MR. SPOCK CALLS A FAN

When a certain Star Trek fan named Cliveden Chew was attending college, she was also a member of a high-I. Q. organization called Mensa. This group decided to hold an event, the "Mammoth Mensa Malfunction" and invite some of the Star Trek actors as guests. So for this November, 1968 appearance, Leonard Nimoy found he'd been assigned Cliveden as his guest liaison with Mensa.

Any fears Mr. Nimoy might have had about ending up with a "screaming Spockie" were put to rest immediately. Cliveden's mother had already raised her children to act intelligently in every situation, warning them that "nothing brands you as a twit faster than acting like a typical movie fan." The result was that after a few conversations with Cliveden, Nimoy found she was a sensible person to deal with.

However, a small problem arose which led Nimoy to call Cliveden's college. The girl at the main switchboard was far more used to pranksters than to receiving calls from movie actors. When the caller identified himself, she had an answer.

"This is Leonard Nimoy," said the actor.

"Sure," answered the switchboard operator, "and I'm Shirley Temple!"

Nimoy got no better treatment when he finally got through to the dorm, and gave up until a later call. He was successful in reaching the dorm, but the girl who answered the phone really could not believe that a fellow dormie was actually getting a call from Mr. Spock, himself! She went slightly berserk, telling everyone about the phone call, with the result that Cliveden answered the phone with most of her dormitory going up the wall in the background!

When Cliveden came on the phone, Nimoy told her his experience with the first phone call. He got no sympathy.

"You should have known better," said Cliveden pragmatically. "Nobody is going to believe that Mr. Spock goes around calling college dorms!"

Soon after that incident, Cliveden was attending a meeting of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, one of SF fandom's oldest organizations, to hear author Theodore Sturgeon speak. Both of Sturgeon's Star Trek episodes, "Amok Time" and "Shore Leave" had been aired by that time, and interest in the TV show was quite high. Ted mentioned he had a number of books to weed out of bis collection, but didn't know what to do with them.

While other fans were just sitting there, Cliveden suggested boldly that Sturgeon could get rid of any science fiction books in her direction. This seemed a sensible idea to the author, and they exchanged phone numbers, to arrange delivery of the books.

The dormitory was by this time getting used to Cliveden's unusual callers, and seemed to wait in anticipation to see what she was up to next. They were seldom disappointed.

Trimble, Bjo, On the Good Ship Enterprise, The Donning Company/Publishers, Norfolk, 1982, p 141-142.

"Well, for some reason I always managed to say the wrong thing around Leonard, or do the wrong thing. There was a clumsiness on my part for which I cannot entirely account. Leonard is a highly intelligent, extremely talented, and very professional guy. And for a long time we worked very well, and earnest, together, and then, for whatever reason or series of reasons, we sort of rubbed each other funny, and I read his memoir, and he said he was very upset shooting Star Trek II the day they shot the death of Spock, when I showed up dressed as Sherlok Holmes to shoot the scene."

[Meyer goes on to say he never dressed up as Sherlok Holmes in his life. But he was going places after filming had finished for the day, and had simply shown up for work already dressed in his finest.]

"That's what I mean when I say we somehow, sometimes we'd get out of sync with each other. I have nothing but the greatest respect for him. But for some reason he made me feel or act clumsy."

WS: He was totally open about it years ago, for an interview for a DVD. When the book came out, he called me and he was pissed, really furious. My heart sank into my boots. The last thing I'd do is hurt such a close friend.