Gentlemen prefer Megan Hilty

My wife and I went to see Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Town Hall in NYC.  It was a limited engagement and since it was Mother's Day... and since we both like the TV show SMASH... well, I got my order in time to catch the next to last show.  Apparently this was quite a feat because my wife's friend, who goes to see just about every Broadway show, was unable to scoop a ticket for herself -and was flabbergasted when we exercised our bragging rights.  That too, is showbiz!  The show was EXCELLENT! Megan Hilty definitely deserves the part of Marilyn!!!

The week after Mother's Day was pretty busy for my backgrounding "career".  I did another stint in Boardwalk Empire, this time as a handcuffed prisoner in NYC's Surrogate Court (which doubled as a Washington D.C. court for BE) behind City Hall.  Steve Buscemi was also handcuffed along with the rest of us for violating the Volstead Act (Prohibition).  He, and everyone else, was fined $5 by Babcock the judge, and released -all to the chagrin of the prosecuting female attorney.

From what I could note during my vantage of him, Steve Buscemi is rather low-key and easy going.  Nothing seemed to ruffle his feathers -in fact he whistled to himself while waiting for the next take and occasionally sat in the chairs in front of me.  He would give us a sideward glance every now and then but no chit-chat was initiated... although at times I kind of felt like he wanted to.  Neither side broke the unspoken barrier that exists between extras and the principal actors:  "Don't speak unless the principal speaks to you first!". Such are the components of loneliness (and, I might add, job-security).

A day later I was back as an extra on the set of Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight... reluctantly.  Somehow I felt that this wasn't going to be anything like the last time.  After all, they were winding it up, so this must be "filler shots".  Still, the lure of filming it in the NY Public Library (simulating the great hall of the Supreme Court) got to me and I relented. 

The scene was hippies and veterans being removed by cops from the Supreme Court's hallway. So what about the advocates -where do they come in? Could their scene be on the cutting floor of the editing room?

Preparing the entrance hall of the NY Public Library to double for the Supreme Court entrance

Holding call time was for 5:15 PM... we were released at 5:15 AM the followng morning. Me... and a number of us, never being used!  But for some reason I didn't mind it as much as I usually do.  I guess it was because I got to be in close proximity of Christopher Plummer.  He was walking with his handlers on 40th Street when I arrived -and I was very tempted to ask "where the holding area was", but thought better of it when he looked away (probably thinking that a tourist was going to bug him for an autograph).  Later in the evening, he was going up the freight elevator that we all used for getting to our floor (with his handlers again).  I stepped in and he gave me a once-over look.  I had this urge to tell him that I worked with his daughter Amanda in a horror movie... but chickened out.  I'm such a chicken at times!? Maybe if he was alone...???

Then, near midnight, the lights went out in the holding area. Wasn't Ghostbusters filmed here?  And didn't they say that the library was haunted??  Kewl!  Unfortunately, the lights came back on (albeit without an  explanation as to why they went out in the first place).  Hmmmm... if  I remember right, there was also some paranormal activity at the mansion where I was an extra in the filming of Satan's Little Helper with Amanda Plummer.  Hmmm...what's the connection -I wonder?  Are the Plummers haunted -or is it just way too late in the evening for my brain to accept the simple explanation of a circuit breaker gone bad?

So I got home at 7 in the morning and took a well-needed shower... later on we got together with friends and saw an inspiring movie entitled Follow Me. Who needs sleep anyway when showbiz keeps you active and awake?!