Dec. 8, 1963 - For the time being, 12-year-old Kurt Russell (pictured with Dan O’Herlihy) has no objection to an acting career in television, but that is only because he knows he is still too young to be a major league shortstop. Young Kurt explained his point of view to Superior Judge Ben Koenig when the jurist approved the boy’s first promotion under his contract with MGM Studio. Under the seven-year agreement, Kurt will play a leading role in the adventure series, “The Travel of Jaimie McPheeters.” When the contract was first presented to the court one year ago, Kurt was being paid $450 a week. He will now receive $550 a week. At the end of the agreement, he will be making $1,750 a week. But he still would rather be a ballplayer. His father, Neil (Bing) Russell, now an actor, grew up around the New York Yankees’ spring training camp in St. Petersburg in the 1930s and ‘40s, where his father ran a floatplane service. As a result, Kurt’s father was an unofficial mascot of the Yankees and became friendly with several players, including Lefty Gomez and Joe DiMaggio. Young Kurt lives with his father and mother at 220 Gainsborough Rd., Thousand Oaks, Calif.
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