Travis Edward Pike's Morningstone -- The Muses Request . . .

Tax Shelter film financing was a thing of the past, but determining there was no more work involved in trying to raise $70 million than there was in trying to raise $7 million, J. Bond Johnson, president of Cine-Media International, invited Travis to go ahead and prep his big budget, fantasy adventure, LONG-GRIN. Travis started by having Billy Bryan model the dragon to prove it could be done and allow potential investors to see the creature. Then he assembled the department heads; production manager, art director, camera and optical effects and casting director. By the time he had a budget, Bond had interest from two funding sources, that united, could easily fund the production. But it turned out that the two sources had "irreconcilable differences" stemming from the Begelman affair and both sides withdrew.

Bond Johnson continued his efforts to fund LONG-GRIN for another year. The screenplay was generally well-received, but the budget was prohibitively high for an unknown property. Travis was told that if LONG-GRIN was brought out as a novel and became a best seller, of course, the project could be resubmitted.

The Jimmy Fund is the major fundraiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Research Institute. New England theater-goers are familiar with the “pass the can” program in movie houses, produced by Travis's father's company, Pike Productions.
In 1986, Lee Remick agreed to appear in the Jimmy Fund theatrical trailer, but her schedule did not allow her to fly to Boston, so Jim Pike called Travis to dothe shoot in Hollywood. It was unpaid and Travis would have to supply his own crew, but all in a good cause. Travis was pleased to produce and direct, and especially proud of the way his Hollywood team responded. Cinematographer Peter Anderson supplied all the camera, grip and lighting equipment with Brian LeGrady volunteering as his camera assistant, Sound Mixer Dean Hodges supplied the sound gear, and Philip Moores acted as his boom operator. Vera Yurtchuk volunteered to provide Makeup and Hairdressing -- all of which enabled Lee Remick to do her bit for the Jimmy Fund quite literally in her own back yard.

Bond thought he might be able to arrange funding for Travis's musical fantasy, MORNINGSTONE, if Travis could provided demo recordings of the music to go with the screenplay. It was an expensive audio production, even with the cooperation of David Pinto, who had worked on the CHANGELING recording some 13 years earlier. David, a superb player and arranger with his own studio, gave Travis a rate on whatever they could record between them. David played most of the parts, Travis sang the male lead, they hired a half dozen female vocalists and managed to get the songs recorded in just over a month. Travis's daughter, Lisa, produced the recordings. In the end, she says, it still us a cost a small fortune, but I finally got to hear my dad perform his wonderful songs, and that was more than worth it.