James Burroughs

The legacy of James Burroughs, no matter where you look, is bound to make you smile.

I was an assistant stage manager to the assistant on an ill-fated musical called Breakfast at Tiffany's, where I met Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain, who were the stars.

And I went on subsequently to stage manage for my father on Cactus Flower, the production on the road, and then in New York City in 40 Carats.

So I got to see...

My father, who really wrote on his feet because he would write a scene and then when he would get in rehearsal, he would change the scene just on his feet.

And you began to see how fascinating he was.

And that's when I, you know, I kind of have his style of directing.

I'm a listener.

I'm not necessarily a watcher.

And Abe would always, he would say to me when he went to a run through of one of his shows or went to see one of his shows in the theater, he would always walk behind the set.

He wouldn't watch because he wanted to know that there was always noise happening on stage.

He listened for the noise.

He knew if there was no noise that he was in trouble.

So I do that when I direct my shows.

So that, you know, that is the essence of the experience with my father.

In subsequent years...

A lot of his gift and a lot of his skills seemed to come out of me at the strangest times.

It's not like I learned them as much as, you know, they were like osmosis.

I absorbed them and they kind of seep out of my skin in certain situations.

So when you're directing a TV show, you're sometimes backstage and not looking at the action or at the monitor?