Audio Clips
Jon Niccum talks with "The Day After" director Nicholas Meyer
Residents relive Lawrence teledrama
It was 25 years ago yesterday that Lawrence was in the center of the television universe. Enlarge video
They celebrated the 25th anniversary of Lawrence being the center of the television universe.
Thursday night, dozens of people at Liberty Hall watched a screening of the TV movie “The Day After,” mostly shot and set in Lawrence, a quarter century after it aired on ABC the night of Nov. 20, 1983.
Sam Dixon, a longtime Lawrence resident and insurance business owner, remembers showing up as an extra for several scenes in the Cold War movie about a devastating nuclear strike.
“It was like a vacation. Everybody was all excited about it,” Dixon said.
To his knowledge, he never made the final cut, though.
The Watkins Community Museum of History organized Thursday’s event along with Kyle Harvey, an Australian doctoral student who is studying film and politics.
“It impacted almost everybody who saw it in the country,” said David Longhurst, Lawrence’s mayor at the time.
Longhurst participated in a panel discussion about the movie after the screening. Director Nicholas Meyer, producer Robert Papazian, actor Jeff East and Lawrence casting director Jack Wright were also involved in the discussion.
Harvey, who attends Macquarie University in Sydney, will spend the next week interviewing Lawrence residents who were involved in the film or their reactions to it. Participants are encouraged to contact him at 841-0314 or kyle.harvey@mq.edu.au.
Nearly 100 million viewers tuned in that night.
“People were interested in the film, interested in being in the film and seeing themselves and their town and their house, their street on the screen,” Harvey said.
Several Lawrence residents said it was a memorable time in the city’s history.
“We still were fearful of an atomic war at the time,” Dixon said.
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3crookedhearts (anonymous) says…
I did not grow up in Lawrence or even in the KC metro, but my best friend's parents went to KU. I saw the movie when I was five and it pretty much scared the living crap out of me. I was absolutely terrified of nuclear proliferation pretty much up until the wall came down. Like many things of that time period (e.g. Voltron, Ice Pirates, The Secret of Nimh), I remembered it being better than it actually is, but it's extremely fun to see the guy from "Police Academy" running up and down Mass St. seeing other Lawrence landmarks as they were 25 years ago. Jason Robards gives a good perfomance.
Lulu (anonymous) says…
This movie rank, as one of the best movies I have ever seen. It is Number 2, on my all time list. Opray Winfrey's behind, with her spellbinding classic "Beloved."
Yeoman2 (anonymous) says…
My oldest son and I were both in this movie. I still have my "ABC" hat they gave us for participating. I saw him in a long shot, but didn't see myself. One funny note: I was assigned to the pile of "dead bodies" with other dead/live participants and a bunch of dummies filled with something??. But that evening, several of the live/dead people were listening to a ball game on a portable radio, the Kansas City Royals were playing the Angels in Anaheim, California, where a lot of the people on the film crew lived. We would cheer and make comments when "our" team would make some positive play (this was a Royals team long, long ago and far, far, away) and the California crew would shout at us "Would the dead people please keep quiet!" It was pretty funny at the time. I think "our" team won the game.
coolmarv (anonymous) says…
I thought it was good when it came out but I was 18. I have watched it several times over the years and think it is a poorly made movie with just bad acting. I did not think Jason Robards acted well at all.
OldEnuf2BYurDad (anonymous) says…
Actually, if anyone saw it, the British movie "Threads" was far more scietifically realistic than TDA. In Threads, there weren't a lot of survivors, and it showed what would happen to those who did survive into the next generation. Really nasty.
Pywacket (anonymous) says…
I lived in a student slum house on KY St at the time, close to 9th St. It was a short few steps out the back door and through the (then) Art Center's parking lot to get to where you could see the "destruction" they were staging at some downtown businesses. I particularly remember Undercover, a boutique selling sexy lingerie, which had tall pink columns out front. They knocked at least one of those over and made them look burned, and messed up the store front--then fixed everything after filming, so you'd never know anything had been amiss.I remember when the movie came out, how my family back home got such a kick (more than I did) at seeing those local businesses they remembered having visited when they were here to see me. They hoped to see me as an extra, but I didn't even try out--had no interest whatsoever. All these years later, I kind of wish I had--it would be funny to look back and catch a glimpse of your young self in a nuclear winter landscape.
jumpin_catfish (anonymous) says…
Ok I'll say it again, lame, lame lame. Just because they filmed in Lawrence doesn't make it a good movie.
Pywacket (anonymous) says…
I have to agree, catfish-- I remember being disappointed in the quality even back then. An Oscar contender it wasn't... but for what it was (made for TV), and being an agenda-driven production (as opposed to purely a great story), it served its use and was entertaining.I haven't researched the making of it, but I imagine the budget wasn't huge (not that real artistic accomplishment can't be achieved on a shoestring, but...). Anyway--after all these years, it would still be fun to see it just because it was set in Lawrence, if not for any other reason.And, speaking of accomplishment on a shoestring, what do you think of that other Lawrence movie, Carnival of Souls? I think that one really is good. Still creepy and atmospheric, all these years later!
George_Braziller (anonymous) says…
I also thought "The Day After" was pretty lame. I watched it just to see if I could catch a face of someone I knew. I was really thrown off when there is a scene at Spencer Museum and then they turn a corner and they are in a completely different building. The script, the acting, and the filming were all boring as hell.