Boast About Effects on Film Set Recalled

A woman who worked as an errand girl on the “Twilight Zone” movie set testified Wednesday that shortly after special effects explosions rocked a helicopter, director John Landis jokingly boasted “you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Three hours later, another series of special effects explosions set off during filming of a spectacular Vietnam War scene caused the helicopter to crash onto actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, killing them.

Prosecutors maintain Landis ordered the special effects in the July 23, 1982, fatal scene to be much larger than in the previous scene because he wanted a more spectacular effect.

Trial in 14th Week

Landis and four associates were later indicted on involuntary manslaughter charges. The Superior Court trial is now in its 14th week.

Cynthia Nigh, who worked as an errand girl on the movie set, testified that during the earlier scene, “it looked as though the flames (from special effects blasts) were around the helicopter.”

Nigh said that after the filming of that scene, a stunt man who had been in the helicopter “yelled to John Landis, ‘Hey, that was pretty close . . . It was pretty hot.’

“John Landis . . . was walking away and he said . . . ‘You think that was big, you ain’t seen nothing yet.’ ”

Nigh was formerly engaged to marry “Twilight Zone” unit manager Dan Allingham, a defendant in the case.

Taken as a Joke

Under cross examination from Landis’ lead attorney, former Watergate special prosecutor James Neal, Nigh said she felt Landis was joking when he made that statement.

She also testified that sometime prior to filming the movie, she heard “Twilight Zone” associate producer George Folsey Jr. tell Landis, “We’ll probably be thrown in jail,” apparently for hiring the two children to work without the necessary work permits.

Nigh said she felt Folsey was joking when he made that remark.

Asked by prosecutor Lea Purwin D’Agostino if the explosions during the fatal scene were larger than in previous scenes, Nigh replied, “There were more explosions.

“Size-wise, they were the same, but there were more of them.”

D’Agostino pointed out to Nigh that before the county grand jury, she testified that the explosions were “much greater” during the fatal scene.

During Nigh’s appearance on the witness stand, D’Agostino frequently had to refresh the woman’s memory by showing her previous testimony before the grand jury.

Fear of Retribution

The prosecutor has long maintained that many of her witnesses are reluctant to give damaging testimony against the defendants either because they are friendly with them or for fear of being “blackballed” from future employment in the movie industry.

Asked if she had told D’Agostino that she was reluctant to testify against the defendants “because you were all family,” Nigh replied, “Who wants to be a witness? I may have (said that).”

In other testimony, Nigh said just before the fatal scene, Landis ordered everyone on the set to stand up “because (he said) anything can happen during special effects.”

She said the fumes from gasoline were so heavy before the scene that she had trouble breathing.

Nigh said that before the filming of the movie, she overheard Folsey talking on the telephone to one of the mothers of the children who would later die in the helicopter crash.

“He was explaining that special effects explosions would be used (but) it was not dangerous. It would be like watching fireworks (and that the children) would be away from them,” Nigh testified.

Later Wednesday, Jack Tice, a child labor representative who was on the “Twilight Zone” set the night of the crash, testified that had he known the two children were going to be filmed near the explosives and under a low-flying helicopter, he would not have allowed them to act in that scene.

Authority to Halt Filming

Tice had the authority to shut down the set if he felt the children were in danger, but because he was apparently unaware that the children were on the set, he did not take that action.

He testified outside the presence of the jury as part of a defense motion to restrict his testimony.

“There is no way those children would have, or could have, been permitted to work under those conditions,” Tice said. “No way.

“It’s a very dangerous place to be--under a helicopter and near special effects explosions. Helicopters do fall out of the sky and people do get hurt by special effects.”

Tice, who has worked on dozens of film sets, said that prior to the “Twilight Zone,” he has never been associated with a production in which children were placed in such close proximity to special effects and underneath a low-flying helicopter.