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By Steven EngelbertGazette Staffi iryyou know how muchat cost us, Sartell?” the director asked, amused, half irritated.Janesville’s Don Sartell had been standing offstage at the set of “Dynasty” when Heather Locklear spied him and stoppedin mid-sentence.“Don,” she squealed. She ran .....J customary Hollywood greeting, which stopped the filming noyed the director.If you trace it back far enough, the reason that Heather Locklear knows Sartell well enough to hug him, is that Sartell, 60, was a champion baton twirler in the days when batons were wooden and the twirlers were men.Because of the baton, the walls of Sartell’s office are coveredwith pictures of him with themost powerful movie executives in Hollywood and its brightest stars.Locklear hugs him in one. In others he poses with Linda Evans, with Morgan Fairchild. There are hundreds of them.But the baton was only a starting place, and members of Sar-tell’s Hollywood circle know nothing about his life as a baton master. And generally, people in Janesville know nothing about hislife in Hollywood.“A lot of people think of me as Doc Sartell’s kid. The kid who twirled the flaming baton,” saidSartell, surrounded by mementos at his office at Don Sartell Productions on Palmer Drivethan“I was an Army brat. Traveled all over,” Sartell said, to begin the story that took him from Janesville, which he has never really left, to Hollywood, where he still does business.Doc Sartell was the band leader at Janesville High School. He was activated during World War II and he and his Army band traveled all across the country. He took his children with himI became a mascot to his drum majors, and I parlayed that into the second largest girl’s youth movement in the country,” he said, explaining that the largest is the Girl Scouts.It was on the road with the Army that Sartell learned his licks with the baton. He also learned a thing or two about Dre-Bill Olmsted Gor*tf# StoMDon Sartell lights up his office with his flaming baton actMembers of Sortell's Hollywood circle knownothing about his life as a baton master. Andgenerally, people In Janesville know nothingabout his life in Hollywood.money in it,” he said.Fortunately, he had made himself a name as something of an expert on pageantry.“At 23 I was called to Hollywood to work for Jesse Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille,” Sartell said.senting spectacles—pageantry, if you will, which was to become the basis of his career.When Sartell came back to Janesville to finish high school, he was an accomplished baton twirler, and was becoming known for the flaming baton act. But twirling was not very popular.and Beautiful, the first full-color girl’s magazine. A 1961 copy features sections about “Careers in Beauty” (“Imagine You a Cypress Gardens Aquamaid”);Magic of Modeling”; and others that focus on youth, good looks and glamorous activities.nLasky was the producer of the first Hollywood full-length feature film, “The Squaw Man,” and founder of Paramount Studios. Sartell’s name had appeared on three different lists sent to Lasky in answer to inquiries.“Twirling hadn't caught on. I loved it so much I wanted to encourage the growth of it. In 11th grade I started The Drum Major magazine. That was 43 years ago.”He also presented clinics on baton-twirling in towns throughout the country, and performed at parades and shows after the clinics. And always, he observed how the shows and parades were put on.Almost immediately, Sartell became Lasky’s closest adviser, and the baton twirler from Janesville emerged as an assistant Hollywood producer.Sartell still publishes The Drum Major, now a tabloid.When he got out of high school, he began his own publishing business and came out with YounpBut by the time Sartell was in his early 20s, he began to consider other ways to make his livingThe title meant little. In reality, Sartell and Lasky would bounce ideas off each, often after midnight on long walks in the rain.“I’m an idea man. I talk fast and 1 think fast,” Sartell said.“The publishing industry was great, but there was very littlen Turn to SARTELL/2E
Newspaper Details
Janesville Gazette
Janesville, Wisconsin, US
Sat, Jan 21, 1989
Page 68
Full Page
Clipped by
Hedberg P.
Wisconsin, USA 02 May 2022
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