We all have some obscure factoid that others don’t necessarily know about us. I’m not talking about a skeleton in your closet. I’m talking about some experience, honor, or event you have participated in that maybe no one knows. So, let’s have some fun with this and learn more about each other.
I’ll start…in 1988, I was living in the mountains of Colorado. My next door neighbor was a liaison between the town and movie studios wanting to film in the area. They were preparing to film a Charles Bronson movie…Messenger of Death. (An absolutely horrible film, by the way. Gruesome!) They were looking for extras but the slots filled up quickly and I didn’t get signed up. She told me she could get me in to at least watch the filming. I walked into the train station that morning and she met me with a frantic “Did you bring your Jeep?!?!” Yes, I did. “Well, go get it and I’ll meet you out front.” When I got there with the car, she had me speak with the associate director. He told me he wanted me to drive down the street in front of the train station and make the right turn without stopping at the stop sign. Do you think I could drive around the corner without stopping at a stop sign I had stopped at regularly for two years? Nooooooo! On the third take the frustrated director jumped in the car with me and all the way down the street and around the corner he’s yelling “Drive! Drive! Drive!” Geeeesh! Alright already. Don’t get your panties in a twist!
After that scene, I went to park the Jeep and went back to the train station. I walked in and the same guy came up to me and asked if I had been in a close up yet. I told him no and he said to follow him. He took me out on the platform and wardrobe came over and gave me a camel hair coat, black wool hat, and a suitcase. It was 100 degrees in the shade in mid July but we were supposed to look like it was winter for some reason. Someone stuck a train ticket in my hand and stood me beside the husband of a friend of mine. They instructed us to keep our backs to the camera, and above all else, NEVER break the fourth dimension and look directly at the camera because we only got one shot at this. Amtrak wasn’t going to back the train up so we could to it over. The director went on to talk with others and Bob and I were left to marvel at the whole process. He had been in several community theater productions and I was a wannabe. Bob turned to me and said, “I don’t know about you, but if I get the opportunity to be in a movie, I’ll be darned if they’re filming my backside! So, why don’t we slowly start turning toward each other and we can get filmed in profile?” It sounded good to me so we managed to get turned enough before the train came and sure enough, there we were, fully recognizable in two scenes! A few years later, Bob died after a brief struggle with cancer. I stood at his funeral and told that story. He will forever be my traveling companion on the Silver Screen.
Being in this movie ruined cinema for me for a long, long time. It took the magic out of movies because I knew how they filmed this or that scene. I have shown the grandkids just the scenes I am in and they think their Nana is pretty cool!
So, what is something you’ve done that you don’t mind sharing? We all have something we can brag about and if we don’t toot our own horns, who will?
❤️
“While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them…”
Judges 16:25