KCET Cinema Series Closes With "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?" Starring James Coburn

The winter session of KCET Cinema Series came to a close on December 15 with a special screening of "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?" The 1966 comedy takes place during World War II and follows a troupe of U.S. soldiers who march into an Italian village only to learn that the townspeople are willing to surrender if they can go ahead with an annual festival. The film was directed by Blake Edwards and stars James Coburn.

The evening's screening paid tribute to James Coburn, as the James and Paula Coburn Foundation is a presenting sponsor of the film series. The evening also recognized director Blake Edwards, who passed away on December 15, 2010. Members of the Edwards and Coburn families were present in the audience, as were board members of the James and Paula Coburn Foundation.

The James and Paula Coburn Foundation is dedicated to supporting art and science-based organizations, including KCET as well as LACMA, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and others. To learn more about the work of the foundation, check out their website.

Series host Pete Hammond opened the evening with an informative conversation about the film with actor and producer Ken Wales, who played PFC Blair in "What Did you Do in the War, Daddy?" See the interview below with Pete and Ken.

KCET Cinema Series returns to ArcLight Cinemas in Sherman Oaks on February 23 and runs every Tuesday through April 12. The Cinema Series brings high quality films before to the screening audience prior to their release and frequently includes question-and-answer sessions conducted by host and Deadline columnist Pete Hammond. Tickets for the spring series go on sale through Evetbrite on January 5. KCET Cinema Series is sponsored by the E. Hofert Dailey Trust and James and Paula Coburn Foundation.

On why Blake Edwards' work resonated with people.

Ken Wales: He could put his finger on something that might resonate with an audience so well in so many different ways and doing it in comedy, pathos, all the different emotions, and what a joy it was. I owe everything that my creativity and my work to being tutored and nurtured, like a father, probably. I appreciate it so much.

In any event, all the things you see here were emotions and things that Blake experienced in life, pulling a lot of it out from the family, from Patty, his wife, from Geoffrey, from Jenny, all of the things were life experiences.

Blake was in the war, in the Coast Guard in World War II and we can't tell all of those stories, but some of them were so comedic and everything, he pulled bits and pieces and put them in everything. He was a master at that. He knew what would resonate with people in their heart.

On Blake Edwards' collaboration with writer William Peter Blatty.

Ken Wales: When Blake and Peter got together, the comedies were superb. They were hysterical. They almost couldn't finish the day's work, writing it, because they kept laughing, they'd get laughing so much and go on, but out of it came superb, excellent comedy. You look at the things that Blake has done, has created, and also the things that William Peter Blatty and you're seeing some very erudite -- erudite comedy. Special. Not gutter comedy. Not cheap . Not bad laughs. It was brilliant.. you really thought a moment and-- ah!-- that is clever and you laughed. We're going to see some of that, in wartime, tonight. It's amazing. Blake, of course, was in the Coast Guard... but he was so resonated with the other services and was able to pull out the comedy, and the human drama, of the world's worst condition at war, but we had to fight the wars or there would have been no peace to have the life or the creative freedom that we have now.

On James Coburn in "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?"

Ken Wales: Jim really held it all together without saying too much. Blake really relied upon him for that because with William Peter Blatty, the script, it kind of went all over the place, but Jim always managed to bring it back in and say, "What if I try?" Blake said, "That's it," and they were on the way. It didn't take long for him to zero in on exactly what that scene should be. There were would be things found in their kind of pre-rehearsal that weren't probably even on paper, but between the two of them, they just zip zip zip, a whole new depth, breadth and funniness to those particular scenes. But, funniness about the human comedy, not just slapstick. The insight that you will see in this film is deeper than you can imagine because it goes into pathos. It goes into romance. It goes into heartache, heartbreak, all of the things are a part of our lives.

And if we don't fight those wars, remember the guys that went off and did what they did, good gosh, we wouldn't be here today at all if those wars hadn't been fought and won so that evil could be put down to rise again and have another unit go to war. But, in the dramatic, we could tell the human comedy, what happens with guys off in the jungle trying to cook open a can of beans. I'm being silly, but all the crazy stuff like that, as well the profound, and Blake found the profound in the light of comedy.

On shooting "What Did you Do in the War, Daddy?"

We shot it out by pretty much Westlake Village. I think you can look for JC Penney, that was the first dug out. I could go on and name all the places. It was out there. If we had just bought the real estate that was offered at $2 an acre, we wouldn't have to be here tonight.

All Westlake with a few shots, stock shots, to make you think you were there.

I must also pay tribute to William Peter Blatty, a good friend, wonderful fellow. Knew him from USC. When I was a student at SC, he was head of public relations, in that department. Bill's sense of humor, his subtle sense of humor, really was a good match for Blake's excitement. The two of them together turned out some of the best comedy scenes, I think, you could ever see. What a great joy to see that happen.

On developing video assist with Blake Edwards.

Ken Wales: You have to remember as well, all of these scenes, Blake had not yet suggested to me and I began to invent with another fella, the video assist so we could have playback. That was come a couple years later. Blake and I worked on it for a long time, and an engineer, and we literally developed the first playback system that everybody in the industry uses, when, for the first time you could look at a television screen immediately to see what was going on in film correctly, framed just right and Panavision, the whole thing, not just an approximation. But, that kind of creative thinking was in the works because Blake came to me several times and said, if I could only play this back and see what we've done before we develop the film. That spurned me on to not do another film with Blake without having a video assist. By the next one, several of us engineers and Blake, together, we had invented the first video assist and now nobody makes a film without it.