Maintaining an active career during the 1950s was somethingRichard Eyer did well. He kept on top of the highly paid, "mostwanted" list of child actors with his freckly, all-Americanboy looks. Appearing in motion pictures between 1952 to 1960,Eyer is best remembered for his role with Robby the Robot in TheInvisible Boy in 1957 and as the kind-hearted genie of The 7thVoyage of Sinbad in 1958. Fans regard both of these films as classics,and those who saw the films in the 1950’s will never forgetEyer’s roles in them. Eyer’s personality struck a chordwith a younger audience, making him among the more popular boyhoodfaces of the 1950s.
Born in Santa Monica, California in 1945, Eyer entered themovies around age seven and considers his mother to be most responsiblefor his career. Recently, Eyer celebrated his 50thbirthday and took some time to reminisce about the early daysof his acting career and especially about Invisible Boy and 7thVoyage of Sinbad.
Paul Parla : Your mom put the whole thing together for you,getting you "in the door" and on your way?
Richard Eyer: Oh, yes. It was all her work that did it. I hadcurly hair, freckles, and people would say what a cute kid hewas and all that, so my mother entered me in some children’spersonality contests, and I won one of these which had been heldat the Hollywood Bowl, and I guess that one was the springboardin getting me started. After that, I was hired for some tv commercialsand some modeling jobs, and this led into other things. When Iwas around 9 or 10, I was working a lot. My career started slackingoff a bit as I went through adolescence, of course; but I didhave a few series, and I was around 14 years old when I did StagecoachWest for one year. My last role was at age 21 appearing in anepisode of Combat.
Starting in 1953, Richard Eyer appeared in such films as ItHappens Every Thursday (‘53), Ma and Pa Kettle At Home (‘54),The Desperate Hours, directed by William Wyler (‘55), SincerelyYours (‘55), Canyon River (‘56), Come Next Spring (‘56),Wyler’s beautifully done Friendly Persuasion (‘56),Slander (‘56), Fort Dobbs (‘58), and a few other mainstreamdrama’s through 1960. But it is Eyer’s two fantasy-sci-fifilms which still claim a devoted following today ... InvisibleBoy and 7th Voyage of Sinbad , which at that time,offered movie-goers the unforgettable big-screen first rate specialeffects of Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen was someone Eyer wishedhe could have met but actually had no contact with during 7thVoyage’smaking. Eyer’s memories are vague in spots but robust inothers, and he does enjoy speaking of his early days.
Richard Eyer: I always looked younger than what I really was.I was around 12 years old when I did 7th Voyage ofSinbad. When I was 14 years old, I actually looked 11 so thisis probably why I was such a successful child actor. I had thematurity and could take the direction of a say 14-year-old butstill looked like a little kid.
PP: What memories can you share about your making "7thVoyage of Sinbad"?
Richard Eyer: It was a great experience for me working on thatfilm. According to my mother, my part in 7th Voyageof Sinbadwas fairly short. I believe my whole involvement lastedabout one week or less. Much of the film was done in Spain, andI guess to keep costs down, they didn’t take me.
Plus, they would have had to take a tutor to Spain if I hadgone as I was required to have proper schooling so that was anadded expense. So, I did not go. The scenes which are wide angle... like the one where I do the cartwheels which start the fire,doubles were used instead of me. There were other scenes whichwere shot over my shoulders but were again actually a double inSpain, and when they returned from Spain, they did the reverse-angleswith me on a stage and packed all my scenes into the Spanish footagefairly quickly and easily.
PP: Did you get to meet spfx wizard Ray Harryhausen duringthe making of "7th Voyage?"
Richard Eyer: I don’t remember ever meeting Mr. Harryhausen,and at that time I was totally unaware of his greatness and talent.Only in the final product in seeing 7th Voyage didI realize how truly great his work was. Everyone else on the filmwas very congenial, and my memories are very positive. As a childactor, I was always treated wonderfully. I always enjoyed hangingout with the crew members between scenes. The only part I didn’tlike was going to school. When I was doing a film, I’d haveto be tutored, and I would rather have been in my regular schoolwith my friends instead of the studio "school" whichwasn’t much fun.
PP: Any stand-out memories regarding "7thVoyage" and your role as the magical Genie from the lamp?
Richard Eyer: Yes, I remember quite vividly doing the scenein the giant bottle they had with all the dry ice and workingwith Kathryn Grant. She was very sweet, and during filming, shehad also been pregnant, and the filmmakers were concerned abouther starting to show when she wore her costume. After the filmwas over, the studio decided to promote her pregnancy quite heavily,and Kathryn couldn’t take part later on in the post-productionpromotions as by then she was showing!
PP: Tell us about the post-production "hoopla"which surrounded the release of "7th Voyage ofSinbad" in late 1958.
Richard Eyer: Well, since Kathryn Grant couldn’t participatein the promotionals, they decided to send me to New York and builta giant float and put me into the Macy’s Thanksgiving DayParade. The film was released throughout the area on the day ofthe Macy’s parade, and here I am dressed in my Genie costume,a little kid from Southern California getting snowed on! (laughs)
PP: Do you regard both of your fantasy-sic-fi films highly?
Richard Eyer: Yes, I do. I feel though that my best film waswith William Wyler’s Friendly Persuasion [and his other filmThe Desperate Hours ] with Bogart and Fredric March. But of allthe films I’ve done, I must say that none have seeminglylived on in the hearts of fans more than 7th Voyageof Sinbad and Invisible Boy. They were lower budgeted films butstill carry on after all these years.
PP: What can you tell us about doing "Invisible Boy"?
Richard Eyer: My memories are pretty strong in most areas regardingmy films. My mother, however, being older of course, remembersa lot more, and she told me that Invisible Boy was shot in abouttwo weeks only, and I was amazed at this since it took literallymonths to shoot Friendly Persuasion. What stands out in my memoryabout Invisible Boy was being very impressed with the sets. Thegiant computer and, of course, the Robot with all the gadgetsand lights and all that. As a child making it, it was visuallyimpressive being there and a part of it.
PP: What was your pay scale at that time?
Richard Eyer: I can’t remember how much I was paid forInvisible Boy, but again, my mother does remember that I was paidaround $600 per day for my work in 7th Voyage of Sinbad.By 1958 I had reached a point in my career where I had been thehighest paid child actor at that time. When I did Stagecoach West,by that time I was making $1750 a week. Of course, the governmentgot a huge part of that!
PP: Any special memories about working with "Robbythe Robot?"
Richard Eyer: Well, yes. There were two ways they worked theRobot. I know there was a man inside of it (Frank Carpenter),but a battery pack was used in far away camera angles, but thepower was limited in time. The purpose of the battery pack wasto keep the sensors, feelers, and the antennas turning on theRobot along with the lights which blinked on and off. Now, theman inside of Robby actually made the Robot walk, but wheneverpossible, they would hook a cable into the Robot for some aboveground shots which, of course, were out of camera range. But wewould have to be aware of this cable and not trip. There was aman assigned to feeding the cable properly so it would not gethung up on anything around the set, but at least twice this manwas either asleep or day-dreaming, and the cable did get hungup and the poor guy inside the Robot had no way of knowing ithad been snagged and went crashing down forward onto the floor.I’m sure it must have been a jarring experience for him!He would pick himself up off the floor saying a number of choicewords my young ears were not supposed to be hearing!
PP: Are there any individuals which spark more cherishedrecollections than others?
Richard Eyer: Well, here again, everyone was so pleasant, andwe had a good time doing Invisible Boy as well, but one persondoes remain special to me ... Nickolas Nayfack, the producer.He knew I was a big baseball fan, and as a present, at the endof shooting, he gave me something which is still among my mostprized possessions which is a first edition Babe Ruth storybook,autographed by Babe Ruth. On the subject of baseball, I rememberan incident during shooting on Invisible Boy which is hard toforget. In between scenes I would play ball with my brother ...pitching and hitting and there was one scene they were shootingwhich involved a lot of police cars, sirens blaring, convergingon this one area to contain Robby, I guess. It was a major scene... one they did not want to do again as it involved a lot ofaction and extras. Since we were not in the scene, we were nearbyplaying ball when it was being shot, and one of us hit the balland knocked it into the scene. All of these police cars are cominginto camera and in the foreground of the shot, here comes thisball rolling through! It was one of the few times they ever gotmad at me. I ruined that scene.
PP: Overall, what opinions do you have about working asa child actor, what can you share with the readers regarding yourdiffering from the average kid growing up, ‘out of camerarange’?
Richard Eyer: Well, acting was good for me. Very few kids geta chance to see some of the things I have over the years and experiencewhat I have. It presented a lot of opportunities, of course, liketraveling for shooting locations in Utah and Colorado for otherfilms I did. I did a lot of westerns and over 100 television showsso we would go off to other locations like Arizona to film, andthis was great fun. I’m sure many kids back then did nothave these opportunities so I’m grateful for them. I’man elementary school teacher now and will be sending three childrenthrough college in time so I’m kept quite busy! It’sall been truly a lot of fun.
