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rBy Steven EngelbertGozette Staffur \o you know how muchcost us, i the director asked, half amused, half irritated.Janesville’s Don Sartell had been standing offstage at the set of “Dynasty” when HeatherLocklear spied him and stopped in mid-sentence.“Don,” she squealed. She ran to give him the customary Hollywood greeting, a hug and a kiss, which stopped the filming and annoyed 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 his life in Hollywood.“A lot of people think of me as Doc Sartell’s kid. The kid who twirled the flaming baton,” said Sartell, surrounded by mementos at his office at Don Sartell l4*o-ductions on Palmer Drive.He is a little more than that.“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 him.“I 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 pre-Bill Olmsf*d/Gox»tt« $toffDon Sartell lights up his office with his flaming baton actMembers of Surfeit's Hollywood circle know nothing about his life as a baton master. And generally, people in Janesville know nothing about his life in Hollywood.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.“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.”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 Youngand 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.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.But by the time Sartell was in his early 20s, he began to consider other ways to make his living.“The publishing industry was great, but there was very littlemoney in it,” he said.Fortunately, he had made himself a name as something of anexpert on pageantry.“At 23 I was called to Hollywood to work for Jesse Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille,” Sartell said.Lasky 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.Almost immediately, Sartell became Lasky’s closest adviser, and the baton twirler from Janesville emerged as an assistant Hollywood producer.The 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.Turn to SARTELL 2EA
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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