THE VILLAGES — Dennis Ivanjack was a 22-year-old “star struck” kid when he made his way to the California movie studios looking for a job. And learn he did.
“I learned from the old-timers,” said Ivanjack, a resident of the Village of Summerhill. “It was earn as you learn.”
For the next 35 years, Ivanjack would paint his way from movie set to movie set, making his own mark in the industry. Ivanjack worked as a set painter for the original Star Trek series, and continued his work into the science fiction show’s movie run. The original series aired from 1966 to 1969.
“I was the first painter to get screen credit on any ‘Star Trek’ movie,” he said. “That was ‘Star Trek III’.”
Ivanjack shared his movie experiences with an enthusiastic crowd Sunday evening during The Villages Science Fiction/Fantasy Club’s monthly meeting.
Tony Pedi, founder of the club, said Ivanjack was their first guest speaker.
The partnership came about after Ivanjack volunteered to speak to the group after seeing information about them in The Villages Daily Sun.
“We have some serious Trekkies in the club, so we thought it would be a lot of fun,” Pedi said. “Everybody loves ‘Star Trek’.”
After watching an episode of the original series, “The Devil in the Dark,” Ivanjack shared some behind-the-scenes memories of his days on the “Star Trek” set.
In addition to speaking, Ivanjack displayed a number of photographs of the sets he built for the movies. Looking at the large boulders and tree branches surrounding the movie’s extras, it is hard to imagine they are just props and not part of an actual outdoor setting.
“It was just tricks of the trade,” Ivanjack said of making tunnels out of tinfoil and rocks out of fiberglass.
His hard work, and that of the the crews he worked with, was not wasted on Sunday night’s Science Fiction/Fantasy Club crowd.
Pedi said he was impressed with Ivanjack’s work and said his fellow club members really seemed to enjoy his behind-the-scene tales.
“He was a lot of fun,” Pedi said.
http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2009/06/29/news/news03.txt
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