criminal court in addition to the civil proceedings already underway against them.
The wheels of justice certainly appeared to turn slowly and while they were grinding away Landis managed to find the heart to work again. It would take four years for the trial to be brought to
court and in that time Landis found himself back in the director’s chair – at least some people in Hollywood were prepared to give him another chance. During this period Landis worked
on the now highly regarded “Thriller” video with Michael Jackson. He directed and starred in the movie Into the Night , in which he played a slightly comical murderer. His work
proved once more that he could make money for the studios and this factor easily overrode any other consideration, including the safety of actors and crew. Many were happy to believe that Landis
had learned his lesson and would henceforth be more careful. But even as he continued to prove his prowess as a top Hollywood director, in the background the long arm of the law was still reaching
out to him.
Gary Kesselman applied himself to the task in hand with some vigour and soon established that there was much conflicting information regarding the facts of this particular case. For a start Dr
Schuman, who helped to recruit the children, denied that he knew that they would be in close proximity to such violent explosions, let alone that they should be directly underneath a low-flying
helicopter. Quick to blame Landis, others testified that Landis and Folsey knew they were breaking the law when they hired the children and that Folsey had joked they would be jailed because of
it.
Hollywood and the acting profession as a whole is a heavily controlled cartel; if you speak out against the powers that be you might never work in show business again. The prosecutor therefore
had to use some leverage to get those on the set that night to confirm from their own perspective what actually happened, both before the disaster and afterwards. Kesselman came up with a plan
whereby he would grant several members of the crew immunity from prosecution in exchange for them providing the much-needed information. These were second assistant director, Anderson House, James
Camomile, the man who had been responsible for setting off the explosives and all of the special effects crew who served under Paul Stewart, but excluding Paul Stewart himself.
Anderson House painted a terrible picture when he explained that the children had been deliberately hidden from Jack Tice, the fire safety officer. Tice also occasionally acted as a
teacher-welfare worker and would have almost certainly reported the fact that the children were working after the agreed hours. Casting further blame onto his colleagues House also suggested that
Allingham had been warned about the risks to the children. The evidence of premeditated malpractice seemed to grow and grow and this meant that those involved could be culpable.
The allegations were so serious that Dorcey Wingo and Paul Stewart both pleaded the Fifth Amendment, trying to avoid incriminating themselves. Folsey, however, was prepared to testify and
without admitting there had been any wrongdoing, he now wished he had shot the helicopter sequences separate to the actors in the water.
John Landis on the other hand not only did not accept any wrongdoing on his own part, he felt he knew who should be held responsible. And in his view those who had created the deadly situation
were the technicians and experts who worked for him, together with those who allowed the explosive devices to be too big or badly placed, and Wingo for not controlling the helicopter and for
allowing himself to come in so low that he got caught in the blasts. He assumed Paul Stewart and Wingo had worked out the co-ordination of the scene – it was they after all who were experts
in special effects and piloting the helicopter. Kesselman would not accept that Landis, as the man in overall charge of the
The wheels of justice certainly appeared to turn slowly and while they were grinding away Landis managed to find the heart to work again. It would take four years for the trial to be brought to
court and in that time Landis found himself back in the director’s chair – at least some people in Hollywood were prepared to give him another chance. During this period Landis worked
on the now highly regarded “Thriller” video with Michael Jackson. He directed and starred in the movie Into the Night , in which he played a slightly comical murderer. His work
proved once more that he could make money for the studios and this factor easily overrode any other consideration, including the safety of actors and crew. Many were happy to believe that Landis
had learned his lesson and would henceforth be more careful. But even as he continued to prove his prowess as a top Hollywood director, in the background the long arm of the law was still reaching
out to him.
Gary Kesselman applied himself to the task in hand with some vigour and soon established that there was much conflicting information regarding the facts of this particular case. For a start Dr
Schuman, who helped to recruit the children, denied that he knew that they would be in close proximity to such violent explosions, let alone that they should be directly underneath a low-flying
helicopter. Quick to blame Landis, others testified that Landis and Folsey knew they were breaking the law when they hired the children and that Folsey had joked they would be jailed because of
it.
Hollywood and the acting profession as a whole is a heavily controlled cartel; if you speak out against the powers that be you might never work in show business again. The prosecutor therefore
had to use some leverage to get those on the set that night to confirm from their own perspective what actually happened, both before the disaster and afterwards. Kesselman came up with a plan
whereby he would grant several members of the crew immunity from prosecution in exchange for them providing the much-needed information. These were second assistant director, Anderson House, James
Camomile, the man who had been responsible for setting off the explosives and all of the special effects crew who served under Paul Stewart, but excluding Paul Stewart himself.
Anderson House painted a terrible picture when he explained that the children had been deliberately hidden from Jack Tice, the fire safety officer. Tice also occasionally acted as a
teacher-welfare worker and would have almost certainly reported the fact that the children were working after the agreed hours. Casting further blame onto his colleagues House also suggested that
Allingham had been warned about the risks to the children. The evidence of premeditated malpractice seemed to grow and grow and this meant that those involved could be culpable.
The allegations were so serious that Dorcey Wingo and Paul Stewart both pleaded the Fifth Amendment, trying to avoid incriminating themselves. Folsey, however, was prepared to testify and
without admitting there had been any wrongdoing, he now wished he had shot the helicopter sequences separate to the actors in the water.
John Landis on the other hand not only did not accept any wrongdoing on his own part, he felt he knew who should be held responsible. And in his view those who had created the deadly situation
were the technicians and experts who worked for him, together with those who allowed the explosive devices to be too big or badly placed, and Wingo for not controlling the helicopter and for
allowing himself to come in so low that he got caught in the blasts. He assumed Paul Stewart and Wingo had worked out the co-ordination of the scene – it was they after all who were experts
in special effects and piloting the helicopter. Kesselman would not accept that Landis, as the man in overall charge of the
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