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Frank StantonFrank Stanton
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So they had to translate it again. So by the time the poor emperor got it, he didn't know who was on first base. The translator was literally--you could see the perspiration on his forehead, because he was having such a tough time.

My interview lasted over forty minutes! Why? Because he was interested in television. He said television was wonderful, because it was the only way he could see his people. He wasn't allowed to go out into the countryside and visit; he could only see the countryside as he saw it on television. So this was a great thing.

Anyway--

Q:

What were his questions about Kitty?

Stanton:

Oh, he wanted to know who she was and--I've forgotten the details, but it was an interesting sideline. There were other programs that he asked about, but “Gunsmoke” was the one he led off on. I told him that I knew Jim Arness. I didn't tell him that I knew Kitty [Amanda Blake], because I didn't know her; but I did know Jim. And I held up my end of the conversation all right.

But it was a fascinating thing. And, of course, Ruth was dying! Because she didn't have anything to talk to the empress about. She kept looking over to see, you know, what the signal was going to be. Anyway, it finally came and the interview was over. MacArthur told me afterward that he had never seen an interview go much more than five minutes--and this was just something that was astonishing, that the emperor was this interested in television. He didn't care anything about--we didn't talk Red Cross at that time, because I wasn't in the





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