INT: My name is MICHAEL ZINBERG, today is June 18th 2003, I am conducting an interview with GARY SHIMOKAWA with the DGA VH program Los Angeles, CA.

GS: My name is GARY SHIMOKAWA, nickname SHIMO in grade school. Birthday is 2-13-42. born in LA.

INT: The first question is how did you get your first professional job in television, but talk about what it was like to grow up in the period that you grew up. What did that background do to prepare you to direct primetime television shows?
GS: I was born right after PEARL HARBOR. I didn't know much about it, I only discovered it later, 12 or 13, but we were interned three weeks after I was born. first went to Santa Anita where we stayed for a few weeks before they could send us out to the camps, in our case it was (No Suggestions). PAT MORITA, JACK SUE, originally JACK SUZUKI also stayed there. so we stayed there for almost a year then my father got a job at twin falls Idaho. I think he was working on a farm, we went to Denver Colorado, that is really my first memory. when the war ended we came back to LA. when we came back we found it difficult to rent. what we ended up doing was subletting.

INT: Did you have brothers and sisters?
GS: No just the three of us. [INT: what did your father do?] My father was in the produce business, family of 12 in Hawaii. He was the only one who came up to the mainland. Came up in 29 and he was a good athlete. apparently they were looking for amateur baseball players, offering them jobs. One of the jobs was in produce. That's how we got started. He was a salesmen, doing pretty well. What happened with the outbreak of war was it ended the career. When he came back, he had to start all over. [INT: Didn't have his own business?] No he was an employee. At that time, in the late 30s, there were a lot of Japanese-owned businesses. When everyone came back from war there were zero. [INT: Your house and cars?] We had to sell or get rid of everything inside of 2 or 3 weeks. There was a sign posted that called for evacuation. There were only a couple of weeks to settle everything. You had to sell or find somebody to take care of it. Usually what would happen, you buy a home for 8 thousand you would sell for 1500. There were other people who were lucky enough to hold onto property and put it in their kids names. They were born in the country and were able to keep their land. They made sure the property was paid for during the time they were gone. In one case SAKASHITA was in Orange County, owned a third of it, was wealthy at the end of the war. There was a guy who owned a hotel, put it in his kids name, and recovered the mortgage.

INT: When the three of you came back, gone for two or three years?
GS: Left in 42, came back in 46. [INT: Long after the war.] We ended near Santa Monica and Fairfax. I went to a grammar school. The teachers were really kind to me. A couple of them had children my age, we became friends. it was funny. I think the first day I went to that school, I carried the American flag. I look back its funny. Because of what happened with interning, the fact that they were discriminated against, my mother went out of her way to make sure what she thought was best for me, which was to be integrated. So I didn't go to Japanese school which most Japanese Americans would go to. She didn't want an accent. She joined me, found a private boys club that had after school activities. The time I was 7 till 11 I was part of this boys clubs. This guy was a teacher, most of his counselors were at UCLA. He had a lot of industry kids. My mother was spending 80 dollars a week, a lot of bucks.

INT: Was your mother born in this country?
GS: My mother was born in Hawaii, came to mainland much earlier than my father. She was married before, divorced, met my father, turns out they were close together in Hawaii but didn’t know each other. They had me and were married 33, had me. My mother was a jewelry repairist. Was kind of the jeweler to the stars. the department store in this town. When she worked for a woman who adored her. A woman who was engaged to RON COLEMAN at one point. My mom met SHIRLEY TEMPLE. When we were interned, Mrs. Robinson held the job open for her which was amusing. She had a job forever.

INT: So then you lived in the Fairfax area?
GS: Father went to produce market, started as a salesman which meant he did the front work initially. Began to sell, it was a struggle. There were times where he would have to physically fight his way through some places. I was less aware of it. [INT: Who were the dominant folks in the produce market? ] Probably the Italians, the Armenians. A lot of ethnic groups. There weren't any Japanese-owned places. The first couple were in the early fifties. He always worked for somebody. Worked for a couple of different companies. Later on he worked for a guy whose main place was in Oakland, he managed the dock down here. That was a great job, he was 67 and he was a lifetime job. He worked there until he was 87 when they closed the dock. We lived in the Fairfax area for three years and moved to middle LA, the Crenshaw district. I lived on fifth avenue. I was still going to that club, still end up meeting kids I never interfaced with on a regular basis except through that club. Lost contact with them after I was a teenager. I was friends with a screenwriters kids, very close to them. His parents were divorced but were both blacklisted writers. The HUAC called all these writers to testify, she was one of them. SILVIA RICHARDS. I think her husband was ROBERT RICHARDS. And SILVIA had JOHNNY come over one night, he rode his bike over. He explained he couldn't see us anymore. The reason why was because she was testifying and didn't want us to be implicated in a relationship because we might be harassed. She was protecting us but the sad part was there were a couple phone calls but we totally lost touch. I think he lives in San Francisco.

INT: Was there any realization that you were in the town that made movies and television was coming on? Some day you might be a part of that? That was so far away from what I was thinking about. When I was growing up all I fixated on was I wanted to be a doctor. I loved the idea of medicine. I met a friend, lifelong friend, his father was a minister and I went to his church, I was baptized there, I thought I would be a missionary. this was the direction. I loved movies, loved musicals, but never in my wildest dream thought of it. I sang and performed, but never thought of it as a career. [INT: was there anything at LA High, was it removed from pictures? You were a baseball player?]
GS: Baseball, basketball and tennis. I was good enough to start on the basketball team, but there were people whose parents were in the business. None I knew really well. All my friends interest was academic. A majority of my male friends were doing science. It's ironic that I ended up in this business. I didn't think of journalist.

INT: From LA high you went to SC?
GS: I was premed all through USC, BA in comp lit, minored in chemistry and language. That was my first. Last year of school I wasn’t sure I was cut out for medicine. I didn’t get great grades. I didn’t love it. For all those years since I wanted to be a doctor. [INT: Did you get that from parents?] GS: In Japanese homes parents want you to succeed. My father didn't want me to be a teacher or a produce business. He wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer. The idea of a doctor was good, it kept in my mind. Any other kind of life never occurred to me.

INT: Now at SC you were part of a national championship baseball team? What was that like?
GS: Terrific part of my college life. USC was very much a fraternity world. I left a high school that was multiethnic, best experience of my life. The friends I made in high school are friends today. When I went to college, I was conflicted. SC I wanted to go when I was younger. I fantasized about being a ball player but I never thought of it as an academic institution. I wanted STANFORD or POMONA. I didn't get accepted, I got into POMONA, decided to not go, thought I would stay at home. The baseball team, I was introduced to coach of USC in my freshmen year. He invited me to play. They were on scholarship, a number of them were going to professional, he said I should join as a student manager. It was great.

INT: How did you feel the difference between high school and college in terms of relating to students?
GS: I think the high school experience, interracial dating was not an issue. I had a coterie of friends I could do anything with and share anything with. When I got into college, outside of the profession I thought I was going to follow, it was a fraternity school and I wasn't a part of that system. I didn't live on campus for two or three years. Once I lived on campus, the problem was if you were commuting you felt disconnected because it wasn't a school that embraced you. Baseball helped that because it was a fraternity unto itself. For everyday for four hours, that was my place.

INT: You were living at home in the Crenshaw area?
GS: Yep. [INT: Parents still working?] GS: Mother was not, father was. USC was a huge thing. Graduated in '63.

INT: So 1963 comes along, college graduate, losing interest in medicine, what happened?
GS: I went to Europe. Planned on it from the time we were in high school. The three of us we invited, talked about it after college, made all these plans and went off. this was the grand tour. I didn't even go to my graduation it was such a big deal. Went to Omaha for college bowl series, came back three days later and I was off to New York and flying to London. That was great. My parents were upset because I hadn't done anything for med school. I needed recommendations. I was lucky I got recommendations, when I got back I got in. By that time I said, I had to tell my parents, I don't think this is going to happen to me. [INT: How long were you in Europe?] GS: Three months. [INT: Travel as a student or as a prince?] GS: As a student. The only thing we had was a car. We bought a station wagon in Belgium. Traveled around. Two of the guys had two different instruments which became a pain in the ass. We had a great time. Those were the days you could live in Europe for five dollars a day. England Scotland, Belgium, France Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Germany when the wall was up. We passed through that, I guy was killed the day before we got there. And the Scandinavian countries. We did a lot. Had quite a tour.

INT: Now Gary comes home?
GS: Comes home and not a clue what to do, I decided, there was a draft I had to worry about, so I decided to go to graduate school, but not medical school. I said I loved literature I will get my PhD. I entered that, saw immediately that after the first half of the semester, I wanted to teach. I didn't need to go there to teach high school. I switched my major to urban studies and did graduate school for a year. It didn't keep me out of the draft because I actually became 1A because I failed to fill out the form. I went to the physical and for some reason I got a 4F. I think they claimed I didn't see well enough. It's over. Can't be part of the army. That's kind of what happened. That was the beginning of my looking around. 1965, offered me a job with a trucking warehouse company. Nice job to make some bucks. He said I want to send you to graduate school in business. The owner of the company, ROD DEDEAUX, baseball coach, king of southern California. for a dollar a year was coaching ball at the college level. he felt that was his way of using the money to highlight baseball as an entity which he did. he was the first Olympic coach in 64. I got the opportunity to go to the Olympics in Tokyo. Invitational. Baseball wasn't part of the Olympics. A host company could offer to another country teams to play in an exhibition circuit. We had all star team, four players from USC. He offered me to go. He asked the Olympic committee if it would be ok. I got to go. I paid for my trip over, but they paid for everything else, it was terrific. Players in USC and STANFORD, from all over.

INT: So you have a series of experiences now, diverse background, what do you do with that?
GS: I thought the next thing to do was either to write or to teach. I had a curiosity of writing for a newspaper. I exercised it by applying to newspapers in the state. Difficult to get a job, the newspaper industry is on the decline. Probably had four newspapers, now they have one. You couldn't get a job at the LA times, very hard to do that. No background or experience. I applied to the Oxnard Press, somebody called me from Gardenia Valley News. Met the publishers and the editor, they liked me, thought it would be great to have a writer on the paper who was Japanese-American. They have a large Japanese-American population. So I did. Paid 75 a week. Moved up the chain quickly. I was there for six months, I liked it. I liked writing. Had my own byline in sports. An entertainment section where I reviewed plays and movies. Some front page stuff. Last minute stuff. Things that happened the night before. Exciting stuff. Then I got into teaching. This doesn't pay enough, maybe I should go back and get paid more. I think I would not have ended up making more than a couple of hundred dollars a week if that. I went back to school and got into a teaching program. Went back to USC, taught at Pasadena High School.

INT: Now you're a teacher, how do your parents react?
GS: Dad wasn't thrilled, my mother was excited. Thought I was working. There was one course I failed to take to get my teaching credential, so the school district called me and said I have to take it. At that point I said I like teaching, coaching basketball. There is something missing. I decided that I'm going to look. That's when I thought let me apply for a job at the networks. They all have news shops. I could be a news writers. My father was upset, he didn't see the future. Didn't understand these were businesses you had to be lucky to get into. My mother supported me through all this. I applied to having somebody in the studios. CBS called me and had a job. I was ordering resistors and transistors in the maintenance department. I got in the local station. My father calls and I answer maintenance. He turned to my mother and said my kids a janitor. Thousands of dollars to send him to school. Then I realized I said it the wrong way. That's where I started. Just the beginning of an eye opening experience. That was 1967. No guarantee of a job. This was a summer replacement then I would be out of the job. In that period of time I met some people in the engineering department, interviewed with a guy right after that to work in operations, you type the log for the day. He offered me a job, a permanent job where I type the log. That's the log they have every day. That was fine. I was right in the heart.

INT: Was this a log that would tell them what was going on the air?
GS: Yeah, then you revise it to tell them what commercials are on the air. Roadmap for the station and FCC regulations. What was good about that place was the people who were there around me were all people who ended up being somebody in the business. Like IRV ZEVADA who was a producer. Always wanted to direct. Can't think of anything else to do. That's what I thought I was. Directing is so, I wasn't even sure what that was. Never been around it. Knew sort of what it was. They were doing local news, RALPH STORY, that was the show, if you could get on it that was it. The writing was exquisite. That was the show. JERRY was the biggest star, from the desert to the sea. He was such a big star, that when the network was wondering whether to take him or not they said no because he was making a million dollars a year. TED BAXTER in MARY TYLER MOORE was in part based on him. The silver hair, slicked back. So anyway that sense of control was where I started. Everybody was talking about doing things. JAY STRONG was there. An actor out of UCLA, great voice. Worked with BOB BARKER. Had those kinds of things. STEPHANIE EDWARDS just started a show with...