The production crew and acting cast of the ABC-TV [sic] hour adventure series, "Route 66," moved into the city yesterday for an extended stay - between two and three weeks - during which it is planned to manufacture several programs featuring a Cleveland backdrop.

It is a notably venturesome undertaking for any television series to move beyond the border of Los Angeles County in search of a setting, even though many shows succeed in creating an illusion of travel.

But "Hong Kong" is not produced in the crown colony of Hong Kong, for example, and "Hawaiian Eye" is not filmed in Hawaii. They rely, as most shows supposedly enacted in an exotic port, on film clips and clever sets to lend the desired authenticity of background.

Production mobility has not been a characteristic of television for reasons which appear to be obvious. It is unquestionably a more comfortable and a more economical condition for a production unit to be anchored to a Hollywood studio, within easy reach of facilities and experienced personnel, than it is for that company to traipse through the national countryside in a Homeric journey questing after more authentic TV adventure.

Travel Gives Problems

Such travel involves logistics that only a military commander or a circus entrepreneur would appreciate, and it isn't at all surprising that the producers of TV shows generally have settled for the comparatively well-ordered if more limited studio life.

The net result has been to make the Los Angeles skyline - and the Los Angeles City Hall, in particular - a trademark of thousands of television film dramas.

Herbert P. Leonard [sic], executive producer of "Route 66" and another ABC-TV [sic] series, "Naked City," must have had some rebellious feeling about the static quality of television programs because both of these shows are notable for their emphasis on authentic background.

"Naked City," of course, is filmed in New York City and it has been no simple matter to photograph even a short, simple scene on a New York street with hundreds of spectators milling about and youngsters, seized with a desire for celluloid immortality, darting into the camera's range at crucial moments.

But the men who are harassed most by the vexatious problem of shooting on location usually are the first to concede that the results compensate for the headaches.

New York Is Star

"Any time you list the stars of 'Naked City,'" actor Horace McMahon once told me, "don't forget to name New York City itself. We call it the silent star of the series, it's that important to us."

The "Route 66" crew swings into action this morning in the Flats, specifically in the area of the Breckling Cement Co., 701 Stone's Levee S.W. In the days and weeks ahead, the cameras and cast will take up the positions in such places as the Public Square, the Mall, Jim's Steakhouse and St. Theodosius Orthodox Cathedral.

Roger Leonard, one of the "Route 66" production executives, said some Clevelanders would be conscripted for acting duty.

He didn't supply the names of the extras because acting auditions are apparently still under way, but I hope "Route 66" doesn't overlook the wealth of character actors available at any time of the day or night on Short Vincent.

That's one area in which Cleveland has Hollywood beat. The West Coast may have fancy studios, but Cleveland has the characters.