residence in 1956.

“I had never laid a brick before. It was a real challenge,” Mikels recalled. “I did manage to build a beautiful fireplace, from 5 feet underground, that extended five feet above the roof. It worked beautifully, and helped to heat our home.”

The same year Mikels went into business for himself, opening a vacuum cleaner and sewing machine center that also included a camera department.

A small display ad for Ted Mikels’ Vacuum and Sewing Center, in a 1958 edition of The Bend Bulletin, revealed Mikels’ dramatic writing edge. A more conventional person placing a similar ad would have likely written, “Free mother from the pain of ironing,” as the business also sold irons. But Mikels’ ad read: “Emancipate mother from ironing drudgery.”

One amusing and lucrative business offer Mikels initiated was mixing guns with sewing machines. Shoot’em up and sew’em up. Buy the little woman a sewing machine and walk out with a Marlin 30-30 Winchester, lever-action rifle.

“It was uncanny, a 30-30 Marlin rifle free with a Brother sewing machine,” Mikels remembered. “I was very successful in the sales, because the rifle itself was almost $100 in the stores, but the Japanese model sewing machines were very inexpensive. Men came in to get the free rifle and brought their wives home a sewing machine.”

In 1959, Mikels expanded the family retail business, opening a home furnishings store in the old Erickson Building on the east side of Wall Street, between Minnesota and Franklin Avenues.

“Everything for the home will be found at the new store,” Mikels told the The Bend Bulletin, in an article published on January 10, 1959.

The business, which opened the following month under the name Mikels Economart, aside from furniture, featured floor coverings, tools, appliances, toys, and other merchandise. Along with a store manager, the business had as many as three employees. For a time Ted V. Mikels was like the proverbial Maytag man.

“I would load stock, deliver television sets, and install dryers, and with some help, the heavy washing machines,” Mikels recalled. “I was in direct competition with the old, well-established furniture stores in the city.”

Because the inventory in Mikels’ store was financed by the bank, when patrons failed to pay their bills it left him on the hook.

“When customers were no longer working, they would pick up and leave town with everything, and I had to pay the bank,” Mikels explained. “That is when I decided that the furniture business was not for me. At the same time, I had bought into the nicest supper club in town and focused on my movie making, directing of plays, and trips to Hollywood to participate in what was going on there. And I made new friends.”

With Hollywood on the horizon, one would imagine that amateur filmmaker Mikels would have spent a portion of his time hanging out in dark movie theaters, but he had not.

“I never, ever watched movies, and did not go to the theater. I did not watch television, either,” Mikels said. “I guess I was too busy at the time doing too many things.”

He points to his family and business obligations, which now included the supper club, a 24 hour coffee shop, rental houses, and a 120 acre ranch where he had built a family cabin, complete with a sundeck on top.

However, Mikels concedes that when he was a little boy, he did see a motion picture on occasion.

“The only movies I remember seeing, when I was quite young, were musicals like Oklahoma, Singing in the Rain, and I particularly enjoyed The Three Musketeers,” Mikels conceded.

He imagined himself as one of those Musketeers, and he might have been up to it, as Mikels had an active interest in the sport of fencing.

“As a young man I participated in championships, even though I had only two or three months of training. I was really a very good fencer and swordsman,” Mikels said. “It always put me back to a previous existence in France, or somewhere, where I was a top fencer and/or sword master there. I always envisioned myself playing d'Artagnan if there ever was a remake of The Three Musketeers.”

And making movies for real was just around the corner.

It would be the beginning of Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

CHAPTER FOUR

Lights, Camera, Action!

Ted V. Mikels’ entry into mainstream movie making began with a story he had titled Crosshairs. It was his first theatrical feature shot on 35 millimeter film stock.

According to Mikels, the origin of the project began when he wrote the script in 1959, but it would take years before it reached an audience. And, the project would undergo a name change.

“The original title for Strike Me Deadly was Crosshairs, however in Hollywood, nobody knew what crosshairs were,” he recalled. “Where I made the movie, in Bend, Oregon, everyone was a hunter, and knew about crosshairs in a rifle scope.”

Strike Me Deadly told the story of a forest ranger who witnessed a murder, resulting in him being pursued by the killer. Adding to this suspenseful thriller, the antagonist, in an attempt to conceal his crime, sets fire to the woods, which rages out of control. The witness returns to his cabin to retrieve his wife, where they are trapped, captured, and held hostage by the madman.

Mikels had ventured to Hollywood to find the players, which included Gary Clarke in the role of Park Ranger Jimmy Grant, and Stephen Ihnat as Al, the killer. The feature, which Mikels produced, directed, and co-wrote with Ihnat, introduced Jeannine Riley in the role of Lori Grant, the Park Ranger’s wife. Also in the movie are Michael Johnson, John Hopkins, Gordon Mouser and Brian Clarke, younger brother of Gary.

Gordon Mouser, whose character Chuck is shot near the opening of the film, was a good friend involved in the Bend, Oregon, Community Theater Group, of which Mikels served as resident director. Mikels remained close friends with Mouser, and his wife, Janice.

Actor Gary Clarke wrote about his involvement in Strike Me Deadly in his 2016 book, How It Happened, published by BearManor Media.

“Ted Mikels shuffled off to Hollywood, hired me, Steve Ihnat, and an adorable newcomer, Jeannine Riley,” Clarke explained. “He also hired a cameraman, Brad Bradbury, and with his team in tow, took us all up to the forest terrain of Bend, Oregon.”

Mikels had been introduced to Gary Clarke via Basil Bradbury, who became director of photography on Strike Me Deadly.

His career just emerging, Gary Clarke, born Clarke L'Amoreaux, had a television appearance resume that included such shows as Wagon Train, Gunsmoke and General Hospital. Also, Clarke had gained some attention in the press for dating actress Connie Stevens at the time, adding to his name recognition. On occasion, Stevens would drop by to see film screenings of scenes as they were developed.

Clarke wrote about his character's precarious situation in the film.

“During my rounds through the forest, I happen to spot Steve [Ihnat] killing a rival. He spots me spotting him, and the chase is on,” Clarke explained. “He had a gun, I don't. But it wasn't all running.”

Steve Ihnat, who played the predator in Strike Me Deadly, was a close friend of Clarke, having worked with him in O’Dale Ireland’s film Date Bait, released in 1960. Mikels recalled both Ihnat and Clarke helped immensely in the making of his first feature film.

While Clarke came with credentials Jeannine Riley, cast in the role of his wife Lori Grant in Strike Me Deadly, had none. But she impressed Mikels, which led to her being hired in the role.

“Jeannine had zero experience in anything concerning stage, television or movies,” Mikels recalled. “But she responded to my directing in a way that pleased me, so I cast her.”

Riley subsequently showed a print of Strike Me Deadly to Universal Studios, which landed her the role of Billie Jo Bradley in Petticoat Junction. She also became a featured player in the country music themed Hee Haw comedy program, hosted by singers Buck Owens and Roy Clark.

One last minute entry into the movie was H. B. Barnum, who in his childhood years enjoyed some fame as a cast member of Our Gang/Little Rascals comedy film shorts. Barnum would go on to become a recognized record producer in the music industry. In Strike Me Deadly, Barnum appears in the Ranch Room nightclub scene, playing a piano and singing.

Apparently Barnum was brought into the fold when a music publishing agent learned Mikels was doing a movie, and wanted her client to receive more exposure. The contract stated that Barnum and a drummer would be flown to Bend and back, at no expense to Mikels.

“I had no idea where I could put them, but we did have a scene taking place in a nightclub,” Mikels explained. “As you add people to the cast, they all have their connections, and usually spread the word, and that brings in more and more people.”

Thus, the addition of Barnum had a mutual benefit, exposing the performer to a wider audience and opening up more connections for Mikels in the music industry.

“Most of the rest of the performers were friends, and nobody in my crew had previous experience of any kind,” Mikels admits. “That is where my ten years of previous movie making came in handy.”

Shooting began in 1960 and Mikels completed editing the movie the following year.

Mikels’ debut theatrical film featured a soundtrack composed by Nicholas Carras, an American born son of Greek parents. Carras, a Chicago educated composer, conductor and arranger, provided the music and sound effects as a donation, establishing a personal and professional relationship with Mikels.

Carras composed music for many subsequent Mikels films, such as Dr. Sex, Girl in Gold Boots, Astro-Zombies and The Doll Squad. Carras went on to compose, arrange and conduct scores for television programs such as Ben Casey, Barnaby Jones, The Fugitive and The Untouchables.

Strike Me Deadly included many forest fire scenes, which Mikels and associate Basil Bradbury shot using a 35mm Mitchell camera, rented from Mark Armistead at Samuel Goldwyn Studios. Mikels shot the movie in his old stomping grounds at Bend, Oregon, using the wilderness and high fire lookout towers for spectacular viewpoints. Cinematography included firefighters, smokejumpers, and Mikels’ friends at the forest service and fire department.

“Bend is a backcountry area, at least it was, and of course now is one of the most popular recreation areas of the country,” Mikels said. “I enjoyed my years of hunting there, which I gave up in 1963, and my skiing time at Mount Baldy. I had hiked many of the seven snow-capped peaks surrounding the area, and the waterfalls and caves were magnificent places to shoot.”

For the forest fire scenes, Mikels was allowed to set fires in designated wooded areas, as firemen stood by with water-loaded trucks, ready to extinguish the small blazes after the film was shot.

Aside from the Mitchell rental camera, Mikels had his own on hand to complete the scenes.

“Thank God I had purchased my 35mm Arriflex camera. So it was mine. I used my camera to film, after cameraman Basil Bradbury departed to go hunting in Utah,” Mikels recalled.

The large fire scenes, and airplanes dropping fire retardant that appear in the movie, came from stock footage Mikels purchased and edited into the appropriate places.

But when it came to shooting the movie’s ending, there was a problem. There was none, per se.

“After Bobby [Brian Clarke] shoots and kills the antagonist, nothing else was planned,” Mikels explained. “And that didn’t seem like much of a conclusion.”

Bobby had just saved Jimmy and Lori Grant, but was depicted a distance past a river, holding a rifle in his hand. Lacking was an image of the three together, the hero with the rescued.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

Actor Brian Clarke, Gary’s brother, had to depart in mere hours to catch a flight back home to attend school. And shooting additional daylight scenes was impossible, as the sun had gone down. So, they devised an expected but memorable closing with Jimmy, Lori and Bobby embracing. It was memorable to Mikels for another reason.

Filmmakers, as a practice, had routinely darkened daylight scenes in laboratory developing to appear as night, but it was unheard of to do the opposite, turn nighttime into day.

“We did something very unusual. We shot the film at night but made it look like a daylight scene,” Mikels recalled.

He explained this was achieved by added portable lighting on hand and a tight shot to insure luminance.

“Good thing that it was black and white film, otherwise it could not have been possible,” he said. “So, in the ending scene, where they all hug each other, it was shot in the dead of night and made to look like daylight.”

Mikels pretty much lost everything he had invested in the making of Strike Me Deadly, which was completed and released theatrically in 1963.

“Ted Mikels hocked his house, car, wife and kids to finance this epic,” Gary Clarke recalled.

Besides putting up the interest in his home, Mikels sold his cherished musical instruments and even the proverbial “kitchen sink,” he said, to keep production going.

“I fought hard to find a distributor who would pick up the balance due on my laboratory [developing] bill, which at that time was only $3,500,” Mikels explained. “It was the reason for the delay in its release.”

Mikels found a company to pay the delinquent bill, which assumed authority to release the movie internationally. However, the arrangement was never beneficial, even with foreign sales, and American theater receipts and television broadcasts.

“I never received a dime from any form of distribution, which is quite common in our industry unfortunately,” Mikels commented.

Fortunately, Mikels still owned the rights to the film, which has redeemed itself with the rise of the videotape, and then the DVD market during the past few decades. Mikels also still owned the screenplay, or rather, the actual original print document.

“I recently came across my original screenplay for Strike Me Deadly, which I had typed out with my portable typewriter, on my backyard patio, at my home in Bend,” he said “It brings a laugh, and a smile, because I made 3 copies of each page using carbon paper. That looks so funny when I see it now.”

Steve Ihnat received a screenplay writing credit in the film, due to his initiative in the project and for suggesting additional scenes that Mikels shot for the project.

“Steve was very talented, and it is sad that his life was cut so short when he was just beginning to show the world what he could do,” Mikels said. Ihnat died on May 12, 1972 at the age of 37 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France.

Gary Clarke reflected warmly in his book, regarding the many talented people he crossed paths with, during his career.

“My journey through the entertainment industry, which began in high school, has put me in touch with some of the most extraordinary people on the planet,” Clarke acknowledged. “I’m talking about actors, singers, dancers, comics, story-tellers, street performers and the people who watch them and us. This is not from the point-of-view of a world renowned movie icon, but from a guy who did okay working in the profession he loves.”

The June 24, 1963 edition of Mikels’ old hometown newspaper, The Bend Bulletin, praised the film. It noted, for residents, familiar locations that appeared in the movie.

“For the benefit of others who might wonder, the locations included Paulina Falls, the old irrigation flume near Shevlin Park, an unnamed cave near Arnold Ice Caves, the Wanoga Butte lookout, the Elk Lake pack station cabin, Todd and Green Lakes, the lava beds near Devil’s Gardens, Dutchman’s Flat, and, of course, the snow-covered Cascades,” reporter Ila S. Grant wrote.

One regret Mikels had stated, regarding the film, is that it was shot in black and white, when, considering the market, “color was the way to go.” If he could turn back the hands of time, he noted he would have tried to raise additional funds for color film stock.

From the safe haven at 600 East Twelfth Street, Bend, Oregon, Mikels moved his family to Hollywood, when his final child, Troy, was still a baby.

Mikels related projects also seeing release in 1963 included The Doctors, a comedy spoof he co-wrote, directed, edited, and produced, and Money in My Pocket, a comedy film he participated in as a photographer and co-editor.

Throughout his filmmaking career, Mikels knew earning a profit was often speculative and at the tail end of a project. Raising the money to produce a film was the starting point, and Mikels made it a practice to cut material costs. Word of his notorious savings got around, and he became known as one filmmaker that could turn out a finished project at a fraction of the conventional cost.

“Anytime I found any financing it was never enough even to buy fresh rolls of film from Eastman Kodak,” Mikels explained. “Instead, I bought used film, as I called it, meaning the tiny little short ending pieces off the unfinished roll of film from the studios. I could only afford two or three minute short ends and that kept myself or somebody in the crew changing, unloading, and reloading film magazines.”

This cost-effective practice proved particularly effective for Mikels’ next movie, Dr. Sex, which was shot using color film stock.

Dr. Sex, released in 1964, conveyed the tale of three sex researchers discussing their strangest cases. The script was co-written by Ted V. Mikels and actor Wayne Rogers.

“Wayne wanted me to make a funny little 35mm movie called Dr. Sex, which was really a cute, campy little film,” Mikels said.

But even with the savings from “used film” stock, the unwagging tail end didn’t produce.

“I never made any money off of creating that one either,” Mikels said.

One thing beneficial, concerning the project, was that it featured actor Victor Izay in the starring role as Victor Sandor, a.k.a. Dr. Sex. That association placed Izay in a subsequent Mikels film, Girl in Gold Boots, and then many more.

Television actor Victor Izay had appeared in Perry Mason, The Lloyd Bridges Show and the Dick Powell Theatre series when hired to play Victor Sandor in Dr. Sex.

“Victor Izay came into my office, as so many actors and actress did, on a daily basis,” Mikels said. “Acting groups would tell each other who might be casting roles, and who was legitimate. Victor and I became good friends quickly.”

Victor Izay’s accent used for Doctor Sex adds a humorous, creepy aspect to the character, as it closely resembles Bela Lugosi’s trademark vampire voice. Izay also danced in a humorous party scene, complete with airborne streamers and topless dancers, parodying teen go-go flicks of the era.

The movie also featured Julia Calda as Doctor Lovejoy, Max Joseph as Doctor Schmutz, and a cast of sexy, half-dressed young women.

Another comedic scene features Mr. Dolittle, a window dresser who works for a fashion store. His job is to dress and undresses mannequins. With alternating frequency, one moment the model is a mannequin, then the next a real live girl.

There is also a male patient of Doctor Sex whose house is haunted by naked women, as if that would be a problem.

Dr. Sex has been called a cinematic peep-show that is amusing rather than arousing.

Screenwriters Mikels and Rogers also briefly appear in the film. In a scene he shot himself, Mikels appears as a peeping Tom. Mikels’ face is not shown, as his back is facing the camera. As he peeks through a cracked door at a girl in a room, the narrator explains, “Obviously, this man has problems, and should be treated accordingly.”

Rogers appears as the raincoat man, Juan Rogero, in the film.

“I filmed the movie in a small sound studio on Burbank Boulevard, just minutes from Hollywood. I filmed all exterior scenes myself, without a crew, and one or two interior scenes. With editing, I used my own sound effects, created the music and recorded everything not in my library,” Mikels recalled. “I fully realized there was nothing in a movie that I could not do for myself, by myself, or  alone, if necessary.”

But not all the drama in Ted V. Mikels’ life at the time was entertaining.

Tragedy stuck on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1964, when his parents, George and Katherine Mikels, along with Laura Mikels, a 12-year-old niece, were killed in a head-on collision with a log truck on Pacific Coast Highway.

“They were on their way back home to Tigard, Oregon, after visiting with me in Hollywood,” Mikels explained. “After the funeral service in Tigard, my brother John, Laura’s father, honored them by leading a jet plane for a flyover.”

John Mikels, who served in the United States Air Force, piloted McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II planes.

“It was timed so precisely. We were all at the exterior of the church, waiting to go inside,” Mikels reflected. “Then the Air Force jets flew over. It was quite a thrill, and what an honor it paid to my father, mother, and such a sweet little girl.”

All three were laid to rest at St. Anthony Cemetery, in Tigard.

Mikels worked as director of photography on several films in 1964, including Games of Chance and Genesis. Michael B. Druxman’s Genesis, narrated by John Carradine, starred Richard Turner as an old man who departs his forest sanctuary to discover sin in the big city.

Mikels also worked as a cameraman for the movies Brandy, Jezebel, and was part photographer and co-editor for Shepherd of the Hills, based on Harold Bell Wright's 1907 novel.

The following year Mikels served as director of photography for the films And Eden Cried, The Hostage, Day of the Nightmare, starring John Ireland and Beverly Bain, and House of the Black Death, starring Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine. He also edited a television pilot titled Little People.

“In Hollywood in 1965, there were only a small handful of totally independent movie makers like myself, and most of the actors and crew people knew us and banged on our doors constantly, although most knew we did not pay union wages,” Mikels said. “Roger Corman and I sent folks back and forth to each other when casting or crewing up.”

Ted. V. Mikels crossed paths with director Ed Wood that year, while working as director of lighting on the set of a movie titled Orgy of the Dead, written by Wood and directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. Mikels was helping a young cameraman in training, Roberto (Bob) Caramico, gain movie credit to be accepted into the local 659 Cinematographers Guild.

“Both Bob and Stephen came to my studio office and literally pleaded with me to handle the studio lighting. It was a big studio set with huge lights in the floor and overhead rigging that they did not have the experience to use,” Mikels said. “I agreed to do it, but I did not want screen credit, as it would take away Bob’s credit, defeating the reason they asked me to light for them.”

It was during this project Ed Wood was present on the set, but it was hardly a legendary moment between filmmakers, the non-encounter was peripheral.

“People ask me what I thought of working with Ed Wood,” Mikels explained. “To tell you the truth, I didn't even know who he was.”

It wasn’t until some time later, when Mikels saw an 8x10 group photo with an arrow pointing to Ed Wood Jr., that he recognized the man.

“I remembered seeing him. He was wandering around the set quite a bit while we were shooting,” Mikels said. “But that’s about it. I guess I focused on making the movies, and not too much of the peripheral things that went on.”

While on the set of Orgy of the Dead, Mikels did have moments to interact with Criswell, a celebrity clairvoyant who had appeared as the narrator in Wood’s film, Plan 9 from Outer Space.

“We both enjoyed magic and as practitioners of illusions and such, we struck it off,” Mikels said. “Criswell and I talked quite a bit during filming.”

Mikels’ next movie was One Shocking Moment, originally titled Suburban Affair, which he made for two Phoenix theater owners who were brothers. Jay and Ron Fineberg both served as executive producers. Released in 1965, the film starred actor Gary Kent and actress Lee Anna. The story involved a young couple, residing in a Los Angeles apartment complex, who end up cheating on each other.

The project originated when the Finebergs approached the managers of CFI, a large Hollywood film processing and printing company, and asked who they would recommend to write, produce and direct a movie for them. The brothers were told Ted V. Mikels was the only man in town that wore all three hats, plus could provide film editing and make it all work on a small budget.

Mikels recalled the initial meeting and negotiations with the Fineberg brothers, and their ambitions to become big time movie producers.

“They told me what they would like to have in their movie and wanted me to handle it entirely,” Mikels recalls. “When they offered me a piece of the action on the movie, and I told them I did not want a piece, or percentage of their profit, because it was so hard to ever reach a profit.”

Mikels turned down any participation or ownership in the project. So Mikels became a hired gun, instead of a partner, and would budget based on using funds the Finebergs had on hand.

“They wanted in the writing something that was topical and would involve interesting females, and what goes on when small town people move to Hollywood,” Mikels said. ”It was a very real challenge for me to deliver to them the movie that they wanted.”

The challenge was due to lack of  funding, not lack of ability to come up with a story.

“I have spent my entire life dreaming up stories, so when the Finebergs said they would like a story, I rattled off nearly the complete storyline in just a few minutes to them,” Mikels said. “And since I had moved my family to Hollywood, I just applied my thinking to what the Hollywood lifestyle was all about.”

He added, “I began to meet the other actors and actresses who could deliver romance scenes as the characters that I created.”

Mikels conducted the interviews for cast and crew. Gary Kent was one of many actors that came to Mikels’ studio, looking for a part in the movie. He was hired in the lead male role of Cliff Newhall.

Kent, who also worked as a stuntman in films and on television, appeared in the movies Battle Flame in 1958, featuring Robert Blake, and Thrill Killers in 1964, featuring Liz Renay, who went on to appear in several of Mikels’ films later in his career.

“I had answered an ad in Daily Variety for actors to audition for an independent film,” Gary Kent recalled. “Although it was non-union, Ted was actually going to pay the cast and crew. This was unusual, in itself, at that time, among independents in Hollywood. Most of the folks wanted you to work for next to nothing, or nothing, as they knew the town was full of out of work performers dying to do work.”

Kent was exactly what Mikels was looking for.

“Gary was the right age and had the right look for the young man I had in mind,” Mikels said. “I did think that actress Lee Anna would be perfect for his wife, Mindy Newhall.”

Kent said he liked Mikels even before he ever met him. He saw Mikels was making relevant, professional motion pictures and paying actors well.

“I thought he was a cool dude. He had a boar’s tooth draped around his neck, obviously a man’s man, and there was that signature mustache!” Kent explained. “He had a twinkle in his eye, personal warmth, and a passionate approach to the project. He wasn’t into ego trips or temper tantrums. He just worked his ass off, and encouraged his cast and crew to do the same.”

In One Shocking Moment cast credits, Gary Kent is listed under the name Philip Brady, to avoid problems with the Screen Actors Guild.

Also hired into the cast was actor Victor Izay as D. G. Brenner, and newcomer Maureen Gaffney as Joanie.

“I met Ted when I was like 21 years old, I was so young,” Maureen Gaffney recalled. “A lot of One Shocking Moment was shot in Gary Kent’s house, and the bedroom scenes were shot in Ted’s house. The movie was not that well done, but it was a beginning for Ted in cinema.”

Gaffney, who would appear in Mikels’ next film, The Black Klansman, wasn’t aware of creative conflicts going on between Mikels and the Finebergs. It caused the released print of the film to be below the standards Mikels had hoped for.

“The problem is trying to make a movie that would be popular with the general public,” Mikels said. “I always thought about my market before I dreamed up a story. So, altering anything during a production can change the target audience.”

Gaffney enjoyed working with Kent and a friendship developed that has endured.

“I just loved working with Gary. He is the best, and he was so kind,” Gaffney said. “We’ve stayed friends.”

For the rest of the cast, male or female, One Shocking Moment was shockingly their one and only movie credit, but not due to the film’s lack of success.

“That is often the case in Hollywood,” Mikels explained. “There are far many more want-to-be actors, and actresses, than there are available parts in movies for them.”

Actor Gary Kent noted that Mikels “had a dynamite crew” working on the film. He pointed to director of photography Gregory Sandor, whom Kent stated, “could light a set with fewer lights than anyone in the business.”

Another individual Kent singled out was Art Names, an assistant director and multi-tasker who was versatile on the set.

“Ted’s crew formed a tight knit, circle of cinematic friends that continued to work together for much of the next half-century,” Kent said. “Ted knows how to pick ‘em, that’s for sure.”

Nicholas Carras, who composed the music for the film, is credited under the name of Icaras DeDocaras, to avoid troubles with the union restrictions.

A legendary scene in One Shocking Moment that has been the subject of trivial debate occurs during the opening credits, where the high heel of a woman’s shoe is pushed down on Gary Kent’s hand. The memorable hand crunching image was used heavily in promotional advertising spots for the movie.

But the debate has become amusingly legendary as well, as it was Mikels’ hand in the scene, not Kent’s. The light-hearted contention arises from the reason for the sleight of hand.

“Gary did not want to risk injury to his hand, so I took his place for the hand scene,” Mikels recalled.  “It did not hurt at all.”

Kent disagrees with the notion, and humorously shrugs it off.

“Yes, the hand was Ted's, as I was not available on the day he shot the scene,” Kent recalled. “I was afraid of being hurt? Baloney! I worked 40-plus years as a stuntman, I doubt that I was afraid of hurting my hand, after doing car crashes, falling off galloping horses, barroom brawls and plunges from high places.”

When Mikels completed the project, the Fineberg brothers changed the title of the film from Suburban Affair to One Shocking Moment, and premiered it at the two theaters that they owned in Phoenix, Arizona. When it played the Monica Theater in Hollywood, it broke all of their box office records and was held over for two weeks.

Creating a stir was the female dominance/male submission scenes, in what critics were calling “a pioneering fetish film.”

Other producers who saw the film retooled their own productions, editing in copycat “whipping” scenes. But Mikels did not have the luxurious editing suite they had when completing One Shocking Moment.

“I edited that movie in my garage, because I lived in North Hollywood, and fighting freeway traffic eleven miles to the Hollywood studio took over an hour,” Mikels said. “Jay Fineberg was so happy with the movie, he soon introduced me to a financing group who would back my films, if I made for them the movies they wanted.”

Mikels felt disrespected at the notion and never conducted business with the financiers. He also felt slighted by Jay Fineberg, who added a bedroom scene to the movie, depicting a simulated sex act, without his knowledge.

“I was not happy about it,” Mikels said.

He was experiencing a growing pace of actors and actresses coming to him for work. Thus, within only three years after his first theatrical movie release, Mikels had become a “go-to” man.

“A big problem in Hollywood, at this time, was trying to keep actors and actresses from beating on your door constantly,” Mikels explained. “As active as I was in making movies, word got out, resulting in an endless stream of people wanting to be interviewed for a part. All of them were obviously looking for work and to fulfil their dreams of being famous.”

Aside from making his own movies, at times he was summoned professionally to fix the films of others.

Mikels’ participation in the movie The Undertaker and His Pals, released in 1966, was basically retooling an existing film. He re-edited the original project created by director and writer Tom Swicegood, and executive producer David Graham, and also marketed the film.

Among the film’s cast was actor Ray Dannis, who would appear in The Black Klansman, and Charles Fox. Dannis and Fox would subsequently appear in Mikel’s 1971 release The Corpse Grinders.

Mikels’ next production, The Black Klansman, also titled I Crossed the Color Line, which he directed, was released in 1966. The movie told the tale of a fair-skinned African-American man whose daughter was killed by the Ku Klux Klan. Seeking revenge, the man infiltrates the organization, posing as a white man.

The film starred Richard Gilden in the black/white role as Jerry Ellsworth, and featured John Ashley, Rima Kutner, James McEachin, Ray Dannis, Max Julien and Gary Kent among others. Harry Lovejoy was cast as the very unlikable character Rock, a Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

Mikels had cast Maureen Gaffney in One Shocking Moment and thought she was perfect for the role of Carole Ann in The Black Klansman.

“I was very young then, and I didn’t know about prejudice,” Gaffney said. “It was a new era for this kind of a movie.”

Her One Shocking Moment co-star, Gary Kent, appeared in The Black Klansman,  in the role of Wilkins.

Unlike retrospective civil rights movies, The Black Klansman was made during the period of the actual struggle—as history was being made. Mikels could literally see it unfolding in his own backyard.

“The fact that I actually made the movie, during these events that were taking place in the Los Angeles area, has been fascinating to many people,” Mikels said. “We were not sure of how it would be received. When I made the movie, I told my executive producer, Joe Solomon, I would not make any movie that added to racial difficulties, but resolved racial tension.”

Mikels pointed out that lead actor Richard Gilden, a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild, took a risk working in this non-union film.

“Richard Gilden was the only actor I interviewed that I felt could pull off the part,” Mikels said. “He did a wonderful job for me, but he also had S.A.G. to deal with.”

Mikels stated a number of his actors were fined, or warned, about working in a non-S.A.G. movie. The practice proved to be ruthless, with threats to revoke their health insurance coverage, their pensions and more.

For actor James McEachin, who went by the name of Jimmy Mack at the time, The Black Klansman was his first movie. Mikels cast him in the role of Lonnie. McEachin had previously been a fireman and police officer in New Jersey before moving to California to become a record producer.  McEachin worked with young artists such as Otis Redding, who went on to record the mega-hit (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay, in 1967.

“Ted was nothing less than a miracle worker,” McEachin said. “How the hand of God guided me to him and into the business, I'll never—never, ever, never—understand.”

McEachin had been homeless, and wandering around Melrose Avenue looking for work, when Mikels offered him the movie role.

“I never gave acting the slightest thought, but I was unemployed,” McEachin recalled, when he interviewed at Mikels’ office. “There I was in this beret-wearing man's office, faking it, and doing a reading of a script I still hadn't read. But I did give it my all—which was with about as much truth, and emotion, as a brick waiting for high tide.”

Maureen Gaffney recalled difficulty herself regarding the script.

“I never saw the script,” Gaffney said. “Ted never gave you the full script. He just gave you the pages for the scenes he needed you in.”

McEachin’s performance in The Black Klansman did not go unnoticed. It launched an incredible career in television, including parts in Matlock, Hill Street Blues, Murder She Wrote, All in the Family, Columbo and many others. He became most recognized for his role as Lieutenant Brock in Perry Mason television movies.

“Somehow Ted saw something in me,” McEachin reflected. “And even though the industry did not, and has not seen him, I trust he is still seeing something. He is that kind of a man.”

Several years later, a humbling experience occurred for Mikels, when he entered a North Hollywood bar to hear singer Charlie Rich perform.

“I heard this guy jump up on top of a table, and he yelled out loudly to attract everyone's attention. He said, ‘The most famous and best director in the entire world just walked in, Ted V. Mikels,’” Mikels recalled. “James bought everybody in the house a drink, because, he said, ‘This is the man who gave me my first part and my start in the motion picture industry.’”

Mikels recalled it was a night to remember, and a real honor, as McEachin, at the time, clearly had risen to be an established star. And as Mikels notes with sentiment, McEachin had hardly displayed confidence as an actor while working on The Black Klansman.

“He thought he did a bad delivery of his lines, and he pleaded with me for another chance to do it better,” Mikels said. “But it just wasn’t so. He was good!”

Perhaps the real story of The Black Klansman wasn’t found in its script, but with the opportunity it afforded African-American actors to advance in the trade. Virtually every cast member of color went on to enjoy running parts in television series, due to their performances in the movie.

One tense, but amusing, moment occurred during the filming of a night scene in the mountains outside of Bakersfield. The cross-burning depiction included virtually the entire cast dressed in full Klan garb. The California State Police descended upon the scene, believing it was an actual K.K.K. meeting.

The awkward confrontation was quickly defused when the true intention of the visual was revealed.

“The laughter came when I asked all of the extras to remove their hoods, and they were all African-American extras,” Mikels recalled. “This story made the Associated Press wire.”

“Ted couldn’t get any extras,” Maureen Gaffney said. “The only extras he had on hand were the black actors in the movie, so he just put hoods on them and said, ‘Nobody will know.’”

It wasn’t the only time police showed up in conjunction with the movie.

“We took Ted’s car and went to dinner, one night, with the cast and crew from The Black Klansman,” Gaffney explained. “There was another car in the parking lot nearby that was identical to Ted’s vehicle.”

Yes, you guessed it.

“Well, when we came out to leave after dinner, we went to the wrong car. But Ted’s key worked, unlocked the door. He started the ignition and drove off,” she continued. “Someone called the police and told them we were stealing a car, so Ted got pulled over for that. We were shocked. But when we returned to the restaurant parking lot, the police understood and saw it was only a mistake.”

The movie did stir mixed sentiment. At a Detroit, Michigan theatre, African-American moviegoers shouted and tore up seats. There were reports of pistols being fired in the air on the streets. Whether the film did anything to reduce racial tension entertains pros and cons, but it did address the civil rights issue boldly.

Mikels soon discovered the investment became a financial liability. He never made a dime off the movie.

Regardless, Maureen Gaffney indicated it was an investment in trying to change the culture of the time.

“I just watched the movie again the other day, and I said, ‘Thank God the African-Americans won,’” she said. “The movie was made right when the civil rights movement was going on, but in a way, it’s still going on.”

Mikels earned income working as a crewman for motion pictures originated by others, and by shooting television commercials. One such iconic commercial Mikels participated in was for Brylcreem. It featured American Major League Baseball player Joe DiMaggio, and the catchy slogan, “A little dab'll do ya.”

He also won an award for a commercial he created for the Tony Lama Boot Company.

It was Mikels who put the finishing touches on a movie for producer Joseph F. Robertson, titled Agent for H.A.R.M., released by Universal Studios in 1966. The science fiction spy thriller starred Peter Mark Richman. It also featured actors Wendell Corey and Rafael Campos. Mikels would tap Campos for his next film he began shooting the following year, Girl in Gold Boots, and both Corey and Campos for his film after that, Astro-Zombies.

“I finished Robertson’s movie and physically filmed a third of it, along with two other guys, both of whom were Academy Award winners for cinematography,” Mikels said. “I did not put my name on it, because at that time I did not want to be known as a cinematographer, only as a director and producer. How silly of me.”

Mikels continued taking jobs working with other producers to help pay the bills, and at times assist in funding his own projects. Such was the case, working as director of photography, for a foreign intrigue meets teen beach-scene flick titled Catalina Caper, released in 1967, starring Tommy Kirk.

Mikel’s next motion picture of his own creation garnered a considerable amount of press fanfare, and personal recognition, as a pioneering independent filmmaker.

Girl in Gold Boots, released in 1968, starred Jody Daniels, Leslie McRae and Tom Pace. It tells the story of a young woman named Michele Casey, played by McRae.

But Leslie McRae wasn’t Mikels’ first choice for the role of  Michele Casey.

“Ted wanted me to be the lead for Girl in Gold Boots,” Maureen Gaffney explained. “But sometimes your life moves on in a different direction, and I wound up working on The Red Skelton Show, so had to turn the movie down. I was a regular for about five or six years on Red’s show.”

Thus, McRae got the part for the memorable cinematic role.

In the movie, character Michele Casey leaves her job as a waitress, in her drunken father’s pathetic, little, roadside diner, to tag along with a fellow named Buz Nichols, played by Tom Pace. He tells her that he has connections to get her a lucrative job in Hollywood as a go-go dancer. Once at the nightclub, she discovers the club owners and Buz are trafficking drugs.

Tom Pace had acted in such television shows as I Spy, Combat and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Mikels enjoyed the company of Pace, whom he shared much in common with, and the actor subsequently appeared in many more of Mikels’ films.

Actor Jody Daniels played Finley “Critter” Jones, a hitchhiker Buz and Michele pick up on the road after his motorcycle breaks down. When the three arrive at the nightclub, Michele and Critter discover the drug trafficking. Critter, who has fallen for Michele, helps her break free of the calamity.

Actor and singer Jody Daniels had previously been signed to the Dot Record label, and had a 1962 single, I’d Like to Have You Back Again, which enjoyed moderate airplay.

“Jody Daniels came into my office for the interview, played his guitar, and sang The Green, Green Grass of Home for me. It won my heart,” Mikels said. “I knew at that moment that he would be my ‘Critter’ in the movie. I was very pleased with him, and he had a wonderful voice.”

The movie also featured actress Bara Byrnes, and actors Mark Herron, William Bagdad, Victor Izay, Harry Lovejoy, and Rod Wilmoth, among others. Wilmoth, who played a small part as the head jailer, was also production manager of Girl in Gold Boots.

Composers Chris Howard and Larry Cartell wrote most of the songs for Girl in Gold Boots, with Daniels actually penning three. Most of the songs were also sung by Cartell, not Daniels.

Of note, the bass player in the band playing at the Los Angeles club was Donald “Duck” Dunn, a musician known for recording with Booker T. and the MG’s, and session artist for Stax Records.

“I managed to put together $2,800, and with a lot of credit, and willing people, I made the movie and brought it to fruition,” Mikels said. “There was a screening at Paramount Studios, where we were served champagne and cheese crackers, and so on, to our guests.”

A screening wasn’t unusual, as every Mikels movie routinely enjoyed a premiere showing at a major studio, such as MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, or where his headquarters was for several years, the Samuel Goldwyn Studio on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Actress Leslie McRae certainly mirrored the promise of her character Michele Casey’s rags to riches tale. Having been born to a 15-year-old mother, McRae had lived in and out of orphanages while growing up, and had to say “hello” and “goodbye” to several stepfathers.

Possessing no self-esteem, her mother placed her in a beauty contest, which she won, going on to appear in the Miss Universe and Miss World pageants. When Mikels cast her for Girl in Gold Boots, McRae had appeared in bit parts in only two television programs, and had an uncredited role in Jacqueline Susann’s The Valley of the Dolls, released in 1967.

“Girl in Gold Boots was my first major film. It was pretty strenuous, actually. There was a lot of dancing,” Leslie McRae recalled. “I was a pretty accomplished dancer and model by the time that film came along. I actually brought in all of the designers I had worked for, and worked on wardrobe for the film.”

Mikels agreed the project was strenuous.

“The movie was quite a challenge, as we had 17 new songs in it, and some very talented people,” he said.

In the opening scene of the movie, where Mark, played by actor Tom Pace, rescues Lorraine from her dead end waitress job at her despicable father’s diner, McRae had to bare all—at least regarding her face. The experience made her feel a bit uneasy.

“Ted made me take off all of my makeup, which was a scary thing for a girl to take all of her makeup off,” McRae explained. “It was because, in the opening, I’m supposed to be this young girl who gets discovered, and picked up along the roadside on the way to Hollywood. So, Ted made me prove I was going to be able to make that transition, from that visual into the glamour, and being a dancer.”

Perhaps a bigger challenge for McRae was working with the two lead actors in Girl in Gold Boots, Tom Pace and Jody Daniels.

“Tom and Jody both had a big crush on me at the time,” McRae recalled, with humor. “So, some scenes were bit of a challenge at times, because I didn’t want to hurt either man’s feelings, or make one jealous of the other.”

McRae said Tom Pace was a joy to work with, and was a very serious actor.

“He was Yugoslavian, and had a bit of an accent, which added to his character,” she said.

McRae’s 21st birthday occurred during the shooting of the film, and the cast and crew celebrated on her behalf. But not every day was a celebration, Mikels explained.

“I had so much focus on making that movie, that I would call for a minor prayer session every day before filming,” Mikels said. “On some days, when I felt everything did not go well, I called my cast and crew together and told them I was destroying the film for that day, and we would reshoot the same scenes again the next day, to make them better.”

In Girl in Gold Boots, Lorraine sees Buz’s evil ways, and eventually falls for Finley, who is contemplating becoming a draft dodger. Meanwhile, actor Harry Lovejoy, who plays Harry Blatz, a jail guard with inside connections to confiscated drugs, arranges for Buz to steal the contraband at police headquarters.

Lovejoy had appeared as the Grand Master of the K.K.K., in Mikels’ The Black Klansman.

In Girl in Gold Boots Buz kills Blatz, then makes for a rendezvous with club owner and drug peddler Leo McGabe, with contraband in hand. Mark Herron, who played sleazy McGabe, is perhaps best known for his 17-month failed marriage to actress/singer Judy Garland, which took place several years prior to the making of this film.

Upon returning to McGabe’s office, a fistfight breaks out between Jody and the criminals, ending with Buz, McGabe, and his associate Marty, played by William Bagdad, being defeated, and the summoning of police.

In the end, Jody accepts his military calling and gets the girl. In fact, Jody and Lorraine are on their honeymoon in the closing scene, shot on a beach shoreline. But the backstory behind the closing feel-good scene was, in reality, anything but about feeling good.

“In the end scene on the beach, Jody was sick with the flu, sick and throwing up,” McRae explained, with a sense of humor. “So in between takes he’s heaving off to the side. It made for a really romantic moment.”

Making it equally difficult, and uncomfortable, was the ocean spray hitting the small crew on location, while trying to keep the cameras dry, and doing sync playback.

“Jody was a trooper, and he hung in there, as it was the last shot of the movie,” Mikels said. “I think Leslie was feeling the effects of it, and maybe she was coming down with the flu, also.”

Actress Leslie McRae credits Ted V. Mikels with providing her the big break she needed to advance her career.

“Ted taught me so much. You got to learn on the job,” McRae explained. “He’s like a father figure, and you always felt right at home.”

Always a showman, Mikels gathered the two lead stars and hit the road.

“I did travel the country promoting the movie, and took Leslie McRae and Tom Pace to screenings,” Mikels said. “We appeared on stage with the Beach Boys at a concert in Atlanta, Georgia.”

McRae recalled the attention the motion picture brought wherever they toured the feature.

“When we went on the road with the movie, I was given the key to many cities we visited,” she said. “People were very nice.”

“To this day, Girl in Gold Boots is quite popular,” Mikels remarked.

Girl in Gold Boots gained a new generation of viewers, and legendary cult status, when it appeared in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, broadcast April 18, 1999, on the Comedy Network.

While relegated to the comedy category, Mikels movie aficionados appreciate the “small town girl becomes a star” film and regard it as one of his most conventional and entertaining works.

CHAPTER FIVE

The Cult Classics

Something happened between 1968 and 1973 for Ted V. Mikels. Some might argue it began with Girl in Gold Boots, and endured to The Doll Squad, but no Mikels fan would argue that the Astro-Zombies movie was the genesis of—in hindsight—the era of Mikels’ cult classics.

From the moment that movie first was shown in theaters and drive-ins, to the release of The Doll Squad five years later, it established a trademark for Mikels’ filmmaking.

Astro-Zombies, The Corpse Grinders, Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, Blood Orgy of the She-Devils and The Doll Squad became cult classics. The Astro-Zombies and The Corpse Grinders both spawned several sequels, and The Doll Squad theme re-emerged in subsequent Mikels’ films, as well.

This period was clearly a turning point in the cinematic career of Ted V. Mikels.

Astro-Zombies established Mikels’ entry into the sci-fi genre, and The Corpse Grinders would forever identify him with horror films—even typecast him—to some degree, earning him the moniker, “The King of Horror.”

The idea for the motion picture Astro-Zombies, released in 1968, began in 1960-61, when Mikels wrote the original Astro-Zombies story.

“I originally wrote it as a very serious science fiction movie, and intended it to be that way,” he recalled.

Astro-Zombies were creatures made up of body parts from synthetic materials, with a heart pump driven by solar cells implanted in their heads. They also wore what has since become a trademark skull-like mask, which originated with a drawing Mikels created.

When the probability surfaced around 1966 that the Astro-Zombies could become a movie, Mikels linked up with actor Wayne Rogers, who invested money in the project, becoming a producer. Kenneth Altose also signed on as a partner and producer. Mikels rewrote the script, adding ideas from Rogers.

“I sat at the typewriter and in the rewrite Wayne sat in the room with me,” Mikels recalled. “While I was typing the scenes, he would think of some campy idea to add to it—to put into my story. I was not much into camp-ing this, but it seemed as though my idea of where the brains for the astro-zombies came from was indeed campish.”

With the very limited financial resources, Mikels put together a cast and crew in studio offices across from Paramount Pictures. He conducted all of the interviews, auditions, and made agreements concerning receiving compensation for work rendered.

The film starred veteran horror actor John Carradine in the role of Doctor Septimus DeMarco. He was a scientist terminated from Aerospace Research Center, for his nefarious experiments in thought transmission using corpses, instead of living astronauts, as candidates.

Cast in movie roles were Tura Satana as the ringleader of an evil foreign entity, Wendell Corey as senior C.I.A. coordinator Mr. Holman, Tom Pace and Joseph Hoover as C.I.A. agents, and Victor Izay as Doctor Petrovich. Actress Joan Patrick was cast as a former assistant to DeMarco and current assistant to Petrovich. She also played Eric Porter’s girlfriend.

The cast of supporting actors included Satana’s henchmen, played by Rafael Campos and Vincent Barbi, and DeMarco’s assistant Franchot, played by William Bagdad. Rod Wilmoth, who had served as production manager of Girl in Gold Boots, played the lead astro-zombie.

“Rod Wilmoth was a very kind, warm and giving gentlemen who went beyond necessity to deliver,” Mikels said. “He would function not only as an actor for me, but as my production manager. You could not find anybody that was more giving and talented.”

The mask Wilmoth would wear came from the imagination of Mikels, and the crafty hands of 19-year-old Tony Tierney.

“I drew a sketch of what I wanted, with the three photoelectric cells in the forehead to capture electricity, to drive the heart pump,” Mikels said. “I brought in Tony, who was going to do makeup for us. Using a batch of rubber molding material, he came up with two masks.”

Tierney had previously worked as makeup man in Mikels’ movie One Shocking Moment, released in 1965.

“He was dedicated to getting his career off the ground,” Mikels recalled. “At the time, I had no idea how long it took rubber molds to become firm. He was a sweet kid, and I was a little hard on him.”

The Astro-Zombies movie begins with one of DeMarco’s creations, an astroman with the defective brain of a killer on the loose, leaving a murderous trail of slashed victims. The C.I.A. suspected the carnage to be connected to Dr. DeMarco, and launched an investigation. At the same time, vixen Satana is out to get DeMarco’s secret behind the invention of the astro-zombie, to use it for evil purposes.

One initial challenge when shooting began, was the Hollywood studio secured was on a limited time clock.

“I only had the studio for a week, that was because I did not have the money to carry the crew beyond the time in the studio,” Mikels explained. “Everyone was paid decently, and there were  a few other expenditures, such as for sound recording, makeup, and so forth.”

Mikels also faced the challenge of orchestrating, and acting as cameraman, for virtually all outdoor and exterior shots. And while Wayne Rogers, co-writer and a financial investor of Astro-Zombies, was supposed to be Mikels’ partner, at best he only showed up once on the set during its production.

“I think that he felt the Screen Actors Guild might have thought he had a bit part acting in the movie,” Mikels speculated. “That was not allowed by S.A.G., and could create a problem for him with the guild. I never could understand why he never came around, even if just to watch.”

Besides filming all exterior content, Mikels took the film to the laboratory for processing, performed all editing, and created the sound effects for the movie.

Sometimes substance abuse was an issue, which was a concern when veteran Hollywood actor Wendell Corey was cast in the role of Mr. Holman. Corey, who had appeared in such pictures as Rear Window and Alias Jesse James, and television programs like Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Untouchables, was a known alcoholic.

“I was warned about Wendell’s drinking problem, and his wife was always with him,” Mikels recalled. “But he was a prince to work with, and he did not drink a drop. He was delightful to work with.”

Mikels recalled when he first met Corey it was hardly in a professional setting.

“In 1957, I was in Mazatlan, Mexico, fishing with three buddies and filming the trip,” Mikels recalled. “My friend owned a Cessna 180, and we flew there on sheer luck. But, I had photographed Wendell Corey on a dock standing proudly next to a hanging marlin/swordfish he caught. We had fun talking about that ten years later while making Astro-Zombies.”

Actor Tom Pace, cast in the role of Eric Porter, was no stranger, having appeared previously in Mikels’ Girl in Gold Boots movie. Mikels was impressed with newcomer Joan Patrick, whom he cast in the role of Janine Norwalk.

“Joan was one of several girls that I interviewed for the role,” Mikels recalled. ”She took direction well, and was at ease when I put her through a bit of improvisation, as I usually do to test the versatility of potential performers.”

Another newcomer Mikels hired was Joseph Hoover, who played C.I.A. agent Chuck Edwards. Hoover’s resume listed only one previous acting job, which was an uncredited role in Dear Brigitte, starring Jimmy Stewart.

Wayne Rogers had brought actor James Caan into Mikels’ studio offices after Hoover had been hired, and suggested he replace the unknown actor with Caan, to play Chuck Edwards.

“The last person I cast for the Astro-Zombies movie was the part of the undercover detective, Chuck Edwards, who worked with Tom Pace who played Eric Porter,” Mikels recalled. “Wayne Rogers had brought James Caan into my studio offices, and said, ‘James wants to do your movie, and he will do it for free for you. He is becoming a good, well-known big star, so put him in the part.’”

But Mikels would not consider the notion.

“Wayne kept saying, ‘Ted, this is James Caan, tell the man that you have changed your mind,’” Mikels recalled. “I told Wayne, ‘I cannot do that,’ regardless of the potential consequences.”

Caan went on to star in such films as The Godfather and The Godfather II, as well as the critically acclaimed television movie, Brian’s Song.

“I am sure that when I cast Hoover in that part he went home and celebrated with his wife, possibly cracked open a bottle of champagne,” Mikels said. “He landed the part, and once I give a part to an actor, I could never in a million years take that away from him.”

James Caan wasn’t the only to-be-famous person who could have been in Astro-Zombies. Rogers suggested another personal friend, and a scene was shot featuring aspiring actor Peter Falk, that ended up on the editing room floor.

Falk’s appearance took place in the nightclub, where Sergio Demozhenin tries to shake down Satana for more money, for the audio tape, and Juan pulls out a switchblade. Satana’s enforcer Tyros is stationed near the club entrance, watching the exchange, when Falk enters and asks him for change.

“Peter said, ‘Hey buddy, you got change for a quarter?’” Mikels said. “It was so funny, it really broke the serious mood of the scene. It just didn’t fit, so we had to cut him out.”

Although Falk doesn’t appear in the movie, the interior of his house does–it served as the lair of Satana and her henchmen. Shortly after, Falk auditioned for, and snatched, the role of Detective Columbo in the Columbo television series, which went on to be highly successful.

Mikels had worked with John Carradine, whom he cast as Dr. Septimus DeMarco, on prior projects, including the 1967 release, The Hostage, of which Mikels served as director of photography. During that project, shot in Des Moines, Iowa, the two shared a drink, on occasion, and got to know each other.

“He, and I, sat at the bar and looked at each other while having a drink,” Mikels recalled. “He said, ‘Ted, you and I are the only professional people here to work on this film, what is going on with us, anyway?’ He was an absolute delight to work with in Astro-Zombies, a true gem, and his lines were delivered impeccably.”

Carradine was paid for 4 day’s work, even though he finished his role in 3 days. It was reported Carradine received $3,000 for the job.

William Bagdad, who played DeMarco’s Igor-like assistant Franchot, had appeared in Mikel’s film, Girl in Gold Boots, and in The Monkees feature-length film, Head, released that same year. Bagdad put his talent into the art of characterization, to be amusing without coming off amateurish.

“I had written the part of Franchot and knew that he was precisely the one to play it,” Mikels said. “And he did so, with grandeur.”

The most memorable Franchot scene is when the character works on a captive, played by Hiroko Altose. The victim, dressed only in a gold bikini, is hopelessly strapped to an examination table in DeMarco’s laboratory. It was apparently Franchot’s own little science project, without much explanation.

The idea came about when William Bagdad asked Mikels about having a small solo bit.

“Bill had asked me if I could give him a little scene of his own,” Mikels recalled. “We had not used Kenney’s wife—Hiroko Altose—yet, in the film. So, we put together that little bit for them.”

Kenneth Altose had married Hiroko Watanabe the year before, on March 15, 1966, in Los Angeles.

The result was while Doctor Septimus DeMarco was busy putting the finishing touches on the creation of a new astroman, Franchot is seen off in his own corner, toiling with his own project—a young Japanese girl wearing a bikini. In the scene, DeMarco, in a condescending voice, summons his assistant to his side.

“Franchot, come here! Your own experiments will have to wait! I require your assistance for more important work,” DeMarco says, to which a disappointed Franchot obediently complies, leaving his project.

“We laughed so hard after each of his takes, because Bill put his energies and talents into the work,” Mikels said. “He was cast perfectly in the Igor-type character, and, as always, came up with ingenious ways to develop his character.”

Mikels reached out to friend Tura Satana to play a lead role in the movie. The two had known each other since 1957, when they met at a show in Las Vegas, where Satana was performing as an exotic dancer. Subsequently, she had moved to Los Angeles, where her children essentially grew up with Mikels’ kids, attending the same schools.

Born Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi on July 10, 1938, in Hokkaido, Japan, Satana came to the United States at age two with her parents. Her father, of Japanese descent, was a silent film actor, and her mother, of American Indian and Scottish descent, was a circus acrobat.

Prior to taking the role in Astro-Zombies, Satana had appeared in the movies Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed (1963) and Our Man Flint (1966), and on the television shows Hawaiian Eye, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., to name a few. She also gained some notoriety from knowing karate and having dated Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley.

“Making that movie put me into a very close relationship with the star Tura Satana, who did free movies for me,” Mikels said. “We were close friends, and I was close with her family.”

During an interview at Rue Morgue’s Festival of Fear, in August 2008, Satana stated at times she and Mikels would engage in a debate concerning her lines in Astro-Zombies.

“Ted is a very strict director,” Satana said. “When it comes to working with him, he wants you to follow the script, line for line. And he prefers that you do everything according to his direction.”

Tura Satana shared the climactic ending scene in Astro-Zombies with John Carradine, William Bagdad and Rafael Campos. Satana shoots and kills Dr. DeMarco in the scene, before an astro-zombie, played by Rod Wilmoth, pushes her into a computer console, electrocuting her.

“John Carradine was delighted with Tura Satana, and quite taken by her,” Mikels said. “He said to her, ‘If only I was 20 years younger,’ and she laughed, and as always came back with a snappy line, saying, ‘If I was 20 years older we might have something going.’”

Rafael Campos, who played Satana’s switchblade carrying, right hand man, first met Mikels during the making of Disney’s Tonka film, released in 1958. But the two actually got to know each other better in 1964, during a party at actor Tommy Kirk’s home.

“Rafael and I became good friends, and we did well together,” Mikels said. “I shot a little film for Rafael that he wrote and directed. My daughter Cherisse, at about age eight, acted in it.”

Mikels doesn’t know if that project was ever completed or released.

Iconic character actor Vincent Barbi, who played Tyros, Satana’s defiant henchman, helped establish and bolster her authority in the movie. Barbi, an Italian and former prizefighter, didn’t seem like the type of man anyone would mess with, but Satana had no problem slapping him around a bit and belittling him in the film.

Barbi had appeared in several movies and television shows, usually cast in the roles of mobsters. In fact, he played the role of Al Capone in the 1955 Italian film, Totò all'inferno.

“Vince always was there any time I needed him for information, especially when people were offering me money in a plain, paper bag I’d find on my desk, on a Monday morning,” Mikels explained. “I would tell Vince where it came from, and he would get back to me in a day, or two, with all of the information about them, and advice for me to stay clear, and have nothing to do with those particular people.”

Astro-Zombies had many suspenseful moments. One of the more memorable scenes in the movie is when an astro-zombie attacked Joan Norwalk, in her apartment, and agent Eric Porter came to the rescue. The location of the violent confrontation was actually at the residence of co-producer Kenneth Altose.

“We tore up Kenney Altose’s bedroom and broke his closet door in that attack scene,” Mikels recalled.

Another moment that stands out in Astro-Zombies, for its avant-garde nature, is the nightclub scene. Agents Porter and Edwards are seated at a table with Janine Norwalk. They are entertained by a topless dancer whose entire body is painted in a rainbow of colors. The young woman was a daughter of two Bend, Oregon Community Theater players.

“The girl dancer in the psychedelic paint is Lynette Lance, the beautiful daughter of two of my Bend, Oregon, Community Theater players,” Mikels explained. “She lived with me at the time, during the making of the movie, and cried heavy tears when I sent her back home to Bend.”

Mikels appears in this scene, outside of the spotlight, playing the bongos on stage.

“In the past, I played bongos after my nightclub had to close, at 2:30 in the morning,” Mikels said. “Many people would want to come over to my home after and we would have more drinks. I would play on my big bongos for, sometimes, a couple of hours.”

What would become the astro-zombies’ signature weapon of choice, the machete, doesn’t appear until the end of the movie, when one of the creatures grabs hold of the weapon, conveniently present in DeMarco’s lab. The astroman chases Juan with it. Outdoors, he uses it to cut the head off one man (Gary Heacock), and hack into the skull of another (Tony Tierney).

Mikels created the sheet metal prop over a decade earlier, for a 16mm film he produced, Dream Man, released in 1956. It was pulled out of his collection of odds and ends and introduced into Astro-Zombies. In fact, he made two of them, one intact and the other with a cut-out section, that, when placed against the neck, or head, of an individual, looked like the blade was embedded in the victim.

“The rest of the cast was made up of some of my friends who loved working in my movies, and who wanted to become part of a performing group for all of my movies,” Mikels said. “Barbara Richards, whose real name was Barbara Maisel, my secretary and neighbor, played a waitress in nightclub scenes.”

Mikels gave a lot of credit to Gary Heacock, who did the special effects seen in the movie, and longtime friend Nicholas Carras, composer of the music track.

Astro-Zombies took Mikels 13 months to make. Its theatrical release took place on May 19, 1968.

Mikels said unlike producers Wayne Rogers, Kenneth Altose, and distributor Jack Harris, he never made a dime off the movie.

Sadly, a year after Astro-Zombies was released, the man who has the distinction of being the very first astro-zombie, Rod Wilmoth, died on May 12, 1969, in Riverside County, California, at the age of 42. Also that same year, actor Wendell Corey, who played C.I.A. superior Mr. Holman, passed away. Astro-Zombies was his last motion picture.

It was an incredibly busy time for Mikels, working between his own productions and appearing on sets elsewhere.

“In 1968, I did a weekly, one hour series called Talent on Tape,” Mikels said. “I also filmed the Jimmy Allen Show. I was far more busy than I can even remember, I think I was working day and night, 7 days a week.”

In 1969, Mikels was hired to re-edit a motion picture titled Up Your Teddy Bear, a comedy drama written and directed by John Joslyn. The story of a toy store employee, whose hobbies include making wooden toys and stalking women, featured actress Julie Newmar, who became known on television as The Catwoman in Bat-Man. The film also starred Wally Cox and Victor Buono.

“I took Julie Newmar into Minneapolis for the world premiere of that movie,” Mikels recalled. “I guess my work overlapped, one day to the next, for all the projects that I always got into.”

In 1970, Mikels was the director and executive producer of the film Scam.

Ted V. Mikels’ involvement with The Corpse Grinders, released in 1971, originated with a script he took an interest in, written by Arch Hall Jr. and Joseph Cranston. The screenplay concerned a financially struggling cat food company that turns to a new, cheap source of meat—human cadavers. The script didn’t come cheap, either.

“It was the only time in my life that I ever have paid a sizable sum of cash for a script, but I liked it, and felt it had some promise,” Mikels recalled.

Mikels worked with Hall and Cranston, contributing to the final script, although he is not credited as one of the writers. All three had input on the name of the cat food, LOTUS, but lost to history is how that name was chosen. But the slogan for the brand,  “For cats who like people,” was Mikels’ idea.

The Corpse Grinders cast actors to play the most unconventional, outrageous, idiosyncratic and creepy characters in cinematic history.

“It was my effort to cast the movie with very different characters, characters who would live in the minds of the viewers for a long time to come,” Mikels stated. “I think we did accomplish that, because many people remember all of the characters, and I think The Corpse Grinders will be around forever.”

Cast in the lead role of Doctor Howard Glass was actor Sean Kenney, who previously had worked in television, most notably for his participation in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek. In the classic sci-fi series, Kenney had played Lieutenant DePaul and Captain Christopher Pike in the two-part episode, The Menagerie. Kenney had been looking to break into movies when the film opportunity surfaced.

“Sean Kenney came into my studio offices for an interview. Somebody had recommended him,” Mikels said. “I liked him, and his look and manner. He was a gentleman, very cool, extremely cooperative and so easy to direct. He was a delight to work with in the film.”

Kenney recalls all his scenes were shot in no more than 12 days.  And on his first day of work his doctor’s office, while unusual, was waiting for him.

“Ted constructed my doctor’s office. They had assembled some things that looked like it was pulled out of an old kitchen, like fixed up cabinets. And he brought in a lot of medical stuff,” Sean Kenney said. “Ted was inventive. He was a master of getting things done—and getting it done quickly, because it was a tight budget.”

Actress Monika Kelly was cast in the role of Angie Robinson, nurse and girlfriend of Doctor Glass. Mikels appreciated Kelly’s “ability to play both campy and scary scenes,” and found her a pleasure to work with. Sean Kenney agreed concerning his co-star.

“Oh, Monika was great. I liked her,” Kenney said. “She had a really sexy voice, and Ted was going for innuendo and everything in the movie. It’s kind of cool the way Ted did everything—no sex scenes—you know, an innocent kind of titillation.”

Cast in the roles of corpse-grinding business partners operating the Lotus Cat Food Company were Sanford Mitchell, cast as Landau, and J. Byron Foster, cast as Maltby. Mikels explained Mitchell was a perfect fit for his “unscrupulous role,” he was personable and an easy hire. But J. Byron Foster had difficulty finding motion picture roles.

“Foster did not find it easy to find parts,” Mikels said. “He carries this role as Maltby wholeheartedly, and did an excellent job. I was very pleased with him.”

Kenney recalls the chemistry between Mitchell and Foster was a notable highlight of the movie.

“Landau and Maltby were like frick and frack.  Mitchell was the young guy in the factory, you know, the heavy. And the other guy was like nervous and frumpy, who ran around with him,” Kenney said. “It was almost like Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, and Ned Beatty as Otis, in the second Christopher Reeve Superman film. That was classic Hollywood, almost ‘comedy’ comedy, the same kind of personalities.”

Two other characters creating chemistry in the film were Warren Ball, cast in the role of the disheveled undertaker Caleb, and his unappealing wife Cleo, played by actress Ann Noble. Against his wife’s warnings, Caleb turns to grave robber, digging up fresh corpses to sell to Landau and Maltby, to process as cat food.

“Ball and Noble were a well, and deeply, experienced couple in theater and motion pictures,” Mikels said.

Fans of the film point to a favorite oddity–the doll Noble played with in her scenes—which she treated as a living child. Mikels stated the doll was her idea.

“I think in this case it would allow for a little distraction at the kitchen table,” Mikels said. “She came up with the dialogue for the little doll and it was a delightful scene in the film.”

The cemetery where the bodies were buried and dug up for sale was created at Mikels’ residence in Glendale.

“The graveyard was actually created in Ted’s backyard,” Kenney said. “He used dry ice for the fog, and smoke, fake tombstones, and all that.”

Landau also strikes a deal with two morticians, played by Stephen Lester and William Kirschner, to buy corpses under the table. Also cast in the movie was Vincent Barbi, as Monk, who contracts with Landau to provide corpses, and accomplishes this by killing people.

With a fresh supply of corpses coming in, the Lotus Cat Food Company is seeing big profits, as cadavers are being ground to product purr-fection. Concerning the meat grinder, Mikels’ first thought was to use the optics of an actual cannery for the b-roll.

“I looked all over to find a fish cannery, or a place that actually stamped out cans of food, but never could find it,” Mikels explained. “So that is why we built the corpse grinding machine in the studio. That was done by Gary Heacock, who put the entire thing together for a total of $29, with flashing lights, and a lawn mower blade to function as a grinder. It was a lot of fun for everyone that worked on the movie.”

Also cast in The Corpse Grinders, was character actress Drucilla Hoy, in the role of Tessie, a one-legged, deaf, and mute factory worker employed by Landau and Maltby. The always obedient redhead hobbles around using a crutch.

“I asked Drucilla if she could manage to hop on one leg, and she obliged by saying we could strap it up. We kept a constant watch on her so she wouldn’t fall,” Mikels said. “I prayed hard that the holy cross would never let her down, or that she would fall.”

Sean Kenney recalls how Hoy was beloved on the set, not only for her experience, but for the convincing way she portrayed Tessie.

“We liked having her on the set because she had so much acting training. She didn’t have any lines, but with this character, she really pulled it off. She was so convincing,” Kenney said. “It was hokey, she’s playing this disheveled character, but it was convincing, and Ted wanted it that way.”

Hoy “wanted to please,” Mikels recalled. She was also aware that being cast as a wholesome young lady in a motion picture was highly unlikely, nor did the notion matter to her.

“Drucilla was very creative, but she knew she could never play an ingénue character,” Mikels explained. “But, she loved the idea of being a memorable player and helped to make the cast memorable.”

Hoy had the distinction of being in one of the film’s most outrageous moments. In the scene, Tessie enters the main office of Lotus to deliver the mail to Landau and Maltby. Landau briefly exchanges pleasantries with the deaf-mute, using sign language. Then, via sign language, she is asked to leave the room.

“On the way out, close the door behind you, because we want to talk in private,” Landau said.

As if she would hear them anyway.

“It was the funniest scene of all in the movie, and I think Ted really pulled it off,” Sean Kenney said. “Sandford Mitchell’s character doing sign language to Tessie in the meat factory. That’s what’s so good about it. That’s why it was like Ed Wood.”

Another amusing individual in The Corpse Grinders leaving a lasting impression with the audience is Willie, a skinny, quirky janitor wearing a red shirt, played by actor Charles Fox. Sadly, Willie is another casualty of the business, when Landau runs him through the meat grinder.

“I wanted to load the cast with characters that would never be forgotten, and Charley Fox was exactly the type of character I was looking for,” Mikels said. “He’s certainly one everyone loves, and folks got a big kick out of this performance, especially when Landau asks him if he really wanted to see what was going on in the back room.”

What’s going on in the back room–grinding up cadavers–has an unintended consequence. The cats, having developed a taste for people, begin to kill them to eat their flesh. And, there were plenty of cats in the movie.

It was Sherri Vernon who picked up the cats to appear in the movie.

"Sherri Vernon, our makeup artist, had borrowed about 32 cats from the local pound,” Mikels recalled. “They had to be returned, but what a job it was to catch them all. And that, in itself, was a real chore.”

Vernon also became the first cat attack victim in the film’s opening scene, which became prominent in the movie trailer. This happened as a result of an incident.

“I was originally working with Ted on hair, makeup and wardrobe. So, I did the makeup on the girl that was to be in that opening scene,” Sherri Vernon recalled. “And the actress got annoyed by waiting around, and she walked off. So Ted said, ‘You’re going to have to do the part. I don’t have anybody else.’ And that was it.”

The most memorable cat scene happens when Doctor Howard Glass is attacked in his office, moments after his assistant Angie feeds a feline some LOTUS cat food. Still frames from the scene were used in lobby cards and advertising for the film.

“Ted told me that the cats were all trained,” Kenney said. “I learned later that was not true.”

The moment Dr. Glass pulls the attack cat off his chest, actor Sean Kenney saw the line between fiction and reality had been crossed.

“The cat that they threw at me was never declawed. They just picked it up from the pound, and they threw it at me. Its claws went right into my chest,” Kenney recalled, with humor. “You can see, in the movie, the cat was really attached to me when I was trying to pull him off. Nobody had any control over the cat.”

The white jacket Kenney was wearing was relatively thick, but the tips of the cat’s claws did make their way through.

“Maybe I bled a little bit,” he added.

In The Corpse Grinders, after a sleeping woman named Annie, played by Mary Ellen Burke, is attacked by her cat, a neighbor, played by Harry Lovejoy, hears her screams and enters her home. He witnesses her throat being ripped out and responds by killing the cat.

The run-down home used in the scene was loaned out to Mikels.

“It was a poor Hispanic family. They were so gracious to let us take over their home, without them expecting any money,” Mikels recalled. “I bought Thanksgiving turkey dinner for them, the biggest turkey I could find.”

Doctor Glass takes a stomach sample from the retrieved animal, which is sent to Mr. Desisto, played by actor Earl Durnam, for testing. Upon results, a connection is made between the cat food and the kitties having a taste for human flesh.

As the end draws near, things become desperate. Landau ends up shooting Caleb the undertaker to death, in a squabble concerning money. Then Landau chases his wife Cleo into the graveyard, kills her, and kicks her body into an open grave.

“I was so pleased that actress Ann Noble [Cleo] obliged us by falling into the hole,” Mikels said. “I thought it was kind of hard on her when she hit the bottom, but what a good sport. And she let us throw dirt on her.”

Actor Curt Matson, in the role of Paul Zonigan, is seen trailing everyone for the duration of the movie. Mikels recalled that Matson, a newlywed, appeared at his office for an interview, trying to get his wife a role in The Corpse Grinders. Mikels had no role for her, but hired him on the spot.

“I liked his voice and gave him the part of the Private Detective,” Mikels said. “He was a great, down-to-earth, and serious, helper. I trained him to change, and load, film in the camera film magazines.”

Thus, Matson became an assistant cameraman for the film and other Mikels projects. His wife did land a bit role in Mikels’ subsequent film, Blood Orgy of the She-Devils.

Actor Ray Dannis, who plays LOTUS cat food investor Carlton Babcock, earned the distinction of being the first person fed through the corpse grinding machine. He was killed by Maltby at the factory when he severs his agreement with the two men.

“Ray Dannis was perfect for the part,” Mikels said. “Ray appeared in The Undertaker and His Pals, which I re-cut and released in 1966.”

Adhering to the rule, “There is no loyalty among thieves,” after Maltby pockets a sizable amount of cash from the office, betraying his partner, he is shot dead by Landau. Doctor Glass arrives at the Lotus cat food factory to rescue his love, Angie, who is being held hostage. He is also shot by Landau.

Detective Zonigan arrives just in time to rescue Angie and Dr. Glass.

“He was out to arrest the meat factory guys,” Sean Kenney explained. “I was on the staircase, and tumbled down after I was shot by Landau. I remember that scene.”

With a tight budget for the film, lunch wasn’t always as filling as one wished, as the cat food mix had to be funded, too.

“One funny story is that we did not have money for food, but I always sent a runner to the meat market to pick up a pound or two of hamburger, for 39¢ per pound,” Mikels said. “We would mix it with a little grain, and sawdust shaken in the mix for texture, so that it looked like ground human when it comes out of the corpse grinding machine.”

But the cat food production expense didn’t mean the cast and crew went hungry.

“I cannot say that we had zero money for food, because we did have some bologna sandwiches,” Mikels mused. “And sometimes it was jelly sandwiches—but everyone was happy—it became kind of a joke. And, Kool Aid was the drink of the hour.”

Paul Wilmoth, son of the late actor Rod Wilmoth, worked diligently on lighting in The Corpse Grinders, which unlike previous Mikels films, was notably different.

“We utilized colored filters as often as it was possible,” Mikels said. “We have received a tremendous amount of professional compliments for our lighting on that movie.”

Along with colorful and shadowy tones, the injection of twisted campiness provided for the movie’s classic outrageous and ludicrous moments.

“Ted knew the poorer that it looked, the better it looked,” Sean Kenney said. “You know, I hate to say it in that way, but that is the way Ed Wood succeeded. It was classic, and at times, just hilarious.”

Mikels credits four of the film’s investors as attaching the word “horror,” concerning the genre of the movie, for distribution. It would introduce a label on Mikels that would stick.

“For me, it was just a comedy acted out by characters, in an attempt to entertain everyone,” Mikels said. “Those four investors were also the ones that called me the ‘King of Horror,’ and promoted me as such. Each of them had an input to distributing the movie.”

Gus Lampe, who operated Schine theater circuit, also promoted The Corpse Grinders as a horror movie. Lampe was also a co-producer of the film. Whether a campy comedy, or fright flick, the film was a hit.

A Daily Variety news item, published in December 1971, reported the film's production cost was about $78,000, plus prints, and it had grossed over $1,000,000 at the time. In the article, Lampe stated his theaters used "old-time showmanship” that included 1950’s style exploitation gimmicks, such as nurses on duty at his theaters to take the blood pressure of viewers. There was also a humorous requirement that each attendee sign a "certificate of assurance" that he could handle the shock of The Corpse Grinders. Lampe also had ambulances parked in front of the theaters to enhance interest in the movie.

The film’s success led to Mikels purchasing the castle where some of the scenes in The Corpse Grinders had been filmed. Associate John Currin had found the castle, when he was scouting out locations to film, and had spoken to the owner. It turned out Mikels already knew the man, Stephen Paieta, who worked as a composer for Universal Studios.

“I remembered Stephen from my old hometown of Portland, Oregon. He had a musical group that played on radio,” Mikels recalled. “I told him that if he ever planned to sell the place to let me know.”

Mikels credits the twin sister of John Currin, Sherri Vernon—whom he met in 1969—with encouraging him to acquire the castle. Others have said Vernon also gets credit for breaking up Mikels’ marriage. But it was hardly a fling, as Vernon and Mikels were soulmates for 14 years.

“My wife and I had separated in 1970, and my divorce was nearly final,” Mikels explained. Ted V. and Geneva Mikels’ marriage legally ended in April, 1971.

Also a factor in obtaining the castle was it had fallen into disrepair, and the price was negotiable.

“Stephen had trouble keeping the place up, and frankly, I think he was tired of the constant repairs needed,” Mikels explained. “I went to visit Stephen, and we agreed on a down-payment, and terms, and the cost of the castle was a third of what I still owed on my little townhouse. People talked me into getting a financial advisor, and the first thing he did was march me to the loan company to borrow a quarter of a million dollars, and that was the biggest mistake of my life.”

Mikels moved into the castle in 1971. He ended up making monthly payments of $3,365, for three years, which only covered interest, a 20-22% rate at the time. While the entire experience cost him a fortune, he did make it his home for 14 years.

What he lost via his financial advisor, he compensated for by being his own repairman and builder.

“The window glass kept falling out of the panes every time there was a wind, or rain, storm,” Mikels said. “I did not mind doing the repairs or the plumbing. And I was very handy with wiring, carpentry, and so on. Bricklaying was also a pleasure to me.”

Mikels repaired persistent leaks in the ceiling, and cut glass to fit smaller window panes when they were blown out, or damaged.

The interior decorations on display featured medieval items such as knight’s armor and helmets, spears, double-handed swords, gauntlets, and Persian Kurd war axes. The museum-like collection also included bayonets, rifles, pistols, cannons and all sorts of weapons from many countries.

Sometimes acquiring a rare firearm was as easy as Mikels poking around outdoors in his own yard.

“One was dug out of the ground at the castle,” he noted. “It was a flintlock pistol, over 200 years old, that would have been used in the early days of the Musketeers. I still have it on the wall in my house today—a cherished and fine collectible from my Castle days.”

The castle became a gathering place for associates, actors, actresses and crew. Aside from the party atmosphere with medieval appearance, it was a movie maker hoarder’s dream, housing an array of movie props and artifacts.

“At my castle, I called a party for almost any incident that seemed interesting,” Mikels said. “Birthdays, movie premieres, a good day of shooting film, a friend coming to town to visit, trying out a new recipe of good food. I had huge kettles and did most all of the cooking myself, strange to say.”

“We always sat an extra place out on the dinner table, at the castle, in case someone showed up,” Sherri Vernon said. “It was for anybody who wanted to eat. Ted never wanted anyone to go hungry.”

It is estimated that the annual consumption of wine alone at the castle parties exceeded 500 gallons.

“That’s not to mention other hard liquor,” Mikels said. “I guess there were many people that helped to drink it all.”

Sherri Vernon wasn’t one of them, however.

“I never partied,” she said. “I don’t drink.”

But the drinking took place after business hours. Working was a different attitude.

“I never allowed alcohol on the set when I was making a movie,” Mikels explained.

The next motion picture project Ted V. Mikels was involved in was Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, released in 1972. Mikels served as executive producer. The story focused on six friends who dig up a corpse named Orville, and use it in a satanic ritual to raise the dead, with deadly results.

The project, written by Alan Ormsby and Bob Clark, and directed by Alan Ormsby, featured Ormsby, his wife Anya, Valerie Mamches, Jeff Gillen, Paul Cronin, and Jane Daly, among others. Mikels noted that he had “sort of an outside involvement” regarding the movie, as executive producer, furnishing $27,000 to get the film underway.

“I was flush with receiving money from The Corpse Grinders movie. My new sales manager had been working with a Florida group, and that is how I became involved with Bob Clark,” Mikels recalled. “When I flew into Miami Beach to see how filming was going, I was so disappointed. I told the group that they had to trash everything that they shot, and start over with 35 millimeter film.”

Mikels had to devote two weeks teaching the grips how to light for special effects, and how to use low-key, night lighting for the spooky and horror scenes. He even set up a blackboard and used chalk to show the crew where lights should be placed.

“I approved the final edit before I allowed them to make a first trial print,” Mikels said.

Despite the cleanup, Mikels stated the people involved were wonderful, and they enjoyed a good working relationship.

“I did not put my name on the credits, except my company name, which at that time was Geneni Film Distributing Company,” Mikels said. “I released the movie very successfully, and personally attended showings, and shipped masks of the deceased, zombie-like creatures to the theaters and drive-ins that were playing the movie, so they could use them to promote the opening.”

Meanwhile, other financial backers in Florida were anxious to get their money back and see a profit. Some investors hung around Mikels’ Hollywood offices for weeks asking for money, which theaters took their time delivering. While Mikels had $67,000 in receivables due to him via theaters, he also had a $65,000 bill due, in his name, from the Miami film laboratory.

“I offered to trade,” Mikels explained. “I gave them all of my receivables, which were about $67,000, which relieved me of the obligation of the film laboratory in Miami, in the amount of $65,000. Then we would be even, and I would ask for nothing from the returns of the movie.”

Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things co-writer, Bob Clark, held a room in Mikels’ studios in Las Vegas for several years, as Mikels’ film distribution sales manager. But Mikels didn’t participate in further Bob Clark film activities.

Meanwhile, strange things were going on at the Mikels’ castle. Not just on a paranormal level, but a creative one with Ted V. Mikels at the helm. The captain of cinema was pondering a movie project with a tentative title of Murder at Castlereaghe. The plan was for Lila Zaborin, her husband Rick Turner, and  Sherri Vernon to make up a foundation for the cast.

“I spelled it ‘Castlereaghe’ purposely, to give it a European sounding title,” Mikels recalled. “Sherri actually made period costumes for every one of us in the cast. I was in the master of the castle role. Rick was to play the local priest in the village, below the castle, which was on high ground.”

Mikels wrote the script with the intention of using achievable special effects techniques, to create illusions that usually were cost prohibitive. The notion was to create a majestic look on a small budget.

“Spectacular action scenes are costly things to do,” Mikels said. “In the script, one of the bad guys, in an attempt to kill the master of the castle, jumps out of the bushes with a sheet, scaring the horse, propelling a person inside of the buggy off the cliff, into the ocean below.”

He recalls the script fondly, as it was one of the first stories he had written after moving into the castle, and making it his home. And within the castle walls one’s imagination could run wild, as the environment was akin to a large, gothic horror film set.

“Everything was there in the castle, including the secret rooms, where during the days of prohibition liquor could be hidden,” Mikels said. “There was this room behind the big huge fireplace. I wanted to take full advantage of everything that the castle had to offer, and we sure had a perfect cast, if I could have made the film.”

Like the doomed rider in the horse-drawn buggy, the movie project went off a cliff, too.

Mikels opted to write a different story to shoot at the castle, titled Blood Orgy of the She-Devils. He prepared for it by studying the supernatural and paranormal for two years, and also attended séances, which influenced and lent credence to his script.

Released in 1972, Blood Orgy of the She-Devils resembled the optics of some of Hammer Film’s more popular horror movies of the 1960’s. Mikels cast Lila Zaborin in the unforgettable role of Mara, a witch, medium and occult practitioner.

In the story, Mara resides in a huge mansion with young, scantily clad witches. She sacrifices captive males on a blood altar. Delightfully evil Mara freely casts spells and kills people using voodoo dolls.

While most of the movie was shot at Mikels’ castle, some scenes were photographed at the Hollywood stages. The movie reunited the cast members of Girl in Gold Boots: Tom Pace, Leslie McRae, Victor Izay and William Bagdad. It also included Vincent Barbi, thus a reunion of the Astro-Zombies cast, sans McRae.

“Ted just called me and offered me the part of Lorraine,” Leslie McRae recalled. “I told Ted I wanted a death scene, you know, every actor or actress wants that. When I showed up on the set, it was like a family reunion.”

Mikels recognized the benefits, and downside, to regrouping familiar faces in his pictures.

“One problem I always faced was that all of the actors that worked for me, in any one of my movies, always wanted a part in my next movie,” he said. “That gets to be a problem, causing other performers to get upset. I stuck close to my proven talented people, and was often accused of not giving new people a chance.”

The accusation did not apply for Lila Zaborin, who dominated the movie in the role of Mara. It was her first movie role. Zaborin was a New York Shakespearean actress who came to Hollywood with her husband, Rick Turner, at the request of her dear friend, actress Natalie Wood, who paid for the trip.

Actor Victor Izay filled the role of Doctor Helsford, a theology professor, who, by the end of Blood Orgy of the She-Devils, displays some supernatural powers of his own to put an end to Mara and her cauldron of witches.

“Victor Izay was so talented, and the type of actor directors dream to work with,” Mikels said. “His performance range was endless, and I could get a credible performance from him, anytime.”

William Bagdad was cast as Toruqe, a Neanderthal-looking assistant of Mara. Mikels said Bagdad’s ability to assume a different appearance in each of his films was “uncanny.”

Mikels’ daughter Celine, who created wardrobe for the movie, designed Bagdad’s unusual costume.

“Celine had a unique ability of making wardrobe out of nothing, including the headpiece for William Baghdad,” Mikels said. “She laughed about making the horns out of the cardboard inset in toilet paper rolls. She was quite ingenious that way, and still is.”

One visual amusement in Bloody Orgy of the She-Devils is Vincent Barbi, who typically was typecast in gangster roles, dressed up as an Indian Chief.

In the twisted tale Rodannus, played by Ray Myles, along with his enforcer Barth, played by Paul Wilmoth, pay Mara a visit and hire her to use her supernatural powers to kill Rhodesian United Nations Ambassador, Chardaire DuPlae. Mara agrees to the deal for a $30,000 payment.

After the death of the ambassador, Rodannus puts a hit on Mara, sending Barth to the castle, where he kills the witch, a client of hers and her assistant Toruqe. Mara is resurrected as a cat, then returns to her former self, brings Toruqe back to life. Seeking revenge, she crafts voodoo dolls of Rodannus and Barth, in order to kill them.

But wait, there’s more.

Lorraine (Leslie McRae) becomes interested in reincarnation and visits Mara to learn of her former life. She recruits her boyfriend, Mark (Tom Pace), compelling him to attend one of Mara’s séances at the castle. There, Mara invokes an Indian spirit guide and great-aunt, Jessica. They possess Lorraine’s  body.

But before her body was possessed, it caught the attention of Hollywood.

“Leslie had won many beauty titles before I cast her in Girl in Gold Boots,” Mikels said. “It was also a delight to work with Leslie in Blood Orgy of the She-Devils.”

Leslie McRae was very popular in Hollywood circles. Mikels once recalled meeting Warren Beatty at a party he attended at McRae’s apartment. But McRae wasn’t star struck, and on the set of Mikels’ film the social aspect made for camaraderie, admiration, and affection among cast and crew.

“After a day’s shoot, Ted would cook up steaks, and we would have salad and drinks. We would hang out,” McRae said. “It was really like a family get-together.”

The film also featured historical recreations, used as flashback scenes, depicting how accused witches were persecuted and burned at the stake. One fiery casualty was actress Sherri Vernon, figuratively, and almost literally.

“Sherri Vernon was nearly seriously burned in her scene,” Leslie McRae recalled.

Vernon still remembers her fiery brush with fate.

“They set that sucker on fire and the wind changed! I did get some burns,” Vernon recalled. “When the wind changed and the fire came right on me, that was a bit scary. I almost got burned at the stake.”

Crossing lines between fiction with reality, making a brief appearance in the movie was Hollywood professional psychic, Kebrina Kinkade, in the role of Sharon. While at Mara’s home, she sees her own strangulation death in a crystal ball.

“Kebrina Kinkade sure proved herself to me with her psychic abilities,” Mikels said. “She made two predictions for me that came absolutely true.”

And yes, for those curious at this name, Mikels did use Kebrina Kinkade’s name with a twist, coming up with Sabrina Kincaid, actress Francine York’s character in his next film, The Doll Squad.

Mikels’ daughter, Celine, appears briefly in the film, playing a waitress at a nightclub.

At the conclusion of the Blood Orgy of the She-Devils, Doctor Helsford and three other professors gather outside Mara’s castle. They use Christian symbolism and white magic to exorcise the hell house, causing the evil ones inside to kill one another. Unfortunately, Mark and Lorraine are casualties, as well.

“My personal favorite scene in Blood Orgy of the She-Devils was dying,” Leslie McRae said.

Mara, after morphing into a bat, tries to make an escape, but is killed by Helsford.

Leslie McRae stated there was a creepy feel during the making of the film, as if there was a curse looming over the production. She recalled that she wore her holy cross at the occult ritual scenes.

“We filmed on the set in Hollywood, where many accidents occurred. Besides Sherri’s incident, Tom Pace got stabbed, another person fell,” McRae said. “The chanting in another language, by a real supernatural practitioner, creeped me out, because we literally did not know what we were saying. A lot of it was shot in Ted’s castle, where paranormal things already seemed to take place. It was creepy.”

“There were weird things that were happening on the set while making that movie,” Sherri Vernon agreed.

Concerning the subject of the occult, Vernon looked back with surprise that she was even involved in the project.

“I don’t like those kind of movies,” Vernon said. “I never begged Ted to be in his pictures, and he never asked, ‘Do you want to do this?’ He kind of just told me, ‘You gotta do this, I don’t have anyone else.’ And in Blood Orgy, I hated the title, and don’t like the subject, and I think it was one of those, ‘You’re going to have to do this’ moments. Because this film wasn’t something I would volunteer for.”

Vernon explained that beyond the fiction of film, there was a sincere concern about opening up gateways to evil.

“Messing around with things like that [the occult] brings out bad things,” she explained. “I don’t care if you’re an atheist, or believe in God, what goes around comes around. If you put out bad things, it’s going to come back. I don’t care how you cut it.”

One interesting bit of trivia concerns the scene where McRae and Pace are picnicking on the grass—which happened to be the lawn of Cecil B. DeMille’s estate.

“To this day, Blood Orgy of the She-Devils  is one of my bestsellers for my distributors,” Mikels stated.

Although lead actress Lila Zaborin never made another film—this being her one and only—she and Mikels continued a friendship.

“We did hope that we could have more movies together, but I did manage to maintain a very close friendship, even to this day,” Mikels said. “I did hear from her about a year ago. At the time, I believe she was living in Palm Springs. She did visit me in Las Vegas on one or two occasions.”

It also was the last picture Mikels made with Leslie McRae and Tom Pace. McRae, who went on to produce over 60 television specials, many of which were award recipients, established a non-profit, outreach specializing in faith-based films.

Mikels’ next motion picture, The Doll Squad, was released in 1973. It was a pioneering effort not only for its distinctive, artistic look and catchy, bold, brass theme music, but it introduced women as action heroes. The film’s legendary link to Aaron Spelling’s Charlie’s Angels is irrefutable.

The Doll Squad presented an attractive team of heroines, who come to the rescue when an unscrupulous terrorist plans to overthrow world governments.

The tale opens with the sabotage destruction of Star-Flight XII, killing the astronauts shortly after launch at Cape Kennedy. Location authenticity was provided via stock footage. Terrorists issue a warning to the Defense Department, to hand over the plans for an antiballistic missile with warhead, on microfilm, or face a national catastrophic disaster.

A lead opens up to catch the menace, when a female mole working as a secretary for Senator Stockwell is exposed. Agent Victor Connelly and Stockwell summon Doll Squad leader Sabrina Kincaid, recruiting her help. Sabrina obliges, and organizes members Sharon O’Connor, Lavelle Sumara, Elizabeth White and Cat to go on the secret mission.

However, the secret operation is leaked, and a sleazy terrorist operative named Monk shoots and kills two of the heroines, Carol and Cherisse. When he tries for a third, meeting Sabrina in a nightclub, he gets a face full of fire, via a weapon disguised as a cigarette lighter.

Joseph, a sleazy operative working for Eamon O’Reilly, head of the terrorist organization behind the sabotage, abducts agent SQ-6 Kim Luval, bringing her to Dr. Cahaymen’s residence to be held hostage. O’Reilly’s girlfriend, Maria, then poses as Luval to infiltrate the Doll Squad. But Sabrina discovers Maria’s identity, gaining information leading to O’Reilly, who operates on a remote island off San Lorenzo, Venezuela.

Sound confusing yet?

The Dolls launch a nighttime rescue of Luval. They climb through a bedroom window, snatching her from her bed, then switch the agent with Maria, who is asleep, via hypnosis. O’Reilly orders his security to shoot and kill Luval, which actually results in the death of Maria, hidden beneath the bed sheets.

It gets better.

The Doll Squad adds Luval to their venture, and they all meet up at a remote island to face the terrorist organization. Sabrina, O’Connor, Sumara and Luval are captured, thanks to a junkie named Rafael, who was also aboard the yacht that transported the girls to the island. Cat and White, who arrived at the island by other means, learn of this, and spring their teammates from captivity in a hail of gunfire. Luval is killed. O’Connor is wounded.

Once face to face, there’s little love between Eamon O’Reilly and Sabrina, who had previously shared a romantic relationship. In an explosive ending, the Dolls raid O’Reilly’s mansion to stop his evil plan. O’Reilly’s intention, with assistance from Dr. Cahayment and his twin, is to release rats infected with the bubonic plague onto America’s streets.

The action-packed drama is full of weapon gadgetry, machine guns, a bazooka and even exploding cookies. Visually the movie had a mod look. A solarized effect was added to action scenes in the opening title credits. Mikels even developed a kaleidoscope dissolve effect for transitions between segments.

The original script, credited to Jack Richesin and Pam Eddy, barely resembled the story that became the script for the film, which Mikels rewrote and expanded upon. A friend of Mikels helped raise nearly $100,000, a fraction of what was needed to get the cinematic ball rolling. The actual cost to make the movie was approximately $256,000.

The Doll Squad team members were akin to costumed, comic book figures that spring to action. They wore forest green, jumpsuit-style uniforms, complimented with white pin-striping, and white fashion boots that presented a challenge when running.

Actress Francine York was cast as Sabrina Kincaid, the leader of The Doll Squad. The other Dolls featured included Judy McConnell as Elizabeth White, Leigh Christian as Sharon O’Connor, Tura Satana as Lavelle Sumara, Sherri Vernon as Cat, Carol Terry as Carol Pierce and Bret Zeller as Cherisse. Actress Jean London is cast in the role of Kim Luval, agent SQ-6, who joins the team.

Cast in the leading male role was Michael Ansara as the delightfully diabolical Eamon O’Reilly. Sleazy criminal associates included Rafael Campos as a junkie named Rafael, William Bagdad as Joseph, Gustave and Bertil Unger as the odd Cahaymen twins, and Herb Robins as Munson, the unluckiest hitman of all time.

Cast in the role of the good guys in Washington, D.C. were Anthony Eisley as Victor Connelly and John Carter as Senator Stockwell. The cast also included Lillian Garrett as Nancy Malone, Lisa Todd as Maria, Dru Landers as the nurse, and Curt Matson, who played the yacht owner Captain Curran.

Nicholas Carras arranged the music for The Doll Squad, with lyrics in the title tune, Song for Sabrina, written by Buddy Kaye and Solomon King, with vocals by King.

Solomon King failed to enjoy success as a recording artist in the United States, but was a popular singer in the United Kingdom. To his credit, he had toured with singer Billie Holiday and once worked as a backup vocalist for Elvis Presley.

During casting, some notable actresses visited Mikels’ office, seeking an audition for the film.

“Sissy Spacek and Mary Martin came in,” Mikels said. “I had to turn them down, as I had no place for them in the movie at the time.”

Cathy Lee Crosby also came in for an interview. But unknown to Mikels, she had been insulted by one of the movie’s investors, who was in the office when Mikels was out. Supposedly, the man had asked Crosby, “What is the size of your breasts?” This caused the actress to leave the office.

“That evening I heard from a member of the Crosby family, saying that Cathy was insulted and did not wish to be considered for the movie,” Mikels said. “I felt terrible that some dorky guy, putting up a few dollars for the movie, had to be in my office at the time, and ask her that ridiculous question. I felt badly about it, but there was nothing I could do at that point.”

Mikels said he always tried to form a shield of protection between actresses and the men who wanted to bankroll film projects.

“That was only the first time it happened,” Mikels said. “Investors caused embarrassing situations by wanting to see naked females, and so on. But I never ever got involved in such things. You never know what some jerk is going to say in the presence of an actress.”

Mikels noted the chosen, final line-up for the fearless, female crime fighters wasn’t random.

“I chose the females who played the Doll Squad very carefully, knowing that the world would be looking up to them,” Mikels said.

Actress Tura Satana, who played Doll Lavelle Sumara in the picture, had recommended her friend, actress Francine York, as someone Mikels should include. He indicated he was impressed with her spunk.

“The audition was at Columbia Studios,” Francine York recalled. “I managed to do a little rewrite here and there, and Ted and I had a few feuds over the script. Ted likes a challenge, and I stood up to him.”

Francine York, cast as Doll Squad leader Sabrina, came with an impressive entertainment resume. Born in the small mining town of Aurora, Minnesota, to Frank and Sophie Yerich, York had appeared in such television series as Route 66, Mission: Impossible, Adam-12, Bewitched, The Odd Couple, Mannix, Lost in Space, Bat-man and Love, American Style.

Her movie appearances included roles in Curse of the Swamp Creature, Space Probe Taurus, Mutiny in Outer Space, and she enjoyed bit roles in the Jerry Lewis films The Nutty Professor, The Family Jewels and The Disorderly Orderly. York developed a friendship easily with Mikels.

“I was originally just going to be one of the girls, but Ted sensed that I had this element of leadership. I liked playing those roles,” York said. “I think the connection Ted and I shared was, he was Yugoslavian and Croatian, and I am Serbian, with a Yugoslavian background. He became a great friend, and later in life Ted became very close to my parents. They adored him.”

Talent agent Michael Druckman approached Mikels about casting actor Michael Ansara for the lead actor role in the movie. Ansara, born in a small village in Syria, came to the United States with his American parents at the age of two. Ansara came with an impressive resume.

The actor had appeared in such television series as The Mod Squad, The Bill Cosby Show, Star Trek, Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, The Outer Limits, The Lone Ranger and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. His movie career, which began in 1944, included roles in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Harum Scarum, starring Elvis Presley.

“Working with Michael Ansara was so wonderful. I was so grateful to work with an actor of his caliber and his reputation,” Francine York said. “He was such a doll, and I loved all of our scenes together.”

The other leading actors, Anthony Eisley and John Carter, were both versatile in their roles. As consummate professionals. This helped when there were snags during production.

“Anthony and John were delightful to work with, very professional, very patient with delays that we faced, with locations,” Mikels said, pointing to one such example. “The owner of the business that said we could use his office changed his mind when we were at the doorstep. So, we had like an hour to find a different location, which we did.”

That happenstance location, that featured Francine York, Anthony Eisley, John Carter and Lillian Garrett, included an unexpected addition—a pigeon in a cage—which was worked into the storyline.

Mikels explained the cast and crew dealt with a lot of shortcomings, because of a lack of money, but they also benefitted, on occasion, by using facilities that became available at the last minute.

The firing range scene with Francine York, Anthony Eisley and John Carter created sharpshooters of them all, thanks to the off-screen presence of many gunmen firing at the airborne, clay pigeons, simultaneously.

The Doll Squad team of actresses got along remarkably well, according to a recorded interview with Tura Satana that accompanied a DVD release of the movie.

“There was no backstabbing, or anything like that. Everyone got along just fine,” Satana said. “Which is very unusual for a whole crew of girls.”

Sherri Vernon agreed.

“I loved them all. There was no problem. If there ever was, I think the problem was being weary,” Vernon said. “I think 30 hours later, and still shooting, was exhausting. And we were hungry. When it’s a low budget film you’re lucky to get a bologna sandwich.”

The boat trip the Doll Squad made to the island presented real life challenges, incidents and uncomfortable moments. One incident involved the yacht itself.

“We did most of the shooting at Catalina, or en route to Catalina, via yacht. In the process, there was a lot of drinking and carrying on. Everyone was having lots of fun on the boat,” Tura Satana recalled. “I think the captain had a little too much beer, because he ran into another sailboat, and almost sank it.”

Francine York recalled the incident.

“On the way, somehow, we had bumped into a sailing ship,” York said.

But it wasn’t the only near catastrophe.

“There was one situation, involving the dingy, where we almost killed somebody,” Sherri Vernon recalled. “When they tossed it into the water, the dingy went over a guy’s head and almost decapitated him. It sent chills down me.”

And after that, Mikels wanted to place Francine York in a precarious situation.

“Then, Ted wanted me to go into the dinghy,” York said. “Well, I am absolutely paranoid when it comes to water. I said, ‘Ted, I am not going into that dinghy.’ He replied, ‘Oh, don’t worry, if something happens, we’ll get you.’”

York wasn’t so confident, concerning the promised rescue.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be down in the water, and someone is going to come and save me, right!” York said. “So, when you look at the movie closely, you’ll see a rope that’s attached to the dinghy is still tied to the yacht, because I didn’t want it to be floating free in the water.”

Francine York  was amazed at the pace which Mikels worked, maximizing the project.

“I remember when we flew to Catalina Island, Ted did 15 scenes in one day,” she recalled. “It was unbelievable how he shot everything.”

Some scenes for the picture were shot in a desert environment.

“I can remember being out there, on the compound on the island, and it was in the desert, and it was 110 degrees, and we were suffering,” Vernon said. “I mean, it was hotter than hell. I’ve still got pictures of everyone standing around and sweating.”

“It was hot,” York agreed. “Bloody hot.”

The house representing the residence of Eamon O’Reilly really had tunnels below. The home was owned by a gentleman Zsa Zsa Gabor was courting at the time.

One of Francine York’s favorite scenes was with Herb Robins, who played Munson, the unluckiest hitman of all time. During the movie, Sabrina has two run-ins with the criminal, the first of which took place in a bar, where the two are seated at a table. When Munson attempts to shoot Sabrina, she uses a trick cigarette lighter that is actually a mini flamethrower, scorching Munson’s face, and putting out one of his eyes.

“I really loved that scene, when I burned Herb Robins’ face,” York recalled, with humor. “That was one of my all-time favorites. And later, the poor guy comes back, and I let him have it again, and put out his other eye.”

In the second encounter with Munson, which took place in Eamon O’Reilly’s home, the one-eyed criminal emerges from a doorway, grabbing Sabrina from behind. Sabrina responds by seizing a letter opener from a table. She uses it to put out the hitman’s other eye.

This comedic tragedy also came with an amusing backstory, Mikels explained.

“I told Herb to go into the closet, and then, on cue, he should come out and approach Francine,” Mikels said. “Well, I forgot all about him, I guess, with the business at hand of filming Michael Ansara and Francine. About an hour later, Herb was still in the closet, and he opened the door and asked, ‘When can I come out?’ We had totally forgotten about Herb. We had a good laugh about that—all of us did.”

Francine York stated she enjoyed kicking bad man Rafael Campos into the swimming pool, and then shooting him with a pistol as he tried to swim away. She fondly recalled Campos as “a good guy who played a wonderful, little, slimy character.”

Mikels has a cameo in the movie as one of the bad guys.

“The soldier that gets knocked down and shot by Sherri Vernon is me,” Mikels said. “We did that little scene together. Her brother, John, held the camera. We continually would grab little scenes like that, to help make a movie complete long after principal photography would be finished.”

Vernon recalled how the scene made it into promotional spots for the feature.

“I run up and I kick Ted in the face, he goes down then I shoot him,” Vernon said. “Ted used that scene in the trailer for the movie.”

There were many action scenes filmed outdoors, involving a number of weapons. And the machine guns were on loan and only available for a few hours.

“When I asked the girls to fire the two machine guns, they asked, ‘Who are we shooting at?’ I said, ‘It doesn't matter, just run into the scene and shoot,’” Mikels recalled. “I told them I would work out who they're shooting at later in the editing room. That's the way a lot of that happened.”

“We were shooting at the cameras that are shooting us,” Vernon said humorously.

Mikels did possess a permit for those scenes.

“Under the law, and for safety, policemen and firemen were around because I was shooting the real thing,” Vernon said. “A machine gun is heavy and has a kickback like you wouldn’t believe.”

The rounds, obviously, were blanks.

However, another firearm, or rather, armament, garnered some unwanted attention. Mikels had not obtained the proper paperwork. Francine York recalled how firing a bazooka in one scene caused some unexpected consequences.

“First of all, there was no way a woman could put a big bazooka on her shoulder, so Tura helped me. Unfortunately, from what I understand, Ted didn’t get a license to shoot a firearm there,” York recalled. “When the bazooka went off, people around the area, and in the village, were wondering, ‘What is going on here?’ They heard the ‘Boom, boom, boom,’ and wondered, ‘Are we being attacked?’”

Authorities showed up at the scene and Mikels had some explaining to do.

“We laughed so hard,” York said.

Sherri Vernon offered a friendly reminder that Mikels’ rebel style of photography was often routine.

“We were lucky to get [on film] what we did. We shot in a lot of places where we didn’t have a permit, and we had to work fast, wrap it up, and get the hell out of Dodge,” Vernon said. “You’d grab the shot, the cops were on the way, and we had to leave.”

The experiences were anything but frightening in nature.

“When you look back, it’s more exciting. It’s like something going bad at a wedding, it may be terrible at the time, but then when you look back, it’s funny,” Vernon explained. “It makes for great memories.”

Francine York also recalled the climactic, fatal scene between Sabrina and Eamon O’Reilly, where she stabs her former lover with a large sword.

“Ted has his own version of it, but I remember very clearly what happened. There’s all these little gizmos Sabrina can use for self-defense, and there’s this little ring that is a mace gun,” York explained. “At the end of the picture, when Sabrina was captured, Ted was going to have Sherri Vernon come in and save me, when I was being choked by Michael Ansara. I said, ‘Ted, what about this mace ring?’ I mean, why did I have that?”

York said Mikels responded, “Then what are you going to do?”

The two actually engaged in “a big argument” regarding the logic of the scene. Instead of having Vernon burst into the room to save the day, York said she had enough at hand, including a gun, to take care of the situation herself.

“I looked around, and saw the sword on the wall. I told Ted it was very simple, ‘I use the mace ring, and then I grab a sword off the wall and stab him,’” York said. “It’s so hysterical when I stabbed him with that sword. I also had this gun in my hand. Then there was, ‘You already stabbed him, why do you have the gun?’”

Regardless of the series of events that led to Eamon O’Reilly’s demise, it stopped his evil plan.

“I often tell people they wouldn’t be alive today, if it wasn’t for me,” York said. “Because I stopped Eamon from spreading the bubonic plague across the globe.”

The yacht’s departure from the island wasn’t without incident, either. Rough seas encountered caused a few aboard the vessel to become sick.

“That time everybody got sick, even Ted Mikels got sick,” Tura Satana said in a videotaped interview. “Everyone was heaving their guts out.”

“I don’t drink, but I get sick at any motion,” Sherri Vernon explained. “So, I was down below in the yacht with my head in the toilet.”

The movie debut enjoyed significant press coverage and success. Nicholas Carras’ Doll Squad musical score was in the running for an Oscar nomination. It made the top ten, but failed to break through to the top five, for the final vote.

However, in a strange series of events, the tale of The Doll Squad was not over. Not when television producer Aaron Spelling got a hold of it.

The way Francine York understood it, Tura Satana took a print of the movie to Spelling to see if he would express interest in it. He didn’t respond. But soon after, by coincidence, Spelling had a “light go off in his head.” His groundbreaking idea was to form a team of glamorous girls as crime-fighting, action figures.

Sound familiar?

York was invited to audition for a role in Spelling’s new show, titled Charlie’s Angels. She met with the director of the project.

“I go to an interview with the director, and he said, ‘Well, if you do this, and this, and da, da.’ He wanted me to play a game with him, if you know what I mean,” York said. “I refused. And he said, ‘Well, you’re not right for the role anyway.’ And, I thought, ‘You bastard.’”

York stated she felt proud that all of her roles she earned by merit, not on a casting couch.

“I worked for Aaron Spelling a lot, and I knew Aaron very well, trust me,” York said, with contempt. “He even took my Doll Squad character’s name, Sabrina, giving it to Kate Jackson, who didn’t look anything like me. If that isn’t chutzpah, I don’t know [what is].”

Did any actress working on The Doll Squad realize their movie would become a cultural shift in the entertainment business? That they were creating a new genre? Presenting women as action heroes?

“No, we didn’t think anything like that. We didn’t know it was going to be such a cultural thing,” York explained. “You don’t know at the time you are doing something.”

Mikels stated he’d always dreamed of making The Doll Squad 2, but was never able to raise the funds to make it happen.

“Many people have asked me for years when am I going to do a sequel to The Doll Squad,” Mikels said. “I feel very lucky–in fact, very fortunate–to have my movies presently being well received, some 40 years after I created them. That seems meaningful, when many multi-million dollar movies are forgotten in months, and most all of mine were made with pennies.”

Francine York would have been on board for the sequel.

“It’s too bad Ted couldn’t raise the money, it would have been perfect to have The Doll Squad 2,” York said. “If Ted really had the funding he should have had, with all of his talent and ability, it would have been amazing. They make so many pictures these days that are so worthless, and he had such a great ability to produce a picture on a shoestring.”

Even though Mikels made movies for “pennies,” Francine York saw him as a 14-carat gold filmmaker.

“If anybody ever lived and breathed for this industry, it is Ted,” she said.

Another group of gals would band together up Mikels’ cinematic road. But next time, they wouldn’t be the heroines. They would be the bad girls.

CHAPTER SIX

Road to 10 Violent Women

In 1977, Mikels became engaged in a documentary project controversial in nature, Alex Joseph and His Wives. The idea for the movie originated with William (Bill) Thrush, a professional projectionist at a San Francisco theater. Alex Joseph, born in 1936, was an outspoken polygamist and founder of the Confederate Nations of Israel, a Mormon Fundamentalist sect.

“Bill came to me with an idea he had to make a movie about this man, Alex Joseph, in Utah, who had several wives, and was teaching them to shoot machine guns, to protect their group in the nearby desert,” Mikels recalled. “He asked me if I would be willing to drive with him to Glen Canyon City, Utah, where Alex and his wives lived, and after studying them, if I would be interested in working with him. He asked me to write a screenplay about Joseph’s story. Being the dedicated movie maker, I said, ‘Yes.’”

Mikels spent a month with Bill Thrush and Alex Joseph, at the Utah location, writing the screenplay, which came together with the making of the movie.

“I only used his actual wives, and there were other people involved,” Mikels said. “With the exception of two persons, no one else there had ever been in front of a camera before, so I had to bring in my skills as a director to help.”

Composer Nicholas Carras was called upon to create the movie’s musical score.

Mikels and his crew shot film for six weeks in Glen Canyon City, with assistance from actress Maureen Gaffney as script supervisor. Gaffney had appeared in Mikels’ films One Shocking Moment and The Black Klansman.

“I needed to work, so Ted told me, ‘I’m going to get you on the movie as a script supervisor.’ I said, ‘What?’ I had never done that before,” Gaffney recalled. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, I know you can do it.’”

It was a hard time in Maureen Gaffney’s life for more than just unemployment reasons.

“The most memorable thing I recall, working with Ted on Alex Joseph and His Wives, is the fact that I had just lost my daughter, Veronica,” Gaffney said. “So whenever I was hitting bottom emotionally, I would always go and see Ted, and he would pour the wine and we would sit and talk for hours. He would let me cry on his shoulder.”

Mikels brought in John Currin, as production manager and sound recordist, who helped maintain order.

“I had a few dollars to work with, which meant that some of my crew had some professional experience,” Mikels explained. “I loved Lake Powell, and all the scenes that we filmed there. It was a nice movie.”

Bill Thrush, who also wanted to co-direct the venture, stepped back on the first day, overwhelmed by the task of organizing it all.

“There were so many things Bill did not know how to deal with, he said that he would be happy with just being executive producer, and for me to take over everything else,” Mikels said. “That meant from organizing the talent, to directing, and having my own crew.”

The principal subject of the movie, Alex Joseph, really wanted the movie to present their lifestyle and his wives as they actually were.

But Thrush still maintained a voice in the project’s direction. At his insistence, Mikels added a political aspect to the narrative, which included input by the Utah Bureau of Land Management.

“When I sent the film print to my potential sub-distributors across the country, they would ask me why I put that political thing in there about the Bureau of Land Management,” Mikels said. “I told them that I could not talk Bill out of putting it in.”

Mikels believes this decision hurt the movie. Also, Alex Joseph had married a minor—a 15 year old girl—and Mikels freely acknowledged, “There was some controversy about that.”

Mikels shared an interest in Joseph’s lifestyle, since, after his divorce from wife Geneva in 1971, he had started a harem of his own in Hollywood.

“I already had three of my first ‘castle ladies’ just before starting the movie, and afterward I was emboldened to go to seven girls living with me in my castle at a time,” Mikels said. “That went on for a number of years.”

The scenic environment of Alex Joseph also presented a challenge, but it wasn’t anything Mikels hadn’t tackled, and exploited with his camera, in the backwoods of Oregon.

“At that time I had a huge grip truck. I had everything from generators, to sun reflectors that allowed us to put light in darker areas, when it was impossible to do with lights,” Mikels explained. “I did have a crewman, who brought his boat, to shoot the girls diving off of the 60 foot cliff, at Glen Canyon into Lake Powell.”

The shot footage was flown from Glen Canyon City to the film laboratory in Hollywood every few days. Mikels had a 35 millimeter portable projector in a big truck to view the dailies. He also constructed a sound booth of sorts, using a 12 foot square blanket set-up to record special audio, such as singing performances.

“The Indians were very persuasive in their efforts to have the world understand their plight,” Mikels recalled. “Everybody had war guns. I even had to carry one as a matter of doing what everyone else did. I wore a pistol on my belt. A .38 Special.”

Mikels recalled that one day the Indians and some of the movie crew people, roughly 15 individuals in all, were lined up on a dirt mound, firing at a soda can from about 30 yards. No one had hit the target, so Mikels was encouraged to join in.

“They said, ‘Okay, Mikels, it’s your turn. Show us what you can do!’ Well luck, that I cannot explain, came about,” Mikels said. “I pulled out my .38, took quick aim of that soda can and I fired. That can blasted about six or eight feet into the air.”

The group was amazed with disbelief, and Mikels was the humble recipient of wild praise.

With costs running high during production, Mikels deferred his $100,000 salary as director, which he never recouped. The expense of feeding the cast, crew, and all the Native-Americans featured in the documentary reached nearly $48,000.

When shooting was complete, Maureen Gaffney, who had served as script supervisor, was concerned whether she had met Mikels’ professional expectations.

“After the project was all finished, I asked him, ‘How did I do?’” Gaffney said. “He told me, ‘It was perfect.’ So, I did do a good job, and it did take me off thinking about the loss of my child.”

While editing was underway, Alex Joseph and His Wives went into limbo for a number of years, due to litigation between Alex Joseph and executive producer, Bill Thrush. The contention was Joseph wanted to take over the movie and delete scenes that Thrush wanted to keep in.

“Alex asked me to side with him, and presented me with a cashier's check for the full amount of the lab bill, which at the time was $29,000,” Mikels recalled. “The debt was in my name, but I would not accept it, because it was Bill’s idea and project I had agreed to.”

But contracts traditionally involve an exchange of money for services rendered. Thus, people close to Mikels suggested he invoke a security interest in the title to the property–specifically the movie–taking control over it, because he had supplied labor and materials without pay.

“People told me that because I was not paid, I probably could have placed a mechanic’s lien against the movie, and should have released it myself,” Mikels said. “But there was a lot of controversy about it, so I figured that it was best if I didn't have to deal with it.”

Looking back, Mikels sees it as a moment that could have broken his cinema spirit.

“There again, I spent nearly a year of my life making that movie, and what did I get out of it?” he asked. “I don't know why it did not take the heart out of me for making movies, because I struggled so hard making loans on credit cards and all to survive, thinking that my day would come. But that day never came for this film, of course.”

The movie Alex Joseph and His Wives remains unreleased to this day.

Mikels’ next project involvement opened up a new can of worms.

Released in 1977, the motion picture The Worm Eaters, told the tale of a German hermit named Herman Umgar, who had the uncanny ability to communicate with worms.

As the script goes, when the town mayor runs him off his property, Umgar plants worms in everybody's food. However, these worms are a special breed of mutant worms from the Red Tide. When the people consume them, they are transformed into giant worms themselves and become Herman's slaves.

The film, written by Herb Robins and Nancy Kapner, was directed by Robins, who was also cast in the lead role of Herman Umgar. Ted V. Mikels produced the movie and appeared in it briefly as an arm wrestler and party guest.

It was the first time Ted V. Mikels bankrolled a project that he did not direct.

“My friend Herbie Robins, who is very talented, always pleaded with me to let him direct a movie,” Mikels recalled. “I visited him in Albuquerque, and he had an idea about doing a movie about people eating worms, and I said, ‘Well, if we show people actually putting worms in their mouth, and eating them, I'll make the movie.’ So, he prepared a script, and I helped assemble the crew and provided the equipment.”

Mikels described Robins, who had appeared in The Doll Squad, as a talented man who loved teaching drama to newcomers, and lived for the arts.

The movie featured Lindsay Armstrong Black, Joseph Sacket, Muriel Cooper, and Robert and Mike Garrison, among others. Robins cast the players himself, from a little theater group that he was directing in Pasadena. Sherri Vernon created the color illustrations that appeared in the opening credits.

“Ted asked me to do some artwork for the opening credits. I did portraits professionally, and these were cartoon drawings,” Sherri Vernon recalled. “I started drawing when I was age two, and loved to paint.”

Mikels did cast one actor in the film, Mike Garrison, who briefly appeared in The Corpse Grinders several years earlier.

“While I was editing Alex Joseph and His Wives, I would go out to the Worm Eaters site, and find that even at 3 in the afternoon they hadn't done the first shot of the day,” Mikels said. “So I would jump in, and pull it together for Herb, and get the shots done between 3 and 6 p.m.”

Mikels essentially became a production babysitter, knowing he couldn’t allow the project to collapse, because he had invested so much money into film stock alone. When the picture was released, eating worms was on the menu of some, but not others.

“Some people really loved the movie, and others did not,” Mikels said. “Some of the drive-ins and theaters told me when they booked the movie they had less attendance, because people sometimes stayed away, because the title was so distasteful.”

While the movie featured a young man who ate 57 night crawlers, to become the record holder, the film failed to make any records. Mikels shelled out approximately $80,000 on the project, and ended up destroying a lot of the 35mm prints, due to insufficient theater bookings.

Another film project for Mikels during this period was a spy adventure, boasting espionage in international venues. The 1979 movie, originally titled Cruise Missile, was also released as Missile X: The Neutron Bomb Incident, and issued worldwide in English, bearing the title Tehran Incident.

The film starred actor Peter Graves, and reunited Mikels with John Carradine, who had appeared in Astro-Zombies.

Mikels worked as co-producer on the U.S. side of the film. It involved several producers in three countries where the movie was filmed, such as Ika Panajotovic, George Briggs, Robert Avard Miller, Elio Romano and Amir Sherwood.

Set in Iran just before the Revolution, the $3 million production featured Peter Graves as Alec Franklin, an American agent. In the movie, Franklin is sent to investigate the murder of a fellow agent, who was snooping into the practices of an international businessman known as The Baron.

The Baron, played by Curd Jurgens, has obtained a Soviet nuclear missile, with the intention of attacking an international conference being held in the Persian Gulf. John Carradine played a Russian scientist aiding The Baron.

Other players included actors Michael Dante, Robert Miller, Michael Tietz and actresses Carmen Cervera, Pouri Baneai and Karin Schubert.

Reality clashed with fantasy during production, causing it to be cast into a state of limbo. Mikels was summoned by producer Ika Panajotovic, “a dear friend,” to help him.

“They were shooting in Iran when the Revolution broke out. Their plane barely got off of the ground, taking bullet hits while lifting off,” Mikels said. “Ika had less than half of the movie finished and had no money when he came back from Europe. I finished the movie for him by bringing in all of my people and crew.”

Mikels noted he had essentially done the same thing prior, in 1966, when he finished the Agent for H.A.R.M. movie for Joseph F Robertson, released by Universal Pictures.

“I did not add anything to the writing. In fact, we were just concerned about filming what was already written, that they did not complete in Europe,” Mikels said.

Mikels’ entourage, or rather, crew, were his “castle ladies.” They covered everything from food services, wardrobe, makeup, social activities and assisted him as a producer regarding what was needed to finish the movie.

Actor Peter Graves took notice of Mikels’ female assistants and imagined himself with a harem, too.

“Peter Graves was asking me if I could teach him how to have seven wives,” Mikels said. “That was because 5 of my ladies were with me on the crew when we were shooting our part to complete Cruise Missile.”

Giving advice to Graves for his fantasy love ambitions was hardly Mikels’ focus of concern.

With access to overseas filming eliminated the task of creating a Russian army, complete with vehicles, uniforms, and a cruise missile, was achieved on Mikels’ California turf.

The Russian army scenes were filmed on the grounds of the Six Flags America amusement park, not far from Hollywood. Aerial shots were captured by a helicopter manned by U.S. forces. Great expense went into the use of a Rolls Royce, and other vehicles, that were appropriate transports for the generals in the Russian Army.

“I kept that cruise missile prop at my castle grounds for many years,” Mikels said. “I remember, with great amusement, when one of my castle ladies was so anxious to return the wardrobe to Western Costume, in Hollywood, that she literally helped pull the clothing off the actors who played soldiers, so there wouldn’t be an extra expense.”

Mikels also enjoyed editing the film, recalling one spectacular scene with a stuntman.

“When the stuntman dove through the window of the second floor of the house we were filming, the next cut is where he dives into the water of the bay,” Mikels recalled. “The bay, of course, was filmed many, many miles away. Such is the beauty of editing.”

Mikels made a paltry sum for all his work to rescue Cruise Missile and insure a release. Although his services to complete the movie would normally fetch $28,000, he accepted the sum of $5,000 from Panajotovic, to help his friend.

“Ika Panajotovic was most grateful, and told me I saved his life on the movie, because they would not have been able to complete it themselves,” Mikels said. “It would have bankrupted the company and resulted with litigations. It was one more time when I finished a movie for somebody else and really enjoyed it. I guess that is what I was born to do, make movies.”

In 1978, while working on fixing Cruise Missile, Mikels served as executive producer, and production supervisor, for the action-adventure movie, Kill the Dragon.

Also that same year, Mikels served as director and cinematographer for the action-adventure film project, The Devil’s Gambit, produced by K. Alexander, and featuring martial arts sensation, Tiger Yang. The film also featured Brigitte Kempf, Sherry Hooper and Rusty Coons.

“The producer of The Devil’s Gambit really got a big head, and wanted to play the principal role, he wanted me to arrange to have Tiger Yang killed off in the movie, instead of Yang being the hero,” Mikels recalled.

Mikels conveyed that Alexander’s insistence on being the leading man caused a lot of problems, both personally and in making a picture that would be marketable. Making matters worse, star-struck Alexander was “a crooked, disbarred attorney.”

Tiger Yang was just happy for another opportunity to be in a film, even if not in a lead action role.

“I started out making movies in Korea. When I came to America, and to Los Angeles, I hooked up with Ted. I think he may have found me in a magazine for The Devil’s Gambit,” Tiger Yang recalled. “We did two movies together, but the second one, Mission: Killfast, was my favorite. And the audience really liked it.”

One of the shooting locations for The Devil’s Gambit was Sturgis, South Dakota, with the annual biker rally as a backdrop.

“It was quite an experience to move about with that group every night,” Mikels said. “Many were arrested, bikers were shot or knifed, and the activity was incredible.”

While Mikels wanted to make a good movie, Alexander literally wanted to drag the film through the mud. Mikels protested, then dropped the issue just to finish the job.

“He wanted naked girls doing mud wrestling, and all that, so I backed off. It could have been a great story,” Mikels said. “But we did some good scenes that were meaningful.”

Aside from Alexander’s arrogance, a business fallout between them took place.

“He was upset because I gave $24,500 to a backer who was going to finance my entire Mission: Killfast picture, for half a million,” Mikels explained. “He wanted me to use the money to invest in his movie, since I had given him a quit claim deed to my castle.”

It was a convoluted deal. Essentially it tied Mikels to the producer via a deed, based on a loan he had taken out on his castle, to raise capital. Mikels honored his three week contract, and the film was released in 1981, disappearing off the radar due to lack of public interest.

“He said he would not return my quit claim unless I did the movie for him,” Mikels said. “It was a sad day in my life.”

But sadness of a personal level also took place in 1978. Mikels’ son, Troy, was involved in a serious accident.

“Five days before his 18th birthday, my son, Troy, broke his neck in a diving accident and has been a quadriplegic ever since,” Mikels recalled. “It is uncanny what he did with his life, that with his intelligence, using a pencil in his mouth to drive his van, and so on. He put himself through college, and is presently working on his master's degree in social work.”

Helping others after being virtually helpless, Troy has worked as a social worker for 10 years.

Ted V. Mikels’ son, Ted Jr., seems to have picked up his father’s knack for handling a hammer and saw.

“Ted Jr. is a builder, and built a home of 6 bedrooms for his family,” Mikels said. “Ted Jr. has 10 children and is already a grandfather about 7 times.”

Mikels is proud of his children, and loves his family that seems to grow at an increasing pace.

“At this time, I have 25 grandchildren, and 37 great-grandchildren, and more on the way,” he said.

In 1979, Mikels served as director of photography for the film Knee Dancing, a movie spearheaded by Doreen Ross. The film also featured David Ariniello, Gertrude Clement, Gary and Tina Faulkner, Roxanne Holland and Terry Logan.

“Doreen Ross was very dear to me, and was a castle lady, one of the first three,” Mikels said. “She helped me as part of the crew on several of my productions, and work we did for other companies.”

In the film, Ross plays Laura Zuckerman, a young housewife tortured by experiences of childhood sexual abuse by her father.

“In the movie, Laura’s father makes her promise not to tell her mother what he has been doing to her,” Mikels explained. “Laura’s reality is now tainted, as she oscillates repeatedly between what is real, versus what she thinks is real. This concerns the actions of both men and women towards her.”

Ross had approached Mikels, expressing a desire to make a movie.

“She was determined to make her own movie, and I said I would help her,” Mikels said. “She did sign 20% of the movie over to me, but she got cheated royally on the distribution deal. After that, she went into relative obscurity and nobody has heard from her ever since.”

Knee Dancing didn’t see release until nearly a decade later, in 1988.

Production on Mikels’ next big motion picture, 10 Violent Women, began in 1978. It would take four years of challenges to see the movie released.

The film showcased Sherri Vernon as the star. All leading roles were female, a formula tested with The Doll Squad and which had captured an audience.

Written by James Gordon White and Ted V. Mikels, 10 Violent Women told the story of four disgruntled, gold mining chicks who decided to leave the filthy, cave-labor work. They expand their associate numbers to a gang of ten, and clean up with a heist of rare gems at a jewelry store.

And they humorously pull off the robbery, using squirt guns that look like bona fide weapons.

Sherri Vernon played Sam, the outspoken leader of the pack. Also in featured roles were actresses Dixie Lauren as Maggie, Sally Alice Gamble as Sheila, Georgia Morgan as Bri Terry, Jane Farnsworth as Madge, Melodie Bell as Jill, Christina de Cattani as Liz, Paula Ian as Beth, Sherry Hardin as Joanie, Kelly Lancaster as Carol, Peggy Hayes as Robbins, Juanita Morgan Copeland as Jackie Kent, Eileen Lee as Doris, Julie Wakefield as Pam, and Leigh Reynolds as Donna.

Additional actors included Lyle Peskin as Dude, James Emery as Danny, Frank Walshe as the jeweler, Charles Gorgano as the sheik, and Ted V. Mikels as Leo, among others.

Also cast in the movie by chance was Lani (Davis) Silverman, the eldest daughter of Tura Satana, in the role of a gold mining girl who is attacked. In the film’s credits she is listed as Lani Silver.

“I had a featured role in the beginning of the film 10 Violent Women,” Silverman said. “My friend, Laura, was suppose to do the scene, but she backed out at the last minute.”

While Mikels had visuals in his head, of caged women as an idea for a movie, he hadn’t prefaced that with a reason why.

“I had that one scene which started it all, without any idea of why the girls were in jail,” Mikels joked.

Mikels met with his castle ladies during the planning phase, and his gal pals suggested that he play a prince in the movie who makes off with the girls. But the notion didn’t interest Mikels, imagining himself in the role of a bad guy.

“I said no, I need something more challenging,” he recalled. “That's basically how it started, and then I wrote everything, other than the jail sequences.”

Mikels began filming 10 Violent Women in 1978, but it slowed to a grinding halt.

“I did not have the money to finish it, so it took me a few years to complete,” he said. “I actually was going to call it 6 Violent Women, and my friend James Gordon White had written a script called The Violent Sex, so I came up with the idea of calling it Six or Seven Violent Women. Herbie Robins said, ‘Why don't you just call it 10 Violent Women, Ted, it sounds bigger and better.’ And that's how it happened.”

The incarceration sequence, which became a main part of the picture, filled the middle section of the project. Mikels and the castle girls put their heads together, and the idea of making them thieves developed. Soon, a beginning and end to the story emerged.

When Mikels came up with the resources over time, production resumed.

“Actually, within a few months I was filming the last scenes of 10 Violent Women, and finished editing in 1979, and had an answer print in 1980,” Mikels said.

Aside from the ten animated females headlining the project, the supporting cast bolstered the picture. Such was the case concerning Joan Hannan, who played the tough prison guard Bri Terry. Hannan went by the name of Georgia Morgan in the movies’ credits.

Born Georgia Joan Waldor in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Hannan started playing the drums when she was eight years old. This ultimately unfolded into a lifetime career for her in the entertainment industry. She began by touring with the U.S.O., entertaining the troops shortly after World War II. Hannan made her motion picture debut in the 1959 movie, Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe. She played her trademark drums in the movie.

“I first met [Hannan] in 1963, when I moved to Hollywood and bought a home,” Mikels said. “Our house was a very short distance from her nightclub, that she called Joani Presents. I stopped at the club, which featured a cocktail glass as part of the neon sign, and inside I saw a very pretty lady, with blonde hair, walking on the wooden floorboards, waiting on tables and serving drinks as a bartender.”

Mikels took a seat at the counter. Hannan walked up to him, smiled widely and extended her hand in greeting.

“Her handshake was extremely firm, not to be expected from the pretty, little woman that she was,” the producer recalled. “I looked around me and I saw no other males in the place—I guess that’s when I realized that this was an all-female bar.”

Hannan had performed as a drummer in several all-girl bands, and on occasion entertained guests at her establishment by joining the club band on drums.

“Once in a while I would stop by and say ‘hello’ to Joani, because she was very friendly upon learning that I was a movie producer, or director,” Mikels recalled. “She never approached me about being a guest in any movie, but was always very friendly.”

During the period of his pending divorce with Geneva, and his involvement with Sherri Vernon, Mikels introduced Vernon to Hannan one evening when the club was closing. The two became friends.

“Joan Hannan and I were very good friends for many years,” Sherri Vernon acknowledged. “The portrait of her that hangs over her bed, in the scene from the movie, that’s my painting. I did that for her.”

Vernon believed from the start Hannan possessed real star quality, but sadly didn’t advance a career in films.

“She was very talented, appeared in Some Like it Hot,” Vernon said. “You know, if she had really gone into acting, she would have hit it big-time. There’s no question about it. She had the magnetism, she was a great actor and had everything going for her. Like the saying goes, the camera really loved her.”

During the frustration of the Mikels’ divorce, Vernon moved in with Hannan for close to a year, and Mikels would visit there often. This fostered a closer friendship between Hannan and Mikels, and talk concerning the possibility of her appearing in one of Mikels’ movies.

And Hannan fit the mold for the role of Bri Terry in 10 Violent Women.

“Joani so strongly presented herself in the part of the warden,” Mikels said. “It was perfect for her. Everyone that comments on the movie always mentions her part.”

One short, but highly memorable scene, is a nighttime carjacking that takes place, where the victim is made to strip down to his bikini briefs.

“We steal a guy’s car and leave him in his underwear,” Sherri Vernon recalled.

Standing at the roadside pleading for his life, Sam (played by Vernon), points a gun at him and fires the pistol—which turns out to be a squirt gun. The astonished man curses as his stolen car speeds off.

The nearly nude man, who went unnamed in the film credits, was former Playgirl magazine centerfold Barry Hostetler, who appeared in the February, 1974, issue. Hostetler also appeared in The Worm Eaters motion picture.

“I wanted to have a nice part for him in 10 Violent Women, because a lot of my friends would say to me when I was starting a new movie, ‘What is my part?’” Mikels said. “So often I made up parts for them. Getting squirted with a water pistol was a part I created just for Barry.”

While the scene remains memorable, Hostetler has put distance between himself and his Hollywood days.

“I have put those days in my rearview mirror,” he remarked.

But Hostetler might be watching you in his rearview mirror. He now works as a licensed private investigator for Capitol Investigations, in Oregon.

The infamous prison shower scene in 10 Violent Women was actually shot in the back room of a carpet factory. Pipes were strung up with shower heads, complete with running water, lending an authentic appearance. Not only were the sets creative, but the cast was, as well.

“The girls were very creative, and often came up with suggestions that helped make the movie campy and funny,” Mikels said.

“Ted did set up the makeshift shower,” Sherri Vernon said. “But the prison footage was real.”

Vernon noted it was where fiction sometimes crossed over into reality.

“This was shot inside a real prison in Los Angeles,” she explained. “They let us shoot in there, using cells and all. Everything you see there is real. It was scary, and eerie, as you knew people had been there, for real, in those cells. And it was cold, dank.”

In 1982, 10 Violent Women made its debut in 40 theaters through Mikels’ own distribution company. His desire to branch out also placed the picture in the hands of a New York based distribution company. Mikels supplied them with the prints he had, and the company added nine more, riding the circuit wave until 1984.

“At which time they went bankrupt, and did a lateral pass to another company, Aquarius, operated by Terry Levine, who beat me out of an enormous amount of money,” Mikels said. “I was fighting, trying to get money from the company in New York, and they would not give me any reports, and had the only prints that I had ever made.”

While the experience with Levine was both frustrating and costly, Mikels had created a film that returned to the excitement level of The Doll Squad.

Although it had taken years from the first shot to the final edit, 10 Violent Women has, over time, been placed with distinction among the Mikels classics film catalog.

“I’m working on the sequel now, 10 Violent Women 2,” Mikels said. “But it’s about empowering women, not making them victims.”

Then it came time to keep another promise.

Like the arrangement made with Herb Robins, Mikels promised friend, Steve Barkett, a chance to direct a movie he would produce. Thus came Aftermath, released in 1982.

The story focused on two astronauts’ return to earth, to find that it has been destroyed by nuclear war. Los Angeles has been seized by a menace named Cutter, played by actor Sid Haig. Cutter’s gang is comprised of outlaw bikers, and there are mutants on the loose, providing more chaos.

Haig carried with him an impressive television resume, including playing the role of Dragos in the television program Jason of Star Command.

“Sid Haig used to come into my studio office looking for work. Since he had a bizarre and strange look, I never had a part for him,” Mikels recalled. “Of course, at that time no one knew that he would develop as a personality, like he has been, in the movies.”

Besides Sid Haig, the film featured Lynne Margulies, Alfie Martin, Forrest Ackerman, and Steve and Christopher Barkett, among others. Ackerman, a character actor whose first film was in 1944, had appeared in the cult classic, Dracula vs. Frankenstein.

“As for Forrest Ackerman, we had some nice conversations,” Mikels said. “A very nice, and accomplished, and talented person, for sure.”

Mikels had made a professional commitment with Herb Robins and Steve Barkett, which he intended to keep.

“I promised to both Steve and Herbie that I would let them each direct a movie, because they got into a fight when Steve was going to be production manager for Herbie’s The Worm Eaters,” Mikels said. “I also promised both each could direct without interference from the other.”

However, Steve Barkett, who was directing Aftermath under Mikels’ supervision, had quite a temper. He walked off the set on more than one occasion. The project turned into a fiasco.

“I had to take over directing and shooting some scenes that were prepared, plus some that I made up on the spot, so I did not have to send all the actors and the crew home,” Mikels recalled. “I also did not take any credit for screen purposes on the movie, but I initially got stuck with the laboratory bill.”

Steve Barkett did give Mikels the money to pay off the film processing bill. He then was able to put his name on the movie as its producer, as well as director. It was Barkett’s first film, and his last film with Mikels.

In 1981, Mikels began production for the film Mission: Killfast. This cast martial arts celebrity Tiger Yang in the lead role. As mentioned, Mikels had met Yang when he worked on the film The Devil’s Gambit. Yang was a grandmaster and creator of the martial art Moo Yea Do.

Mikels explained, “I had originally started production for Mission: Killfast under the title, Operation Overkill. Tiger Yang was incredibly talented and great on camera.”

Tiger Yang’s motion picture debut was in 1972, in California 90006, which was produced by a Korean studio in Hollywood. He then crossed paths with Jackie Chan when he made subsequent movies, like Warriors Two. As a result, the two became good friends. Yang was personal trainer for Muhammad Ali, for his 1975 exhibition fight with Japanese wrestler, Antonio Inoki.

Production of Mission: Killfast was anything but fast.

Running out of money, the movie that began shooting in Los Angeles was completed nine years later in Las Vegas, when the project achieved full funding.

“Of all the people who promised up to a quarter of a million dollars, not one person came through that had committed,” Mikels recalled. “The only money I had was what I borrowed against the castle, and my personal input at that time was $135,000.”

Working to pay the bills, in 1982, Mikels took as job as co-writer, producer and director of an action-adventure film titled Space Angels. It was a project that failed to achieve full funding. To this day it remains uncompleted.

In July 1985, Mikels departed California and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he remained. The move was initially was prompted by a business opportunity.

“I had met some people who were deeply involved in the stock market,” Mikels explained. “Since I had recently taken over, on a tax free exchange, a company called Petro, these people had promised to take me public on the stock market.”

The arrangement allowed Mikels to postpone paying tax on the gain if he reinvested the proceeds in similar property. It was part of a qualifying like-kind exchange. It was a tax-deferment, but not tax-free, and sounded good to him.

“With the money, I could build a studio and finance all of my movies here in Las Vegas,” Mikels explained.

However, while the financial consultants did give it their best shot, it did not work out.

Regardless, Mikels made the move, due to hostile financial regulations in Hollywood.

“The secondary reason why I left is that it became so difficult to film in Los Angeles,” Mikels said. “Right up the street, only a mile or two from my castle, the community wanted $3,500 per day if you put a camera on the ground, anywhere in the territory. Then the Glendale licensing division said I would have to hire two firemen and two policemen, for eight hour days, at their full salary, in order to film. And that was  inside the castle, my own home!”

To Mikels, that was the last straw.

“Las Vegas was very receptive to my moving here with all of my cameras and equipment. And with the intent to open a studio, as well as having a corporate entity that taught film production to students, the welcome mat was out,” he said. “I later found out the demands, and the cost, to make a school of any sort here, in 1985, were totally prohibitive, so I did not proceed with the film production school. I did open my studio as soon as I could.”

Leaving Hollywood behind also closed out an era of working with, and hanging out among, pioneering entertainers in the industry.

“I met Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, and so many, many more during my years in Hollywood,” Mikels reflected. “I worked with many more, like filming Milton Berle, Phil Silvers, Peter Graves, Rowan and Martin, The Smothers Brothers, John Russell, Woody Strode and many others. But it was time for a change, and I welcomed that.”

Mikels hung out his sign in July 1985 in the city known as the miracle in the desert.

It read: Open for business.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Making Movies in Vegas

Ted V. Mikels had barely set up shop in Las Vegas, when he was approached to be a replacement director, and production supervisor for a movie titled Angel of Vengeance. The production was written by Jeffrey Hogue and Gary Thompson. It told the tale of a young woman seeking vengeance on a crazed band of survivalists who had  murdered a group of motorcyclists in the desert, then raped and imprisoned  her.

The cast was already in place when Mikels came in. It featured actress Jannina Poynter in the role of revenge-seeking victim turned action-figure, Tina Davenport, and actor David O’Hara as Major Hargrove. The cast also included Macka Foley, Carl Irwin and T. Craig Keller.

Angel of Vengeance was in a state of disarray and had production halted when Jeffrey Hogue sought rescue from Mikels.

“Jeff Hogue became terribly angry at the director. They had hired and fired him after two days,” Mikels recalled. “He asked me if I would take over directing, but what he meant was take over directing and producing, because that is what I actually did. But Jeff wanted to maintain the producer credit.”

Hogue wasn’t the only one appreciative of Mikels assuming order over the project. Jannina Poynter was working as a casino cocktail waitress when Jeffrey Hogue and an associate spotted her and talked her into accepting the lead actress role in the film.

Poynter had virtually no experience as an actress. She had never even appeared in a play, and certainly never before a motion picture camera.

“The leading lady, Jannina Poynter, kissed my hand. She thanked me for taking over the directing, because she now felt comfortable under the circumstances,” Mikels said.

The project took Mikels from his new home of Las Vegas, back to California for about three weeks of shooting in the northern wild.

Work was efficient. Mikels set a personal record for camera setups in one day.

“In one day, with two cameras operating, we did 117 camera setups, which is unheard of by any production company,” he said.

Returning to Las Vegas for three more weeks of shooting, and casting additional roles, Mikels constructed a huge shed in the backyard of his home to build a jail set. He used wooden dowels painted black to represent cell bars, and authenticated the environment by using the clanging sounds of metal in editing.

“One day of filming the temperature inside the set was 118 degrees. There were eight or nine men, myself, and the camera operator, all sweating profusely and searching for air to stay alive,” Mikels recalled.

Other cinematic challenges for Mikels included working with highly mobile bikers as stuntmen, and timing the explosion of a structure with cameras positioned properly. This called for engaging the explosives at precisely the same moment to ensure nothing was missed, in the one-and-only take of the scene.

The searing Nevada sun took a toll outside, as well.

“We all got good sunburns for sure,” Mikels recalled.

To make matters more difficult, the soundtracks for the film were magnetized (through x-ray machines), before Mikels assumed the additional task of editing the film. This resulted in the actor’s audio track being off. Mikels labored several months to synchronize every spoken word and used “triple magnifying glasses” to read moving lips.

“It was probably the most difficult edit I have ever done in my 60 years of making movies,” he said.

The film was released two years later, in 1987, with a subsequent release under the title, War Cat.

“I was still working to raise money to finish Mission: Killfast,” Mikels said, but he didn’t have much success. “Then I met Dr. Wendy Altamura in 1987, and we have been as close as two people can be to this very day. It is a lifetime relationship of the deepest and warmest friendship.”

Dr. Wendy O. Altamura, who went by the professional name of Shanti as an entertainer, was a psychotherapist with a successful practice in Las Vegas.

Making motion pictures and having a new love interest in his new place of residence wasn’t the only form of drama in Mikels’ life. His longtime love, Sherri Vernon, accompanied by her mother, arrived in Las Vegas to visit Mikels. It was at a time when she was planning to leave a man she had married in order to end a bad relationship.

“Sherri and I talked, but I had no idea that she wanted to come back to me,” Mikels said. “I didn't get it, I guess. And I had just met Shanti. I told Sherri and her mother that I had just met somebody.”

But the script of one’s life often experiences rewrites. Such was the case of Vernon’s return to Mikels. It didn’t rekindle their relationship, but instead introduced her to Richard Barker, a man who was living in a guest house on Mikels’ property at the time.

Barker fell in love with Vernon the moment he met her and the two married.

“Yes, while I was there at Ted’s, I met the love of my life,” Sherri Vernon noted. “Richard died over ten years ago now. He was a wonderful man, and I miss him.”

Mikel’s companion, Shanti, had an extensive background in the performing arts, especially overseas. She and Mikels had hit it off at a meeting at Mikels’ home on September 27, 1987, concerning a parcel of land both were interested in purchasing.

“Shanti and I met at a meeting at my home to discuss each of us having an interest in acquiring the same property, which was 40 acres upon which I wanted to build a studio,” Mikels recalled. “She wanted to acquire it on behalf of Boys Town, Las Vegas.”

But regarding the property, it didn’t work out.

“The money for the Boys Town that Shanti was involved in establishing never came through for that purpose,” Mikels said. “And the people that promised me financing, from my movies, to build a new studio, never came through, either.”

Mikels went as far as having an architect draw up plans, with a budget of $100,000. The imagined structure consisted of two huge pyramids and would have opened under the name Amon Ra Studios.

“The architectural drawings were fantastic. It even had this supper club built into one of the huge pyramids, and a trout river surrounding the entire 40-acre plot,” he explained. “The idea was to supply freshwater trout to all of the casinos to bring in additional money for the studios.”

It was the main reason Mikels moved to Las Vegas, as mentioned earlier. The financial consultants working on Mikels’ behalf who were going to sell stock on a public offering had failed to raise enough capital to make Amon Ra Studios a reality.

“That was the end of that property,” Mikels added. “A local radio station ended up buying it and it is to this day operating there.”

From that meeting a friendship developed, and Mikels offered Shanti a part in an upcoming film he planned to make, titled Chad.

Altamura, born Wendy Owen Howden in Yorkshire, England, began her career in performing arts by dancing on stage at the age of two. Her professional debut took place five years later when she embarked on a career as a pantomimist and actress. Altamura was also a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dance, in London, and also taught dance instruction.

“I think she won more medals for dance, tap, and otherwise, than any other female dancer on stage in all of England,” Mikels said.

It was a job as a Bluebell Girl in the Cabaret Lido show at the Stardust Casino Hotel that brought her to the United States, in 1963.

“Shanti was chosen by Madame Bluebell to be a Bluebell Girl,” Mikels said. “She toured the world, spending a year in Japan, and has danced in almost every country on the globe.”

Margaret Kelly, known as Madame Bluebell, was a Las Vegas show business icon who created the famed Bluebell dancers in 1932, for Paris’ Cabaret Lido. Kelly insisted that all of her girls be taller than 5 foot, 9 inches, and she provided elegance with lavish costumes. It was said Kelly had a keen eye for talent and for those who possessed star quality.

In Las Vegas, Altamura had many jobs, including serving as a probation officer in juvenile court. Years of study resulted in her obtaining many doctorates on the path to becoming a practicing medical psychotherapist.

But she continued her performance career, appearing in motion pictures prior meeting Mikels. She also worked for Universal Models agency appearing in fashion shoots.

Mikels initially was star struck.

“When we would go on cruises, tours, or trips to Rome, Paris, London, Manchester, wherever, there was always a hall that she pointed out where she had once danced,” Mikels added.

But in short order, Altamura was more than the sum of all her talents. She was an incredible personal inspiration who became Mikels’ companion for the remainder of his days.

In a Las Vegas Review-Journal piece, Altamura acknowledged that while many might consider Mikels eccentric, she admired him because he was always “very moral, very kind, very focused.”

“Moviemaking was his passion,” Shanti told the Review-Journal. “Valentine’s Day would come and go, and I would remind him…but he had a film to finish,” to which, she noted he responded, “There’s always time to say ‘I love you.’”

The making of Chad, which began the same year Angel of Vengeance was released, was an emotional challenge for Mikels as the project writer, producer, editor and director. While it joyously was the first movie Shanti made with Mikels, a tragedy during its making forever shelved the film.

“That is the only movie I have never been able to finish, because the actor playing the grandpa to the young farm boy died at the age of 42, during a heart operation,” Mikels said. “This happened  after we had filmed almost half of the movie with his scenes, and I could not go backwards to reshoot. I had no more film and I couldn't go forward without the actor. I had spent $17,000 already, every nickel I had to my name.”

While the film was never completed for commercial release, Mikels did edit a short version, running about 20 minutes, which closely followed the original screenplay. Mikels had planned to use this print as a means to raise funding “to do the story properly.”

While the project was never remade, it influenced the making of Mikels’ 2006 film, Heart of a Boy.

Sentimentally, the lost picture still had a special place in Mikels’ heart, as it was the first of many pictures he made with Shanti,

“Shanti has been a big influence on all of my movies since she first appeared in Chad with me, in 1987,” Mikels said. “She had made movies in Europe, and was involved in the movie Cleopatra, I believe, which was filmed in Rome.”

In 1988, Ted V. Mikels appeared in an episode of The Incredibly Strange Picture Show. This was a short-lived series of documentaries, hosted by Jonathan Ross, that presented the world of “psychotronic,” or “B Movies.”

The program featured an overview of Mikels’ life and his movies. It included interviews with several friends who had worked in his films, such as Sherri Vernon and Tura Satana. Highlights included Mikels performing a ventriloquist act with dummy on his knee, and singing while playing an accordion.

While Chad had been scrapped, creative funding to complete Mission: Killfast was achieved. Thus, after nine years, the project was dusted off and resurrected.

Mikels credited Shanti with inspiring him to revisit the venture.

“After seeing the footage, it was Shanti who insisted I still had a movie there, if I would just shoot certain scenes to finish what I had,” Mikels said. “If she had not encouraged me to finish making the movie, I would have given up.”

Mikels filmed the balance of the picture in Reno, bringing back only two of the original actors, who both looked the same ages as they did nine years earlier. Mikels said he borrowed $200,000, added approximately $135,000 of his own money, and with credit and deferment finished the film.

Thus, Mission: Killfast resumed production. The foreign intrigue film, co-written, directed and produced by Mikels, featured Jewel Shepard and Bob Legionaire. Martial arts instructor and celebrity, Tiger Yang, headlined the cast in the action thriller that pits C.I.A. agents against a clandestine terrorist organization.

Myron Natwick was among new actors brought in to complete the movie. Shortly thereafter, Natwick became known for his role as Dr. Smyth in Scarecrow and Mrs. King.

Art Lynch served as script supervisor for the completion of the movie, “as if [Mikels] needed one,” Lynch noted. The two had met when Mikels shot a piece for his business establishment.

“Ted did a commercial for our mom and pop barbeque business, to learn his equipment,” Lynch recalled. “He is prolific and a pioneer in many areas. I was taught filmmaking in ways I never learned during similar classes I took back in college.”

Shanti, who was also a co-producer of the picture, was cast in the role of Chantelle, an undercover C.I.A. agent posing as a swimsuit model for the pages of Scam magazine. The owner of the periodical, Fike, played by actor Chuck Alford, operates a girly magazine empire. It is merely a front for an evil operation that came into the possession of some nuclear detonators.

“Yes, the nuclear detonators! The bad guys had them, and we had to get them back,” Tiger Yang recalled with humor. “I was cast as the hero. But there were so many great people in the movie that I got to work with.”

Actress Sharon Hughes, cast in the role of Catherine “Catt” Valone, played an undercover agent sent to infiltrate the terrorist group after agent Chantelle’s cover is blown and she is killed by a sniper.

The mission is to retrieve nuclear detonators before the enemy can put them to use. To jump start and complete the film, the original script Mikels acquired went through several redevelopment phases.

“I had purchased a screenplay from a writer, with unique characters, in a style quite different from the way my movies usually went,” Mikels said. “I had an agreement with the writer. I could use some of his story, very little of his story, or none of his story if I chose to do so.”

Mikels rewrote the story several times, but didn’t complete the script until he knew who would be available to cast, and who he had for a crew. But Tiger Yang always remained the centerpiece of the project.

“I got Tiger Yang involved, and made it so that he would be the hero, and help solve all of the problems,” Mikels explained. “He could do battle with the bad guys by bringing his black belt into the story.”

Yang was impressed that Mikels’ speed at movie making rivaled his fast and furious karate kicks.

“Ted was a very proficient movie maker. He didn’t waste time, it was boom, boom, boom, and he got it done,” Tiger Yang recalled. “I had a lot of fun making the movie, and people still mention it today.”

Tiger Yang was also an instructor and operator of an iconic martial arts studio in California, which is still thriving today.

“Tiger was a very dear friend. We were very close, and I visit his martial arts studios often. In  fact, I met one of my castle ladies there in his studio,” Mikels said. “We had many dinners together, and Tiger and his wife visited my home often. We did a great deal of planning for that movie.”

Yang agreed, he and Mikels shaped the direction of the film.

“Ted and I hung out quite a bit, and he was really into what I did with the martial arts business,” Yang said. “We had dinner at his castle [during initial shooting]. We’d talk for hours. It was all a big family.”

Yang had appeared in the original shoots conducted in California and returned to the production when it resumed in Las Vegas. Although it took nearly a decade to complete and get onto a theater screen, Yang said it was worth the wait.

“He worked very hard making his movies, a lot of discipline, but also a lot of fun,” Yang said. “He treated me with respect. You always knew where you were with Ted, he was simply a great guy.”

Mission: Killfast brought back the excitement realized in previous Mikels’ action hits, The Doll Squad and 10 Violent Women. But according to Yang, stuntmen need not have applied.

“There were no stunt men in the movie. We were the stuntmen. I was the stuntman. But the action scenes were not all that difficult to do,” Yang said. “I know it looked really cool on the theater screen, but it was very routine for me.”

While he may have completed the film in Las Vegas, Mikels brought it back to his old stomping grounds to find a distributor.

“We had a big screening in a studio in Hollywood, and of course nobody was going to come up with a million dollars cash up front. Several studios, even Universal and Paramount, said they would release it, but would not come up with money,” Mikels said.

As a consequence, Mikels released the movie himself, which was a always a difficult thing to do. Prints for movie theaters alone ran as high as $100,000. But for Tiger Yang, the memories alone with Ted making Mission: Killfast are priceless.

“I have so many good memories while making the movie,” Yang said. “I often think of Ted, and miss him and those times.”

Mission: Killfast, released in 1991, was the last Ted V. Mikels movie shot on 35mm film. His next movie was shot using videotape.

“You can see how difficult it was to make a movie. Unless you had at least $80,000 to pay the laboratory, and then enough money to pay for the rest, the cast, and the crew, and all other costs, it was an incredible struggle,” Mikels explained.

The less financially burdensome world of video production was a game changer that would revolutionize the industry. It also meant more production work for Mikels, and opportunities to earn money after purchasing his initial equipment and testing it out professionally, around 1991.

“I can only tell you that we got into an enormous number of commercials to tape, and even a big one for Arizona Charlie's Decatur Hotel and Casino, here in Las Vegas, which was quite well-known throughout this area,” Mikels said. “I also did an enormous number of music videos for bands and groups that were either singing, dancing, or playing instruments, and also was recording albums for singers that came in from Chicago and Los Angeles.”

It was a steady stream of business that didn’t allow much time for movie making.

“We did these commercials and promotional videos one right after another,” he said. “All of that kept us busy day and night. During that time I was also writing screenplays, keeping up with all of the other activities, and exercising like crazy during the week.”

Mikels did attempt to get back into the movie making saddle.

“I also was trying to raise money for The Corpse Grinders 2,” Mikels explained. “But, instead, I did start the beginnings of Dimension in Fear, in 1992, then decided on something else altogether.”

That year Mikels’ sister, Joan Rose Mikels, passed away after a long struggle with alcoholism, at the age of 57. She was buried near their parents, in Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon.

In 1994, Mikels opened TVM Studios, the base for his future movie making and video work for Las Vegas businesses, which also included TV commercial production.

“Arnie Bartz was a retired builder who built TVM Studios,” Mikels said. “John Cornett, who became a longtime colleague, helped with opening the business.”

The two not only became good friends and associates of Mikels, but Bartz became a familiar face, appearing in many of Mikels’ movies made in Vegas. Bartz had met Mikels as a patron at a dinner/theater club he owned.

“Ted came to see one of the plays,” Bartz recalled.  “I had an organization called Hollywood and Dine. It was all  about eating. Parties and performances. We got to know each other from there.”

Arnie Bartz had appeared in movies before meeting Mikels, his first being Strategic Air Command (1955), starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson. Bartz was in the U. S. Air Force at the time and spoke one line.

“Anyone watching [Strategic Air Command] can’t find me in there anyway,” Arnie Bartz said. “That was like a hundred years ago.”

“His first movie appearance with me was a part in Mission: Killfast,” Mikels said. “He was also a production manager in the completion of the movie, as well.”

One of the projects Mikels released the same year his studio opened was a 30-minute short, Little Red Riding Hood Saves the Big Bad Wolf,  based on a stage play by Herb Robins.

Ted V. Mikels was hired as cinematographer, with Herb Robins directing. The video was a cheap adaptation of the famed fairy tale with a modern ecological twist. It was such a disaster Robins demanded his name be taken off the project in post-production.

The project was also the subject of litigation when difficulties arose with the financial backers.

“I guess the only reason I have never had a litigation against me is that I am very sure to be very clear, and specific, with who I am dealing with. And they must be as clear as I am in our understanding,” Mikels said. “That assures there are no problems with clarity and communication.”

The experience was the last time Mikels and Robins would work together.

The following year, Mikels directed a 22-minute short, Spooky World. Written by Fred Sherman and Al Sherwood, the mini documentary presented a tour of the Spooky World Amusement Park located in Berlin, Massachusetts.

The video was released in 1994 and featured narration by Kane Hodder (Jason of Friday the 13th fame), and a live performance of the smash hit The Monster Mash, sung by Bobby "Boris" Pickett.

TVM Studios was in business and Mikels was already mapping out his next feature movie.

Mikels would reassemble ladies from a short presentation shot in his studio, titled Looking For a Man, and others he had crossed paths with during its production, for Female Slaves’ Revenge.

And this would bring back the death-by-high-heel trademark Mikels’ cinema practice.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Slaves, Sequels and Videotape

Movie making had changed and would continue to develop over the decade as Mikels moved into the age of video and digital production. Gone were the days of using film roll ends on a budget and enormous lab bills for developing and prints.

However, savings were not realized due to the seemingly perpetual cost of equipment upgrades and replacement.

“What we did initially was move from film to three-quarter inch video tape,” Mikels recalled. “Everything in the edit system had to be three quarter inch and it was heavy equipment. So we got to buy portable three-quarter inch that lasted a year, or two.”

Ted V. Mikels then switched to Hi-8, which was followed by an upgrade to Beta SP.

“That was another big step forward, because all new equipment had to be purchased again and it was while we were on Beta SP,” Mikels said. “I had acquired several cameras and recording systems that were portable, and completely redid my edit bay with new controllers, so that we could edit everything with beta SP.”

Mikels stated that he was still working in Beta SP, until everything switched over to digital.

“About 2008, everything became digital video, and that meant that every single piece of equipment that we had ever used, and bought, and were still paying for was so obsolete we couldn't give it away. Of course that meant all new cameras,” he said. “Editing on the computers made everything far more simple, and everything could be done–from color corrections to audio mixing–on a computer. But you can see it was not so simple going from film to digital video,” Mikels explained. “There were many steps in between.”

Video had proven itself cost-effective to Mikels, when it came to short productions, such as TV commercials or music videos.

“One way that video changed things is we could do as many takes of a scene as required, because video cameras can run for hours for the cost of mere pennies,” Mikels said. “I remember one commercial I worked on, a professional actor did 82 takes before we got the scene the way that satisfied the client. We could never have done 82 takes on film stock for a 60 second commercial.”

Gone was the film stock, ushering in Mikels’ first feature length release entirely shot on videotape.

Female Slaves’ Revenge, released in 1997, was both a topical and controversial movie. Also known as Apartheid Slave-Women’s Justice, it told a tale of a revolution that toppled a racist apartheid regime in a fictitious African location. The film was written, directed and co-produced by Mikels, with Ingrid Mosely, and was released only four years after apartheid was abolished in South Africa.

Mikels explained Ingrid Mosely read the screenplay for the project and she fell in love with it.

“I did not know if the movie could ever be made, but Ingrid insisted that we had to do it,” Mikels confessed. “She said we must make it into a movie, and she got $500 from her backers in Ghana, on West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea. This helped start the shooting of the movie on videotape.”

It wasn’t in the budget for Mikels to shoot at a location in Africa, thus one challenge was creating the appropriate environment. Use of African B-roll addressed that issue, and cultural props inside his studio accomplished the rest.

Female Slaves’ Revenge was made 20 years after The Black Klansman. It served as an uncomfortable reminder that long after America’s civil rights issues seemed to be remedied, in a far away place that was not the case.

Originally titled The Ambassador, Mikels played the role of the Ambassador, a defiant white, landowner/slave master whose days of desecration and dominance are over. New laws decree that all slaves and servants are designated as the masters. They may arrest, put on trial, and pass judgement on their oppressors. All other white slave masters have fled, except for the Ambassador.

The drama begins when the slave owner’s abused wife, played by Helen Baker, exits their relationship and mansion. Leaving all of her clothing, shoes and jewelry behind, she hops the last flight out before things go awry.

The racist, abusive slave master is apprehended at his plantation. He is taken into custody, bound, and put on trial by all the females that had suffered by his hand.

“The Ambassador didn’t exist anymore, he was a slave-owner who misused the slaves on his plantation, whipped them, raped them, beat them,” Mikels explained. “And this is what the female slaves did, taking matters into their own hands.”

Actress Jennifer Dove, cast in the role of Queen-Mistress Wateesah, oversees the slave master's trial. Rachel Powell plays Butra, the Prosecutor.

“There were about four or five of the actresses that I thought did very well, especially the Prosecutor, Rachel Powell,” Mikels said. “I think she was the strongest performer in the movie, and I feared for my life on more than one occasion because she was so believable.”

Also cast in the movie was Sandra Young, Zia Bruner, Helen Sellers, Delvera Spears, Viola Brown and Starlita Brown, among others. With the exception of only a few males, the entire cast featured women.

Behind the cameras, three of the crew were women. Only one of those knew how to operate a camera—Danae Silverman—daughter of Lani Silverman and granddaughter of actress Tura Satana.

“I really enjoyed working with Danae,” Mikels said. “She was becoming an excellent camera operator.”

One amusing scene takes place when Mikels’ character is being held before the second day of his trial. Chained and restrained, some of his victims pay him a visit–one being a nun–who begs the guard to allow her to bring a cup of water to the prisoner to drink.

Sister Mary Ellen, played by actress Patrease Ashley, appears to show compassion for the Ambassador, initially. She holds a cup to his mouth, allowing the parched prisoner to drink, but it is a ruse. The beverage is actually poison.

“Yes, the poison is working nicely,” Sister Mary Ellen says, as she removes her head dressing. “I’m no nun. Does this look like a nun face to you, now? I’m no Sister Mary Ellen. This is no nun face!”

The imposter nun then kicks the crap out of Mikels’ Ambassador persona.

“Sister Mary Ellen missed the stopping point a couple of times and I had a few bruises on my ribs,” Mikels said.

Judgement is passed at the end of the landowner’s trial, when he is sentenced to death. He is stomped on by his victims, all of whom are wearing high heel shoes left behind by the Ambassador’s wife.

The guard, played by actress Marie O’Guynn, delivers the fatal stomp. She plants her heel into the former slave owner’s forehead, then slips out of the shoe, leaving it there.

The music for Female Slaves’ Revenge was composed and scored by Glenn Grayson. The “Anti-Apartheid” theme song was written, composed, and arranged by Ingrid Mosely, who also performed piano. Singing the tune is Zia Brunner and Innocent Changes.

The movie also features West African Djembe drums, and victory and celebration dances choreographed by Ulysses Palrose.

“The girls showed a lot of talent,” Mikels said. “Overall, it was fun to make the movie and a lot of people really liked it. It was a genre that is totally different from all of my other movies, but the movie turned out to be a successful video.”

At the end of the film’s credit roll it posts John 3:16. The biblical verse reads: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The year 1998 saw the release of Dimension in Fear, a movie Mikels directed and co-wrote with screenwriter Gerald W. Carroll. The suspense thriller starred Ron Jason, who briefly appeared as a bad guy in Mission: Killfast. Jason plays escaped murderer Cal Lewis, who seeks revenge upon those responsible for him being put away. En route from Texas to Las Vegas, Lewis crosses paths with young TV news reporter Deidre Holland, played by actress Nicole West, who quickly becomes his target.

Dimension in Fear also featured Chuck Alford, who starred as Fike in Mission: Killfast, and included Foster Boom, Arnie Bartz and Barrie Bailey. Making their TVM movie debuts were actors Gene Ellison-Jones and Robert Southerland, who both went on to appear in many of Mikels’ subsequent movies.

Mikels was introduced to Gene Ellison-Jones, also known as Gene Paul Jones, by Arnie Bartz. Jones was renting a room from Bartz at the time.

“Arnie mentioned to me that Gene Jones was acting in a stage play, and he took me and Shanti to see the play,” Mikels recalled. “Gene was marvelous, so I asked him if he would like to do a nice part for me in the movie.”

Jones had just retired from the police force after 30 years of service, some of which he spent as a detective.

“He was such a believable actor, and loved theatre, stage and movies,” Mikels said. “He was a prince to work with. He always knew his lines, from top to bottom, without hesitation, and was very, very dependable.”

Robert Southerland was a client of Mikels and TVM Studios. He had hired the movie maker to create commercials for his business ventures.

“One day Robert offered to help in any casting for any movies,” Mikels said. “And as a production assistant/manager, or location manager, he helped me find locations where we can shoot, including on land that he owned.”

This came in handy for Dimension in Fear, as many hostage and chase scenes were recorded outdoors and in desolate areas.

Also appearing in Dimension in Fear were veteran actresses Liz Renay, in the role of Monique the Psychic, and Dolores Fuller, cast as a TV station owner.

“I knew Liz, but discovered Dolores Fuller was living here in Las Vegas. When I met Doris she told me she would love to be in one of my movies, because she said she had known all about me for years,” Mikels explained. “Her husband, Phil, had been head of the archival work for the Producers Guild in Hollywood. So, when I had something I thought she could do—and it not being too many lines as she requested—I cast her in the park scene.”

Mikels stated that from the movie he became “close friends” with Phil and Dolores.

The star, Ron Jason, who played serial killer Cal Lewis, “really creeped people out” who saw the movie, Mikels relayed.

“In reality, [Jason] is as nice as can be,” Mikels said. “He is another one who moved from Bend, Oregon, to go to Hollywood to become somebody in the industry. He always helped me when I needed his assistance.”

Mikels had noticed Jason over a decade earlier and he was a candidate for an earlier production.

“He was also going to work in the movie I made for Jeff Hogue, Angel of Vengeance. But he crashed his very expensive Porsche on the way through Death Valley,” Mikels recalled. “He did not make it into the movie because of that accident. It nearly killed him.”

Mikels met actress Nicole West, cast in the role of Dedra Hagan, through an acquaintance who wanted to get into movie making himself.

“This gentleman brought her into my studio for an interview, and I liked her from the very beginning for the part I had in mind in the movie,” Mikels said. “Nicole was a delight to work with, very willing to do whatever I required of her, including running a lot in the desert, falling down in the dirt, and was excellent and very dependable.”

The rugged terrain presented a physical challenge, while daytime temperatures rose, to add further discomfort.

“In the desert it's not ever easy, and we always had to do everything for the safety of our performers,” Mikels said. “Nicole had a few risks of her own, but the crew and I were Johnny-on-the-spot, to see that she did not get hurt.”

According to actress Foster Boom, who was cast as a nurse in the movie, even with strenuous shooting days Mikels always maintained a sense of calm over everything.

“Ted always created such a relaxed working environment,” Boom said. “It was truly a pleasure to participate in this project.”

Foster Boom conveyed they didn’t always stick to a script, but rather used it as a sounding board to see what worked.

“More often than not, when the actors would show up, Ted would basically explain what the scene's about, and then the actors would have a few improvisational rehearsals,” Boom said. “The lines he really liked, he would ask us to say them when the camera was rolling.”

In the movie, Mikels makes an appearance as a motel desk clerk.

Dimension in Fear went straight to the video market. It was popular and did well, according to Mikels. But he noted some had called it his most frightening movie because of Ron Jason’s acting.

On April 29, 2000, Ted V. Mikels celebrated his 70th birthday. It was the dawn of a new millennium and the first thing Mikels did was to reach back in time and grab two of his classic films, The Corpse Grinders (1971) and Astro-Zombies (1968), and create sequels.

The first would be The Corpse Grinders 2.

In the late 1990’s, Mikels began production on The Corpse Grinders 2, which was released in 2000. Mikels had linked up with Las Vegas’ Real Actors Workshop (RAW) founder, Rusty Meyers, who cast most of the roles in The Corpse Grinders 2, using his students.

Meyers had moved to Las Vegas in 1993, having lived and worked as a full-time actor in both New York and Los Angeles for 20 years.

“I was looking around for agents and workshops, and didn't really find any that were comparable to the ones in New York or Los Angeles,” Meyers said. “So I created RAW around 1995.”

The workshop hosted several actor showcases.

“I invited all of the agents, producers and casting directors in town,” Meyers said. “I was cast as Roger Daltrey's sidekick, Quinn, in Roger Corman’s film, Vampirella (1996). Corman mentioned to me that he heard that Ted V. Mikels had moved to Las Vegas, so I looked him up and invited him to my RAW Talent Showcase.”

The two hit if off.

“Ted V. Mikels always came early and stayed late, talking with all of the actors,” Meyers said. “When he decided to make The Corpse Grinders 2 he asked me to help him find his cast. By that time, my workshop had a pretty good following, so I ended up casting many of his actors for most of the films he made here in Las Vegas.”

For The Corpse Grinders 2, this included Sean Morelli, Andy Freeman, Paul MacDonald, Cara Jo Basso, Spike Measer, Manny Rojas, Gino Sapienza and Jacquelyn Oxley. Robert Southerland, who had appeared in Mikels’ last film, Dimension in Fear, also attended Meyer’s workshop.

Many other RAW students, such as John P. Baniqued, Anton Funtek, Fletcher Sharp and Jaime Preston Lynch, went on to appear in Mikels’ films.

“Another student of mine was Donna Hamblin, who studied with me for many years, and went on to do several projects with Ted,” Meyers said. “She's now considered a ‘Scream Queen.’”

Hamblin would make her TVM debut in the next sequel Mikels was working on, Mark of the Astro-Zombies, and would appear in many of his subsequent movies.

For Spike Measer, his role as cat alien, Ubock, in The Corpse Grinders 2 was his one and only TVM project.

Actor Sean Morelli was cast in the lead role of Landau in The Corpse Grinders 2. The RAW student also felt a little raw on the set.

“The Corpse Grinders 2 movie was my first lead role, and although I was excited and a bit overzealous, I learned a lot,” Morelli said. “You have to take into account that was almost 20 years ago, and I just started, so my acting skills still needed work.”

Mikels said Morelli’s talent overshadowed any insecurity.

“Sean did a very good job. He could be a little hard on himself, sometimes, as an actor,” Mikels said. “He is very talented and I always wanted to use him in all of my films.”

But Morelli maintains his critical observation regarding his first roles.

“It's really hard for me to watch myself in those earlier movies, being that my acting was so raw, and I needed to mature and learn to be more natural and, well, more believable,” Morelli said. “I guess the fact the movies were considered campy, B movies, it helped me a bit.”

Landau’s second banana, and partner-in-crime, Maltby, was played by Andy Freeman. In the sequel storyline, the nephews of the original Lotus cat food company, Landau (Sanford Mitchell) and Maltby (J. Byron Foster), resurrect the family business.

Familiar to the original are reincarnations of Dr. Howard Glass (this time played by Paul McDonald), and his sexy nurse Angie Robinson (introducing Cara Jo Basso). There is also the greedy, grave digger Caleb (Chuck Alford), and his wacky wife Cleo (Liz Renay), not to mention plenty of stray cats and a variety of fresh corpses.

Cara Jo Basso recalls tumbling into the film as a young and inexperienced actress.

“Honestly, it was my first project ever. I really didn’t know what I was doing to be honest with you,” Basso recalled. “Ted was a class act and a good teacher. It was great to be around such a creative person so early on.”

Mikels made Basso feel comfortable and left her with an enduring good impression.

New to the sequel are the humanoid, feline aliens of the planet Ceta, whose ancestors were cat worshipers of Atlantis, on planet Earth. Under attack from the neighboring planet of Traxis, home of dog creatures, Ceta had been depleted of food and water. A small envoy of the cat creatures venture to Earth to procure food—cat food, of course—LOTUS becoming their preference.

The movie also introduces digital special effects into the TVM universe, courtesy of computer graphics artist, William Darold McDonald. The most notable examples appear at the beginning of the feature, when spacecrafts engage in battle.

“The spaceships were all a result of animation, using illustration, and digitally mixed with live actors,” Mikels explained. “That’s how we did these effects.”

A fitting, ambient, sci-fi musical score was provided by Barry Hartglass.

The movie also introduces the eccentric Lonnie Hammargren into the TVM universe, cast in the role of Dr. Hammars. Hammargren, a retired neurosurgeon, was also a former Lieutenant Governor of Nevada, serving from 1995 to 1999.

“Dr. Lonnie was a retired brain surgeon,” Mikels commented. “He saved a lot of lives.”

In addition, Dr. Volmar Franz makes his TVM debut, cast in the role of Dr. Burnam. Franz, a licensed psychologist, and marriage and family counselor, was introduced to Mikels through Shanti. She and Franz earned their PhD’s at the same school.

But this wasn’t Franz’ first exposure to Ted V. Mikels’ cinema. That came when he was a 9-year-old boy and saw a lobby card go up at his southern Indiana hometown theater.

“[My family] went out to the movies one night, and when we walked out, they put the new posters up for coming attractions,” Franz explained. “I remember looking up at a poster and it said something about ‘How I passed for white.’ It was for Ted’s The Black Klansman (1966). I got all excited and said, ‘Let's go see that,’ and my parents were like, ‘I don't think so, we'll talk about that later.’”

Prior to joining Mikels’ circle of friends, Franz indicated they’d only crossed paths at parties. Then Altamura (Shanti) called about a movie roll.

“She said Ted just got done writing a script for a movie, and there's a part that he thought you'd be great for, and wondered if you’d be interested in doing it,” Franz recalled.

Franz brought with him some acting experience from his youth.

“There was a time back in my early twenties, I was working full-time for an equity children's theater back in Chicago,” Franz said. “That kept me going at least nine months out of the year.”

Franz would become a familiar face, appearing in many subsequent MTV movies, which was a welcome departure from his profession.

“These roles allowed Dr. Franz to break away from the daily routine of dealing with patients,” Mikels said. “That can be a very stressful profession. So, he appreciated the escape of it and we always shared many laughs.”

Aside from the new faces cast in The Corpse Grinders 2, Mikels brought back veteran actress Dolores Fuller as Patricia Grant. Gene Ellison-Jones and Shanti were back this time, playing tall-eared cat aliens Borath and Felina. Also, real life cat, Eddie, makes an appearance.

In a recorded interview with Shanti appearing on The Corpse Grinders 2 DVD release, the actress recalls one scene playing Felina, napping up a tree after a feasting on LOTUS cat food.

“Ted said, ‘Well, get up the tree.’ I think he had forgotten I am not Eddie [the cat],” she said. “I’m not actually a cat. Ted is so much into the movie, he forgets that he is working with a human. I was going to need a ladder to get up into that tree.”

Shanti said Ted accommodated and got a ladder. She also recalled, with humor, consuming the LOTUS brand, which obviously was a prop, and something else that was fine for human consumption.

“I’m the only person, by the way, in the movie, to actually eat that cat food,” Shanti said. “The funny thing about it is I’m a vegetarian, and I was reluctant to taste any of it. I remember saying to Ted, ‘Do I have to?’”

Shanti also stated that during the shooting of her high-kicking fight with three thugs, she connected with one of the men, knocking his sunglasses off, and casting him reeling to the ground. That take was not used in the final movie edit.

Arnie Bartz pops up in the movie as a market butcher. Veteran actor Myron Natwick, who had previously appeared in Mikels’ Mission: Killfast, was flown in from Hollywood to shoot his parts as McBride, an investor who helps Landau and Maltby restart the business.

Ted V. Mikels himself played a strange college instructor named Professor Mikoff.

When it came to rebuilding the LOTUS cat food office in Mikels’ studio, an effort was made to give the sequel a familiar environment for hardcore fans of the original.

“When Landau is getting the office back into shape, to restart the business, we used remnants and some of the props from the original The Corpse Grinders movie,” Mikels said. “We modified some, added props that might add interest to the movie, to give people something to chuckle about.”

The outdoor shots of the LOTUS manufacturing building made use of the facade of a friend’s air conditioning business.

“Bill E. Koval, a fine actor who played Tim, with all his little ticks and quirks, had us all cracking up just watching him,” Mikels said. “Between him and Maltby [J. Byron Foster], they broke up everybody on the set. It was tough to keep from laughing.”

The LOTUS cat food recipe had changed since the original film.

“In the first The Corpse Grinders, we used hamburger and sawdust coming out of the grinding machine,” Mikels said. “Hamburger was too expensive when we made the sequel, and there was decomposition, so we used rice, grounds up beans, split peas and other things, then added red food coloring.”

The machine was rebuilt and upgraded, too.

Among those fed through the grinding machine for canning was Mikels’ son, Ted Jr., and several grandchildren.

“They all had fun doing this,” Mikels said.

On the heels of The Corpse Grinders 2 was another sequel, Mark of the Astro-Zombies.

After 34 years in suspended animation, Ted V. Mikels dusted off his legendary astro-zombies, bringing them to the screen once again in a 2002 release. The movie, which went straight to the video market, pitted a righteous alien race against an evil alien race, with astro-zombies being unleashed, slashing innocent civilians to death.

This time instead of astro-zombies created to travel from Earth into space, somehow the technology ended up in the hands of a reptilian alien race. They bring it back to Earth to cause terror and mayhem. The concept wasn’t too far-fetched for Ted V. Mikels.

“I have always felt that there were multiple, and unusual, races manifesting the galaxies. So it was not difficult to dream up various types of visitors from other places,” he explained. “We know that development, or evolution, from binary, or molecular, structures could easily have developed into strange, and unusual, and different characters that would move as though they have life within them, but are different from us.”

The costumes for the evil reptilian alien race, and the good aliens, led by ASTP-73, began taking shape in the hands of Jay Gowey.

“He created some of the rubber pieces that I had to put together, and mold into the shapes that you see in the costumes,” Mikels explained. “He made the rubber pieces that we have a special name for—appliances, they call them—that he had designed. Together, they gave me the miscellaneous pieces that went with a couple of the characters that were created.”

Mikels explained that paper mache and cardboard were also molded into the shape of heads.

Many of the actors who appeared in Mark of the Astro-Zombies were cast by Rusty Meyers.

Besides casting organized by Meyers, many of Mikels’ private practice professional friends returned to TVM to make this movie.

But there was one major unintended consequence concerning the timing of resurrecting the astro-zombies to terrorize Earth.

“The funny thing about it is that it was on 9/11,” Mikels said.

America was under attack. Terrorists had used passenger planes as missiles to strike New York’s World Trade Center twin towers and The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing thousands. Another hijacked airliner was brought down in a fiery crash in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, when passengers overpowered the terrorists. News spread rapidly across the nation and security was put on high alert.

While his costumed alien killers ran about waving machetes, and extras covered in fake blood lay on the ground, police, uninvited to the outdoor filming event, suddenly appeared.

“Here I was with my cameras and my crew, and 12 or 14 astro-zombies on the perimeter of the airport, where there was a great deal of propane tanks in storage. The police descended upon us instantly,” Mikels recalled. “Of course, I kept my cameras rolling all the while we were talking to them, but they chased us out of there quickly.”

Mikels noted that everything was shut down rapidly. But the alien invasion show went on.

Headlining the movie in starring roles were Tura Satana, playing the sister of her character in the 1968 original film, Sean Morelli as Jeff Lancaster, and Brinke Stevens as TV reporter Cindy Natale, Lancaster’s love interest.

Brinke Stevens was familiar with Ted V. Mikels before she was offered the opportunity to work with him.

“I had known about Ted V. Mikels’ iconic films long before I met him,” Stevens explained.

Mikels had crossed paths with Stevens at promotional movie events that were routinely held around the country. At one such location she had expressed to Mikels an interest in appearing in one of his movies. Their communication continued, which led to Mikels offering a role to Stevens if she would accept the compensation amount and accommodations.

“She liked the story and she liked the part,” Mikels said. “We agreed on the terms and I paid for her stay at a hotel here, along with Tura Satana. If you are an active producer of a certain genre of films, especially ones that appeal to the performers that you would like to have onboard with you, it is quite easy to make the arrangements. There is a mutual desire to work together, which makes it very simple.”

Stevens enjoyed working with Mikels, and rooming and working with Tura Satana, the only star in the sequel who had appeared in the original 1968 film.

“It was a real treat to work with Ted, and also Tura Satana, on Mark of the Astro-Zombies,” Stevens said.

Likewise, Mikels enjoyed working with a true professional like Stevens.

Stevens still recalls when the apocalyptic nature of the movie morphed into reality, with the events of 9/11.

“On the very morning I was supposed to fly home, which was September 11, 2001, I awoke to national chaos, cancelled flights, and found myself stuck in Las Vegas for several more days,” Stevens explained. “Ted generously continued to pay for my hotel room, until I was finally able to get a seat on a departing bus back to Los Angeles, California.”

One of the most memorable scenes featuring Sean Morelli is when he and Brinke Stevens are tied up in chairs, hostages of ‘Malvira’ Satana and her sidekick, Zokar, played by Scott Blacksher.

“In the scene where I was tied up in the chair, and am slapped up, there was one scary moment,” Morelli recalled. “I overplayed it, and the chair teetered over. Being tied up, I had no way to brace myself. It kind of freaked me out. I don’t know what caught me, it might have been Scott Blacksher, but I almost did a face-plant into the carpet.”

Pairing actor Scott Blacksher with Tura Satana proved to be an amusing, but contentious, display of acting chemistry in the film that fans responded positively to.

“Tura and Scott worked well together. They were very easy to direct,” Mikels said. “I always had to make Scott submissive to her, to the point where she slapped him around when he didn't move quickly enough at her orders.”

Morelli said Tura Satana could be intimidating when playing her character, that she “engulfed the role,” but in reality was incredibly pleasant.

“Tura was very sweet, I liked working with her,” he said. “We talked about her knowing Elvis Presley, and different experiences she had in her life. She was the sweetest, sweetest lady.”

Aside from the catastrophe of 9/11, Mikels had some concern about another attack, this one having to do with his rights to the astro-zombies and his legal authority to make a sequel.

“Since I never did see any paperwork when my partners Wayne Rogers and Kenney Altose sold the first movie outright to Jack Harris, I did not know if I had the ability to make another,” Mikels explained. “Of course, I was fully within my rights.”

Mikels justified the move by pointing out that not only had he written the original script, but was producer, director, cinematographer and editor of the first movie. It had been his idea in the first place.

“I had every right to do it again, and there was no permission given in the sale for any rewrites or sequels,” Mikels said. “So I took my chance and created Mark of the Astro-Zombies, adding as many funny details as I could to make it unique. My idea was that of a brilliant man, like that played by John Carradine, could take the memories and the intelligence of all of these brilliant scientists and put them into the brain of the astronaut flying in space. So, I wanted to continue that.”

Beside the reappearance of Tura Satana, the long awaited sequel only carried over a few props from the original film. Mikels noted that an antiquated device or two, and a machete from 1968, were reused.

Mikels’ fixation on somehow returning Septimus DeMarco to the sequel sparked an idea, allowing him to forge ahead, or rather, “a head.” The notion arose to create a likeness of the head of John Carradine that would appear to be preserved, kept alive by mechanical means. The task fell to make-up man and special effects designer, Jay Gowey.

“My friend, Jay Gowey, had talked to me about making a head of Septimus DeMarco, John Carradine,” Mikels recalled. “The prop would be utilizing the theory that the so-called ‘mad scientist’ would be extracting memories from various heads, as you see in the movie, and then transmitting the memories stored on memory cards, to astronauts in space.”

A conversation Gowey had with historian Dennis L. Phelps spawned the idea to ‘head’ in the right direction.

“Dennis [L. Phelps] and I were chatting online. As prop collecting historians, we thought it would be fun to put some classic props in the set dressing,” Gowey explained in a recollection posted on tedvmikels.com.

This evolved into getting a hold of John Carradine's life mask to recast it as the head of Dr. DeMarco for the sequel.

“We thought of putting DeMarco’s head in a pickle jar as a grisly souvenir from the Astro-Zombies,” Gowey said. “When the life mask arrived there was no way it was going to sink into a pickle jar.”

In the movie, DeMarco’s severed head would be alive and talking, situated on a base, with tubes flowing with fluids to keep the noggin’ active.

“Jay said he was going to construct the head, and I told him if he made it close enough to looking like John Carradine, I would use it,” Mikels said. “We would put the tubes in to show that the head is being kept alive. Jay did a beautiful sculpture.”

Jay Gowey also produced a dozen astro-zombie masks for the movie.

DeMarco’s head became an odd, but interesting, artifact in the movie. The head’s voice was supplied by Mikels’ friend, Robert Taylor, who came to Las Vegas to record the lines.

“I think that Robert communicated with me that if he came to Las Vegas would I have a part for him, or could he be even an extra, because he loved my movies,” Mikels said. “I told him if he would like to come at his own expense I surely would use him in the movie, and possibly give him speaking lines. He did so very well in his part, and his voice really impressed me.”

Taylor also appeared in a scene where an attacking astro-zombie spares his life, because “his eyes were different from the people that were being tracked,” Mikels explained.

“I thought his voice sounded so much like John Carradine,” Mikels said. “Robert was certainly a gentleman, and very knowledgeable. I loved using his voice as though it were the real John Carradine. It is so believable, it was uncanny.”

Actor John Baniqued made his TVM debut, playing dual roles as Professor Kroeger and the alien ASTP-73. Baniqued explained that working with Mikels in Mark of the Astro-Zombies was a big opportunity.

“Ted gave me my first speaking roles, as ASTP-73 and Professor Kroeger, in Mark of the Astro-Zombies,” Baniqued said. “For that I am eternally grateful. It was a wonderful opportunity and I learned a great deal from him. He always had time for anyone who worked for him. There were many times that Ted took me aside and provided great advice, and direction, regarding character development and portrayal.”

Playing both Professor Kroeger and ASTP-73 created one amusing aspect to the storyline.

In the movie it is the good alien leader, ASTP-73, who rescues the kidnapped officials strapped to mind-extraction tables in Zekith’s spacecraft. One of those rescued is Professor Kroeger, thus in the scene Baniqued rescues himself.

Baniqued would appear in many subsequent TVM movies.

“I really enjoyed all of the time I spent working with Ted,” he added.

Gene Ellison-Jones, cast in the role of U.S. President Ward Pennington, loved his role, according to Mikels, even though his presence on-screen was confined and limited.

“He portrayed an excellent President of the United States, and was so believable some people joked about the fact that he probably would make a good [real] president,” Mikels said. “In a way, he felt badly that I did not have more scenes for him in the movie, because he enjoyed playing the part of the president so much, and he delivered a great performance.”

Actor Robert Southerland appears as General Kingston in Mark of the Astro-Zombies, and actress Donna Hamblin was cast in the role of Laura, an F.B.I. office receptionist/dispatcher.

“It was the first movie that I did. You know, I was on such a high,” Hamblin said. “At the time, I wasn't particularly really aware of who Ted Mikels was, but I was just happy, because I was so new to the industry.”

Hamblin was more than a little anxious, having heard horror stories portraying movie industry movers and shakers as tyrants.

“I heard stories of people on the set, you know, the producer was not happy, the director was yelling at them,” Hamblin said. “But with Ted behind the camera as a director, he's so kind and so gracious. And that’s what everybody says about working with Ted, it’s family when you work on any of his projects.”

Mikels was impressed with the new actress and a close friendship developed between the two.

“Donna is such a sweetheart,” Mikels said. “She was very eager to learn and developed into a superb actress, and a superb friend, too.”

Actor Scott Miller was cast as F.B.I. agent Mac McClennan, and several of Mikels’ health care professional friends appeared in the movie. This included Dr. John Waite, whose monotone voice and delivery of technical jargon has earned him a warm spot with fans in Mikels’ B movie universe.

“I enjoy a routine Saturday brunch with Dr. John Waite, Shanti, and my friend John Cornett, who is staying with me to help me on my chores,” Mikels said. “We do this every Saturday without fail, Dr. John  Waite insists on treating us to brunch after our morning coffee, and cakes, and so on, at my house.”

Dr. Myra Lee Glassman plays a TV station boss.

Also featured prominently are Dr. Volmar Franz as Randolph West, and Shanti as Dr. Owens.

“I remember one line from that scene in the movie that somebody posted on the internet, on something like Billy Bob's Drive-In Movie Academy Awards, or something,” Franz said. “They did quote me from the movie, the line, ‘As a matter of fact, aliens are being discussed as a possibility.’”

Franz’ character was one of many kidnapped by the reptilian race and brought into their spacecraft.

“I remember going into all kinds of spasms when the reptilian aliens abducted me,” Franz recalled in laugher. “There’s the scene in their spacecraft where they were sucking my brains out—trying to get all my thoughts and memories—and I am wearing this cap.”

Mikels stated that he didn’t only make use of Dr. Franz, but of his home, as well. It was the location of many of his movie shoots, including the swimming pool.

Actress Liz Renay found out about the project and contacted Mikels to see if she could appear in the movie.

“When she heard that I was doing Mark of the Astro-Zombies, she called and asked me to come to her home, and visit,” Mikels said. “During our visit, she said she wanted to work with me in the film, so I wrote the part especially for her in Mark of the Astro Zombies.”

The role Renay would play, the victim of an alien abduction, was entirely spontaneous in nature.

“So we laughed and cajoled about it,” he said. “The part that I came up with was something that we just had developed on the spot, after I had already written, cast, and was shooting the movie. She was very happy, pleased and was being creative in doing her part.”

While there were many actors and crew members that put on astro-zombie costumes during the making of Mark of the Astro-Zombies, Anthony Avery likely speaks for them all concerning his first encounter with legendary filmmaker Ted V. Mikels.

“Walking into his studio back then was like walking into a filmmaker’s museum. I was in awe!” Avery said. “There were huge sets, props, cameras, costumes, and stacks of film cans.”

Avery explained during their meeting that Mikels walked him through his role and gave him direction.

“I couldn’t stop looking at his handlebar moustache,” Avery recalled. “He was sporting it before it became hip with all the hipsters, nowadays.”

Avery was then called to wardrobe and got into a very tight astro-zombie mask.

“I finally got it over my big head, and I was called to set with some alligator man [Anton Funtek], and other creatures from outer space,” he said. “I walked onto a set that looked something like a spaceship. I laid down on the table…. ‘Action!’”

Avery raised himself up, looked toward the camera, then Ted shouted, “Cut!” In about six takes, Anthony Avery had become part of Astro-Zombies’ fandom.

“We all had a lot of fun making Mark of the Astro-Zombies,” Mikels said. “We had a lot of fun with the props and the blood. It was sheer pleasure.”

Mark of the Astro-Zombies was officially released and played in Las Vegas area venues in 2002, but didn’t enter the home DVD market until October 26, 2004.

The sequels were achieved. Now it was time to resurrect the witchcraft theme, and take another crack at making a family movie akin to Mikels’ lost Chad project.

CHAPTER NINE

Old Themes, Bigger Dreams

Cauldron: Baptism of Blood, released in 2004, was inspired by Mikel’s classic Blood Orgy of the She-Devils. Once again, witchcraft, the occult and human sacrifice are the prime directive. The movie features actors Sean Morelli as Detective Robert Alford, Shanti as Police Profiler Wendy Cooper, and witchcraft practitioners played by Mary Shelby, Senita De Veaux and Jenn O. Cide among others.

According to Ted V. Mikels, the idea for the movie came from Jay Gowey.

“He asked me if I wanted to hear about Baptism of Blood, a story idea he had,” Mikels said. “It was in the same genre as Blood Orgy of the She-Devils, in a simple, one paragraph outline. He got a credit in the film noting that the story, which I wrote, was inspired by him.”

Entertainers Kellie Karl and Tommy Lynch play a couple whose characters get caught in a demonic web. Karl recalled the unique impression Mikels made during her audition for the leading role of Stacy.

“He was sitting back in his chair with his infamous mustache, boar tusk necklace and amazing aura. I thought, what a wonderfully interesting human!” Karl said. “He quickly put me completely at ease and before I knew it I was cast as Stacy in Cauldron: Baptism of Blood. To say I was thrilled would be a complete understatement, as the opportunity to work with a legend does not come around too often in one’s life.”

Dr. Volmar Franz secured a role as a recording studio engineer and Gene Ellison-Jones was cast as Bill Masters, host of the television program Paranormal and Psychic Phenomenon. Ted V. Mikels appears as Dr. Ludwig Korneschevsky in the movie, who discusses the paranormal on Masters’ program.

Lonnie Hammargren, cast as Mr. Edwards, gets the story rolling when he rents out TVM Studios to a demonic cult he thinks is just “a church group.” Dr. John Waite also pops in, playing a contest judge in the America’s Top Talent show scenes.

Scott Blacksher was cast in the role as the demonic cult leader Vessago, who only appears from the shoulders up and is enhanced with digital effects. Actor Randy Ariel Tena dons a cloak and mask, cast in the role of the evil sentry Tor.

Digital artist William (Mac) McDonald provided the digital effects to Vessago, the horned demon the devil girls worship. Jay Gowey served as special effects makeup artist, who among other things, created the creepy masks for Vessago and Tor.

Donna Hamblin played Dr. Frederika Vallanova, a guest on Bill Masters’ TV show.

“When Ted offered me the part, I told him I was going to take a bold, ‘Gloria Allred,’ confident approach to it. He said not to, but he would let me try it. I did, and it worked,” Hamblin recalled. “Unfortunately, a lot of that was cut out in editing, and I looked very amateurish in that scene. That happens.”

Entertainer Tamrin Oster, in the role of singer Tararon, dabbles with the paranormal, seeking to communicate with her deceased father.

Rusty Meyers cast the actors in the film, and also appears in Cauldron: Baptism of Blood, as an abusive husband who commits suicide via a curse instigated by his wife, played by Ellen Lawson.

The story features a coven of beautiful young women selling their souls to the devil for riches and fame, and who eagerly participate in Satanic rites. Characters Demonia (Mary Selby), Malucina (Senita De Veaux), and Kardassa (Jenn O. Cide) can't wait to cut a deal with the dark side.

Featured prominently in the movie is Stacy (Kellie Karl), who plays a singer, recording artist and recent winner of the fictional America’s Top Talent television program. She also becomes a target of the demonic cult and their leader. They bring mannequins to life that materialize in the singer’s bedroom and abduct her.

Stacy’s boyfriend embarks on a mission to locate and rescue her. This results in him being captured and bound to a sacrificial altar in the devil’s den. Their friend, Nick Alford (Walter Sherwood), also stumbles into the location and becomes a prisoner of the cult, as well.

Regarding Kellie Karl, a popular Las Vegas entertainer, actress, singer, comedy hypnotist and certified hypnotherapist, Cauldron: Baptism of Blood was her only movie with Mikels.

“Filming with Ted felt like hanging out with friends and I always looked forward to it,” Karl recalled. “Actually, many of us are still friends to this day. Ted had a way of taking things in stride and nothing seemed to unsettle him. I loved that about him. It’s the lesson I took away from that experience and to this day I do my best to live like that myself.”

Her boyfriend in the movie, Tommy Lynch, carries around a creepy dummy, which added a peculiar atmosphere to the movie. Lynch was played by popular entertainer and ventriloquist, Richard Mann.

For those who enjoy a moment of Mikels’ self-promotion, this feature has it all. There are countless scenes where his website is posted, his movie posters hang on walls and other amusing, but shameless, self-publicity visuals pop in and out.

“The fans always seem to enjoy that type of thing,” Mikels said. “Scenes where my movies are showing on a TV in the room, posters for my films hanging on walls. It always adds an extra layer to the entertainment value and keeps it fun.”

In the film’s climax, authorities arrive at TVM Studios to free the hostages and take action against the demonic cult.

“The last scene we shot was an exterior shot of my rescue scene. It was at night, about 11:00,” Karl said. “By the time we all got together to film it, it was months later and the weather had changed in Las Vegas. It was cold, and I had this little summer dress on and high heel sandals. We were running around outside in the cold and wind by the interstate, over, and over, and over again!”

Karl recalls one funny moment during the shooting, regarding a vehicle that was dressed up to appear as a police car.

“The police light on the vehicle kept falling off, and every time it did we had to reset the scene, which took a bit of time,” Karl said. “I was so cold I could not even feel my feet or hands, but these are such great memories.  And I am honored to be a small part of his huge horror legacy.”

The movie concludes as Detective Robert Alford overpowers Tor, dons his outfit, and infiltrates the cauldron room, with pistol in hand, rescuing Stacy, Richard and their friend Nick. The group makes it out just in time to see the building consumed by flames.

TVM Studios burns in the movie, but in reality is open for business the next day.

The popularity of Cauldron: Baptism in Blood inspired Mikels to entertain the notion of—yes—sequels.

“Mara: Queen of the Black Witches would have been a pleasure to write,” Mikels said. “That was the original title of Blood Orgy of the She-Devils. I also entertained the possibility of making Murder at Castlereaghe, which I dreamed up during my days at the castle. But neither emerged.”

In 2006, Mikels was featured in Raymond P. Whalen’s entertaining documentary Mondo Collecto, which was about unusual people who collect peculiar things. In the film, Mikels shows off his ancient weaponry and described how he made his own bows and arrows.

“I was already friends with Ted when I contacted him in mid 2002, to ask him if he wanted to be in my Mondo Collecto documentary,” Whalen said. “Ted always called me Roy even though my name is Ray. But that's what friends do.”

Mikels wanted to know how committed Whalen was to the project. When Whalen informed him he was all the way in, Mikels was, as well. Thus, the documentary unfolded.

Mikels’ love for medieval-looking items over time had turned his home into a museum of sorts.

“In the hallways, and stairwells, and on walls going up to the second floor I have hanging weapons, swords, shields, rifles, knives from Iraq, and Iran and all over the Middle East,” Mikels said. “I have old crossbows, halberds, dueling swords, sabers, foils. And it never quits.”

Some of the artifacts are actual rare antiques.

“I have a couple of daggers that are over 300 years old,” Mikels added. “The oldest is an English court short sword.”

Mikels was featured prominently in Whalen’s project, which took four years to complete. Whalen said the experience was akin to being Jimmy Olsen in a Superman world.

"My friend Jorge commented, ‘It must be like hanging out with a superhero.’ And, it was,” Whalen said. “Ted spent most of his time with me confidently shirtless, unless we had travel out to make a bank run or get cat food for Eddie.”

No shirt, no shoes, no service.

Eddie made a cameo in Mondo Collecto. Whalen was surprised to discover Eddie was not Mikels’ cat, but a pet of a next-door neighbor. Shanti also appeared in the documentary, though mostly covered “by one of Ted’s Magic umbrellas,” Whalen explained.

While not shooting footage for Mondo Collecto, Mikels did some tasty cooking and shared stories about his days at the castle.

“I did very little directing, and even less with asking questions, when shooting Ted's sequence,” Whalen explained. “I was mostly concerned with keeping Ted in frame and looking good, whether he's cavorting in his backyard or proudly seated on his throne.”

Ted’s repeated encouragement of young movie makers became legendary in time. And Raymond P. Whalen was a recipient of such kindness.

“Ted had confidence in my filmmaking abilities, and knew that I'd present him in the best way I could, using my borrowed VHS-C camcorder and my vision prowess,” Whalen said. “He was gracious with my requests, even gleeful in donning his Turkish battle helmet, shield, and ax for my desert, mountain range, money shot.”

Ted V. Mikels, always the entertainer, performed and sang in Mondo Collecto, as well.

“He wasted no time belting out Roll Out The Barrel, on vocals and on his accordion, to the enjoyment of everyone who has seen it,” Whalen added.

Others featured in Mondo Collecto gathered up and cherished everything from Pez dispensers to crucifixes.

More recently Whalen produced a monster vore fetish video series, which he said Mikels likely would have disapproved of. But Mikels’ belief in Whalen as a movie maker was not in dispute.

“Though he would've probably frowned upon my La Vore Girl series, he'd be happy to see me and proud that I have a major documentary about myself entitled Vore King,” Whalen said. “It’s playing festivals around the world.”

Vore King features a tribute to Ted V. Mikels.

“Friendship is more important than celebrity,” Whalen added. “And I am thankful I told Ted that I love him the last time we spoke.”

In 2007, Ted V. Mikels became the subject of a book released by McFarland Publishing, Film Alchemy: The Independent Cinema of Ted V. Mikels, written by Christopher Wayne Curry. The 220 page biography was published on October 24.

“It took the writer, Chris, over a year to write the book, as it involved a lot of communication between the two of us,” Mikels said. “John Curry, his father, a university History teacher, wrote the introduction. John, while on vacation from his job as an instructor the summer of 2001, worked on The Corpse Grinders 2 with me.”

Mikels said the book covered all of his primary movies up until that point and some of the sideline credits he’d gathered.

“There’s a lot in there about my personal life, the harem days at the castle in Glendale,” Mikels said. “There are many nice pictures in it, too.”

But while Mikels applauded the book for its content, saying Curry did “a wonderful job,” he expressed disappointment in the retail price of $25, which he said made the book unattainable for most consumers. Mikels concluded, as a result, the potential audience that could be reached with his life story was greatly diminished.

“McFarland, the publisher, over-priced it in both sizes,” Mikels said. “I do enjoy my half of the returns from sales from Chris, however.”

Mikels’ next film project, Heart of a Boy, was essentially a second attempt to make the unreleased movie Chad (1987). The movie suffered a similar fate as Chad and was never commercially released. When distributors passed on it, Mikels released it himself in 2006, on DVD, and made it exclusively available through his website.

“With Heart of a Boy I was motivated to make a warm, family movie,” Mikels said. “My distributor said they did not know how to sell a family movie. So, Disney can pull it off, but not me? They told me they only had success with horror movies, murder and similar junk. It was never released commercially and is the only one of my completed movies that is not.”

Heart of a Boy bears the distinction of being the only movie Mikels’ ever produced to earn a “G” rating. But in this case, “G” stood for gone.

However, the film did receive acclaim. Nevada Lieutenant Governor Lorraine T. Hunt presented Mikels with a Certificate of Recognition on August 28, 2005, on the day Heart of a Boy was screened publicly. The certificate awarded to Mikels recognized a lifetime contribution to the industry of filmmaking.

The movie’s story centers around a boy named Timmy (played by Matthew Lopez), who suffers from a heart condition that urgently requires a transplant. His mother Alina (played by Mia Bofill), is a broke, illegal immigrant with no access to healthcare insurance. Murphy’s Law is in full swing on the pathway to seeing a miracle.

Heart of a Boy features actors Sean Morelli (as Jack Thornton), Justine Baker, John Baniqued, Robert Southerland, Shanti (cast as nun Sister Mary June), Ron Jason (as bad guy Jake) and Sam Osman. Rusty Meyers, who cast the movie, also appears in it. Ted V. Mikels is featured in a major role as Timmy’s surrogate grandfather, Theo.

Arnie Bartz is cast in the role of Josh, the grocer who sells Theo the winning $64,000 lottery ticket. Foster Boom plays Jacolyn, the store cashier.

John Baniqued, cast in the role of Mr. Randolph, recalls being privy to seeing Mikels step forward in a leading character role.

“I had a relatively minor role in Heart of a Boy,” Baniqued said. “But what I do remember is that it was particularly fun watching Ted doing some real acting in front of the camera. He is a man of many talents.”

Mikels took his role in Heart of a Boy to heart.

“I play an elderly grandfather living next to this little 5-year-old Hispanic boy who needs a heart transplant to live,” Mikels explained. “I take up the fight to raise the necessary money, along with the townspeople, and bake sales, and so forth, to pay for the heart transplant. I win the lottery, money to pay for the transplant, but it is stolen from me by a crook.”

It appears the windfall is totally lost, until the thieves encounter a storm and their aircraft goes down.

“That crook, with his crooked partner, flew a small plane into a mountainside and crashed with all the money,” Mikels added. “The only thing they found was the bag of money, so thank God we got that back.”

Dr. Jeffries, the surgeon who performs the lifesaving transplant on Timmy, is played by Stanley V. Scott. Also appearing are Dr. Laurence Griffin (cast as Father Andre), Kara Beth Cohen, as well as many members of Matthew Lopez’ family.

One actor still has regrets over something his character did.

“Dr. Volmar Franz, a fine actor who played the pawnbroker in the film, tells me all of these years later that he still feels bad [in his scene] that he was offering my character $30 and $40 for his rings,” Mikels recalled. “They had to be worth $500, or so on. But I did get them back in the story.”

One big kid to little kid moment in the film is when Mikels gets to perform magic tricks for Matthew Lopez (Timmy), showing him how it’s done.

“I did some magic tricks for Matthew in the telling of the story,” Mikels said. “He was fascinated.”

Another magical scene in Heart of a Boy is imagined. Timmy and Grandpa Theo enter a toy castle, where the boy wears a crown and sits on a throne.

For Mikels, making the movie was entirely magical.

“I spent a year doing this one, and the behind-the-scenes presentation on this movie is excellent,” he said. “I had acquired a new Beta SP camera just to shoot this movie. It added heavily to my cost of making it. I bought it used, as the new cost over $50,000.”

It was an investment Mikels would not recover.

“Recently, I sent that same camera, having only used it once, to a Texas equipment company who has told me it is worthless because nobody will use it anymore,” Mikels explained. “They could not sell it. I guess eventually it could be used for parts, but I will get nothing for it. It became worthless because of the digital revolution.”

As mentioned earlier, one sizable sum of cash wasn’t lost—the lottery money Grandpa Theo wins in the movie. It’s the only item that survived the plane crash when the thieves hit the mountainside. Thus, the miracle, and Timmy’s operation, is more than paid for.

While Heart of a Boy is no longer available on DVD, it is for sale via download, from Vimeo, online.

Mikels stated his dream would be to release Heart of a Boy with a translation in Spanish, which he believed would open up a new market and life for the movie.

It is likely that will never happen.

Mikels struck a deal with Steve Kaplan, of Alpha Video, and in 2007 the company released ten of his movies on DVD under the Alpha New Cinema imprint. Many of the titles had previously been available from Image Entertainment. A six-DVD set, titled Ted V. Mikels Signature Collection, was also released by Alpha, and was autographed by the filmmaker.

In 2008, Ted V. Mikels became the topic of a documentary created by Kevin Sean Michaels, The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels, which began production two years earlier.

Kevin Michaels had first heard of Mikels via the book Incredibly Strange Films, by V. Vale and Jim Morton. The book targeted unhailed directors such as Hershell Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer, Larry Cohen, Ray Dennis Steckler, Ted V. Mikels and others.

“Ted was at the Chiller Theater Convention in New Jersey, in 1996, with the wonderful Tura Satana in tow,” Michaels recalled. “He had a vendor's table where he was signing autographs and I bought a few VHS tapes. We had a lively discussion about Ed Wood, who helped direct the film Orgy of The Dead.”

The two stayed in touch and linked up in 2004 while Michaels was filming his documentary, Vampira: The Movie, about horror host Maila Nurmi.

“Two years later, I pitched Ted the idea of doing The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels. I based the title on The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield,” Michaels explained. “The distributor later wanted the title to be King of The Grindhouse, but Ted hated the word ‘grindhouse,’ as he explains in the documentary film.”

Michaels approached many people for interviews, including director John Waters, who watched The Corpse Grinders as a kid ‘through a hole in a drive-in fence,’ and ‘without sound,’ much like the main character in John Waters film, Pecker.

“Everyone should see The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels, created by my friend Kevin Sean Michaels, no relation,” Ted V. Mikels said. “It was narrated by John Waters.”

Christopher Wayne Curry, author of Film Alchemy: The Independent Cinema of Ted V. Mikels, wrote the narration.

“Christopher Wayne Curry wrote the narration because Ted loved the job he did on the book Film Alchemy,” Michaels said.

The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels was released by Alpha Video in 2008.

“We had a release party at Fangoria in Los Angeles, where Ted met Bruce Campbell and was reunited with his old pal Roger Corman,” Michaels said.

“I get a small royalty amount,” Mikels said, regarding the documentary. “But it helps with the bread and butter.”

Most of the documentary was recorded at TVM Studios. Model Masuimi Max came to the studio to shoot a segment for the documentary, called “Cutting in Camera.” It was about Mikels’ method of changing camera and lighting setups for each shot in order to save 35MM film.

“In the 66 years of movie making, I estimate that I did well over 1 million camera setups,” Mikels said. “It was nice to be able to show how it was done.”

“I played a masked astro-zombie,” Michaels recalled. “Before I could hand Masuimi the bag with her nurse's costume, she stripped off all her clothes and her husband snapped photos. Ted and the crew all were shocked, and to make matters worse, Shanti walked into the studio. I later apologized, stating that I had no idea that Masuimi was going to do that!”

For one month, Kevin Sean Michaels lived in an upstairs bedroom in Mikels’ Las Vegas residence. It was a personal, warm experience that will never be forgotten.

“We cooked meals together, drank strong martinis, and I learned much-needed table manners from Shanti,” Michaels said.

“We had a good time while he stayed with me,” Ted V. Mikels said. “Kevin was attentive, creative and eager. A very pleasant young man.”

While together, Michaels learned from Ted how to cut 35MM film on an old school Moviola, how to paint and build props, and also about using one’s imagination in scouting out filming locations.

“One day, we were near Area 51 and Ted cautioned me about deadly rattlesnakes,” Michaels said. “I thought he was teasing me, until I came face-to-face with a rattler!”

“The locations we shot near Area 51 can be dangerous,” Mikels admitted.

Michaels said Ted V. Mikels deserves the professional recognition his friend Roger Corman received. In 2010, Corman was recognized with an Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

With the completion of Heart of a Boy, Mikels and Cory Udler connected. Udler had first been exposed to Ted V. Mikels at the age of 11, via a television program.

“A show premiered on TV called The Incredibly Strange Film Show, which was an hour long bio on different fringe film directors such as John Waters, Ed Wood, H.G. Lewis and, of course, Ted V. Mikels,” Udler recalled. “While all of the shows ‘spoke’ to me, Ted's stood out.  He struck me as the real deal, a guy who had to make movies, no matter the budget or sacrifice.”

Udler was compelled to watch every Mikels movie ever made. In his 20’s, while attending a school for video production and multimedia arts, Udler got the itch to "make a weird movie.”

“I found Ted's website and decided to send a message to the address provided, never thinking it would reach Ted himself,” Udler said. “I never expected a message back from Ted, with his personal phone number and an encouragement to ‘call me anytime.’ So, I did, and that struck up our friendship and movie making partnership, if you will.”

Udler became bold and offered to write a scary screenplay for Mikels, who was receptive and ready to revisit the horror genre, after getting snubbed by distributors for his family picture Heart of a Boy.

“He was, admittedly, ready to get back into the monsters and mayhem of his most popular works,” Udler explained. “He decided on a demon possession movie. Knowing his budgetary constraints, I sat down and wrote a very low budget script.”

The script Udler penned was initially titled Demon Bloodlust, and would become the foundation of Mikels’ next movie.

Mikels changed the title of Udler’s tale to Demon Haunt for the movie, as he felt using the word “bloodlust” was too exploitative. Udler found this to be amusing coming from the fellow that made Blood Orgy of the She-Devils.

“Personally, I thought the original title would have put its potential for success well over-the-top,” Udler explained. “But there was no way I was ever going to second-guess Ted. He was, and remains, the genius of fringe movies to me.”

Demon Haunt (2009) was an ambitious special effects thriller cast by Rusty Meyer’s RAW Studio. It assembled many familiar TVM actors and actresses.

The story, written by Cory Udler and Mikels, is the tale of a school teacher and her wheelchair-bound sister, who purchase a house that seems to be haunted by a strange, supernatural force. Summoned to vanquish the demonic entities is Father LeCleur, and his son Raymond. The hellspawn turn out to be much stronger than anyone thought and a bloody showdown ensues.

Mikels had shot a lot of scenic footage in England, making use of historic landmarks to add to the overall production, which was shot in Las Vegas.

“With Demon Haunt I wanted to try something different in the dark entity areas,” Mikels said. “Shanti and I travelled to England on vacation, and I wanted to put some of that ‘European strangeness’ into my movie and try a few new things, and especially CGI, using computer generated imagery.”

While scenes of old British cemeteries, and churches Mikels had shot overseas using a handheld camera, were intended for his next movie, there was never any thought given to creating the project’s evil creatures within a computer. The initial strategy was to create the monsters and demons without all of the bells and whistles.

“There was never any intention to have CGI in the movie,” Mikels explained. “When Cody Udler and I put together the story, the demons were just going to be people in costumes and makeup.”

“The demons and effects I wrote for it were practical, things Ted could create in front of the camera, that would be eerie, but not break his bank,” Udler said.

That is, until the possibility for some CGI arose, via Mikels’ associate producer, William McDonald.

“Then he told me that ‘Mac’ was working on some 3D modeling in his studio, and that the movie would be a ‘CGI extravaganza,’” Udler added.

The project then developed into a major, visually graphic, production.

State-of-the-art, digital, special effects were created by William “Mac” McDonald, and MCFilms, with technical advisors Jon Baekkelund, William Vaughan and Larry Schultz. The creation of the digital art and animation for the special effects was laborious.

“CGI is incredibly time-consuming. Some of the scenes that only last a second, or two, have to be rendered frame by frame,” Mikels explained. “It can take hours, even days, to do a short scene. The scene with the snake pit alone took, like, eight days to render out.”

Scott Blacksher assisted with the creation of one of the computer generated demons.

“With my help in the editing room, Scott is the one who created the image of the evil demon that sat on the shelf in Demon Haunt,” Mikels said.

“Ted was always willing and excited to go an extra mile, to give his movies and his fans something spectacular,” Udler said. “It really showed just how willing he was to embrace new technologies. Ted jumped in feet first and lived that movie, day in and day out, for over 2 years.”

Cast in major roles in the movie were Sean Morelli, Olivia Dunkley, J. P. Edwards, Amanda Jade, Rusty Meyers, Donna Hamblin, Shanti, Ryan Curtis and Louie Thomas. Also, making her TVM Pictures debut was veteran actress Beverly Washburn, most widely known for her role as Elizabeth in the 1967 cult horror film, Spider Baby, and for the Star Trek episode The Deadly Years.

Mikels walks in for a cameo, taking photographs in a scene at the showgirl wardrobe museum.

Even though Mikels changed Udler’s story somewhat, adding scenes to the beginning, Udler was thrilled with the cast.

“Once [the characters] get to the house scenes, then my script really kicked in,” Udler said.  “I was breathless watching these actors in a Ted V. Mikels movie, going through my words, my actions, my scenes that I had written alone in my home office, years before.”

Actor John P. Baniqued, cast as Father Raymond LeCleur Sr., recalled he wasn’t too sure he would fit into the character shoes of a priest. After wrapping up a particular staged scene, Mikels wanted some additional footage outside a house of worship.

“We proceeded to a church nearby for some external shots,” Baniqued explained. “I don't think that it had been arranged with anyone at the church; we were just going to get some exterior footage of me walking in the church parking lot and along the side of the church.”

Any doubts Baniqued had concerning his Heavenly role soon dissipated.

“When I pulled up into the parking lot, still in my priest's wardrobe, I started to get out of the car. As I was walking around the car, a lady and a child walked past me and said, ‘Hello, Father,’” Baniqued recalled. “I simply smiled and responded with, ‘Good afternoon,’ and continued walking to the church. I knew then that I made a convincing priest, just as Ted had said I would.”

Mikels recalled how some thought Baniqued’s vehicle, a racing-striped, muscle edition of a Ford Mustang, was an amusing form of transportation for a man of God.

“The cast made a little fun out of the hot sports car the Father had in the movie,” Mikels said. “I laughed and said, ‘Priests were humans, too,’ and should drive the car they want.”

The movie was a physical challenge for actress Amanda Jade, the daughter of Donna Hamblin. Cast as Jackie Brown, a paraplegic, this active young lady was resigned to the confines of a wheelchair.

“Amanda had never been in a wheelchair before, so that was a real challenge for her to play the part of a paraplegic,” Mikels said. “She did very well under the circumstances.”

To prepare for the role, Amanda actually went shopping in a wheelchair with her mother to better understand the situation.

“I had to learn what people dealing with this had to go through,” Jade said. “For me, it was a challenge! Not only being my first acting gig, but to play the daily life of someone who deals with being paraplegic. How they get around, go places, and live their daily life. I commend them, because it is not easy.”

Jade said one of the toughest parts for her was keeping her legs still during shooting.

“I had two very amazing coaches, my mom and Ted,” she said. “They taught me a lot, as far as me projecting myself, being confident in what I do, and to just have fun with it.”

Donna Hamblin was cast as the real estate agent that sells the house to actress Olivia Dunkley, who plays Dana Brown. Dana’s husband, Travis, played by actor Ryan Curtis, is killed in the vehicle accident that paralyzed her sister Jackie.

If losing her husband wasn’t bad enough, trouble escalates after Dana moves into her new home. She and Jackie discover the residence is demon possessed. It’s a classic “don’t look in the basement” scenario.

Actor Sean Morelli, cast as Raymond LeCleur, estranged son of the Priest, plays a down-on-his-luck, former paranormal investigator. He gets drawn into the center of the action when Dana Brown hires him to check out her home. With the encouragement and assistance of his ghost hunter pal, Scotty Johansen, played by J. P. Edwards, all hell breaks loose.

And apparently, strange activity wasn’t just occurring in the mock basement created for the movie in Mikels’ studio.

“There were some pretty crazy supernatural things that happened on-set when I filmed Demon Haunt,” Morelli said, without elaborating. “It wasn't quite as bad as what you see in the movie. Demon Haunt may have been one of my better movies with Ted.”

When Raymond McCleur, the son, and Priest Raymond McCleur, the Father, patch up a decade of silence between them, they bond to drive the demons from the Brown home.

“Sean, Olivia, Amanda and John Baniqued really brought to life what I had in my head. Humility, humor and a conviction in the story,” screenwriter Cory Udler said. “The characters and the actors playing them need to believe, no matter how ridiculous the situation, that they are truly living through this, and that their convictions are just.”

It’s said you know an artist is good when they make it look easy. Such is the case with Rusty Meyers and Beverly Washburn, cast in the roles of Hank and Wilma Rodgers, neighbors of Dana and Jackie Brown. Their chemistry is showcased in the film.

“Rusty can emulate any character that is needed. He’s a fine actor. And as Hank, he plays an unusual part,” Mikels said. “Beverly Washburn is such a talented lady, always adding an entertaining touch. As Wilma she’s a real kick, and the two of them played off each other really well.”

Meyers had first met Washburn when she move to Las Vegas.

“Ted needed an actress to play my wife and she was the first one I thought of,” Meyers said. “I had cast her to do some stand-in work with me on a bunch of the award shows in town. It wasn't beneath us to do that kind of work and we always had fun on them, too.”

The two noticeably have fun bickering on-camera, in their spontaneous scenes, which were virtually done without a script.

“Beverly was fun to play off of,” Meyers said. “We just ad-libbed the whole thing. I ad-libbed everything I did with Ted.”

The Rodgers were not the kind of people you’d like living near you.

“Rusty played my husband. We were the nosey and strange next-door neighbors,” Washburn said. “Ted would give us some ideas and we’d run with it. We just made most of it up. It was a lot of fun doing the scenes, we had many laughs.”

“She knew I was pretty crazy sometimes, and I have to admit, my improv skills are on point,” Meyers said. “It was a pleasure, as always, to work with her. There may have only been a few of us on set [in the kitchen scene] that day, but as I recall we had them all rolling on the floor in laughter before, during and after each take.”

Mikels routinely allowed actors to run with what they felt at the moment, instead of fixating on a script. He added that Washburn and Meyers were both masters at improv.

“A lot of this dialogue, when you are directing people who are seasoned performers, is created on the spot,” Mikels explained. “I love to ask the performer, ‘What would you say?’ and then, ‘Well, let’s try it.’ So we forget the script, and I get some of my best performances that way.”

Actor Rusty Meyers is one fellow, at least in this movie, who can say he’s “been to Hell and back.” In the film’s finale his character, Hank Brown, gets pulled into the underworld and rises again as a demon. But after the evil is exterminated, Hank is restored to his cantankerous neighborly persona.

“It’s a funny scene after all of the calamity when Hank is escorted back home,” Mikels said.

Hank’s wife chews her dazed husband out and pulls him by an ear into their residence.

“It always makes me laugh when I see that,” Mikels added.

Shanti makes a brief appearance at Grant Philipo's Las Vegas Showgirl Museum, when she puts on a dress once worn by singer and entertainer, Dionne Warwick.

Appearing in the scene is Philipo himself, the CEO, founder and head curator of the museum.

“It is the World's only Showgirl Museum,” Grant Philipo explained. “It has over 30,000 artifacts from Paris, Broadway, Reno, Los Angeles and mainly Las Vegas.”

The collection includes everything from jewelry, to costumes, to sets, props, original costume and set sketches, and programs from around the globe.

“Ted and I had been friends since my dearest friend, Liz Renay, introduced us,” Philipo said. “Over the years he has also used my home as a location for some of his films.”

Amanda Jade said after shooting the car accident scene that caused her character to become a paraplegic, she wasn’t able to wash up afterward. She drove home still covered with fake blood.

“The looks I had gotten were quite hilarious,” she said. “One of my friends saw me driving, and followed me home and made sure I was okay.”

The Demon Haunt experience for Amanda Jade was twofold: working with her talented mother, whom she greatly adores and admires, and her “adopted” grandfather, Ted V. Mikels.

“As for Ted, everyone knows how awesome and talented he is. Few really know him as a person, and for that I was blessed,” Jade said. “The love, the laughter, for me, it was never about being in a movie. I was surrounded by great people that were family. For that, I couldn't be more grateful.”

Cory Udler considers Demon Haunt, aside from his own personal involvement, to be one of Ted V. Mikels’ greatest movies. But while the movie is visually spectacular, and ripe with classic Mikels’ characters and campiness, the film was mainly overlooked upon release.

“Finding distributors that can promote your stuff is hard,” Mikels said. “Most of my digital videos are not promoted properly, sad to say.”

With Demon Haunt, Mikels exploited new digital technologies to impact the visuals of his work. In time, TVM movie fans have discovered the feature and many think it rivals Mikels’ classics. And it does.

On April 29, 2009, the year Demon Haunt was released, Ted V. Mikels celebrated his 80th birthday.

He was slowing down at the moment Richard and Gary Lester, of Blue Heron International Pictures LLC, befriended him. With the help of the Lesters and others, the best movies were not behind Mikels, by any stretch of the imagination

And it would be a pretty large imagination.

CHAPTER TEN

Help from My Friends

Akin to The Beatles’ hit, after reaching the age of 80 Ted V. Mikels would “get by with a little help from [his] friends.” This proved to be a good thing, as those who lent helping hands were both talented and huge admirers of the veteran movie maker.

TVM Studios’ next motion picture release was a third installment to the establishment of an Astro-Zombies series. And before there was even a story, Ted V. Mikels had a title.

“It had to be titled Cloned,” Mikels said. “I didn’t know what it would be about, but that stuck with me.”

Putting the cinematic cart before the horse wasn’t an unusual practice for those who knew Mikels. Thus, Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned emerged. The movie was released in 2010.

“Ted was great with coming up with titles for his movies,” said Mr. Lobo, one of many individuals who produced content for the movie. “He’d come up with a title and the story would evolve from that.”

Mikels quickly recruited screenwriter Cory Udler again.

“Ted turned his attention back to what he always said was his most popular creation: the Astro-Zombies,” Udler explained. “I recall Ted had read a story about a scientific breakthrough concerning the ability to regenerate lost limbs, or appendages, in humans. That was one of the sparks for M3: Cloned.”

It wasn’t uncommon for Mikels and Udler to speak four times a night during the writing of the story. It was during this process Mikels thought it would be “a hoot” to resurrect The Doll Squad in the movie, too.

“To write an Astro-Zombies and a Doll Squad sequel all in one?” Udler mused. “It takes my breath away just thinking about it.”

In the story, the granddaughter of Dr. Septimus DeMarco resurrects the astro-zombies in her laboratory at Area 51, at the request of the United States military. The notion is that cloned astromen created from the DNA of the bones of the creatures killed in the last tale, Mark of the Astro-Zombies, would keep soldiers out of harm’s way. Better to spare a “dispensable soldier,” as Udler called them, than a human being.

But the notion quickly collapses, and cloned astro-zombies are unleashed, resulting in a murderous rampage. Only the new Doll Squad, reconstituted under the direction of Sabrina Kincaid, can stop the astro-zombies.

Aside from Mikels’ TVM Studios being the hub and providing content, the ground game would involve two additional crews, casting actors from pools of friends and associates to shoot portions of the actual movie. Those satellites were based in South Daytona, Florida, under the direction of Richard and Gary Lester, and Mr. Lobo, director of production for content created in the San Francisco and Sacramento, California areas.

Filmmaker Richard Lester contacted Mikels after he and his son viewed a background piece on one of Mikels’ films. The “reach out and touch someone” moment resulted in Richard Lester becoming an associate producer of Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned.

“After watching a behind-the-scenes extra on The Corpse-Grinders 2 DVD, I mentioned to my son, Gary, that Ted seemed like a really genuine, caring, and honest filmmaker,” Richard Lester said. “Since Gary was majoring in professional photography in college, with an interest in VFX and FX make-up, I suggested we contact Ted and compliment him for the way he conducted his filmmaking business.”

In a moment, Gary Lester moved from being a student to a filmmaker on the job.

“I mentioned to Ted that we could film some stuff in Florida for him if he wanted to give his movie more of a wider scope,” Richard Lester said. “Ted decided to give Gary a shot as a second unit director for Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned. For our little film company, the chance to be associated with a feature motion picture was a first, and we were thrilled.”

Mikels said, “Thank God for people like Richard and Gary Lester, who helped me with the project. Gary even worked with me in the editing room, on the computer, to help me put this thing together.”

Gary Lester explained that the new Doll Squad, the astro-zombies, and their victims were cast from a collection of their friends, actors and technical professionals he and his father knew and had worked with before. Mikels shipped the Lesters Doll Squad and astro-zombies costumes to use.

Mr. Lobo, host of the popular syndicated campy movie forum Cinema Insomnia, had met Mikels on September 18, 2008, at a presentation of The Wild World of Ted V. Mikels and Blood Orgy of the She-Devils. It was hosted by drag queen personality Peaches Christ at Landmark's Clay Theatre, in San Francisco, California.

“I didn’t know anything about movie making, so to take part in this movie and learn was a great opportunity,” Mr. Lobo said.

Becoming a second unit producer, director, director of photography, and editor, Mr. Lobo recruited friends and associates Wayne Hess, Joshua Grannell, Olav Phillips, Larry Scholl and Andrew Leung into the crew and cast Grannell in his Peaches Christ persona, Sara “Queen of Trash” Dunn and others to play character roles.

The Lesters tapped on South Daytona area friends and actors, and technical professionals, to create their M3: Cloned production squad.

Udler developed a story to bring the components together in a multi-level ground game to execute the film.

Casting in Las Vegas brought back some familiar TVM faces, such as Donna Hamblin, Sean Morelli, Scott Blacksher, Rusty Meyers, Volmar Franz, Gene Ellison-Jones, Shanti, Robert Southerland, and others. Francine York appeared, reprising her role as Sabrina Kincaid, in scenes shot at her California residence and then edited into the movie.

Donna Hamblin was cast in the role of Stephanie DeMarco, with TVM newcomer actor Fletcher Sharp in the role of Randolph Peterson, Stephanie DeMarco’s supervisor in M3: Cloned.

Tura Satana returned, but she couldn’t physically appear in the movie, having become a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild. Thus, a notion began to emerge that a hologram of the actress might do the trick.

“I used to predict 40 to 50 years ago that there would be, someday, a holographic version of any movie that could play in front of us, in multi-dimensions, on our dinner tabletop,” Mikels said. “That day may actually come. Now that is what I would call entertainment.”

Using images of Satana from the 1968 film, Michael J. Heagle created the hologram illusion for M3: Cloned. Mikels then had Gary Lester add it to the movie.

“Ted had me composite it in a few shots, so Tura could be in there sending out her messages of destruction,” Gary Lester said.

While Tura Satana could not physically appear in the movie, her voice could if the audio was slightly manipulated.

Cory Udler wrote Tura Satana’s lines and recalled the privilege of speaking to her many times on the phone. Mikels had Satana record the audio for her lines herself that were added to the movie.

“I still have in my possession Tura’s dialogue tape for Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned,”  Mikels said. “She dictated her lines into a VHS camera and it seems to have worked.”

But using the microphone of a VHS home video camera was far from ideal concerning audio quality.

“We tried to do a little clean-up on [the audio], and I think we added a distortion effect to make it work, because it was such bad audio,” Gary Lester recalled.

There was also a challenge in bringing original Doll Squad leader, Sabrina Kincaid (Francine York), back in Mikels’ moviedom.

“Ted just called me up and said he’d like to add me to the movie. I couldn’t go there to Nevada because I was involved in another project, something here, so they just sent a crew here,” Francine York said. “I was supposed to reprise my role as Sabrina and he needed me to be a liaison as the head of the group. He sent me a general script and he just told me the general story of the movie.”

Mikels had a small crew flown to Sherman Oaks, California to shoot the segments at her residence.

“I tried to do it, but basically ad-libbed everything,” York said. “He sent this guy, a cameraman, and he was supposed to be good at lighting and everything. I was not a happy camper. The guy was a total idiot.”

“She did tell me she was not really pleased with the so-called crew that I sent to photograph her,” Mikels confessed. “But between them all, they got the job done.”

In her scenes, York appeared in her trademark Doll Squad jumpsuit. It wasn’t a new costume, but the original from 1973.

“I still have it. I said to Ted, ‘Well, I’ll just wear the same outfit.’ He agreed. I could still get into my Sabrina outfit, which was just amazing. I don’t think anyone can wear something they did over 30 years ago!” York said. “Then I went off and bought a red wig, so I would look like Sabrina, because my hair was blonde.”

The edited result was Sabrina Kincaid calling the shots on the telephone in the movie, and organizing the new Doll Squad to take on the astro-zombies and defeat them. The original Doll Squad music composition created by Nicholas Carras was brought back during the Doll’s fight scenes

Overseeing scenes shot at San Francisco and Sacramento locations was 2nd Unit/NorCal director of production, Mr. Lobo. His team included director of photography and editor Wayne Hess, and co-producers Joshua Grannell and Olav Phillips, along with Larry Scholl and Andrew Leung.

“I cast the new Doll Squad for our location segment,” Mr. Lobo said. “Along with Sara Dunn and Peaches Christ were friends and people I had worked with.”

Sara “Queen of Trash” Dunn was cast in the role of Sabrina Kincaid’s appointed intermediate team leader, Queen Amazon.

Mikels shipped the 2nd Unit/NorCal crew Doll Squad and astro-zombies costumes.

“Ted sent out three astro-zombie costumes, but I only used one, and that was worn by actor Jay Patrick. We figured if they were clones, he should play all of our zombies,” Mr. Lobo explained. “I was in contact with Ted during the filming. We’d go over ideas. It was guerrilla-warfare movie making, anything that would work.”

Joshua Grannell, who as Peaches Christ is a professional drag performer, was cast as himself in M3: Cloned, enjoying a short scene.

“I'd been a fan of Ted V. Mikels for years when I first met him screening his film The Doll Squad at my Midnight Mass show,” Grannell said. “I was able to interview him onstage as Peaches Christ.”

Mikels said, “Joshua is a fantastic female impersonator, it was a joy to have him. He is internationally known, is an actor, and had made his own movies, as well.”

In the movie, Grannell appears in a dressing room with Doll Squad team member Queen Amazon, played by Dunn. Queen Amazon is subdued by injection, then M.I.B. agent Mr. Lobo enters Peaches’ dressing room.

“Mr. Lobo comes in to thank Peaches for a job well-done,” Mikels said. “But instead of paying her cash, he does her in and shoots her.”

Dunn remembers long talks with Ted V. Mikels on the phone, where he poured out ideas for future movies. She also recalls the confidence Mikels instilled in her.

“Ted is an inspiration, he made me feel like I had really made it. He had such faith in me,” Dunn said.

The climactic scenes where the Doll Squad takes on the astro-zombies ended with a bang, literally.

“I told Ted what kills the zombies should be an explosive,” Mr. Lobo explained. “The dart was his idea, so we had an exploding dart.”

Mikels decided the weapon of choice should be a dart shot by a blowgun. But to set off the bang, he added another device and a note of caution.

“They had to set off the charge using a remote control device pointed at the target,” Mikel said. “So, Queen Amazon instructed the others in the Doll Squad not to be too close to the astro-zombies when using the darts.”

Mr. Lobo’s Doll Squad battle scenes were shot in the parking lot of Toy Fusion/La Brie’s Sleep Center, on El Camino Avenue, in Sacramento. Mr. Lobo relayed working with Mikels was an incredible learning experience.

“Ted knew what he wanted, and he went about getting it for his films in a nontraditional way,” Mr. Lobo said. “One piece of advice he gave me was to always film actors entering and departing any scene. That way in edit you’ve always got an opening and closing. Even if you don’t need it, you’ll have it. It seems so simple, but I never forgot that.”

Once while filming for M3: Cloned, Gary Lester and his crew made cinematic pit stops on a light speed time schedule, filming at three different locations in one day.

“One day we had to shoot at three spread out locations,” he recalled. “So we get in the car, jump out, film it, try to get everything you could, jump back in the car, go all the way to the next location, film all that stuff, jump in the car. That was, in and of itself, entertaining.”

It was the Lesters who added a Corpse Grinders teaser to the Astro-Zombie and Doll Squad mix.

“Gary decided that since the movie was going to be campy anyway, a little humor here and there would play very well,” Richard Lester said. “So the LOTUS cat food scene at the beginning was an extremely subtle, humorous touch, paying homage to another Ted V. Mikels’ film.”

The younger Lester also stepped in, creating computer generated special effects for the movie.

“Gary Lester was behind the fantastic explosions and special effects seen throughout. It was exciting for me,” Mikels said.

He stated the Lesters helped him immensely in the transition to modernize his video production techniques and move into the digital age.

“I am totally aware of all of the new digital techniques that were never available to me on film,” Mikels said. “Now I am shooting on high definition SD cards.”

The bulk of M3: Cloned was shot on location in Las Vegas, at Mikels’ studio, and in the surrounding area.

“Shanti was cast in a head position in the office of Senator Caldwell [Robert Southerland]. She flies to Area 51, investigating what’s going on with the astro-zombies there,” Mikels said. “I made Dr. Franz the head man in the Men In Black.”

Franz said, “I got to play the role of a real nasty son-of-a-bitch. I remember the scene I did with Leonard Bullock, getting in his face in the bookstore.”

Another confrontation with Bullock, played by Erick Adam, had Franz’ head spinning.

“I really go off on poor Leonard, and what actually came out was not part of the written script,” Franz said. “I just started this whole string of epithets and eventually I kind of blew it up from there. I thought to myself, Where the hell am I going with this? I started cracking up.”

Playing a heavy had hilarious moments, and for Franz that’s the mindset he carried into every Mikels’ film he did.

“That was my main objective in anything that I ever did with Ted,” Franz said. “I went over there with a full intent of having a really good time, and that is what I was there for.”

Besides acting in the film, Robert Southerland owned the land portrayed as Area 51, where the astro-zombies were unleashed. Sean Morelli’s role in the movie was minimal, but that wasn’t Ted V. Mikels’ initial intention.

“Ted wanted me to play the lead role that Fletcher Sharp ended up playing,” Morelli said. “I really wanted to play that role, but I was just too busy at the time, with too many other projects.”

Of course, Mikels cast himself in the film, playing both General Ivan Mikacev and his twin brother, Crazy Peter. Mikels stated those roles were unscripted, and he made up his dialogue as the cameras recorded.

“My favorite part is Ted's dual role, the Crazy Peter character,” Cory Udler said. “Ted always did his ‘tackward balking,’ or ‘backward talking,’ even in everyday conversation. And it never failed to illicit a laugh.”

Mikels said, “One of my favorite pastimes is to speak backwards, which I did with Crazy Peter. I have done it for fun since I was the age of 15, working on the stage. It’s entertaining.”

Rusty Meyers, cast as an enforcer in M3: Cloned, agreed Mikels often made up dialogue off the cuff. But that was a routine practice for cast members, as well.

“I did make up 90% of all of my dialogue in these Astro-Zombies movies,” Meyers said. “He would let us just ad-lib for hours.”

Donna Hamblin recalled how cramped and odd Stephanie DeMarco’s laboratory was, and packed full of unbelievable props.

“I remember there were a couple of times I just looked at the stuff around, going ‘Okay,’ and then ‘I have to make this work?’” Hamblin said, humorously. “Ted would direct me, and say, ‘I want you to come over here,’ and ‘You're going to do this,’ and I'm just looking at a device that's a piece of tin foil.”

“That’s why people liked it,” Mikels said, regarding the cheesy props.

One wildly popular scene with fans of the film is where Stephanie DeMarco teaches an astro-zombie a lesson in her laboratory, treating it like a kindergarten student.

“In the scene, Stephanie points to a dog in a children’s picture book, then asks him to show her the dog,” Mikels said. “The astro-zombie is not that sharp, and he points to what he thinks is the dog, and she says, ‘No! That’s a cow!’”

Donna Hamblin explained that it wasn’t only the line, but also how she delivered it, that gave it longevity.

“I was trying to be a strong character, so I was a bit aggressive during that line, ‘No, that’s the dog!’ in teaching him,” Hamblin said. “In social settings Ted and Shanti would often repeat it, and the way I said it, in front of me, and then laugh.”

The prop used, a children’s book, lives on, as well.

“The children’s book used in that scene was autographed by Ted and myself, and sold to a collector in Germany,” Hamblin added.

Fletcher Sharp, who was cast in the lead role of DeMarco’s supervisor Randolph Peterson, met Ted V. Mikels through the actress.

“I first learned of Ted V. Mikels through actress Donna Hamblin, who arranged it with Ted for me to audition for Astro-Zombies M3: Cloned,” Sharp recalled. “After a pleasant conversation, he had me read for him, and then offered me a leading role on the spot. I was floored and honored. I quickly learned that Ted always had it clearly fixed in his mind what he wanted and was decisive.”

One important scene in the movie came together quickly. Being crucial to the storyline, Mikels pushed Hamblin and Sharp to pull it off at a moment’s notice. The scene, shot on the set of DeMarco’s lab in Mikels’ studio, occurred at the end of a marathon day of filming.

“By 8 or 9 o'clock, we were all getting weary and hoping to be wrapping for the day, when Ted informed Donna and I that our big dramatic scene was next,” Sharp said. “He stressed it was pivotal and important that we really delivered.”

Hamblin and Sharp protested, saying they needed another day to prepare for the hastily conjured up scene. While the crew set up inside, Hamblin and Sharp took 15 minutes in the parking lot, rehearsing their lines, cramming for the moment.

“When it was time to shoot, we were still anxious and frustrated. Ted pushed that frustration until we were about to explode, and then started shooting,” Sharp said. “He channeled our frustration into the scene and I think it turned out great.”

“Yes,” Hamblin agreed. “I think Fletcher’s, and my own, frustration made the scene look even better.”

One of the movies’ popular images is the scene where hordes of cloned, astro-zombies emerge from booth-like doors in DeMarco’s lab and make their escape.

“I had the astromen wardrobe in the van,” Mikels recalled. “It wasn’t planned, but I had a group available, so I had everyone put on astro-zombie outfits.”

Donna Hamblin recalls being one of them.

“Ted said, ‘I need you to be one of them.’ Here I am, and there was no air-conditioning and I’m wearing this outfit, in a mask and shoes, running out of this door a thousand times,” Hamblin said. “I remember at the end I was literally just ready to pass out.”

When the scene wrapped, Hamblin took off the costume and Mikels approached.

“I asked her if she was okay,” Mikels said. “She didn’t seem too happy.”

Before double-crosser Lancaster, played by Gene Ellison-Jones, is killed in DeMarco’s lab by an astro-zombie, he first has to get by a security guard, played by Arnie Bartz.

“Arnie Bartz and Gene had been friends for many, many years. Both had been in my movies, but had never shared a scene,” Mikels said.

Mikels also relayed that casting Steve Jaeger as Richard, the boyfriend of Stephanie DeMarco, made for some fine acting moments.

Many individuals put on astro-zombies costumes for M3: Cloned, one being Anthony Avery, who also appeared as one in Mark of the Astro-Zombies. In this movie, Avery also appeared as the tall reporter wearing the light blue shirt, asking Randolph Peterson questions during a press conference.

“I finally got to get my face on camera in one of Ted’s films,” Avery said. “And this time around, playing an astroman, they had made these very cool, futuristic, astro-zombie masks. But my experience as an astro-zombie on this film wasn’t as smooth as the previous one.”

Avery explained that swinging the fake sword at someone playing a victim was difficult, due to limited visibility peering through the astroman mask.

“I don’t know if anyone else who played an astro-zombie had a problem seeing out of the mask, but I sure did!” he said. “I needed to stop precisely at the actor's neck, obviously, so we didn’t hurt the actor. But I still needed to make it look like I was really swinging it. With limited vision, I was not able to hit my mark.”

At the end of the movie, Stephanie DeMarco ditches her boyfriend Richard, and makes off with the M.I.B. Captain (Sean Morelli), absconding to a secret location. With DeMarco are the only existed documents on how to create astromen.

“The two meet at the airport to take a flight out. Sean’s character tells Stephanie that other countries will pay big money for the plans to create the astro-zombies,” Mikels said. “Next, they’re on a beach in South America, relaxing in their lounge chairs.”

It is then revealed that the astro-zombie project was a success, not for the military, but for Stephanie DeMarco. While the government project failed, and was shut down after the Doll Squad cleaned up the mess, DeMarco’s personal goal to make the creatures civil and domesticated. This had been achieved.

“We see behind them domesticated astro-zombies,” Mikels said. “We see how Stephanie has been able to create a controlled astro-zombie that she so desired.”

It wasn’t the ending writer Cory Udler remembered writing.

“The ending I knew nothing of at all, until I saw it at the Palms premiere!” he said. “Not that it's a bad ending at all. It's charming, in a way.”

The original ending Udler wrote depicted Randolph Peterson safe at home. He feels the worst is behind him, then spots something outside.

“He takes a deep breath, and peers out his kitchen window to watch some kids playing with what he thinks is a soccer ball,” Udler explained. “One kid kicks the ball out of the other's reach, and Randolph focuses harder on the round object, noticing it's actually the head of an astro-zombie!”

The eyes in the astroman head glow red. Randolph screams. The tale cuts to black.

“We never discussed why he chose to end it the way he did, but I just assumed that he wanted a more light-hearted ending, instead of one that was darker,” Udler added. “The ending all but assured an Astro-Zombies 4, which we thankfully got!”

When M3: Cloned production ended, Ted V. Mikels put an end to his studio, as well.

“I closed my studio across from the Luxor Hotel Casino in 2009, when everything went to hell [after the crash], and the digital world took over. I moved tons of stuff into my townhouse and the garage,” Mikels said. “My triple-car garage is crammed so full, you can't walk through it if a car is parked there.”

Tura Satana attended the theatrical premiere of M3: Cloned in Las Vegas June 19, 2010. It was reported that she was in failing health at the time of the event. Sadly, on February 4, 2011, she died of heart failure .

Cory Udler commented, “She was seated for most of the pre-screening ceremonies, but she seemed OK.”

Tura Satana had appeared in all three Astro-Zombies movies, spanning over 40 years. This film was her final motion picture appearance.

Living in Reno, Nevada, it was a given that the welcome mat was always out for Satana to appear in any of Mikels’ films.

“We were so close that we both automatically assumed that if she could get here from Reno, she would play any part that I assigned to her,” Mikels said. “There was a show here, like a tribute at the Huntridge theater, and she would fly in from Reno, often bringing her daughter, Lani, with her. She supported me in the audience, and I usually asked her to come up on stage, and talk with me and the audience. Her personality was always a hit with the audience.”

But the story of Tura is far from over. She is the topic of an upcoming movie titled Tura! The Tura Satana Documentary, with John Waters and Margaret Cho, produced by Tura Satana Productions and Troico Film.

The project includes the talents of Dita Von Teese, Pamela Des Barres, Tara Moss, Kitten Natividad, Dennis Busch and Eric Charmelo.

Siouxzan Perry, who worked with Satana for 12 years as her manager and confidante, along with documentary director Cody Jarrett, and multi-media artist and linguist Helen Macfarlane, advanced the project that has been six years in the making.

Sadly, Perry has a special reminder of Satana every year.

“She passed on my birthday in 2011, making us bonded together for life,” Perry said. “We were very close. So working on this project is quite an honor. I am very close to the girls, and they are helping us fill in the blanks on her life.”

The girls being Satana’s daughters, Lani Silverman and Jade Satana.

“My mom made Siouxzan, Jade, and I promise that her documentary would be made,” Lani Silverman explained. “Siouxzan has been the team leader of all the projects, to keep Mom's story on the burner.”

Jade Satana added, “Mom's final wish was to have this film made, to inspire others to overcome any obstacles in their life and turn the negatives into positives.”

The movie is described as highlighting “the incredible true life story of the Russ Meyer and Burlesque superstar, Asian-American cinema pioneer and ultimate self-empowered female.” The project engaged a crowdfunding effort to make the film a reality.

“She also loved her fans so much, she wanted them involved, so that is why the Kickstarter campaign was launched,” Satana added. “Anyone who pledged will be mentioned in the credits. Siouxzan, Helen, and Cody are working tirelessly to make her proud. I know she will love it!”

Updates on the project can be discovered at turasatanaproductions.com, and turasatana.com.

The documentary is planned for release in 2018, and includes an interview with Ted V. Mikels on the topic of his dear friend Tura, whom he recalled with great love in her final days.

“Tura and I kept in very close communication during her illness,” Mikels said. “I spoke with her just a week or so before her premature passing. I miss her dearly.”

No sooner had the third Astro-Zombies movie been completed, then the fourth began production. During its making, Ted V. Mikels’ ex-wife Geneva (Kirsch) Eppele passed away on June 18, 2011.

In Astro-Zombies M4: Invaders from Cyberspace, released in 2012, astromen travel from their home planet of Mozortsa V to earth, and take over the internet. They discover how to emerge through home computers, laptops and mobile communication devices. Their directive: eliminate Earth’s population, claim the planet as their home, and ensure astro-zombies’ survival.

The fourth and final movie in the series was the mother of all Astro-Zombie flicks, and Ted V. Mikels knew this.

“Astro-Zombies M4: Invaders from Cyberspace was the most ambitious one of all,” he said.

The movie made use of several videographers, shooting at various global locations that would be added into M4, and then enhanced with special effects.

“I had film from various places in the world,” Mikel said. “Crews we used in other countries always shot a lot of landmark footage. I envisioned the astro-zombies destroying famous places with the lasers emitted from their eyes.”

Special effects added allowed the creatures to blow up those landmarks.

Mikels wrote the script, based on a suggested storyline by Gary Lester, but credited Cory Udler as a co-writer.

“Ted and I talked a lot about M4 early on,” Udler said. “I never finished a script, as Ted really only needed me to help bounce ideas off of.”

Mikels had tasted the possibilities of a visually, high-tech world for the astro-zombies with M3: Cloned, but knew limitations were usually financial. Gary Lester was back to assist with that. He and his father, Richard, believed in the project and were all in.

“Gary and Richard helped immensely,” Mikels said.

With the Lesters and their resources, Mikels’ vision for an epic Astro-Zombies movie materialized.

“Astro-Zombies M4: Invaders from Cyberspace is the production we were heavily involved in,” Richard Lester said. “We did all of the visual special effects for that one, including blowing up places around the world, the destruction of the planet, and the astro-zombie attacks. Even the opening TVM Global logo was created by my son, Gary.”

Richard Lester was Mikels’ associate producer for the movie and stated that his company, Blue Heron International Pictures LLC, donated approximately $54,000 in services, equipment and supplies. This sum included their unit participation in M3: Cloned.

A discussion took place to keep the astro-zombies frightening, but defuse goriness by boosting the campish factor.

“Ted would have preferred the astro-zombies be a bit more frightening and scary,” Richard Lester noted. “Gary understood from the get-go that Ted’s horror movies—and especially Astro-Zombies—were campy. Yet, it was because they were campy that they attracted so many fans, generation after generation.”

The balancing act would be challenging.

“Gary decided to add humor to a number of scenes, to take advantage of the campy aspect, while adding a real, high-tech sophistication to the visual special effects,” Richard Lester added. “Thus, there is nothing campy about the astro-zombies. The combination was dynamite and Ted loved it.”

Gary Lester also served as assistant director and appeared in the movie.

“Gary appears in an opening segment,” Mikels said. “It’s the movie within a movie, where Gary portrays a boyfriend seated with his girlfriend [Lacelynn Lites], watching a werewolf movie on TV. Gary also created that.”

Richard Lester also enjoyed a scene in the movie shot at Lonnie Hammargren’s home. Hammargren was cast as Professor Merlin, with Shanti in the role of Yogi, his assistant.

Mikels cast most of M4: Invaders from Cyberspace by bringing in personnel and talent who had played roles in the previous two movies, along with a few new faces.

Cast in the lead female role of Yvonne was Las Vegas entertainer, singer, and model Jaime Preston Lynch. She had appeared in the 2001 movie 3,000 Miles from Graceland, and was a regular performer at the Luxor Hotel and Casino.

“Jaime is a dancer by profession. She is also a singer,” Mikels said. “She’s very athletic, which made her a good runner.”

Sean Morelli, cast in the lead role of Brad, introduced Ted V. Mikels to Jaime Preston Lynch and suggested her for a role in the movie.

“Ted didn’t know her, and Jaime was a friend of mine,” Morelli said. “I arranged it, and Ted interviewed her, and she got the lead role.”

Morelli recalled how one scene heated up, literally.

“We shot that at Chris DeFranco’s Sun Media Productions, using one of their rooms, and the air conditioning units were making too much noise and it was picking up on the microphones,” Morelli said. “Ted had the air conditioners shut off in that room. So, on top of everything else, I’m sweating like a pig, and we’re all hot and miserable.”

Mikels told the cast not to worry about perspiring as it would be good for the scene, since everyone in the Homeland Security meeting was supposed to be concerned, and nervous.

“It was like a hundred degrees in that room,” Morelli added. “I kept walking out of there during rehearsals to cool off.”

Volmar Franz, cast in a Homeland Security role, got to cool off in his swimming pool.

“Ted just wanted a shot of my swimming pool in this movie. So he dreamed something up,” Franz said. “It’s at the end of the movie, and was also the end of me.”

When descending to the bottom of the ten-foot deep pool to conduct the experiment on the green astroman liquid, an uninvited guest shows up.

“While I’m down there an astro-zombie showed up in my backyard and shot me with laser eyes,” Franz said. “I end up being blown up, and there’s blood in the water, body parts.”

Gary Lester cast some unforgettable roles, and faces, for M4.

“Gary brought in some Hollywood heavyweights for the Florida location scenes,” Richard Lester stated. “There was Barry Anderson, a George Romero makeup artist who created the astro-zombie corpse for the autopsy scene. Barry, and his wife, and son also appear in a cameo [carnival] scene where they spot astro-zombies.”

“Actor John Martino, who starred as ‘Paulie’ with Marlon Brando in The Godfather, played a detective in M4,” Lester noted.

John (Johnny) Martino played foot-soldier Paulie Gatto in the famous 1972 crime film. The gangster persona stuck, and Martino went on to appear in Dillinger (1973), Capone (1975) and Confessions of a Thug (2005).

“In The Godfather, he’s the one in the movie that his brothers drive him off into the stix, and did away with him in the car,” Mikels said.

Also featured was Charlie Carlson, author of Weird Florida, who was cast as the sheriff.

Scott Marlowe, a teacher of cryptozoology, enjoyed a memorable moment in the movie. In his scene, Marlowe gets a free pizza, when it tumbles next to a dumpster, after an astro-zombie kills the patron who purchased it.

“That's a first in my home,” Marlowe said, indicating that real-life pizzas elude him. “My son, Robert, is the pizza nut around here. I'm lucky if I get a sniff. From what I heard from Richard, Ted enjoyed the scene quite a bit.”

While many actors and actresses appeared in all three newer Astro-Zombie movies, Mikels humorously conveyed that actor Robert Southerland bears the distinction of being the only one who enjoyed character promotions in each film.

“Robert was a general in Mark of the Astro-Zombies, then played a senator in M3: Cloned,” Mikels said. “In the final movie, M4: Invaders from Cyberspace, he played the President of the United States, a role he enjoyed very much.”

Jim Wheble, from M3: Cloned, was cast in the role of a presidential aide. Another aide was played by veteran actress Beverly Washburn. She also did a piece for Our Forever Friends (2013), released by Lester’s Blue Heron International Pictures LLC.

Also joining the performing team was Drew Marvick, whose screen time in this movie was brief, but who went on to appear in Mikels’ Paranormal Extremes (2015) movie. Marvick, an astro-zombie and press videographer in M4, was a fan of the Astro-Zombies movies before he met Mikels.

“When I was a teenager watching the original Astro-Zombies in my parents’ game room, I would never have believed you if you told me I would someday have a role in an Astro-Zombies sequel,” Marvick said. “Even more far-fetched, that I would become good friends with the legendary Ted V. Mikels.”

Befriending Mikels, the two spent countless hours in the filmmaker’s living room talking about the industry. Those moments inspired him to become a moviemaker himself. Marvick released Pool Party Massacre in 2017.

“Working with Ted is actually what gave me the motivation to write and direct my first feature film,” Marvick explained. “I took everything I learned from him and made my own film. But I did it the Ted V. Mikels’ way, and I certainly couldn’t have done it without him.”

Perhaps the most amusing story concerning casting came with the return of actor Fletcher Sharp, star of the previous Astro-Zombies movie, M3: Cloned.

“[Ted] invited me back to play a cameo role as a secret service agent in a top secret planning meeting. At the time, my head was completely shaved. When I arrived on-set in a black suit, wearing wraparound sunglasses, with the bald head, Ted didn't recognize me at all,” Sharp recalled.

Sharp said Mikels approached him, politely introduced himself by name, and shook his hand. “Once I ripped off the sunglasses and told him it was me, he got a good laugh,” Sharp said.

Whitney Priebe Cross, who worked as a script supervisor on M4, got the job at a casting call. The former court reporter didn’t wish to be in front of the camera, but behind it.

“I didn't realize at that time who he was, and how big of an icon he was in the horror genre industry,” Cross recalled. “He humbly gave me a start into the film industry.”

Cross assisted in many behind-the-scenes aspects regarding Mikels’ movie making and the two “became fast friends.”

She made sure actors showed up, astro-zombies were dressed, and demanded “quiet on the set” when the cameras rolled. Mikels did get her in front of the camera once, for m4.

“Ted did write me into a scene as a reporter to the general's counsel scene,” she said. “I had a ball being in the presence of this master.”

Tura Satana’s absence in M4 is notable. As mentioned, the actress who appeared in the previous three Astro-Zombies movies died February 4, 2011.

But a link to the first movie was established with the addition of Gary Heacock, creator of special effects for the original 1968 movie. Heacock also played a bridge-tender in M4.

Also returning to the crazed world of the astro-zombies was Terri Lynn Hicks, as Presidential Security Chief Griswell, and Steve Jaeger as a TV news anchor.

Foster Boom was cast as a “remote viewer,” someone who engages in the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target, purportedly using extrasensory perception.

“Remote viewing seemed to be a reflection of Ted’s spiritual beliefs,” Boom said.

She recalled that while spiritually well, Mikels was experiencing some physical issues that would continue to plague him.

“In this particular film, it was clear that Ted was in quite a bit of physical pain, but once he said, ‘Action,’ his passion for his work seemed to make his pain disappear,” Boom recalled. “I admired him greatly for that.”

Gary Lester concurred with that observation. He pointed to the scene where the kids are playing the video game.

“One time we flew out to Las Vegas for a week, and I did most of the photography, and helped do the set-up for the lights and cameras,” Lester said. “One day Ted was really feeling it, he was exhausted. It was the beginning of his health issues. He asked me if I would take over and direct the scene.”

But Mikels was unstoppable.

Gary Lester conveyed that when Mikels suggested having astro-zombies physically come out of computers, he didn’t know if the notion was technically possible.

“That seemed a little far-fetched,” Mikels stated. “I didn’t know if he could do that.”

Lester assured Mikels anything was possible.

“I told him that it would be easy, we could do that on After Effects,” Gary Lester said. “So, I was talking with my dad and it was decided we’d do a quick little thing to show Ted.”

Gary Lester filmed a little “sample” of what could be done. He created a werewolf video.

“[Ted] said, ‘I love it! Now we have the first part of the movie!’ And I said, ‘Wait? What?!’” Gary Lester conveyed with laughter. “He said, ‘Yeah, now we got the first part of the movie, let’s get the ball rolling on the rest of it!’”

Mikels was excited when Gary Lester informed him of all the possibilities for digital special effects in the movie.

“I told him to go for it,” Mikels said. “Do any effects you want and let’s really spruce it up.”

The special effects the Lesters employed propelled M4 and the astro-zombies forward visually. The Lesters also cast many characters in the project and created moments that were straight out of the Mikels’ movie making textbook.

The final scenes of the movie, where citizens use mirrors to destroy the astro-zombies, presented an amusing challenge.

“I basically had an idea of how it was going to work,” Gary Lester said. “Ted had the idea of [using] mirrors to bounce the lasers back at their heads.”

One classic moment is when actress Audrey Parente, who appeared in M3 as a nature photographer, holds out a mirror to deflect laser beams shot at her by an astro-zombie, only to discover she’s holding it backwards. The error causes her demise.

“Audrey's backwards mirror, plus all of those cell-phone [explosion] splats were Gary’s ideas,” Richard Lester said.

Memories of astro-zombies being defeated with mirrors bring a smile to Gary Lester’s face.

“It looked ridiculous, people were running around with mirrors, bystanders must have thought we were crazy, that we had lost our minds,” he said. “But the end result came out great.”

Another humorous, memorable scene features Frosty Respess.

“Actor Frosty Respess saying, ‘Now I know why I don't have a cell phone, and never will have one!’ was Gary’s idea, too,” his father stated.

Respess’ memorable one-liner comes after a bystander, played by Owen Sliter, gets his face scorched when his cell phone casts off an electrical charge, courtesy of the astro-zombies.

Shooting the scenes without the advantage of seeing the special effects proved to be amusing. One case involved Paula Carroll, in a scene where a woman on the street is depicted with an electrified cell phone that causes her head to explode.

“Paula did that outside of a little pharmacy, and I guess everybody inside heard her screaming. So, at one point there was an ambulance driving by, looking for this woman who was screaming,” Gary Lester explained, with intermittent laughter.

Gary Lester admired Mikels not only for his expertise, but for his devotion to movie making. He remarked that Mikels often said, “I’ll stop making movies when I’m dead.”

The fourth movie in the series, M4: Invaders from Cyberspace, was completed and enjoyed its theatrical premiere in Las Vegas with a bittersweet aftermath.

Gary Rayner Heacock, the special effects man for the first Astro-Zombies movie, attended the screening event with Mikels and other guests. After the premiere, Heacock unfortunately died in an automobile accident on May 5, 2013, at age 79, on his way home to Portland.

“Gary Heacock drove back to Oregon without sleep, but only made it 50 miles before he was killed in a fiery, head-on crash on the highway,” Mikels said. “He was so talented and we surely miss him.”

At the end of the fourth Astro-Zombie movie the last words in the credit role read: “The end, or is it?”

Aside from keeping busy making his own movies and appearing in them, Mikels provided cameos and small roles for many other filmmakers.

He played a vampire expert named Jonas Collins in Addicted to Murder (1998), and a film producer in Malevolence (2004).

Other small roles made their way into the films Planetfall (2005), Dead Country (2008), Deader Country (2009), and Seven Deadly Sins (2009).

Mikels stated at times he shot the cameos himself and his segments were simply edited into a feature so independent movie producers would have a recognizable name.

Some of his more memorable guest spots, such as his role of Ted Roy in Killer Biker Chicks (2009), he barely remembers. The movie also featured several familiar TVM Studios faces.

“I have no idea what Killer Biker Chicks was all about,” Mikels said. “Regan Redding called me and offered me a fee if I would make a one-day appearance for him. It took about an hour to do my scene, and of course, I never saw the movie.”

Mikels appeared in shorts featuring friends and associates, such as Josef Niznik with The Boss (2013), and Anthony Avery with Hex (2014). He was also known to help other independent moviemakers behind the scenes with their projects.

“Ted was always there if you needed him,” Drew Marvick stated. Marvick’s first horror film, Pool Party Massacre, enjoyed Las Vegas area theatrical screenings in April 2017, with a DVD release on the 20th.

Now that the astro-zombies had been driven back by the forces of good, in M4: Invaders from Cyberspace, another blast from the past re-emerged.

Soon the empty tummies of felines everywhere would be filled with a new twist on an old cat food recipe: LOTUS.

The Corpse Grinders 3, a third installment to the Ted V. Mikels’ series, was a licensed film released in 2012. The venture gathered half a dozen producers, which included Marc Gras, Kiko Navarro, José Miguel Rodríguez, José Vicente Tomás, Richard Lester and Ted V. Mikels. Richard Lester’s son, Gary Lester, was second unit director for scenes shot in the United States.

This takeoff of Mikels’ classic was mostly shot at Alcoy, a town in Alicante province, a port city on Spain’s southeastern Costa Blanca. It replaces Landau and Maltby with Ricardo Pastor as Ted, and Manuel Rodriquez as Bill. Actor John Martino, cast in the role of Mr. Gualtieri, was the only recognizable Hollywood actor in the project.

Also cast were Pedro Garcia Oliva, Tam Sempre Miro, Garrick Tuitt and Richard Lester.

Corpse Grinders 3 presents a comical, but gloomy and disturbing, revival of the Lotus Cat Food Company. Even under new management the investors can't seem to keep the business under control, and halt employees from grinding up cadavers to make cheap cat food. A new twist is the cats consuming the food not only attack folks, but mutate into nasty cat-monsters.

“I met Ted Mikels when he was looking for international footage for his Astro Zombies: M4 - Invaders from Cyberspace movie,” Marc Gras Cots said. “I shot some Barcelona tourist spots footage for the zombies to destroy in the film.”

Gras and Mikels developed a friendship as a result, exchanging emails often. He offered to represent Mikels in Europe through his company, Tyrannosaurus Entertainment, bringing some of his classic films to the United Kingdom and Spain.

Mikels expressed that he had to keep working, due to some financial obligations, and partially due to that he was open to licensing out his brand name.

“I talked with my partners and offered to film a new installment of his The Corpse Grinders franchise in Spain,” Gras explained. “We would put in the money and the work. He would put up his name and we would count on his supervision. Also, any American profit of the film would be only for him. He agreed enthusiastically and we started.”

At the time, Tyrannosaurus Entertainment was representing the works of Spanish filmmaker Manolito Motosierra. They suggested him to be the director for The Corpse Grinders 3, but Mikels expressed concern. He thought Manolito's works contained too much gore.

“I told Marc that I didn’t want too much of the gore,” Mikels said. “My belief is, the more real the gore, the worse effect it has on the future of the young generations. I do not think it is healthy and, more and more, the very young filmmakers are delving into this type of filmmaking, in what they call, or think, is entertainment. So I made my intentions known and they obliged.”

Gras heard Mikels loud and clear.

“Ted was always insisting to me that he was a ‘camp filmmaker,’ not a horror or gore, but camp,” Gras said. “The Corpse Grinders 3 should be a camp movie.”

Manolito and Gras wrote a screenplay with that in mind, and submitted it to Mikels for approval. During the next months, Gras served as liaison and translator.

“I had to write the screenplay in Spanish with Manolito, then translate into English for Ted and vice versa, when Ted suggested changes,” Gras recalled. “Ted also introduced me to Richard Lester and his son Gary Lester, who were very kind to film some American footage for us to include in the film. John Martino's character, Mr. Gualtieri, was Richard's idea. And I wrote the scenes they filmed in Florida.”

“We never met Marc in person,” Richard Lester explained, due to the distance. “He is a very pleasant person, was easy to work with, and has great communication skills.”

Scenes shot in the U.S. included Ormond Beach, Florida at The Casements, John D. Rockefeller's mansion. Interior shots were captured in actor John Martino's former Ormond Beach home.

No key principals, and very few of the crew, received a salary from working on The Corpse Grinders 3.

“It was just for the pleasure to make the film, and the excitement to be in a Ted V. Mikels production,” Gras said. “My partners at Tyrannosaurus Entertainment and I just wanted to help Ted, and also learn from him. And we did. The film surely didn't give him much money but, at least, it also didn't cost him a dime. And he taught us a lot during the process.”

When production started, Mikels received all of the dailies via the internet. Satisfied with what he was seeing, he didn't suggested many changes.

Mikels was particularly happy with the performance of Amparo Murcía, the old lady who played Nany, Arnie's mother in the film. He also was impressed with the performance by John Martino, and with the music soundtrack, composed by David Prats.

“Ted was pleased also with the final product,” Richard Lester said.

A premiere of the film was presented in a theatre at Alcoy (Alicante), where a big portion of the movie was shot. Mikels shot a video message for the audience that was presented before the film.

“We tried to maintain his spirit in the movie and I think we got it, to a greater or lesser extent,” Gras said. “Although there was an ocean between Ted and the set, he oversaw all the production from the beginning to the end.”

The Lesters agree the movie is classic Mikels all the way.

“Gary and I feel that Corpse Grinders 3 is an absolutely delightful and solid piece of entertainment,” Richard Lester said. “Producer Marc Gras and company in Barcelona did a fantastic job with it. Casting was perfect, locations and costumes were outstanding. I feel it was first class all the way.”

It’s an experience Marc Gras Cots will never forget.

“Beyond his bizarre life and his psychotronic films, Ted was a gentleman. Friendly, sympathetic, polite and realistic,” Gras said. “I've met a lot of people in the low budget film business over the years, but no one had the same impact on me than Ted. He was truly an auteur. You can like or you can dislike his films, but he was authentic. And he loved what he did..”

And this wouldn’t be the final film in the series. A remake of the original, produced out of Germany, was up the road.

Mikels’ next movie would revisit one of his favorite subjects, the paranormal.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Help from My Friends

Mikels’ next movie, Paranormal Extremes: Text Messages from the Dead, was released in 2015. It brought the movie maker completely into the digital age, while entertaining a personal favorite topic: the paranormal. Production for the project began in 2013.

“My first totally digital movie was Paranormal Extremes: Text Messages from the Dead. Of course, that meant all new cameras,” Mikels explained. “Now with editing on computers it made everything far more simple. Everything could be done, from color corrections to audio mixing. What was not so simple was going from film to digital video, as there were many steps in between.”

It is the steps Mikels had outlined in the beginning of Chapter Eight of this book.

Paranormal Extremes originated as a screenplay submitted to Mikels by Cory Udler. While Udler receives screenplay credit for the movie along with Ted V. Mikels, the story was rewritten by Mikels and only vaguely resembled Udler’s idea upon completion.

Paranormal Extremes: Text Messages from the Dead follows the tale of a Las Vegas showgirl who begins to receive text messages from her fiancé, after his tragic death in an automobile accident. Along the journey are trademark TVM moments featuring colorful characters and inside jokes. But for the most part, the feature is intriguing and appeals to the modern craze of ghost hunter reality television programs.

Cast in the lead role of Addison London is actress Colie Knoke. Her dead, but texting, fiancé, Brandon Connell, is played by Josef Niznik. He also created the digital special effects for the movie and was assistant video editor.

TVM Studios regulars included Jim Wheble and Beverly Washburn as the parents of Brandon Connell, Lonnie Hammargren as a communicator of the dead, and Donna Hamblin as Harata. Also appearing are Shanti, Volmar Franz, and his wife Kathrine Franz, Sean Morelli, Drew Marvick, Michael Dean, Grant Philipo, Eric Adam, Terri Lynn Hicks, John Waite and others. The movie introduced Dawna Lee Heising as Tara Turner, Grace LaFleur as a Tarot card reader, John Bizarre and Brenda Grippi.

Arnie Bartz served as production manager and Mikels recruited nearly a dozen helpers to work the cameras and electrical department. Jacob Landry served as assistant director, while Glenn Grayson scored the music track.

The three stooges comprising the ghost hunting team, made up of actors Sean Morelli, Drew Marvick and Michael Dean, provide an amusing and sometimes skeptical look at the paranormal. The trio is depicted as stars of a reality show Paranormal Wars.

Drew Marvick recalls making dialogue up on the fly when it came to the storyline. In once scene, Marvick’s character addresses ghost hunting cameramen, who were there to capture footage of the apparition for his team’s paranormal TV show.

“We had gone so far off the script that by the time I made it to the set, we weren’t using a script at all,” Marvick said. “This included delivering a monologue to the fake camera crew about the haunted house we were about to enter. Since we weren’t using a script I just had to make it up as I went along.”

This included Mikels asking him to make up a speech about the history of the spook-infested home.

“I told him I could definitely make up a good backstory, and asked him how long I had until we shot that scene, thinking maybe it would be the next day,” Marvick recalled. “Ted replied, ‘We’ll be ready to shoot it in 5 minutes!’ I wish I could have seen the look on my own face.”

Like the professional he is, Marvick put on his wardrobe, found his mark, and made the whole thing up on the spot.

He said, “I still, to this day, have no idea what I said. But Ted said it was great, so that’s all that mattered to me.”

Sean Morelli, cast as the ghost hunter team leader, was aware of popular ghost hunting shows and sought to mimic that. However, he barely survived the production of the movie.

“In Paranormal Extremes I was definitely going for that Zak Bagans’ type of character, from Ghost Adventures,” Morelli said. “I was actually really sick during the couple of weeks of filming. So, I looked horrible, and I knew it was far from my best work.”

The ghost hunter trio of Sean Morelli, Drew Marvick and Michael Dean provided a great example of acting chemistry in the movie. The band actually comes off looking like they could host Ghost Adventures, but this motley crew exposes disingenuous paranormal practices, like branding out-of-focus bugs as orbs.

For Colie Knoke, it was her first time working with Mikels. Knoke, a Las Vegas based model and actress, began her acting career in Fargo, North Dakota, in a memorable television commercial where she lip-synched the song I'm Bringing Sexy Back.

Her modeling career made her a cover girl for many magazines, placed her in the pages of BellyYellers swimsuit catalogue, and on billboards across the U.S.A. Knoke displays some modeling in one scene in Paranormal Extremes.

“I remember Ted telling us about when he lived in the castle and had multiple girlfriends living there,” Colie Knoke said. “He was his own Hugh Hefner. I couldn't picture it. This tiny, cute man with eight girlfriends? Wow.”

Knoke also recalled receiving a history lesson in filmmaking, in the typical Mikels’ manner.

“He often talked about how he had been making movies for 70 years,” she added. “He was so sweet, kind, quirky and fun.”

Scott Blacksher almost goes unnoticed in his role in Paranormal Extremes. He is barely recognizable playing a skinny creeper identified as a Psychometry expert.

“Scott Blacksher lost about 60 pounds to play the part in Paranormal Extremes,” Mikels said. “He wanted to write that part for himself, and did. Then, of course, I directed the execution of his created part.”

While Blacksher’s appearance in the movie is short, the scene is trademark TVM strangeness. It was shot at Grant Philipo's Las Vegas Showgirl Museum, and featured founder and curator, Grant Philipo.

“The museum of costumes is owned by my friend Grant, and located here in Las Vegas. We had shot there in a previous film,” Mikels said. “Grant is an artistic, disciplined actor and a celebrity among celebrities.”

“Ted didn't believe in scripts and I, having been theater trained, loved scripts,” Grant Philipo said. “I also hate performing as myself. So when Ted told me he wanted me to be the Museum Curator, I protested!”

Philipo agreed to appear and allow the use of his museum as a set “out of friendship.”

“I told him, ‘I don't want to play myself,’ and if I did this film I had to have a script, so I could memorize my lines. He agreed,” Philipo recalled. “It was an unpaid role, but I agreed out of friendship and waited for my script! The guy [Scott Blacksher] in the scene was to write the script.”

Philipo ended up using a little ingenuity to create his own cue cards.

“I never got the script until the night before we were to shoot the scene,” Philipo said. “I knew I could never memorize the script. Since I knew where the scene would be shot, and what the camera could and could not see, I printed up a huge layout of the script, which ended up in two 8 foot tall scrolls. I then went into my ballroom and hung the script where only I could clearly see it.”

Philipo wasn’t the only one who experienced a challenge regarding the movie script. Mikels had handed out copies of the original Cory Udler screenplay to some members of the cast.

“I received the original script from Ted that was written by Cory Udler,” Donna Hamblin recalled. “Well, we all know Ted, he went through and changed the script somewhat.”

Hamblin said Mikels called and informed her which pages from the script would be shot on the upcoming weekend. She studied her lines to be prepared.

“I show up on-set and start doing the wrong lines,” Hamblin said. “Well, after scratching our heads, Ted realized he gave me the original and had changed it. So, between quick study and someone feeding me lines, we got it done and laughed afterward.”

Paranormal Extremes star Colie Knoke learned what it was like to act with no script at all.

“When I first began filming with Ted, I studied my lines up and down, and left and right. And when we started filming, he changed the lines to ‘whatever feels right,’" Knoke said. “So, it was more of a storyline than a script. We did improvisation for most of the lines and improv was actually nice to do.”

Actress Terry Lynn Hicks enjoys an amusing scene, as a channeler of the dead who conducts a séance, in one of her best TVM roles. Also, Marilyn Weinmann is cast to play Mikels’ wife.

Shawna Lee Heising, making her TVM movie debut, was cast in the role of Tara Turner, a television reporter.

“Ted knew that I was coming from Huntington Beach, California, so he tried to make sure that my scenes could be shot in one weekend in Las Vegas, in order to make the trip cost-effective and convenient for me and my husband,” Heising said. “Ted knew exactly how he wanted me to play the role, and it was a great learning experience to say my lines under his direction. My husband Paul, who is a Financial Advisor, agreed to come up and help Ted with production when my scenes were shot.”

Heising’s husband even got into the movie

“There was a scene at a conference table for the entire cast who was there that day, and Ted put my husband in the scene,” Heising said. “It is an example of the generosity and thoughtfulness of Ted V. Mikels.”

Volmar Franz, cast as Addison’s father, recalled his character’s more agitated side before he mellowed and re-established a loving relationship with his daughter.

“I was a mean son-of-a-bitch,” Franz said, emitting sporadic laughter. “But it all worked out between us.”

Kathrine Franz, who played Addison’s dead mother that pops in and out of scenes, shared a memorable scene with the actress when the ghost hunters are investigating Addison’s home. While the paranormal crew is shooting, they see Addison in a hallway reaching out. Unseen by them, she is hugging the spirit of her deceased mother.

Addison joins her in the afterworld when she falls from a window in her home onto the concrete below. The closing scene eerily places her walking off with actors Shanti, Donna Hamblin, Kathrine Franz, Josef Niznik. And Ted V. Mikels.

One touching and memorable scene takes place in a park, at the start of the movie. It features Mikels with Colie Knoke.

“We did the scene together, at the park, where he was a character in the movie,” Knoke said. “And I remember thinking how easily he made his character believable. He did it in one take. He wasn't just a director, he was an actor and one of a kind.”

Mikels plays an old man named Ben, who has actually passed on but can appear from the beyond. The scene opens with Mikels approaching Knoke, walking with a cane. He points to a place on a park bench, where Knoke is seated, when the dialogue begins:

Mikels: Excuse me. Is that taken?

Knoke: No, have a seat.

Mikels: Thank you. Ah, what a beautiful day it is today. It makes a person really feel like being alive, doesn’t it?

Knoke: You know, it really does.

Mikels: I’m Ben.

Knoke: Addie. Addison. Well, my friends call me Addie.

Mikels: Addison. What a pretty name. You know, Addison, my wife and I used to take a walk every single day. And we’d walk in this very park and sit at this very bench. She’d even do funny things. She’d bring a bag of breadcrumbs along, and she’d feed all these birds, and pigeons, and ducks, and whatever that came here. But you know, she got to know all of them personally. She even named them. Georgie, and Gracie, and named this one Heckle and Jeckle. She had names for a number of them. She was so funny. But, you know, when you’re young, you never think about what it might be like when you get older. Sitting on a park bench and feeding the pigeons, the birds and the ducks. You never think about that.

Then Mikels looks upward and points to the sky.

Mikels: But that Big Guy up there has it all figured out. He knows when it’s time for you to slow down.

Knoke: Your wife, is she passed?

Mikels: Oh, no. She’s very much alive.

Knoke: So, you’re no longer together?

Mikels: That’s right. We’re no longer together.

Knoke: I’m sorry.

Mikels: Oh, no. It’s okay. We’ll be together again someday. I know. I know it will happen, it’s just a matter of time.

Knoke: That’s beautiful. I’m glad you feel that way.

Mikels: One thing, though. I’d give anything to be able to tell her just how much I love her, how many good times we had, how much I miss her.

Knoke: Well, maybe you should call her.

Mikels: Oh, I can’t do that. That’s not allowed.

Knoke: I see.

Mikels: Say, do you think you could do me a favor?

Knoke: Sure I will.

On the park bench, Mikels then sings a few lines from the classic Al Jolson tune, April Showers:

Mikels: Though April showers may come your way,

They bring the flowers that bloom in May.

So if it's raining, have no regrets,

Because it isn't raining rain, you know, it's raining violets.

The violets were blooming, but it was turning winter in Mikels’ life. Paranormal Extremes: Text Messages of the Dead was released on Alpha New Cinema video, on DVD, in 2015. The package included two discs, one of which contained nearly 45 minutes of outtakes from the making of the motion picture.

Mikels was encountering not only the difficulty of bringing resources together to create movies, but mustering up strength to make them. In 2015, he’d had stays in the hospital due to his declining health. He’d undergone cataract surgery. And at the same time he was already making his next feature, 10 Violent Women 2, a sequel to the 1982 classic.

When I connected with Ted on December 18, 2015, for this biography, I never expected him to actually be reading his own emails. Legends like Ted V. Mikels  have secretaries to handle this, right? Akin to Cory Udler’s amazement, when Ted personally responded to my email, I was astounded.

Truth be told, I was working on an Astro-Zombies film fan guide, and was at best seeking a few comments I could put in the book. That book did materialize as Unmasking the Astro-Zombies, and was published in November, 2016. But during our correspondence, Ted hinted that he had many other films, and a huge life story.

I was a fan of all of Ted’s movies and very familiar with them.

I smiled, as I knew what Ted was hinting at. He wanted me to not just focus on one film series, but all of his movies, and his life. Thus, one book became two.

Ted had expressed while he absolutely loved the biography written by Christopher Wayne Curry almost a decade ago, the publisher, McFarlane Press, had set a price so high on the book, $25, that he believed it was beyond the budget of most consumers. This translated into lack of reader access. His story was out there, but he reasoned fewer people would read it as a result.

I promised him no matter the page count, this book would be $12 or less, nothing more. Ted was thrilled.

He was all in on our venture together, and said, “I would be happy to help in any way that I can.”

Ted had looked into my background, as well.

He said, “I checked out your homepage, and I get the feeling that you and your wife are very nice people. I look forward to communicating with you again.”

On December 20, Ted communicated he was to undergo eye surgery the next day. Always the movie maker, his focus concerned the ability to see through the camera lens.

“I am having cataract eye surgery in the morning, on my left eye,” he said. “Then on the 14th of January, on my right eye. Hoping that will help me in my editing, as well as the camera work. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and the best of everything to you and your wife.”

It was a Merry Christmas, but not the best for Ted, who loved the holiday.

Not all of our communication was simply for this book. Personal moments were routinely shared between us, not to mention updates on the movie he was currently making, 10 Violent Women 2.

“At this point in my life I am still making the 10 Violent Women 2 movie, as we speak,” he said. “I will begin filming again, after a brief hiatus due to the holidays. Everyone has gone to visit families in other parts of the country, and so on. Some assistance in making the movie comes from the University here, students in film school. So, I am teaching young people how to make movies.”

Ted and I joked about celebrating our birthdays together, as they’re only two days apart, though vastly different in years. Ted’s was April 29, and mine, April 27. But one of the earliest things I told him was that he and my mother shared almost exactly the same birthday. They were the same age. My terrific mom had been born only 12 days before him, on April 17, 1929. Ted was born April 29, 1929.

I told him about Mom and how much I loved her. Little did I know she would suddenly turn ill, and be hospitalized February 28, 2016, on the day of my wife’s and my wedding anniversary. She died unexpectedly a few days later, on March 1.

I communicated her passing to Ted the day it happened. His response was touching, and I will never forget it:

“I am so terribly sorry to hear of your mother's passing. I am very, very sorry. Losing a mother is one of the most difficult things in life that most of us have to pass through. Losing a father is extremely difficult, also.”

I was aware he’d lost both his parents and a niece in a 1964 automobile accident, as we had discussed that already for this book. He continued to express his sympathy in the message:

“So I truly understand the loss. God bless you for hanging in with the book, but take all the time you need to deal with your mother's passing.”

Did I take any more time? No. Did Ted ever stop because of tragedy? Never. Thus, we were back at the book on March 4, the day of my mother’s funeral.

“Lights, camera, action, Mr. Mikels!”

I knew Ted was in a lot of pain, and he reflected on the best years being behind him:

“I guess I had my fair share of great health, but at 86 years old I am facing the maladies of older age. I walk with a cane, and often with two canes, rather than use a walker. I am in a great deal of pain constantly, but I guess meditation and mindset help me deal with that. But I certainly do not like it, at all.”

We concluded our correspondence for this book on May 10. All content on his part was in, but I was still seeking celebrities that appeared in his movies, which continued until the publication of this book.

During our interview process, Ted was routinely surprised at who I was finding and who had agreed to share their memories in the book. I never burdened him with my search. There were only two exceptions, when I asked him if he could reach out to Francine York and Sherri Vernon, to see if they would speak with me. He did, and they appear in this book.

Ted kept me updated on progress he was making on the new movie he was working on, 10 Violent Women 2. During this time, he informed me about a remake of The Corpse Grinders that was in the works.

“I recently worked on a contract for the fourth movie in the Corpse Grinders series, to be done in Germany,” Mikels said. “I will be giving input where I feel it is helpful. It is directed by a young man named Timo Rose, who has done two or three small films in Germany, but was very anxious to do a new version of The Corpse Grinders.”

The notion for the project was introduced to Mikels via Nils Henftling.

Actor Nils Henftling met Ted V. Mikels in Las Vegas, in October 2015, as a result of joining the cast of 10 Violent Women 2. While working in the project, Henftling, also a movie producer, made a business proposal.

“At that time we talked about a remake about one of his movies,” Henftling said. “My bro and director, Timo Rose, always loved The Corpse Grinders and so we decided to do that remake. We wanted this remake to be more serious than the original, with no cats and such, so we shot an ultra brutal and gory flick without any compromise, but with a lot of surprises.”

In the remake, Landau and Maltby, the young owners of Lotus Cat Food, are struggling to keep the company alive as business is worse than expected. Down on their luck, and no longer able to pay their workers, the gruesome twosome start to kill off their employees every couple of days. Soon, the vanishing numbers do not go unnoticed and the police become involved in the case.

The movie, a production of RoBo Pictures and Shoot ’Em Up Flicks, stars Max Evans in the role of Landau, with Nils Henftling playing Maltby. It also features Shawn C. Phillips, Anthony Straeger, Thomas Binder, Kristina Kostiv and Enya Maria Tames as Tessie, among others.

Donna Hamblin and Ted V. Mikels appear in a cameo together, playing the parents of Maltby. The scene presents itself in the form of a video birthday greeting to their son, in which Mikels gives him his share of the Lotus cat food company as a gift.

“We shot the scene in Ted's backyard,” Donna Hamblin explained. “The segment played out as if [we were Maltby’s] mom and dad sending a video to our son while drinking cocktails. “We’re telling our son how proud we are of him with Ted looking in the camera saying, ‘Son, I'm giving you the ownership of the [Lotus cat food] company.’”

“I did tell [Rose] that I would help in every way, to make the movie campy and memorable, as the first and second ones are,” Mikels said.

But the movie is reported to be a bloodier and gorier remake of the original Mikels’ film, without a lot of campiness.

“We just told him our vision and he was cool with it,” Henftling said.

Mikels recognized it’s a different take on his version, but understood the appeal The Corpse Grinders has enjoyed historically in cinema.

“Others have asked to do one of The Corpse Grinders movies in the past, but I have declined allowing it to happen, for whatever reason,” he said. “But now that my body is not capable of the same activity as earlier in my life, I think it is a fun idea to get involved with other people and help them do their version of The Corpse Grinders.”

10 Violent Women 2 began production just as Paranormal Extremes wrapped up. The sequel was promoted as encouraging the empowerment of women. Unlike the original 1982 release, the new assembly of fearless females would be victors, not victims. The movie would highlight women bodybuilders dedicated to exercise, wrapped around a dark drama involving a drug syndicate, kidnappings, murder and vengeance.

“This one has it all,” Mikels said. “Good cops and bad cops, good guys and bad guys.”

John Cornett was brought into the fold as first assistant director, Shanti as editorial consultant, and Noah Kiriu as director of photography.

The cast included Donna Hamblin, Nils Henftling, Liane Langford, Mark Gordon, Kerry Fezza, Olena Fomina, Volmar Franz, Jacqueline Platz, Joey Western, Yonel Dorelis, Gus Langley, Drew Marvick, George D. Miklos, Ben Stover, Jacob Landry, Kevin Burke and others. Also cast was Sharla Rae Satana, daughter of Jade Satana, granddaughter of Tura Satana.

Mikels cast himself to play a New York drug Kingpin named Jonathon.

Dawna Lee Heising was cast as Joanna, one of the new 10VW team in the project.

“Ted sent me the script and it was fantastic,” Heising recalled. “Johnny Cornett was living with Ted and became the first assistant director on the film. He sent me a shooting schedule and I had to spend a week in Las Vegas to do all my scenes. Thank God for Donna Hamblin, who is now one of my best friends! She didn’t even know me, but she offered to let me stay with her and her wonderful family during the shoot.”

Early on in casting it was announced actress Francine York would be joining the cast, adding a hybrid The Doll Squad/10 Violent Women atmosphere to the project.

“But she had to drop out at the last minute,” Heising added. “That’s when Ted tapped Donna to be the lead in the film.”

“Ted wanted me in the movie, but I just couldn’t do it,” Francine York said. “His initial idea was more like Doll Squad.”

Francine York was at the time experiencing health issues of her own.

“Ted called me about 3 weeks before filming and told me that Francine herself was not well, but not to mention it to anyone, which I didn’t,” Hamblin said. “He told me that he needed me to do her part, which consists of lip syncing three songs and doing numerous lines. Of course, I was very grateful to step up and do it.”

Francine York expressed sadness over having to pull out of the project, but remained optimistic about her own challenge ahead.

“This is my thought, not only for the day, but for life,” she wrote, concerning the matter. “When things seem the darkest, there is that light shining at the end of the tunnel. I focus on that and believe that, ‘This too shall pass.’ God has done great things for me and I know that my pneumonia, being so sick, is only a little bump in the road that I will get over, soon.”

Mikels and York kept in communication during the making of the movie. He joked that often his desire to update her on the movie’s progress didn’t always allow him to make much headway.

“Francine was in a very talkative mood last night when she called me,” Mikels said. “She is more used to talking about herself, so we discussed the trip that she had thought of making to Minnesota. She has a tremendous background in the business and we have been very dear friends ever since making The Doll Squad.”

Mikels also knew he could rely on Donna Hamblin as both an actress and a friend.

“It was long days, but lots of fun, and laughs, but Ted was in a lot of pain then,” Hamblin explained.

According to Mikels, Hamblin rescued the lead role. Dawna Lee Heising agreed.

“Since I was staying with Donna, I saw how hard she worked to learn all of the lines and create her character, and it was amazing,” Heising said. “I learned so much about acting from the experience, and I will always be grateful for Donna’s generosity.”

Actress Liane Langford recalled flying into Las Vegas to begin shooting her role in 10 Violent Women 2.

“It was hot!” Langford said. But it wasn’t just the temperature outside. She felt the heat was on her professionally.

“I remember talking to Ted on the phone before I went to his set. I was so nervous,” Langford admitted. “After all, this was Ted V. Mikels!”

But Langford soon found comfort in Mikels’ gentle demeanor.

“I found myself speaking with the kindest man. All of it was reflected in his voice. I loved his voice,” she said. “And it was such an honor to be on that set.”

Langford was cast as Mikels’ girlfriend in the movie, the fashion-piece companion of a gangster Kingpin named Jonathon.

“I was to play his Moll,” Langford explained. “I was over the moon to play his seedy, drunk, greedy and spoiled girlfriend. Ha! I played drunk and devious.”

Langford, whose credits as an actress include Beach Massacre at Kill Devil Hills (2016) and The Krokodil Chronicles (2017), had also served as associate producer for other film projects. In 10 Violent Women 2, Langford enjoyed that her role required her to address Mikels as “Daddy.”

In one scene, Langford ran up to Mikels upon seeing a gorgeous ring on his finger.

“I said to him, ‘Oh, Daddy, can I have that?’” she recalled. “He answered back to me, ‘Go back and sit down! It’s the only thing you’re good at...doing nothing!’ We improvised the whole thing.”

Nils Henftling was cast in the role of a bodyguard and enforcer working for Mikels’ Kingpin persona.

“I remember how much passion Ted had for this movie,” Henftling said. “Even though he was in heavy pain, he never lost his charming smile.”

Playing a drug kingpin in 10 Violent Women 2 was quite a departure from Dr. Volmar Franz’ real life profession as a mental health counselor.

“In the role, I was forcing women to go out and mule drugs,” Franz explained. “It was scene after scene of me beating women. It was absolutely vicious. But at the end the heroines caught me unaware, and came crashing in, and I was reduced to this little, snot-gobbling whiner. Like a child begging for my life.”

Franz said Mikels kept pushing forward with the project.

“The guy just never stopped,” he said. “He just kept on rolling.”

In the movie’s climactic end scene, the VW team has Franz on his knees, begging for his life at gunpoint. When the ladies pull the triggers it is revealed they actually have squirt guns.

Kevin Burke, cast as the only “good cop” in the movie, enters the scene, placing Franz under arrest.

Burke, a popular entertainer, has been starring in his one-man show, Defending the Caveman, since 2003, making it the longest-running Broadway show in Las Vegas history.

Another drama going on with the climax scene was the battery in the one remaining active camera was going dead. All of the backup batteries had been spent.

“So we had to get that shot in one take,” Burke said. “If we didn’t get it in one take, we’d all have to come back the next day to do it again.”

Burke only had one line, but added something.

“My line was simply, ‘You’re under arrest.’ But I said it, then improvised a little bit,” Burke said. “After that line, I waved my gun in Volmar’s face and added, ‘This one’s real.’ It wasn’t a squirt gun like the girls had. Cut, the scene is over, it’s a wrap.”

They had beat the dying battery.

“After we had the scene, Ted says to me, ‘Great improv on that line, Kevin,’” Burke added. “Ted was great to work with, he was fantastic.”

Also briefly appearing in the movie is Sharla Rae Satana.

“My role was a small one,” Satana said. “I was just one of the back-up girls who was there to kick ass and take names.”

She conveyed Ted V. Mikels’ presence on the set left an enduring impact.

“Ted was amazing, with a great eye for the camera,” Satana added. “No matter what we were doing, he was always open to new ideas and greeted us everyday with a smile. It boosted the confidence of his actors.”

Scott Blacksher was cast as another undesirable in the movie.

“Scott is quite a character,” Mikels said. “He appears as one of the hoodlums in 10 Violent Women 2.”

Mikels was featured in interviews shot by John Cornett for the promotion of 10 Violent Women 2. The interviews were conducted by Dawna Lee Heising and feature Donna Hamblin. They appear on YouTube under the titles Horror Interviews with Ted V. Mikels and Donna Hamblin.

“You can see from my interview with Ted that he is a consummate professional,” Heising said. “He was not feeling well during the strenuous shoot and was tired, but he handled the interview perfectly.”

Even with his health failing, Mikels was persistent.

“I have to complete 10 Violent Women 2,” he said. “Then I have several other screenplays that, God allowing, I may be able to make into movies.”

“Ted was so passionate about finishing this movie,” Donna Hamblin said. “He kept telling me, ‘Donna, I need to finish this movie!’ He had us get a hold of another producer that could finish it for him. At that point, I was more concerned about taking care of him and keeping him comfortable.”

The last week of September, even with his health in rapid decline, Mikels asked Donna Hamblin to write down some ideas he had.

“He was having me write down a shot list and thinking about the next movie he wanted to make,” Hamblin said.

It appears after 10 Violent Women 2 Mikels had imagined a sequel to Girl in Gold Boots.

“He did mention Girl in Gold Boots once,” Hamblin recalled. At Mikels’ direction she scribbled down notes for the project. “The notes mentioned stuff such as girls on stage, their character names, and how some scenes were to be set up visually.”

Hamblin was one of a number of people, like associate and caregiver John Cornett, who provided personal assistance and comfort for Mikels, now under hospice care in his home.

Right up to that point, Mikels was still working. He completed not only his scenes for 10 Violent Women 2, but also his cameo appearance in the upcoming The Corpse Grinders directed by Timo Rose, which he shot himself.

“Ted filmed it three weeks before he went into hospice care,” said Nils Henftling, who was cast as Maltby in the remake.

Now the attention was not on making movies, but providing care for the movie maker.

“I have volunteered for hospice for many years, so I knew the protocol,” Donna Hamblin explained.

Mikels’ bed had been moved into his living room.

“Ted would say, ‘Donna, it’s time to plug in the Christmas lights,’” Hamblin added.

Mikels’ year-round Christmas lights strung up in his living room were a comforting spectacle.

“Because of my love of lights, I have colored Christmas lights and colored LED lights mixed up with all of the weapons on the wall,” Mikels explained.

Even with his face aglow from the holiday lights, Mikels had come to terms that he might not see Christmas that year.

“He really wanted to make it to Christmas,” Hamblin said. “It was his favorite time of year.”

Mikels knew he was dying.

“Taking care of Ted was a lot of love, laughter and care,” she added. “The professionals from hospice would come in every other day, and the rest of us cared for him the remainder of the time.”

Those around him knew what was coming, but engaged him with his notions of the next movie “to keep his spirit alive.”

Mikels, always the director, even took to directing his caretakers.

"Ted would say, ‘Donna, I need 3 tums right here, 2 bottles of water there, turn that light on,’” Hamblin said. “One time, I said, ‘Ted, you do realize you are directing me in how to take care of you?’ We just looked at each other and laughed.”

Hamblin recalls submitting to watching an episode of The Lawrence Welk Show with Mikels. Shanti and Mikels both loved the show and routinely watch the retro reruns together. However, Hamblin was not a fan of the musical bubble machine.

For Mikels, it would be the last time he would hear “a-one and a-two.”

“My last moments with Ted were on the evening before he passed away,” Hamblin said. “We watched The Lawrence Welk Show, and I held the phone so he could talk to Shanti. This always comforted him. Then I fed him ice cream, his favorite.”

Then Mikels whispered something.

“I bent my ear down to his face so I could hear him,” she said. “He kissed me on the cheek and said, ‘Thank you for everything, Donna.’ I smiled and replied, ‘It’s because I love you, Ted.’ This being said, Ted was always grateful, even up to his last words.”

On October 16, 2016, an icon in American movie making quietly slipped away. Theodore Vincent Mikacevich, a.k.a. Ted V. Mikels, died at the age of 87.

But Theodore Vincent Mikacevich didn’t die.

He lived.

His final movie, 10 Violent Women 2, was never finished. According to some who worked on the movie, Mikels had only a couple of scenes remaining to shoot.

The feature will be completed and see release, courtesy of friend and independent movie maker, Drew Marvick.

“I promised Ted I would finish it for him before he passed, and I will not let him down,” Marvick explained. “It would be done already if I wasn't so busy with the promotion for Pool Party Massacre.”

Marvick’s debut horror feature, Pool Party Massacre, featuring himself, LeeAnna Vamp, Mark Justice, John Molinaro and others, was released on DVD April 20, 2017. The movie depicts a band of high maintenance, young socialites who are being stalked and murdered.

Mikels’ associate, John Cornett, handed Marvick four pages of handwritten notes, instructions from Mikels of what was needed to complete 10 Violent Women 2.

“I have a list of everything Ted wanted me to shoot for him in order to finish the movie,” Marvick said. “So before the year [2017] is over, it will be finished.”

Mikels said the movie “had to be finished.”

Sadly, he was not the one to do it.

But that’s what friends are for.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Saying Goodbye

Although those he touched grieve with his passing, they see the legacy he left. Not a legacy on film, but one of true character, humanity, and love.

“Ted’s passing is very sad for me,” Francine York said. “He was family. He always ended our conversations by saying, ‘I love you, Fran.’ He loved making movies. It was everything to him. Years from now, he’ll be looked upon as the true genius that he was.”

Sadly, Francine York passed away January 6, 2017.

“Ted's passing has left a huge hole in my family,” Lani Silverman explained. “We knew Ted since we were toddlers. No matter where I lived at any time, or wherever Ted was at the time, we called each other on holidays and special events. We were family.”

“My wife and I spent a few hours with Ted the Friday before he passed,” Art Lynch said. “He had a giant heart and generous soul. Ted, and the people around him, have a passion for life and find joy in ways most of us never fully understand. I enjoyed and embraced my time with Ted, and the teams of talent he attracted.”

“You know our time is so short on this earth, it’s got to mean more,” Sherri Vernon offered. “I think it all adds up to more than what we know. We would never question anything in life if there wasn’t more. There’s more to all of this, and he’s in a special place. Bless his heart.”

“Movies were his life and Ted was one in a million,” said Gary Lester. “He knew how to articulate objectively what worked in a film, and what didn’t, and he was honest about it. He’s going to be missed by many.”

“It’s undisputed that Ted V. Mikels left a big impact on filmmakers and filmmaking,” Kevin Sean Michaels said. “I wish he had received an honorary Academy Award as Corman did.”

“He was one of the first, and few, people to offer me honest and uncensored advice when I was looking for a few pointers on showmanship, and I’ll always consider him a mentor in that regard,” said Ken Kish, of Cinema Wasteland.  “They say you’re never forgotten as long as somebody remembers you. If that’s the case, then rest easy my friend. Your words, wisdom, and spirit will be with me until I take my last breath.”

“Ted was so sweet and giving, and had such an inviting soul,” Carla Jo Basso said. “And he was so inspiring to work with on a creative level.”

“Ted was always there for me when I needed him. He was always good to work for, and it was easy to work with him,” Maureen Gaffney said. “We had a good connection, and he was a good friend.”

“He once said to me he would live past 100,” Sara Dunn said. “With the way he lived his life so passionately, you would never question that he would make it there.”

“I am sad that the world no longer has Ted V. Mikels to make films for us,” Dawna Lee Heising said. “But maybe now he is entertaining everyone in Heaven.”

“Heaven has a true zombie-angel in the midst,” Whitney Priebe Cross stated. “Ted will forever live in my heart, as he was a very special God centered man.”

“Sadly, we all have to die, and that’s a part of life,” Beverly Washburn conveyed. “But when some people die, others will say, ‘Oh, that’s too bad,’ or whatever. And then there’s other people who die and people will say, ‘That was a person who really mattered. That was a person who made a difference.’ And you know, that was Ted. That was Ted….”

Perhaps the best way to conclude Mikels’ life story is with his own words.

If he had a chance to do it all over again, would he choose to make movies, even with all of the ups and downs?

“All in all, I am sure I would not change a thing if I would have it to do all over again,” he said. “The love of making movies has been my driving force throughout.”

And regarding his life story?

“It has been my lifetime. And, of course, I am sure that everyone I have ever worked with has their own ideas about what it is all about. But I love them all,” Ted said. “They are my friends forever. I just wish I had immortality on my side, to continue my quest for making a great movie.”

Ted V. Mikels inspired so many people who had the rare opportunity to cross paths with him during his lifetime. It is inspiring to entertain a notion that maybe some Hollywood producer will take notice, and Ted will become the subject and have his life story on the big screen.

Why not? They made a movie about Ed Wood, and Ted V. Mikels rans circles around Ed Wood.

He’s been called the father of “grindhouse,” a moniker he didn’t much care for. There can be no doubt that Mr. Mikels was the renegade photographer of all time, setting up scenes in forbidden areas, then hightailing it out of there after he got the shot.

In conclusion, the dialogue Ted wrote and spoke in his last motion picture appearance, Paranormal Extremes, is a notice for all who miss him:

“That Big Guy up there has it all figured out. He knows when it’s time for you to slow down,” he said, thoughtfully. “But, it’s okay. We’ll be together again someday. I know. I know it will happen. It’s just a matter of time.”

Now you are directing the Angels.

God bless you Ted V. Mikels.