Robert Maharis, brother of the tall, dark and handsome George Maharis of "Route 66" fame, is in town scouting locations for the TV series which will originate a segment in this area shortly.

Brother Bob, who is production assistant, goes ahead and selects good filmable spots suited to the script, also lines up what local talent is needed. He says he has already contacted local drama groups, such as Dallas Theater Center, Theater Three, the Chappell Community Players, and collegiate drama groups of the vicinity, to stand by.

As soon as he gets a script, which is any moment now, he'll round up the types needed. Brother George and co-star, Martin Milner, and members of the technical crew, which number about 45, are expected in Dallas Monday.

TV Celebrity George Maharis of Route 66 came to the ball at the Baker Hotel, charmed guests, including Mrs. Margaret Otis, chairman, in her Count Sarmi jeweled blue gown. Pony was part of games on the ball "midway."

The cast and crew of "Route 66," TV show will arrive in Dallas Tuesday to film three shows in and around this area.

"Route 66," is the only network TV series that films entirely on location. It has no home studio base, and it is literally a self-contained studio on wheels.

The company will travel in a caravan of ten autos, five of which are the biggest size vans permitted by law, and the balance are five Corvettes to transport the stars and company "brass" from one location to another.

The five vans contain every facility found in a complete Hollywood studio. One van contains the wardrobe necessary to costume the cast; another is a complete prop department, still another contains all the necessary camera equipment, another holds all the equipment necessary to light the sets; cameras and a "dark" room are housed in another; and one more contains the dressing rooms and storage room necessary to hold miscellaneous supplies.

The cast and crew comprise some sixty people, and they will all be stationed at the Marriott Motor Hotel.

Every man of the crew is a specially selected expert since he must be able to repair his own equipment in case of a break down. There is no time to send for parts to Hollywood.

"Route 66" is an adventure series that stars Martin Milner and George Maharis.

The first episode to be filmed in Mesquite and Dallas concerns a circus clown whom Tod (Martin Milner) and Buz (George Maharis) meet on the road and they give him a "lift" since both are headed for Mesquite...the boys to work in a brick yard and the circus clown to meet a trick rider with whom he is in love and who performs in the Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Among the thrilling scenes to be filmed on the rodeo grounds in Mesquite are those of the stars riding saddle bucking broncs; trying to remain on the backs of wild Brahma bulls, and all the other daredevil stunts that one expects of a Texas rodeo.

Executive Producer and owner of the "Route 66", TV series is Herbert B. Leonard; its producer is Leonard Freeman; Chief of Production is Sam Manners,; Associate Producer on tour is Herb Stewart; and Location Manager is Bob Maharis.

All you TV viewers and "Route 66" fans who would like to watch a segment of the show being filmed and also be a part of the crowd used in the show, go out to Mesquite Rodeo grounds at Mesquite on Saturday, starting at 8 a.m.

The troupe for the roving series arrived on schedule Tuesday at Love Field complete with fans for the regular stars, George Maharis and Martin Milner. The latter, incidentally, got a day off as they were not being used in the first scene to be shot. Maharis used his off-time to work on his car, then drive around the city. When last seen he was headed for some shopping and also planned to take in a movie.

Milner, at the Marriott Motor Hotel where the troupe has it's headquarters, studied his script, rested and took it easy.

In the meantime, back at Sam Ventura's Club Village in Oak Lawn, where the sole scene not at the rodeo, takes place there was a lot of activity. When we dropped by for a brief look, the crew was busy setting up lights and getting camera angles. Herb Stewart, producer on tour, David Lowell Rich, director, and Bob Maharis, location manager, were busily overseeing things.

Guest performers who will be featured in this segment are Audrey Totter who will play a rodeo performer, Albert Salmi, the rodeo clown, and the veteran actor, Slim Pickens. They were on hand, rehearsing and waiting for the actual filming.

Also slated for a small role in this scene was Paul Cartwright, maitre d' for the Club Village.

Work at Mesquite with Maharis and Milner in the scenes will start Wednesday morning.

Dallas County had a different sheriff Saturday.

He was James Brown, replacing Bill Decker in an unofficial capacity as Sheriff Strode. The lanky Central Texas native was playing before the vagabond cameras of the Route 66 television show, here for a locally set saga.

"Quiet! Roll 'em. Voice, Action!"

It was Hollywood all the way in the small glass-enclosed cubicle Decker calls home any other day except this particular Saturday.

Brown--better known to the young set as Lt. Rip Masters of the Rin Tin Tin show--played opposite Marty Milner, freckle-faced costar of the "road" show with George Maharis.

Maharis was missing from the scene Saturday. He was already the captive--on film--of a homicidal maniac who was demanding a ransom that all the people of Big D obey the Ten Commandments for 24 hours.

The sheriff's office scenes play a strategic part of the show, which should go before the public in from four to six weeks, said Sam Manners of Hollywood, executive in charge of productions for Herbert B. Leonard Productions, Inc.

From the 60-page script, 11 pages were being unreeled during more than eight hours of shooting. More than 30 producers, directors and technicians crowded among light standards and camera moved into the sheriff's office.

And there were some local folk on hand to add their acting abilities; Ray Hyke and Dale Berry, who play criminal investigators, and Linda Johnson, an Arlington lovely making her camera debut as receptionist at the Trade Mart.

The "roll 'em" command sounded often during the day. If a scene wasn't right, director Jim Sheldon had it run again--sometimes four or five times.

When the good shot came through, then it was back into the interrogation room for rehearsal of script while the technicians readied for another camera angle.

Dallas' real-life criminals cooperated-- things were quiet around the sheriff's office. It was so quiet, several deputies got into bit parts--hauling in a handcuffed "prisoner" or working at a desk, Their talent fee--$8.

The "66" crew will wind up shooting Wednesday, after making shots from the Southland Center, Trade Mart, the Marriott Hotel, a shopping center, drive-in theater and Dallas Love Field. The troupe will return in February for another shooting.

Decker appeared pleased at the goings on although the office routine was torn asunder. He and chief deputy Alan Sweatt were on hand to lend technical advice to make the film have that authentic appearance.

The high sheriff's only moment of alarm came at midday. "I don't mind them using my office. But where are they going with my furniture?" he asked as some burly stage hands started out a side door with his sofa.

Tuesday we had lunch with Tuesday on the side of a road, right by a cemetery, just outside of Lewisville, Texas.

Yes, that's right, but before somebody suggests that a man in a white coat be sent for, let us explain that we were visiting the "Route 66" company which was shooting there, with Tuesday Weld as one of the guest stars.

Also on hand were the series' regular stars, George Maharis and Martin Milner; Cloris Leachman, who also guest stars in this segment; James Sheldon, the director, and the great crew which travels with the 66'ers.

Between bites of hearty beef stew and carrot and pineapple salad (all low calorie, Doctor) we chatted with the members of the troupe.

Marty Milner had just flown in from California where he had rushed to be with his wife when their third child arrived prematurely. The new arrival, a son who has been named Stuart, joins two older sisters. Milner said he hated to hurry back to work here, but then again he was escaping some of the hardships of the family moving into a new home.

The handsome bachelor, Maharis, who started out as a singer, has a new single recording coming out this Friday. On the Epic label, he sings "Teach Me Tonight" with "When the Lights Go Down" on the flip side.

George, who also has a new Epic album coming out next month, "George Maharis Sings", told us that these discs were 10 years in the making. Before he started acting and hit big in "66," he sang, but on bad advice and poor musical coaching he almost ruined his voice. He had to remain absolutely silent for three weeks once, and also took vocal therapy. He still does exercises to keep the vocal chords in shape.

Miss Weld, with long blonde hair flying in the Texas breeze, told us that she gets restless and bored when she isn't working. Once she put on a dark wig, applied for, and got a job in a small restaurant in Los Angeles. She says she worked there two months or so and nobody, including the owners, ever recognized her.

She says she would like to travel, also get into other lines of work, but at 18 she feels she has lots of time.

Miss Leachman, who is the wife of producer-director George Englund, is just back from Thailand where her husband is now shooting "The Ugly American" with Marlon Brando.

She has "orders" to get something "real Texas" for her three small sons, Adam, 8; Bryan, 6 and Georgie, 4.

One of the fine young actresses who appear frequently on our TV screens, she recently guest-starred in "The Man in the Middle," an "Untouchables" segment with Martin Balsam. And she made the pilot for "Joe and Josie" with Mort Sahl. This is a comedy, very funny she says, with Mort as a taxi driver and herself as his wife. It's due on ABC this fall.

Meanwhile, back at the cemetery, Sheldon was shooting a scene for the segment which is called "Love Is A Skinny Kid". This cemetery, located high on the top of a wooded hill, is a beautiful spot, though the trees were bare. Some of the tombstones date back to the 1880's, and many are for children who died at the ages of 3 or 8 years.

Here in the bright Texas sunshine, a blonde, big-eyed Dallas youngster, 6-year-old Ann FitzGerald, was making her acting debut, as the frightened daughter of Miss Leachman, the villainess in the piece.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John FitzGerald, 13525 Brookgreen, Ann and her sister, Jennifer, 4, both have roles in this episode.

Tuesday will be seen as the embittered 18-year-old whose mother put her in a mental institution, then declared her dead, with a tombstone in the local cemetery to prove it.

The little FitzGerald girls play the mistreated girl at the ages of 3 and 6. Neither child has ever acted before, and they got the parts when their parents heard two blonde girls of those ages were needed. And both are doing nicely, according to Mr. Sheldon.

Dallas friends will be sorry to hear that George Maharis, co-star of the TV series "Route 66" which filmed here recently, is being treated in St. John's Hospital in Hollywood for infectious hepatitis. Maharis, who went to the hospital Monday is expected to be hospitalized for several weeks. Production of the show, scheduled to film in Seattle at the World Fair opening, April 21, will continue with co-star Martin Milner.

Officials at Screen Gem Studios, producers of the series, have alerted actors who worked with Maharis to get medical check-ups because of the infectious nature of the disease. That could apply to many in Dallas who were with him, either socially or working in the segments made here.

Just in passing fans and friends could send him a card to cheer him up.