Interview with Dee Dee Hallach, independent film maker, founder of Paper Tiger TV

George Butler directed the movie "Pumping Iron," in which outtakes allegedly show Schwarzenegger saying that he admired Hitler. He later put the quote in a book proposal widely cited by the mainstream press right before the recall election. But Mr. Butler actually recanted the story last month, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which reported that: "Contacted by telephone on Sept. 11, .., Butler had said the story was 'not true.'" Butler confirmed to the New York Times about putting Schwarzenegger's statements on Hitler in his book proposal, but he could not immediately provide a copy of the transcript of the movie interview. He said he would look for it." The New York Times then retracted its story on the incident.

Sonali Kolhatkar: You worked on the set of the "Pumping Iron". Although you didn't come into too much contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Can you confirm or deny that he made comments admiring Hitler?

Dee Dee Hallach: I just want to say that I was very lowly production assistant on the film. I was actually helping out with the film because I was using the editing suite when the crew went home. I was working on my own film and in exchange for using their editing machine I did some tasks around the office. One of them was to "sync up" which means in the old days before video you had this separation of tracks of audio and picture on film. You had to prepare it to be time coded when it would come back from the daily film shoots. Then you would put them together with spacing between them. You have to pay pretty close attention to the actual content because you want to make sure that it is all in sync. I happened to be the person who "sync up" the famous interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It was by Peter Davis who is a filmmaker. He made "Hearts and Minds". He also writes for the "Nation". He recently returned from Iraq and wrote a very interesting piece about Iraq. I remember looking at the interview and thinking " what a brilliant interviewer Peter Davis is". He kind of got Arnold very relaxed and sort of "buttered him up" at the beginning and then at the end he started to "honing in" on things that he wanted to get out of him. Not all of the interview at all appeared in the film. I was struck at the time where was a part where he talked about how much he admired Hitler. What struck me was the gleam in his eyes when he a kind of thought about the glory to be able to speak in front of this big crowds... George Butler said in this synopsis to this book proposal, but what he didn't say -- I think this is more what he denied -- is that he then kind of retracted, and it is true that Arnold did say after that… that he kind of realized the problem of what he was saying. He said after something like "of course I hate Hitler, this man was a terrible man" or whatever, but it was not said with the same force, with the same ecstatic admiration , that you could see the gleam in his eyes when he was talking about Hitler.

Sonali Kolhatkar: George Butler has recanted the story. He put it in his book proposal but was able to give enough evidence, which has caused the New York Times to retract that story, but you essentially confirming that it is true?

Dee Dee Hallach: That he did said he admired Hitler, yes. I also say that Schwartzenegger retracted and said that "no, I don't like Hitler at all". I know that Schwartzenegger was perturbed about that interview and concerned about it because he did buy all the rights to the interview very early on, in the early 80's. He has not let any of the interview out as far as I know. My sense is that George Butler, certainly if he doesn't have a copy of the film, which I would doubt, I would think he would have somewhere. But he also has a transcript of the interview because that interview was very carefully transcribed and it must be around somewhere. He could produce that. But one interview I saw with George Butler when he said it was in his basement somewhere, that he was not sure he had it. My sense is that he gets some kind of, lets say, benefit from Arnold for not divulging that.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Arnold is now a very powerful man, he was a powerful man in Hollywood before. Now he is an even more powerful man. Certainly people don't want to make enemies of him. Finally, Dee Dee Hallach, you said that you were not around that much during the day time when the film was being shot, but did you ever contact Arnold Schwarzenegger, did you ever witness any kinds of sexual harassment that women have come out and alleged against him?

Dee Dee Hallach: At that time I did see him coming to the space we were using a couple of times. At that time my impression was that he was so zonked out on steroids that there was no way that he was interested in women. I think steroids pretty much repress your sexual appetite. Certainly I didn't see any evidence of that. Nor did I hear anything from any of the camera crew. Actually I talked to one of the camera people recently. He said that " no, there was absolutely no evidence that Arnold was doing anything with women. He just was so, you know, he was very much narcissistic. He was very much into his own body, in building up his reputation of becoming Mr. Universe. He was not interested in women at that time.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Dee Dee thank you for being with us.

Schwarzenegger's alleged sexual harrassment of women: A New Victim Speaks Out

Following the interview with Dee Dee Hallach, a caller called into the show and contracdicted Dee Dee's statement on Arnold's sexual harrassment of women.

Kristen Glover: I was inspired to call immediately this morning as I listened to the editor who worked on "Pumping Iron". I was very disturbed by her statements since I was on one of the camera crews of "Pumping Iron". I was a camera assistant at that time. I just want to say that I'm a member of International Cinematographer's Guild to this day. I sit on the board of that union. For her to make a sweet statement that Arnold is so pumped up on steroids that he had no interest in women at that time and that he didn't harass anyone on "Pumping Iron" was unfortunately said out of ignorance. Perhaps she didn't know that there were several camera crews going simultaneously at that time. There was one on the West Coast; there was one on the East Coast. I was working on the West Coast and worked on the film for several months. Arnold harassed me repeatedly on the show. I even wrote an article about it and submitted it to LA Times but it was not printed.

Sonali Kolhatkar: When did you write the article?

Kristen Glover: I wrote it during the week prior to the election on the 7-th. I wrote it early that week and tried to submit it to the Times. It didn't get printed. Couple of reporters called me but the story didn't come out and was not added to the list of the 16 women who were cited.

Sonali Kolhatkar: I don't know if you feel comfortable you can certainly say "no" but is it possible for you to describe what did Arnold do to you?

Kristen Glover: Sure. Essentially, I was working as a camera assistant documentary. When you do that kind of job you have to change the film out of the film magazines. There is a piece of equipment called "the film changing bag". When you put your hands into that bag they have to stay in there until the film is changed, or you risk exposing the film. It often happened when my hands were in the bag. Arnold would come up behind me and grab me. Essentially, I defended myself by screaming as loud as I could. I would curse at him and tell him to get away from me, and stay away from me. I think he thought it was very funny, he thought it was just a joke. Years later I ended up working with him again when I became a camera operator. I worked on two of his features "Running man" and "Eraser". He never harassed me on those films. I have to say at one point we were standing together on the set of I think it was "Eraser". He said to me " you know, you were really mean to me on "Pumping Iron". I had to laugh and I thought to myself "mean to you?" "Mean to you" meaning refusing to allow you to grab me. I guess that constitutes being mean to Arnold. One of the things, I've been surprised that no one has come out with except John Powers in LA Weekly last week: He was talking about how many famous , powerful actresses came out and defended Arnold. I think he said it perfectly: "Assuming that they were not simply lying to protect him, you can only marvel at what would keep them from grasping that Arnold would be charming to them and save his barbarianism for those he could harass with impunity. I think it is this two-faced quality that people are not really acknowledging. There are sort of 2 camps. First camp says "we were harassed, he harassed us", and it's true. The second camp says it can't possibly be true because Arnold was such a gentleman. Well, he is an actor, he knows how to be a gentleman, he knows how to act like a gentlemen, but I think in his heart he has a crude attitude towards women and still does, I would guess.

Collette Brooks is a former intern at CNN, who was one of three women who disclosed their experiences with Arnold to the LA Times, a few days before the recall election. More than a dozen women now have revealed similar incidents.

Sonali Kolhatkar: An article on October 4th in LA Times cited yourself along with two other women who had come out in addition to the original set of women and talked about how they experienced sexual harassment and sexual violation at the hands of our now governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Can you talk about what you experienced with Arnold?

Collette Brooks: Sure. I was an intern at CNN. I was escorting Mr. Schwarzenegger from the green room to the set which was a floor above. We took the stairwell. I was leading, he was following. He plainly said "nice ass" and then he grabbed my buttocks. I was completely dumb-founded. I couldn't wait to get up the stairwell as fast as possible to deposit him to the set.

Sonali Kolhatkar: How did you feel after that?

Collette Brooks: Completely powerless, completely humiliated. I said absolutely nothing to my co-workers there at CNN. Of course, when I got home that night I told all to my when boyfriend, later on to my loved ones, and sort of shrugged it off I guess and moved on with my life. That was it. I came forward after reading the LA Times article and after hearing that Schwarzenegger dismissed the allegations that I knew were true. I had to come forward and speak what I knew to be true.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Have you been contacted at all by Arnold's campaign?

Collette Brooks: No, I haven't been, but, certainly they've done some digging into my business affairs, they surely were trying to find out who I was, possibly even discredit what I was saying. The only thing they could come up with was that the fact that I supported Ariana Huffington's campaign, which is neither here nor there. This was not an issue of partisanship, this was an issue, as I said in the past of character conduct and, more importantly credibility.

Sonali Kolhatkar: They couldn't expect you to support Schwarzenegger's governorship. You had to pick one or the other candidates.

Collette Brooks: Exactly.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Now we have this guy in office. You are among many women who have come forward and probably among many other women who have not come forward about Arnold Schwarzenegger. You experiences probably are not very unique given that Hollywood condones this kind of behavior . That's the topic of our conversation today. Can you talk about what women should be doing now, thinking, organizing now when election is over and this man has become a governor?

Collette Brooks: Absolutely, the people have spoken. I think the reason why people voted for governor elect Schwarzenegger was a combination of dissatisfaction, desperation, and really brilliant marketing on his part. We were looking for a hero to pull us out of this mess and governor elect was really able to leverage his on-screen identity, to play into the people's dreams, for this governor who can save the day in California. Having said that I think now let's really empower this guy to fulfill his campaign promises, to be a champion for and of women . I would really like to support him in that effort. I think we need a coalition of women, to crack an agenda that maybe outlines issues of critical importance to us. Maybe establish a cabinet level position on women's affairs that can be implemented and oversee this agenda, to ensure that women's issues are met.

Transcribed by KPFK Volunteer, Elena Dar