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?!

Still walking the Boardwalk Empire

No scarf this time!?

The parking logistics got better for us extras... we didn't have to search for any parking -they had a huge lot ready for us with a large parking sign: BE CREW.  One less thing to worry about at 6:00 AM on this Monday morning in Brooklyn!

Makeup, hair and wardrobe were quickly attended to by the army of production assistants and we were made camera ready in a very short time -so that we could concentrate on the most important part of an extra's arrival: BREAKFAST.  This time I went to the juicer and had a healthy mix of apples, beets, ginger, celery and carrots. Great waker-upper!

Soon we were herded out to the lot where we were told to wait while the black curtains were pulled over the enormous blue screen backing up the set.  We entertained ourselves by taking photos of each other before being placed on our marks.

Steve Buscemi and Kelly McDonald were on the set, but I only caught a quick glance of Steve as he was greeting some friends who were visiting him.  They were a middle aged couple dressed in jeans, who were taking photos of us extras while they took in the BE experience. For the most part, Steve was inside a parlor of sorts and only the "fancy-shmancy" dressed extras were used to do "passerby" roles in that scene.

I had an interesting experience -which was most likely an extra's-phantasy.  I decided to go outside after sitting for some time inside the holding house.  I saw a nearby platform with a wooden top and a young lady in period clothing sitting on it.  The sun started to come out and I heaved myself up on the platform also... to warm up.  A short conversation ensued about the number of episodeds we had done on BE.   I mentioned that this was my third stint, to which the young lady under the wide-brimmed hat answered that she had done "twenty or so... episodes"!  Wow... "...you must be a pretty good extra..." I said, as we were called back to set.  Later at home, when I was checking out the web's photo collection of Kelly McDonald, I noted the striking resemblence to the young lady I had the conversation with.  Hmmmmm.... I honestly don't know for sure if that was her or not!?!  Serves me right for not doing my IMDB-homework before coming to set this morning. (Hmmmm.... "20 or so... episodes".  Last 2 seasons' total was 24, plus 5 this season... equals "20 or so"!!!) DANG! I still can't remember her hat-shaded face clearly enough to say whether it was her or not... I mean... really... what would a principal be doing hanging out with the extras -they usually sequester themselves in their private trailers... STILL, she did relate an interesting story to me.  As I mentioned the incredulous ending of last season where one of the biggest "heart-throbs" (Jimmy Darmody, played by Michael Pitt) was killed off... and I ranted about "How could they do that... he was a major draw to the show?" She told me that she saw Michael Pitt being a "difficult actor" who had arguments with Steve Buscemi and was late to set, and various other tempermental situations with him, and that it was most likely because of that for which they "killed him off". WOW - I hadn't heard that before!  She must have been someone close to the "inside"... so....more Hmmmmm's.

Later on, the rest of us mixed-class extras were called to set.  There were over 100.  A couple of us were put inside an ice cream parlor, where we chatted it up until "Background Action" was called -at which time we exited and walked back and forth on the boardwalk (once in "winter clothes" and once in "spring clothes").  At least we got to sit on the parlor's stools between takes and discuss "giving up meat"!  All in all a fun day at "work" for the "unemployed" -like me.  Last week, I had a pretty good interview for a real-life paying job, but so far no call-backs. Like the inside of this ice-cream parlor, the prospects are pretty dim.

Promoting Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight

Mockup of Supreme Court chamber in Brooklyn

There are times when you feel that your background role is really a part of something very big, and this was definitely one of those times. HBO is definitely getting better and better by tackling sensitive issues that were part of recent history's major events. Like when the champion boxer Cassius Clay converted to Islam and became Muhammad Ali, a conscientious objector to fighting in the Viet Nam War -the case went all the way to the top in 1971. And here we are, 40 years later, recreating the event -with me as one of the advocates. (Seems like I've been typecast for lawyer types in the past few months i.e. Damages, Blue Bloods -"trials and tribulations" not withstanding through the inadvertent preoccupation with Acting Strange.)

I was cast as one of Ali's advocates

You would never think that a studio existed in the middle of one of Brooklyn's major Jewish orthodox neighborhoods, but there it was, off of Avenue M, looking just like any other building in the old neighborhood. It seems that the sunset TV serial, As The World Turns, was taped here... back in the day. The studio had history and a lot of clunky equipment all over the place -as we soon discovered. As you walked through the fire doors you entered a football field sized hall with high ceilings and lots of hanging chains and struts for setting up just about any kind of set.

Holding area

Half of it was used as our holding area, where the PA's had to stand on chairs to make themselves heard. And the other half was utilized as the movie set for the Supreme Court chamber, where most of the action took place with a star-studded cast. The Supreme Court judges were played by the likes of Ed Bagley Jr., Frank Langella, Christopher Plummer, Barry Levinson, Harris Yulin, Fritz Weaver...(Danny Glover as Justice Thurgood Marshall, recused himself and I didn't get to see him at this shoot). The major lawyers arguing the case were played by Peter McRobbie and Tony winner Chuck Cooper (who bantered generously with us extras in between takes).



Chuck Cooper Peter McRobbie

Chuck even sang a song (acapella) for the entire cast in the "courtroom" while we waited for the director, Stephen Frears, wearing an orange scarf, to set up the camera angles. Now THAT singing performance was an unexpected treat!!!

Stephen Frears

I loved watching the court scene go down with the eloquent voices of Chris Plummer and Frank Langella. Frank was constantly joking around. At one point when the bare-necked preoccupied director tried to tell him something, Frank complained that he didn't know if he should listen to him without his ever-present orange scarf.

Christopher Plummer and Frank Langella

Stephen naturally went to get his scarf before continuing with Frank. An instance of a dialogue change was needed when a document was referred to as " 6 inches...". Somehow it didn't sound gramatically correct and I mentioned it to the guy next to me. It seems that the "judges" felt the same way because after a number of tongue-in-cheek side-comments and retakes, one of them raised his hand and asked the script writer for a correction. The guy next to me and I just looked at each other and nodded in satisfaction as the words "6 inches THICK (with a hand gesture)" was now part of the script's liturgy.

I have to say that this was one of the most professionally run sets I've been on for a long time. Besides the adequate food selections, we were constantly treated with updates of everything that was going on -from every scene description to the reasons for the lighting adjustments. Wardrobe and makeup went smoothly and the voucher sheets were adjusted without any recriminating admonishments of how the I-9 was missing a "1" in the appropriate field. At wrap-up we all shook hands with some of the principals and came away with a sense of... equality. Great crew!

Boardwalk Empire on Staten Island

Softball invitation (from a hardball player)

The poster was scotch-taped to the side of the coffee maker under the blue crafty tent.  An inside tip to possibly see the crew of BE play softball at a remote baseball field in Brooklyn.  And on this cloudy Thursday in Staten Island I snapped a photo of it in hopes of going with my wife on the weekend. 

The anachronistic cellphone in the 1923's scene

Then suddenly we had to get back to Historic Richmond Town, which was being utilized by the HBO crew as the background to season-3's fourth episode... and I gulped down my coffee and crumb-cake to rush to the old Court House for the next scene.

Bobby Cannavale

Bobby Canavale had been recruited to be the new antagonist for Nucky's empire.  I was in a previous TV pilot with him called Mayor Of New York (which the director, Spike Lee couldn't sell). In BE, Bobby's character, "Gyp" Rosetti, had set the sheriff of the small town on fire and was now being "aquitted" by the local court.  Our direction was to exit the court house in "disbelief and fear" of the new gangster who has taken over the small "New Jersey town" and was now standing triumphantly on top of the court steps with his thugs.  (Unfortunately I was not in the following day's exciting scene where everyone gets machine gunned at the gas station down the block). 

Paired up with one of the ladies

We all crowded in the court house and Bobby was at one point behind me then in front of me... then on the front steps -depending on the director's whim.  We just scurried around him in abject disgust at his aquittal as the camera boom projected out horizontally at the man on the steps.  I might be seen for a frame or two...tbd.

Thugs

The weather was pretty moody and by late afternoon it started to rain.  I decided to hang out with the "thugs" on top of the steps and swap extras-stories.  One guy told us about being in SVU as a "guy who raped pregnant women" -Whoa... "mother rapers sitting right there next to me..." (that's a line out of Alice's Restaurant -which is kind of how I felt as the backstage show went on with the rain).

Stephen (aka Istvan) wearing 2 glasses

During our meal break we all sat in the local holding area on the court house's second floor, eating lots of delicious food.  The cheesecake with all the berries on top was my favorite!  I made friends with Stephen and we chatted it up about traveling and having a good time.  But our repast's jovial conviviality was somewhat interrupted by one of the young women at our table, who kept wailing into her cellphone at what we could only imagine was her "slave master".  The way she begged him not to hang up, and asking for repeated assurances not to leave her... and that she would be bringing home some food...  Although she tried to turn away from the rest of us around the table, there was no way she could think that we didn't hear her.  Nonetheless, she remained on the verge of tears; crying at times; leaving at times -but always within our earshot.  It was certainly more real than our acting today!

When daylight ended, we were released and I whipped out my trusty GPS to get me through Staten Island's foggy rain.  It worked!  Before I knew it, I was on some highway -right in the thick of traffic.  My GPS repeatedly echoing the dreaded word: RECALCULATING.

ELEMENTARY my dear Lucy

Yet another version of the Sherlock Holmes / John Watson relationship!? Hmmm... not so elementary -there is complexity afoot. Between Lucy Liu's first-ever depiction of Watson being a female and Johnny Lee Miller (of Eli Stone and Dexter fame) as a rather diminutive Sherlock... I don't know... I can't really say.

On my way to holding, my wife called me to let me know that a deathly ill cousin (about to be placed on hospice care) whom we've been visiting in the hospital for the past week, had come out of her high-fever coma-like deterioration and is sitting up and talking normally. When you hear news like this... it just makes everything else have a blissfull aura. And with that happy attitude I continued on to find "holding".

Our holding area was in St. Agnes on New York City's East 43rd Street, where about a hundred or so of us extras arrived at 7:00 PM and were processed to be subway travelers for this pilot shoot. From what one of the crew told me, this was the only episode being shot and then it's pitch-and-sell time to CBS. Sudden flashes of Spike Lee's MONY, my first TV pilot participation, came into memory. That particular pilot never made it to the boob tube... let's hope this one fares better.

We were placed in Grand Central Station's subway shuttle (S train) platform for about 4 hours. The director on the set was a man in a ND-grey shirt named Michael Cuesta (Homeland).

Our direction was to act like typical New Yorkers going for the train as Lucy Liu and Johnny Lee Miller were passing in front of us, preceded by a cadre of steady-cam assistants. I was paired up with a stunning looking young lady and our banter between takes made the hours very bearable. Our dash into the train was routine but unpredictable as to just how much nano-second screentime we'd be getting on this simple scene's final cut.

No food for the extras tonight... only a bottle of welcome water while we were on set and in holding. An AFTRA agent told us that this would not happen if we were in the union. He also told us that AFTRA and SAG were coming to a resolution on merging and that the voting results were being counted this Friday. I said I'd wait to join them... aha, yeah... check's in the Saturday mail.

I was somewhat hungry for a snack when they released us at midnight. Nothing seemed to attract my appetite -it was as though I really didn't need food. So I bought a simple tea and a croissant at Penn Station while letting my stiff body slide into the relative comfort of a metal chair in this multi-food shop. Suddenly the thought of a recovering cousin came back to memory and I was feeling great again.

Court scenes of Blue Bloods and Damages

Ironically, it was almost the same court-scene scenario for both episodes. I did Damages (last episode of season 5) on Friday of a week ago, and Blue Bloods (season 2) on just this past Friday. One court was in Queens and the latter in the Bronx, but they both depicted the opening statements of a serious court trial.

Bridget Moynahan is a stunning tall lady with great legs... but her countenance is a combination of sad and aloof. Her lines were direct and well delivered in contrast with Damages' Glenn Close and Rose Byrne -who blew their lines countless times. A very important lesson for us extras to see the pros make repeated mistakes and yet continue with their performances as best they can.
During the shoot of Damages, it was obvious that neither Glenn nor Rose had their hearts in their performance. Perhaps they were tired, or perhaps it was time to wind the show down. They lost a lot of viewers when they switched channels from FX to Direct TV -myslef included (since my cable provider doesn't have it)!

So, by contrast, Blue Bloods did a very good job of keeping the court gallery engaged and alert to the shenanigans of the defendants. I particularly liked the director, James Whimore Jr.

He's the son of the late James Whitmore, whom I remember with wonderful memories of the acting work he'd done on TV in "Judd For The Defense"... of course he became a prolific actor on stage and screen as well -he was also a US Marine in World War II. And now his son is here -directing us in his own style: loud, brash, crabby, overbearing -but always in a friendly manner....

In the back of the courtroom some of us had trouble believing that he was the son, but an iPhone with access to the internet was immediately enlisted to verify his imdb status as well as his genetics. Other topics in the back of the courtroom were about porn-bloopers... which all but made us crackup in a plethora of comical discussions. Luckily our direction was to make noise at certain times of the "court proceedings" -and needless to say, we timed our boysterous behaviour accordingly. (pssst... "the real show always takes place backstage")

The holding area was a great hall in the Bronx County Court's rotunda area. We had to be metal-detected and searched to be able to enter it. But once inside, we were treated to good food and some inspirational quotes and paintings of the court's founding fathers that surrounded us during our repast. One quote in particular impressed me the most:

THE GLORY OF AMERICA IS THAT SHE IS A GREAT SPIRITUAL CONCEPTION AND IN THE SPIRIT OF HER INSTITUTIONS DWELLS NOT ONLY HER DISTINCTION BUT HER POWER - THE ONE THING THAT THE WORLD CANNOT PERMANENTLY RESIST IS THE MORAL FORCE OF GREAT TRIUMPHANT CONVICTIONS

After we were released, at 1:30 AM in the Bronx, a small band of leery travelers gathered -planning the "possibly dangerous" walk to the subway a few blocks down from the Grand Concourse. So about 7 of us tribaled our resources and walked the dark streets. Only one incident with a demostrative amorous couple (humping under the streetlight while laughing at us) were encoutered, but we circumnavigated their playfull attitude and quickly descended to the subway platform. The rest of the trip went without incident and we all chatted up a storm that made the ride to 34th Street relatively quick. Unfortunately, at this time the LIRR trains to home are few and far in between. This allowed me forty minutes to observe the early St. Patricks Day drunks stumbling and keeling over onto the stations sturdy columns -many of them were young women. Young disgusting-when-drunk women... judgmentally sad. Guess that too is part of "HER INSTITUTIONS".

Reflection: You don't have to be a drunk to get home at 3:30 AM.

A 1920s Realism on the set of Boardwalk Empire

Working on the set created for Boardwalk Empire
Very impressive! The set that was created for this show was simply AMAZING... so true to life. It actually made you feel like you were transported back in time and you had to creatively interact with all of the manufactured reality in order to contribute to the show's success.

Season #3 kicked off with this episode -the idea was to establish new relationships and character definitions before the plot begins to thicken. The role of Richard Harrow, the half-faced man, is played by Jack Huston (yes... related to all the Hustons -John, Angelica, etc.).

Jack Huston as Richard Harrow
In this scene he is target shooting at a carnival (which was another set located down the steps from the boardwalk). He is bonding with a little boy who is the son of his good friend (one of the most popular characters killed in the season-finale episode of last season). The scene had to be reshot numerous times -one reason being was that the little boy was constantly blocking his face with the many toys he had to hold. Later I found out that the little boy was a twin. They use twins a lot I was told, because of the child-labor laws. There is a restriction clause on how long they can be worked -and so twins or even triplets are hired for childrens' roles.

I got lucky, because after standing in the distance, one of the AD's decided to bring me up front and put me directly behind Jack, along with some other mix of extras, and the direction was to look on in amazement as his sharpshooting skills miff the patience of the booth's barker. The barker asks Jack to leave before all his toy inventory is depleted. Being a veteran of WWI, where Richard was a sniper -his shooting skills are, of course, an unfair advantage. But Richard moves on unperturbed with his young companion and melds into the crowd along the carnival's central-planked avenue -busy on both sides with other barkers, and a LIVE ELEPHANT.

This was a wonderful surprise... to be one of the mulling crowds' member and to saunter a few feet past a live elephant. In holding we were pre-warned by the PA's "not to touch the elephant"! But there was some trepidation due to the chilly weather this day. It seems that the animal rights clause in the elephant's contract did not allow it to work if the temperature fell below a certain degree. Luckilly for us the sunny day warmed up a bit -not too much... just a bit and the elephant was allowed to "act". (Kids and elephants have great union contracts.) In fact the PA's were handing out "chemical hand-warmers" to us in order to prevent shivering. For me, it was my toes in my thin 1920's shoes that started to numb, but my jumping up and down between takes brought the circulation's warmth back.

At another scene, we were instructed to interact with the "tall man" and the "fat lady". So we imitated her hula-dance and stretched to shake hands with the tall fellow. The poor fat-lady was also very cold between takes and had to have a long coat put on her (I believe her contract clause may have stipulated it) ... unfortunately, no one cared for the tall man (seems there are no unions for tall-men)!? I felt bad for him. But we all persevered and the day ended only when the sun went down. This is a kind of signature use of light for Boardwalk Empire -natural lighting and a tenacious crave for detailed authenticity -which was part of what earned them the Emmy Award this year.

I have to note that the food was varied, plentifull and excellent. Everyone was treated well and it was one of the few times that the privileged union/non-union lineup didn't bother me. I also met up with my friend Marilyn, whom I haven't seen on set in ages. I snapped a few photos in holding of our period get-ups.
And then an unusual event occured where we were asked to lineup in the front of the holding area. It seems that a city film crew from the mayor's office was doing a documentary of sorts on the Boardwalk Empire costumes and set for REEL JOBS.gov -for which we all had to sign a separate release to use our image. I believe there's a special clause in the agreement for us extras which only allows a kind of "exploitation":

"...(c) the right to exhibit, distribute, transmit and/or otherwise exploit such reproductions containing my voice and/or appearance, edited or altered as you may see fit, in any and all media now or hereafter known throughout the universe in perpetuity, and in advertising and publicity in connection therewith... "

In other words... we don't get anything extra for the extra. Sometimes I wish I was an elephant... or a kid... or a "fat-lady"!

Law and Order... finally!

Mariska Hargitay and Danny Pinto

FINALLY!

I've been trying to get on this gig for the longest time... I mean EVERYBODY's been on it but me. I've had to endure so many conversations about it from my fellow extras. And now my ambition has been realized (Yabba-Dabba-Doo).

It was a late morning call time at JFK's terminal #4 and I decided to self-report via LIRR and AirTrain combo -since I lived relatively close to the set. But as it turned out, it would have been cheaper for me to go into the city and take the specially rented shuttle bus ($19.95 vs. the $$25 I spent for the double-train joy-ride). Be that as it may... it was all worth it to get on the show.

My wardrobe passed muster at the first check this time and I settled in for the wait to be called to set. My table started to get lively when the bus arrived from the city and the cast of characters quickly got friendly with one another. The girl next to me was a former Radio City Hall rockette; the young guy across the table from me was a sketch artist... and a bit innocent (we had to explain the difference between a "hipster" and a "metrosexual" to him). He was very talkative -which was a good thing, and practically interviewed everyone around the table. Next to him was a middle aged guy who was a screenwriter and had made forays into producing a TV pilot... unfortunately, it didn't go anywhere -but he was good natured and took it in stride. On my other side sat a young girl with a heavy french accent. She spent a lot of time on the phone in perfect francais conversations. She was reading a book about acting and we got into a method vs. experimental theater conversation. And suddenly we were called to the set on the 4th floor.

A couple of us were selected to be business types crossing the path of a fleeing felon. He bolts as soon as Mariska Hargitay and her sidekick, Danny Pinto question him from behind the name-holding chaufer line. They chase him down in the airport and a confrontation ensues. Needless to say, we all get jostled in some way or another from the running principals. Loved it!

Director Peter Leto

Mariska was very friendly with us... she joked around and was definitely a decisive voice in how the scenes should progress. After all, she'd done hundreds of episodes and knew what worked and what didn't. The director, Peter Leto was very good in the debates with the cameramen. He knew what was needed and expressed it creatively to us thrugh his assistants. I was impressed with the way the large airport space was managed and utilized for the short shoot.

My partner in this scene was a former PR person who left the industry for a while but realized just how much she was re-enjoying it again and was getting ready to get back into it. She had a friend on the crew who explained the scene to us. I asked if there were any cameo stars in this episode and she mentioned that Chloe Sevegny was downstairs in her trailer -but unfortunately not in this scene. ZUT ALORS! Chloe is one of my favorite actresses and I was thoroughly disappointed at not being able to catch a glimpse of her. EH BIEN... that's how life is scripted.

Meanwhile, our blocking was soooo good that most of us were wraped early and sent home at 3:30 PM... still daylight!!! WOW! That hasn't happened to me for a while. Even the checkout went pretty quick. Great shoot...great experience...

Epilogue 1: Aired on 4/18/2012 - a very quick chase scene!
Oh... whooosh... suddenly I remembered that I had been conducting some pretty confident interviews in the past month in hopes of getting back into the "paying-job" genre of my working life. But quite frankly I don't know which way that decision will go by the powers that be. And so I'm self-reflecting, realizing that I'm on pins and needles about it. I'll find out by month's end whether I get the "big gig" or if I continue to be a regular extra this summer (perhaps on Person Of Interest)...sic.


Epilogue 2: Afer 5 interviews, I didn't get the real-world job... bummer.

SHAT happens! (as his T-shirt proclaims)

William Shatner exits the Music Box Theater

We watched as the 80 year old actor, known to most of us as Captain Kirk, exited the Music Box Theater near Shubert Alley to thunderous applause and cheers. His one-man show, "SHATNER'S WORLD -We just live in it..." is running for a limited engagement and we just had to see him in person -at least once in his lifetime!

The show is a couple of hours of rambling... we didn't really care what he was talking about... it was just great to see him do his "Shatner-style" of story telling complete with his one-of-a-kind delivery replete with halting emphases (yes, the multiple version of emphasis).

Bill's mini-catharsis was entertaining for the most part, at times we nodded off but found ourselves paying attention to his various forms of homage to some major stars that he performed with (noticably absent was his stint with Angie Dickinson -wink, wink).

He didn't give any autographs and from what we heard through the crowd was that if you paid $275 a person, you could get a backstage tour from him. They didn't call Shatner "The Negotiator" for nothing! So after a moment or so of waving to the nighttime crowd, he entered his black Mercedes and as far as we were concerned... boldly went where no star has shone before.

Live long and prosper Bill!

Gala for A Gifted Man

...a.k.a. Patrick Wilson playing the part of Dr. Michael Holt -in this shooting of the last episode of the season (I remember him as Nite Owl 2 in the WATCHMEN movie). The scene is a gala affair taking place at the Roosevelt Hotel. The same hotel I spent 2 weekends as background for Man On A Ledge, which my wife and I went to see yesterday in the movies and loved it (even though the critics panned it -never trust any critics!).

But getting back to the topic at hand, the call time for the CBS production was at 8:30 AM today (the day of the Giant's parade down the Canyon Of Heros on the other side of town) -still, everyone showed up on time to get their wardrobe and makeup checked. The women got the best of the deal -yet again the most attractive of the 50 or so extras needed for this fete. Our holding area was inside a ballroom at the hotel, where we were not allowed to bring any food (yeah, right)!? I snuck in a bagel and lox with cream cheeze -which I wolfed down to avert the evil decree of being discovered with food and getting ejected. Luckily our PA, Bernard, was a friendly and tolerant guy. He was professional and focused mainly on the directorial part of the job.

After consulting with the ladies at my table for the best choice of ties, the dark brown was overwhelmingly selected. Unfortunately, my wardrobe check failed the tie test and the wardrobe supervisor decided to temporarily trade my voucher for what I thought to be a very non-descript piece of "shmatta". Be that as it may, I acquiesced to the requirements of the scene (what do I know anyway?). After that there wasn't much to do other than chat it up with my table mates. The conversation flowed around vitamins, politics and agents; I got a few "how to get more gigs" tips out of these encounters. It was a friendly group and getting familiar with each other's backgrounds made the waiting time fascinating and informative.

There were two scenes: one was milling around outside the balroom while Patrick and company chatted with some of the awarded-guests-of-honor, and the second scene dealt with sitting around the dinner tables while watching one of the speakers faint. I was one of the people picked to suddenly stand up in shock at the unexpected show-stopper (my only hope of being seen in the final cut).

EPILOGUE: Yes, that's me in the circle again (behind the plant)!? The season finale aired 3/2/2012

It all went well as David Platt, the director, darted between the cameras and the actors to get just the right effect.

Director David Platt

The shoot went on for us until almost 7:00 PM and then we were released. It was a great relief to exchange my voucher back for the ND-tie. I turned my cell back on, collected my phone messages and saw that a real-life job interview was being set up for me. In a way I was elated and in another way I was a bit sad. And then reality set in: I have bills to pay!

I quickly bade good night to my fellow table buddies, got my voucher ok'd -got my coat on and raced down the stairs only to come face to face with the star, Patrick, himself. I spontaneously smiled and said "take care" - he spontaneously reciprocated "you too"... and in a few moments I was out in the Manhattan night air. Walking up the block, I was kicking myself for not asking him if the show was being renewed.................. or, if he was making another WATCHMEN movie!

Participants in The Revolution

Finally got my wife to join me in one of my extras gigs. We were part of the audience in a new daytime TV show, THE REVOLUTION. Got to the Chelsea Studios in the early morning and waited in the studio's driveway with all the other audience guests for an hour or so to be let in.

While we were waiting, I let one of the PAs know that we were part of "Christine's people"!
-"O.K. -Come with me, and stand against the other wall" and soon all the other people, standing against the original wall were ushered in first!? Oh boy... did I do something wrong? Were we just cannon fodder now?

As it turned out, there were other "Christine people" joining us and we too were soon allowed to pass through the "metal detecting" security check to the basement holding area. Here we "decompressed" from our long wait and were entertained by the funny "warm up guy". And soon the entire crowd was taken to a huge service elevator which crawled up a few flights and eventually opened to let us file out in orderly fashion to the studio set.

More warm-up funny stuff and eventually the show started. There were four people who made up a pannel of "tipsters": house-builder Ty Pennington, fashion runway expert Tim Gunn, ob-gyn physician Jennifer Ashton, advice expert Tiffanie Davis and personal trainer to celebrities Harley Pasternak. They started the show with some gross discussion about "buggers", eventually transitioning to interviewing a celebrity, Monica Potter, and finally concluding with providing support to an obese mother.

Our direction was to clap enthusiastically on cue with "happy-happy-joy-joy-having-fun" expressions. Extra shoots of these clapping/smiling sessions were needed after the show ended, and suddenly my wife realized how staged all the audience reactions must be for other shows as well. She now enjoys these shows with a new understanding (i.e. you never know what the audience is really reacting to... real situations or fake prompts).

Ahhh... education about media-manipulation; it's soooo refreshing to see it dawn on others.

Fit for a walk in the Boardwalk Empire

So I got to Steiner Studios a bit early and streaked right past the guard gate (there was no one in it) to what I thought would be toward building #7 but the numbers stopped at #6 toward the far end of the lot. Puzzled, I got out of the car and asked for directions. I was told that it was an "airplane-hanger-like" building -almost next to the guard house! Oooops! In my zeal to get fitted first, I flew past the half-cylindrical structure that was at the very front of the studio lot.

I reparked the car closer and walked over to the strange building's front with the understated door on it's right side. Entering it was even more perplexing. I was now in a small darkened vestibule with three doors -then took a guess at opening one of them. It opened onto a wide expanse of a Krell-like arrangement of clothing racks. Period clothing... from the 1920's.

A woman behind the makeshift table assemblages noted that I was early and that I could sit and wait. I made myself comfortable and just gazed around at the vast amount of clothes all arranged in painstakingly categorized nomenclatures. A man reviewed my name and gave me some papers to fill out. I quickly got that out of the way and settled in to doing my crossword puzzle from AM NewYork (they're soooo easy -even an extra could do it).

It wasn't long before an attractive young woman (with a tiny twinkly diamond-like something stuck to her nostril flap) asked me to follow her into a neatly curtained fitting area, where her coleague would size me up with her measuring tape. For the next hour I was trying on various combinations of her choices of wool pants, shirt, tie, vest sweater, shoes and a fedora hat. All of which was to be reviewed by the "supervisor-fitter lady" -who wasn't satisfied with the results at all. In fact she just about took over and began a fitting process that took me from a shabby looking lowlife "dandy" to that of a better dressed middle-class worker wearing a hamburg. I liked her style -she knew how to dress a man up!

Walking around the area in my 1920's wardrobe got a few smiles from the locals (which I took in with great satisfaction). I needed that feeling because it's been a rather dry few months since my last gig -and in between that period I got laid off from my four-year old real-life job. And so I realized just how much I love being an extra exactly for this reason.

Filming of season #3 won't start until the latter part of February, but I don't mind. Like the stars and creators of this show who were awared with the Golden Globe awards, I look forward to another "renewed" season.

Pan Am in the Bowery Ballroom

What better place to shoot a Paris nightclub scene than on Delancey Street in downtown Manhattan... in the Bowery. The location scouts are so imaginative.

My suit-fitting session at Steiner Studios was very productive a few days ago when I got measured for a 1963 outfit: suit with open shirt -pants worn high. Very drab -a perfect fit for an ND background extra.
Steiner Studios are very well kept. They are clean, curteous and very professional there. More so than at my regular day-job. I was immensely impressed. It was also great to be back in my old college neighborhood... Pratt was not far away from here... but I decided this was not the time to visit. I had been an alumni guest there with my wife a few years ago -but memory lane would have to wait, there were other memories coming up.

Holding was at the historical St. Patrick's Old Catherdal on Mulberry Street. I read up on it a bit -as I like to know more and more about NYC's historical places (an extra benefit from this line of work). My preparation came in handy later during our discussions while walking to the set along it's long "protective" brick wall. I also recognized that this was the neighborhood that I had come to for my "Italian film debut" at the end of last year.

We all collected our altered clothings from the wardrobe department and changed behind a makeshift set of labariynthine arras setups. We all had to be styled with a 1963 haircut so we lined up for the looooong wait. But the chit chat made it bearable as our respective turns would eventually come up. My hair had to be done twice.

The first time it only got pasted down... and then as I passed by the head-hairstylist guy, he flagged me down and clipped a few more strands from the back of my duck-ass curls. When he finished with me I looked like an old time Brylcreem ad.
The women looked the best. They all got twinkly evening gowns with high waists and expressed decolletage -complemented by pageboy flip hairdos that were topped off with a pillbox hat! Did they really look like this in Paris 1963... I guess they must have since there were old magazine clips of 1963 people scotch-taped to the walls for reference.

We were taken to the set about 5 blocks away at the Bowery Ballroom -where another makeshift holding area awaited us. This time it was the basement bar -a welcome refuge for us after the very bright sunny walk through the hot summer day. In the basement it was dark and cool. We continued the chat as some of us got sporadically called to set upstairs. I got antsy after a few hours of sitting and not being called -and decided to walk up the steps that opened up to a two tiered dance club -complete with camera crew, directors and a bevy of extras. It was wonderful. But with the hours flying by and many of us not having been called up to set... well, I was having my doubts as to whether or not they were going to use all of us or not. So I accepted my probable fate and moseyed down to the basement to sit out the rest of the afternoon in Pan Am oblivion.

This proved to be a gross misconception on my egotistic part. Because soon after, we were all summoned to "center stage" and spread around the top floor's nightclub scenario. I was placed with one of the women near the bar area, where Colette, one of the "Pan Am stewardesses", played by Karine Vanasse is having a drink with a friend. Oh goody, at least I caught a glimpse of one of the stewardesses. At another part of a scene, I was placed at the bar itself and told to fraternize with the bartender and the guests around me -while smoking a cigarette. I don't smoke... but these were herbal cigarettes and we were not supposed to bring them near our faces or inhale -only for the effect of the 1963 predilection for smoking... everywhere! So I lit one up... then another... and another...and another... and Oh yeah, it was high-school memory time. The young bartender and I were bantering back and forth as the next scene was being set up. Between the scenes, we could take a break by going outside... into the brightness of reality that was Delancey Street. Many years ago, when I first came to this country with my parents, we would go shopping in this neghborhood. Clothes, shoes, tablecloths... all were bought the usual way: bartering. That world disappeared... this was now a shieky-trendy nabe on the fringes of the ever-expanding Chinatown -where young people would come to louder and louder exhibitions of rock-band euphoria... all the while smoking real cigarettes...et al.

A different pretty starlet, this time a blonde, with an English gentleman was now next to me. They chatted with us a bit (thereby releasing us from the "don't speak to the stars" restrictions). I mentioned my trip to England, to Lynne and Ouspensky's grave and the vicar there...etc. The Englishman picked up on the thread, but then the director (man with glasses... I assume it was Thomas Schlamme) called out "camera's rolling...and BACKGROUND!"
The pretty starlet turned out to be Anabelle Wallis -who was playing the part of Bridget -presently having an altercation with two men. There is some secret document being passed between the characters. But all the while, I just keep drinking my wine (cranberry juice) then chatting en francais with the barkeep, and later still with an African-American patron and oogling a girl having a drink a few seats away from me. That, basically was my silently-mimed moment of glory on this set.

[Flash-forward: The resulting scene was actually in episode #2 (aired on 10/2/2011) -and, as shown below (from a photo off my tv screen) -I barely got my profile into a quick shot with Bridget and her frantic pilot boyfriend chasing after a spy in the nightclub.]



While they were "checking the gates", I told Anabelle she did a great job with the script and descended to the dance floor. There must have been better than a half a dozzen scenes that we were all in. My odds of being seen on camera in this early episode have increased -though there are never any guarantees.
During one of the "wait for ACTION!" to be called moments, a rather stunning girl was placed in front of me. I saw the similarity in her face to one of my favorite actresses of the past, and asked her if anyone ever told her she looked like Ava Gardner.

"Who?" was the sincere reply... as my jaw dropped in surprise to her lack of familiarity with one of the greats. And so I turned to the guy next to me who was keeled over on the table in a "lack of sleep stupor" and I asked him:
"You know who Ava Gardner is... don't you?"... I might as well have been in a vacuum. He replied that he didn't know her either -and keeled right back into his restfull position. So I turned to the stunning girl and tried to explain it without any success. And it was at this point that I finally accepted being an anachronism... or at least trapped in the Hollywood Twilight Zone. But I could work with that -after all, it's part of acting strange.

In fact, we worked from 7:30 AM to about 12:30 AM... long... longer than I'd expected. But then one of the other women said that she had worked for this show last week and she didn't get home until 8:00 AM the following morning. Guess I got lucky. I got home at 3:30 AM.

Budapest theater experiences

Some 55 years ago, I was in the 3rd grade -on a class trip to a puppet theater in Budapest... my birthplace. We were shown to our seats in a very orderly fashion... the show started and we were mesmerized by the story that was taking place on the puppet stage.

Suddenly... the lights went off and there was complete darkness. In fact it seemed like a very long time that we were in a kind of "will the play continue?" limbo.

And then a very startling moment took place. The theater's giant doors flew open -revealing a tremendous bright light that eventually subsided as our eyes got used to the change, revealing everyone in the streets running in everywhich way... and then the terse announcement: "All of you can go home..." -Just like that, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was under way -but none of us in the class knew that. All we knew was that a moment ago there was order -and now there was utter chaos. I knew where I was and I knew where I lived -and so I started toward my home. Luckily, my parents were somehow aware of what had been happening and were en route to intercept me... We all made it home -only to become refugees in the following weeks.

And now, in the present day -I am standing in front of these doors that flung open to a new life. Needless to say, I did not go to see a puppet show here again.

But my wife and I did go to see a show at the Budapest Operetta and Musical Theater. And interestingly enough, the musical we saw "A Nice Summer Day", deals with a teenager's dilema to escape from post-1956 Hungary or to "stay in the boat". The boy stays and he is heralded as a hero for doing so. As this was a very popularly accepted sentiment with the audience, who clapped for 20 straight minutes, I couldn't help but reflect on my own situation -wherein I didn't have a choice. But I was glad that my parents made the right choice -to leave the unstable future that communist Hungary would become.

One burning question remained for me after all these past years... one that kind of haunted me -perhaps even made me act strange... the question being: What would my life been like, had my family stayed in Budapest?". I had all sorts of phantasies, such as a champion gymnast (I was always very flexible), or a champion chess grandmaster (although I learned chess at 5, I had abandoned it until my college years... in Hungary my "talent" might have burgeoned -yeah... "burgeoned")... etc.

But my question was slowly answered from the various discussions I had with people in Hungary while touring now in 2011. The answer was not a pretty picture. Many people were arrested after 1956 and sent either to prison or to Siberia by the Russians and their "puppet" government in Hungary. Those who came back from prison were not treated as heroes... not commemorated until the iron curtain was eliminated in 1989.

So this was a very revolutionary reconnection for me... plenty of emotion-stirring experiences for me to draw on... for fututre gigs... albeit not in the Budapest theater.