CHARLIE MANSON- FACE TO FACE

The following is an archival email written by Wade Williams on November 20, 2017. In it he recounts his memory of meeting Charles Manson, face to face.

On Nov 20, 2017, at 3:03 AM, Wade <wwilliams2@peoplepc.com> wrote:

CHARLIE MANSON- FACE TO FACE

The late breaking news that Charlie Manson the mastermind of the murderous Manson Clan that terrorized and murdered Sharon Tate and others in Los Angeles a half century ago brings back vivid memories of meeting Manson — face to face!

It was in the late 1960's that an ex-con named Charles Manson and a group of "hippies" murdered their way across the Los Angeles area, killing famed movie star Sharon Tate and other celebrities . The town was terrified.

Days went by until a break in the case led the police to this group of "drugged out" hippies who lived in a deserted old time movie ranch.

Manson and the rest of the clan were arrested and went to trial on what must stand as the most notorious murder rampage of it's time. The trial went for weeks and the news media from all over the world covered it.

Living in Kansas City and wanting to get into the movie business was hard. I was halfway to Hollywood or to New York.

I had made an amateur science fiction film TERROR FROM THE STARS several years before but it never got distribution because it was frankly not well made and we did not know what we were doing or how to do it right.

Frank Howard, a film friend I had met thru [sic] the film collecting hobby worked for an industrial film company in Minnesota and it was his dream to make a theatrical feature film quickly and cheaply, make a lot of money, and then make something big and worthwhile. During dinner at Winsteads the people in the table behind us were talking about the Manson Murder trial and how horrible it was.

Frank said — Why don't we make a "quickie" film in black and white based in the Manson Murders  since the trial will probably go on for awhile. It could play the Drive-In circuits.

We talked about the possibilities for several hours and the next day started on the pre-production planning. Frank had made many films for industrial clients like John Deere and was an excellent cameraman and director.

We scripted daily when more information was revealed at the Trial. I named it THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS on it's first release. They changed the name to Helter Skelter Murders after the book "Helter Skelter" became a best seller.

The film was to be shot in Kansas City and Los Angeles. The substantiating footage in LA and the murder sequences at various locations in Kansas City, Leawood, Kansas and a rock concert by Lawrence, Kansas. All subbing for LA.

There was an announcement in the trade papers and I received a call from Charles Manson's attorney who was representing him for free and getting a lot of flak. He wanted to sell me the rights to two songs recorded and sung by Charlie Manson — Mechanical Man and Garbage Dump.

The deal — $ 2000.00 for the rights and a three hour face to face meeting with Charlie Manson in the jail during the trial. Manson could have no visitors except witnesses necessary for his defense. I was listed by his attorney as one of those witnesses.

It was arranged the following friday. I flew to LA with cash. I was given the recording masters and taken to the jail house to meet with Manson.

I expected to see a sinister Rasputin monster of a man depicted on the cover of Life Magazine instead I was seated at a table across from Charlie in a regular room. A guard stood by the door.

He was a small man, maybe 140 pounds in  blue jailhouse garb. I introduced myself and he said " You're the man that's making my movie? There was nothing sinister about him, just wild hair and a Nazi Tattoo.  I realized the news media and LIFE magazine had re-touched his picture to make him look like the Devil to sell magazines .

We were not to discuss the actuality of what happened at the murder scene because Manson was not at the Tate house. He send the clan up to terrorize the occupants because he thought a record producer —the late Terry Melchor — Doris Day's son lived there. He was angry because Melchor would not use his music.

I was there about an hour. Not much to discuss other than there was a coming race war between blacks and whites and he and the clan were stealing weapons to protect themselves when "Helter Skelter" was coming down.

We cast the film with unknown look-a-likes from Kansas City, family members, friends, several actors and my secretary. Sequences on the Plaza subbing for Century City.

Getting it finished and released in theaters is a complete other story, however the film was distributed world-wide, got a front page story in Variety and in London and many tabloids. It played the drive-in theater circuits and the home use VHS and DVD markets.

Had many good reviews and made news in tabloids worldwide. We did a sneak Preview in Excelsior Springs to a sold out theater.

Charlie Manson was not unique, not sinister, just a small time thug on acid that ordered his hippie clan to go terrorize some people.

They did and this horrible crime became gruesome history like Jack the Ripper and OJ Simpson.

wade williams  

Film Masters thanks the Wade Williams Estate for the right to publish this private email from Wade Williams in the interest of preserving history. Inquires to this film, and others, may be directed to Film Masters, the exclusive distributor of the Wade Williams Film Collection at the time of this writing.