Majel Barrett's credit on The Cage

[Stevie Trek]

I remember reading in Alan Asherman's Star Trek Compendium that Majel Barrett was credited on The Cage as Majel Leigh Hudec. (I've read the same thing somewhere else recently but can't remember where). I've got several copies of The Cage, including the combined colour/black & white VHS release, and they all clearly show her name as Majel Barrett. So was Mr Asherman (and whoever the other writer was) mistaken, or were the end credits changed for the video release and all subsequent releases and broadcasts? Or have I simply misunderstood what Mr Asherman meant, in which case can somebody please clarify it for me. Many thanks.

 

[trekker670]

Majel Leigh Hudec was her birth name (althought memory-alpha has it listed as "Lee" rather than "Leigh"). Memory-Alpha also agrees that she started using a different name (Majel Barret) for WNMHGB.

Because the network did not like her role in "The Cage", Barrett donned a blond wig for her role and went by the name "Majel Barrett" rather than "M. Leigh Hudec," as she had done for "The Cage".

 

[Melakon]

She had been using the name Majel Barrett professionally for several years, including on Leave it to Beaver. As far as I can tell through IMDB, the only time she's credited under Hudec is for "The Menagerie".

Memory-Alpha also agrees that she started using a different name (Majel Barret) for WNMHGB.

Something's not right here, she's not in "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

 

[Christopher]

So was Mr Asherman (and whoever the other writer was) mistaken, or were the end credits changed for the video release and all subsequent releases and broadcasts? Or have I simply misunderstood what Mr Asherman meant, in which case can somebody please clarify it for me. Many thanks.

Asherman wrote the Compendium before "The Cage" was ever released on video, so all he had to go by was "The Menagerie" and the production information about the pilot; presumably he hadn't actually seen it. Barrett is credited as "M. Leigh Hudec" in the end titles for "The Menagerie," even though (as we now know and Asherman evidently didn't) she was credited as "Majel Barrett" for the original pilot. Perhaps she used the pseudonym for "The Menagerie" because she was there in a role other than Chapel? Kinda like how later in life she'd use "Majel Barrett" as an actress and "Majel Roddenberry" as a producer.

She probably mixed up the title with WHAT ARE LITTLE GIRLS MADE OF. I'm assuming its production order preceded THE NAKED TIME. Actors remember plots above all else...

No, "The Naked Time" was the seventh episode produced and "Little Girls" the tenth. According to Memory Alpha, "Little Girls" was written first, but originally featured a different character searching for Korby. When Roddenberry did his final rewrite, he decided to reuse the Chapel character from the recently-filmed "Naked Time," perhaps as an excuse to give Barrett another appearance.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I have a clear and distinct memory of seeing "The Menagerie" in 1970s syndication, and she was listed in the end credits as M. Leigh Hudec.

The remastered DVDs preserve the end credits (original fx shots, original mono theme music), so it might be worth looking at "The Menagerie, Part II" to see how she is listed. I'm at work now and can't do it.

Edit: I can do that from here....

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x12/themanagerie2_828.jpg

Edit 2: I see I'm not the first to note this fact.

 

[Melakon]

Yes, she is in the Menagerie credits as Hudec. I've watched several times recently. When I saw the episode during it's NBC years, I wondered who this Hudec person was.

 

[CoveTom]

In her interview that is published in William Shatner's Star Trek Memories book, Barrett says that when it was decided to give her the role of Nurse Chapel in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", they made the decision to change her name in the pilot to her birth name (M. Leigh Hudec) so as to avoid the network realizing she was the same actress they had disliked in the pilot.

Now, of course, by the time of that episode, the pilot was long made and in the can, credits and all, and had been seen by the network. So, more likely, she was misremembering and the episode where they changed her name was "The Menagerie," which of course used extensive footage from the pilot.

Still, the story seems a bit far-fetched anyway. Like the network execs would fail to recognize the actress on screen anyway?

 

[Harvey]

Not to mention dozens of memos to the network from the filming of the first pilot in which "Majel Barrett" was used.

 

[Nebusj]

Still, the story seems a bit far-fetched anyway. Like the network execs would fail to recognize the actress on screen anyway?

I can easily accept them not remembering. There was about two years difference between the making of ``The Cage'' and of ``What Are Little Girls Made Of''. Even if the same people overseeing pilot selection and development were the same people overseeing regular show production, that's still a lot of television gone between them.

 

[Christopher]

^Again, "The Naked Time" was Chapel's first appearance both in production order and broadcast order. I know it seems like "Little Girls" should be her debut in story terms because of the Korby thing, but it isn't.

 

[Keith1701]

Majel Leigh Hudec was her birth name (althought memory-alpha has it listed as "Lee" rather than "Leigh"). Memory-Alpha also agrees that she started using a different name (Majel Barret) for WNMHGB.

Because the network did not like her role in "The Cage", Barrett donned a blond wig for her role and went by the name "Majel Barrett" rather than "M. Leigh Hudec," as she had done for "The Cage".

this is true of course.

 

[Christopher]

^Err, which part is true? It's true about her birth name, but the quoted Memory Alpha passage is wrong, as we've already established.

 

[MikeH92467]

I had always assumed that the name used in the Menagerie was a sort of "Alan Smithee" equivalent. I've never heard of it happening, but I can imagine there might be a situation where for whatever reason an actor might decide to take their name off some sort of project (or the producers might decide to that).

 

[CoveTom]

^Again, "The Naked Time" was Chapel's first appearance both in production order and broadcast order. I know it seems like "Little Girls" should be her debut in story terms because of the Korby thing, but it isn't.

The interesting part is that Majel Barrett herself remembered "Little Girls" as the episode that caused them to conceive of the character of Nurse Chapel and that caused her to take her normal stage name off the earlier footage.

I wonder if it's possible that "Little Girls" WAS indeed the first script that they inserted Chapel into, even though "Naked Time" was ultimately produced first. "Little Girls" could have been in script development earlier, but "Naked Time" got finished or otherwise put into production first.

 

[Christopher]

I wonder if it's possible that "Little Girls" WAS indeed the first script that they inserted Chapel into, even though "Naked Time" was ultimately produced first. "Little Girls" could have been in script development earlier, but "Naked Time" got finished or otherwise put into production first.

No, I looked it up on Memory Alpha and already reported what I found. "Little Girls" was written first, but without Chapel. Roddenberry didn't replace its female guest character with Chapel until after "The Naked Time" had been written and filmed. At least, that's what's claimed by These Are the Voyages: Season One.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/What_Are_Little_Girls_Made_Of?#Cast

We've seen examples before of how actors can misremember the timing of events. George Takei remembers filming The Green Berets during the hiatus between seasons 1 and 2 and having to miss the first part of filming on season 2 when it ran over, but in fact he's missing from the second half of the season, not the first. And I once saw a Leonard Nimoy interview where he claimed he co-starred with Lesley Ann Warren in the first of his two seasons on Mission: Impossible when actually it was the second. Memory is fallible, especially after decades. And as I've said, it's natural to assume that "Little Girls" came first, because the progression of the character makes more sense that way, so it's no surprise that Barrett remembered it that way. But that doesn't seem to be what happened.

 

[Nebusj]

^Again, "The Naked Time" was Chapel's first appearance both in production order and broadcast order. I know it seems like "Little Girls" should be her debut in story terms because of the Korby thing, but it isn't.

You're right, yes. But that if anything makes my point stronger: if any of the executives worried about Majel Barrett as a series regular even remembered their worry two years and thousands of hours of TV shows later, they'd be a lot less worried about the casting of a supporting character who has, what, ten (?) lines of dialogue and doesn't need to ever be seen again after the week's show is done.

 

[Christopher]

Maybe it was a contractual thing -- like, maybe billing her as Majel Barrett in the reused footage would've counted against the number of appearances she could have in the season, and Roddenberry didn't want to penalize her that way, so they used a different name for her.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Or it could have been an attempt to minimize audience confusion-- the same reason Malachi Throne's voice as the Keeper was altered to avoid confusion with Commodore Mendez.

 

[Christopher]

^Maybe, but not many people bother to read the credits.

 

[Marsden]

I remember wondering why the person that played Nurse Chapel was in the episode but her name wasn't at the end. Somewhat like Melekon said.