![eddie albert.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d0dbd9_f73cd19406144406ac1806c5c70941de~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_172,h_234,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/eddie%20albert.jpg)
While doing a live nationwide interview on Yahoo! with legendary actor Eddie Albert, I ran into a problematic situation. Baby Boomers know him for one thing--as the star of the hilarious TV show "Green Acres" as a befuddled ex-lawyer living in Hooterville with an insane group of rural characters. However, our parents knew him first as a successful movie actor in the 1940's and 1950's. I asked him what I thought would be a very fascinating question: "What was it like having to do two different versions of the movie 'Oklahoma' at the same time?" The reply I received temporarily stunned me--"We didn't do two versions of 'Oklahoma'" he said of which he was one of the main stars in 1955. A little background for those of you who are not familiar with this. In 1955, the wide screen process called CINEMASCOPE now had a new competitor. TODD-AO. Very few theaters had the equipment to run a TODD-AO movie. But its brilliant and more colorful screen with much improved stereo sound made it appear that it would eventually take over as the preferred wide-screen format. A decision was made to film two different versions of the movie musical "Oklahoma," one in Cinemascope and one in Todd-AO. This meant that they actually would film a scene in TODD-AO, and then bring in the CINEMASCOPE camera and do the scene completely over again. This made the movie "Oklahoma" the most expensive movie ever filmed for many decades. The performers who worked on the film can never forget the experience of redoing scenes completely over again after having already done numerous takes in one format. Both versions of the film have finally become available on Blue Ray and have significant differences in the way the performers did their parts, the timing, the emotions, the choreography, etc. I had been hoping to discuss this with Eddie Albert, but instead he insisted that such a filming arrangement never took place. I decided instead of putting this great actor on the spot, to just move on quickly to the next question. After all, he was 93 years old when I interviewed him, and for whatever reason, he actually did not remember filming two different versions of the movie. There was only one other movie done twice in the two formats--Around The World In Eighty Days. And then they figured out how to only film in one format and how to process the negative into two formats. But not in time to save the movie "Carousel." The intended star of the film, Frank Sinatra, walked off the set and out of the movie on the first day when he realized that he would have to film two different versions of that musical. After he walked out, they got a new star and figured out how to only film once by the time filming began again. TODD-AO only was used in 16 films before it was abandoned by Hollywood which eventually would have a number of better different wide-screen processes available.