Working in Manhattan made it hard to hang out with friends from work because I lived on Long Island and my co-workers lived all around the NYC area: my brother lived in New Jersey, others lived up in Westchester and Connecticut and a few lived in the various boroughs of the city.
One of my co-workers lived over one hundred miles from me because I lived 40 plus miles from work and he lived almost 60 miles in the opposite direction out in New Jersey.
Needless to say we did not hang out at each other’s houses on the weekend.
As noted in an earlier post we would occasional gather at one of the local bars after work for a few drinks and then head off in our separate directions to home.
There was one Saturday when we all came back into the city to get together for a softball game in one of the ball fields in Central Park.
There is a high demand for the fields and you have to see up well in advance.
It was the 15th floor (my normal hangout) with the younger photographers and tech staff against the 18th floor and the older photographers and account reps.
My floor lost both the game and face as the older guys beat us, but it was very cool to play in Central Park.
During my year at the Photo Studio I had not given up on the idea of working in Theatre but first I needed to finish the re-writes on my master’s thesis.
I had done a quick fix to the paper and sent it in but the teachers wanted a few more changes so I decided that I would take some time off from work and get it done right.
I had only worked just over 11 months at the Photo Studio and was not yet entitled to vacation time but I went into see my boss and told that I was going to take two weeks off anyway and that if he wanted me back after I was done I would like to come back, but if he did not want to hold my job that was fine with me.
It told me that it would be fine and I went home to work on my thesis.
I made several trips to SUNY Stony Brook to use their library and re-read some of the books that I had used back in Michigan.
I rented an electric and re-wrote the 60 page paper and sent it in.
While I was off from work I saw that the American Theatre Association was having their conference in the city and I went the job placement service that was part of it.
I interviewed with several schools including SUNY College at Brockport.
I thought the interview went well, but you never know.
As it turned out Seton Hall University had the table right next to Brockport’s and they talked to the Seton Hall people about me.
At first they said: “Oh you don’t want him, we had to let him go, he didn’t work out”.
Thankfully the man who had just interviewed me seemed puzzled and asked if they were talking about the same person.
It turns out they were talking about the guy who they brought in instead of me.
When they realized they had made a mistake the Seton Hall people said: “Gary was great, we liked him and were sorry we hired the other guy”.
So a few days later I got a call from Brockport telling me that they wanted me but had to work out some money issues.
I did not know it at the time but Brockport was going through major cuts and had retrenched (cut) four departments.
Currently things are a bit scary here with new budget cuts, but (knock on wood) no departments have been cut at Brockport as with some other SUNY schools.
SUNY Albany plans to cut their Theatre program, not good.
A few days later I got another call offering me the job.
I had been to Brockport twice while at Buffalo.
I came out with some friends to see a play, Our Town, and a jazz concert with the Sam Rivers Trio featuring Dave Holland on bass.
Sam River’s music is based in Bebop but in 1977 he was too much into the Free Jazz style for me, but Dave Holland is a great Bass player and I am glad I saw the concert.
Brockport’s Theatre Department had a good reputation and I thought that it would be a good starter job.
What the heck, I would give it a try, maybe three years or so and I would move on before I was 30.
If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans.
Well things changed, this is the end on my 29th year at Brockport and I now am 55.
There are many more interesting stories to come.
I never did go back to the Photo Studio after working on my thesis.
I called my supervisor and told him I had taken another job.
He was cool about it and even got me a week of vacation pay in my last paycheck.
A big change was ahead for me and I had to make plans to move on very short notice.
.
Showing posts with label 1980-82. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1980-82. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Fun in New York City
Of course working in New York City means I got to play in New York City.
With my commute taking almost two hours each way I often got home after 8pm so if I wanted to anything; have a drink or go to a store I would stay in the city and do it before I went home.
I did use the long train rides to catch up on books I had wanted to read, but more often than not the time was used to catch up on sleep.
The bar used to be featured on the opening of the David Lettermen show back when it was on NBC in the 1980’s.
A few times I got to go to another classic bar, McSorley’s Ale House just 10 blocks further south in Greenwich Village.
I went there a few times and remember one time meeting up with friends from college for a great reunion and maybe one or two ales too many, but a still a good time.
It was a men’s only bar until 1970 and does not serve beer, wine or mixed drinks; just ale, light or dark.
Also it had great food; big sandwiches with classic stone ground mustard.
There was always plenty to see and do in the area around work and I would often come back late from lunch, but never got caught.
If my boss was looking for me I could always tell him I was working on the other floor or out buying paint.
One time I was having so much fun looking around the Strand Bookstore that I was over an hour late getting back from lunch.
The Strand is a huge used bookstore with several floors of interesting books and is still going strong.
Of course many of the places I used to frequent have closed or changed in the past 30 years, but with Old Town and McSorley’s, both with over one hundreds year in business, some things go on and on and look the same as when I was there.
We had a tradition of going to the Lone Star Café for drinks anytime someone was leaving the Photo Studio.
Great chili and music, but it has been closed for twenty years now.
There were always many distractions and places to see in NYC.
If I had time I would walk to Penn Station just to see what there was to see along the way.
Sometimes I would go a few blocks North of Penn Station to Macy’s and Gimble’s and many other little shops and restaurants of all descriptions.
One day I took a subway up to Rockefeller Center to see the Big Christmas Tree and ran into several friends from College, one from Buffalo and one from Michigan.
It seemed that I would see someone I knew at least twice a month.
One day while coming down an escalator at Macy’s I saw a girl that I knew went to Buffalo.
As I rode down I realized that I did recognized her from several years of seeing her walking around the Buffalo campus, but I had never meet her and thought it would be too weird to go up to her so I just kept walking by.
A few times I would run into famous people on the street.
One day as I was coming around the corner of a building near Union Square I literally ran into Andy Warhol.
He was a kind of creepy looking guy with a very odd looking entourage following close behind.
There were a few other famous faces here and there, but I usually did not care, and like other New Yorkers I just would walk on by and maybe sneak a look.
I had not given up on Theatre and would go back into the city on the weekends to see some Broadway shows.
Of course I got a call for a Theatre job soon after I had started working at the Photo Studio.
It was odd because I had never sent the theatre a copy of my resume.
I never found out how they got my name, but I had committed to working at the Studio for a little while and wanted to save a little money before I dove back into the Theatre world.
But as always things change and plans are adjusted.
.
With my commute taking almost two hours each way I often got home after 8pm so if I wanted to anything; have a drink or go to a store I would stay in the city and do it before I went home.
I did use the long train rides to catch up on books I had wanted to read, but more often than not the time was used to catch up on sleep.
Some nights I would have a drink and something to eat with my brother and other co-workers at a great old bar just a half of block from work on 18th Street; Old Town Bar.
The bar used to be featured on the opening of the David Lettermen show back when it was on NBC in the 1980’s.
A few times I got to go to another classic bar, McSorley’s Ale House just 10 blocks further south in Greenwich Village.
I went there a few times and remember one time meeting up with friends from college for a great reunion and maybe one or two ales too many, but a still a good time.
It was a men’s only bar until 1970 and does not serve beer, wine or mixed drinks; just ale, light or dark.
Also it had great food; big sandwiches with classic stone ground mustard.
There was always plenty to see and do in the area around work and I would often come back late from lunch, but never got caught.
If my boss was looking for me I could always tell him I was working on the other floor or out buying paint.
One time I was having so much fun looking around the Strand Bookstore that I was over an hour late getting back from lunch.
The Strand is a huge used bookstore with several floors of interesting books and is still going strong.
Of course many of the places I used to frequent have closed or changed in the past 30 years, but with Old Town and McSorley’s, both with over one hundreds year in business, some things go on and on and look the same as when I was there.
We had a tradition of going to the Lone Star Café for drinks anytime someone was leaving the Photo Studio.
Great chili and music, but it has been closed for twenty years now.
There were always many distractions and places to see in NYC.
If I had time I would walk to Penn Station just to see what there was to see along the way.
Sometimes I would go a few blocks North of Penn Station to Macy’s and Gimble’s and many other little shops and restaurants of all descriptions.
One day I took a subway up to Rockefeller Center to see the Big Christmas Tree and ran into several friends from College, one from Buffalo and one from Michigan.
It seemed that I would see someone I knew at least twice a month.
One day while coming down an escalator at Macy’s I saw a girl that I knew went to Buffalo.
As I rode down I realized that I did recognized her from several years of seeing her walking around the Buffalo campus, but I had never meet her and thought it would be too weird to go up to her so I just kept walking by.
A few times I would run into famous people on the street.
One day as I was coming around the corner of a building near Union Square I literally ran into Andy Warhol.
He was a kind of creepy looking guy with a very odd looking entourage following close behind.
There were a few other famous faces here and there, but I usually did not care, and like other New Yorkers I just would walk on by and maybe sneak a look.
I had not given up on Theatre and would go back into the city on the weekends to see some Broadway shows.
Of course I got a call for a Theatre job soon after I had started working at the Photo Studio.
It was odd because I had never sent the theatre a copy of my resume.
I never found out how they got my name, but I had committed to working at the Studio for a little while and wanted to save a little money before I dove back into the Theatre world.
But as always things change and plans are adjusted.
.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
A Day in the Life of the Photo Studio
Being in NYC each day was more exciting then working at the Photo Studio and most days I had more adventures before and after work then I did at work.
After two weeks I had already built most variations of the standard set ups a number of times and only once and while after that would I do anything really different.
The junior photographers did most of the table top shots and set them up themselves.
Cans of soup, piles of towels or a spread of some exciting “New” or “Improved” products across a table, WILD.
One of my favorite products was a painted wooden mock-up of a new Game Boy type hand held toy that had not even been made yet, but because the Christmas catalogues were made in June and July, things were planed ahead and the manufacturer was hoping that the toy would be ready by December.
You might think it would be hard to get Christmas decorations in the summer, but remember this was NYC and you can get anything you want at any time, you may have to look a little but when you find it you know that you pay a lot for it.
For one project the designer had me take a long subway ride out to far the ends of Brooklyn to find a place that would sell us old telephone poles that we had cut down to 3 or 4 feet.
They were to be used as part of a dock set and without a problem they were cut and delivered the next week.
The pole pieces might seem a little odd to people looking at what was coming into a building on Park Ave, but it was the 12 foot row boat that was truly fun to watch as the movers tried to get it in the freight elevator and up to the 15th floor.
During a busy period and needing more room for a project, the Studio rented an empty floor in our building to put up a large set that was too big for our regular space.
I did not do a lot of work in the fashion studios as most shots were simply done in front of any number of colored seamless paper roles that the Studio had.
For one special shot they paid to have 6 inch squares of gold leaf glued on a 4 x 8 piece on Masonite.
We all joked that it looked like Ring Ding wrappers (back then they were still wrapped in foil) and that it would have been a lot cheaper to do.
A lot of photo tricks that the photographers did back then can be done in Photoshop these days, but in 1981 we still had to do some things the hard way or sometimes maybe the crazy way.
One standard trick was doing double exposures with a background slide in the camera which resulted in any kind of image they wanted outside of windows.
For one shot in the fashion studio I was asked to put up a wall with a fireplace in it.
Real wood logs were in the fireplace sitting on a piece of plywood over the carpeting that was part of the set.
During the actual shot I was asked to stand behind the wall spraying lighter fluid down on the logs that had been painted with rubber cement and set afire.
For a few seconds there would be a big whoosh of flames, the photos taken and the fire quickly put out.
I was told that they did this all the time and that the fire they had the previous year was not all that bad.
It was not too surprising when the company comptroller gave me the details about the payoffs to the fire and other building inspectors and of course it was the UPS delivery man who was the local bookie and handled the football pool.
I did win twenty bucks one week.
I would need to go to the comptroller’s office almost every day to get purchase orders to buy paint or other items for the various shots, all of which had to be assigned to a specific account for each of the clients.
People seemed to gather in that office, there was always a lot of goofing off there and we often played darts.
Everyone would put up a dime on the table and take a shot and whoever was closest won the dimes.
One day while a bunch of us were playing darts the company president walked in and almost got hit by a dart.
Instead of yelling at us to get back to work he said:
“I’m sorry, I’ll come back later”
It is no wonder that the company had problems.
The fashion models were an interesting group.
The women always came in sweats with their high up or pulled back and then would spend an hour or more with the stylists in the dressing rooms and then come out for 10 minutes of work in front of the camera.
The male models always came in well dressed, with great tans.
I remember way day in the elevator hearing one model tell another that he had just gotten back from Greece where he had been working on his tan and what a great time he had there.
This was a time before tanning salons, tuff life.
There was an area of the Studio that had all the headshot books from the different modeling agencies in the City and each model had her own page with several photos of her in different poses and looks.
Account reps would work with clients to pick out several choices for each set-up.
The rep would then call the agencies and see who was available.
“I’ll take blonde number 15, 28 and 34 and brunette numbers 23, 57 and 109”.
One time we were doing a towel shot where the model was to stick her upper body through a hole in the table and wave her arms at all the pretty merchandise.
The model got to the Studio, saw the set-up and said “I don’t do towels” and left.
The junior photographers were always more than willing to make a few extra dollars to work as hand models when a shot called for it.
We did bring in a special “Leg Model” for one shot.
Leg and arm models were usually a bit older, maybe in their 30’s, but still had great limbs and the good ones always had work.
Watching a fashion shoot is fun because they will do anything to make the clothes fit and look right on the model.
They will cut a suit coat right up the back or use spring clamps to pull fabric tight.
Weights might be added to the hems of skirts to pull them down just right.
Food shots are also surprising in what they do.
Lard is sometimes used in place of ice cream and turkeys are basted in dish soap and cooked just enough to give then just the right color and texture.
There was a story that someone tried to eat a turkey after a shot and got very sick.
We all liked it when there was a shot with fresh fruit and veggies because everyone got to take some home after the shot was done.
Like in Theatre, the result only has to look right from the front and point of view of the camera lens and if is not seen then it may not be there and products might be (usually were) enhanced to look good.
After two weeks I had already built most variations of the standard set ups a number of times and only once and while after that would I do anything really different.
The junior photographers did most of the table top shots and set them up themselves.
Cans of soup, piles of towels or a spread of some exciting “New” or “Improved” products across a table, WILD.
One of my favorite products was a painted wooden mock-up of a new Game Boy type hand held toy that had not even been made yet, but because the Christmas catalogues were made in June and July, things were planed ahead and the manufacturer was hoping that the toy would be ready by December.
You might think it would be hard to get Christmas decorations in the summer, but remember this was NYC and you can get anything you want at any time, you may have to look a little but when you find it you know that you pay a lot for it.
For one project the designer had me take a long subway ride out to far the ends of Brooklyn to find a place that would sell us old telephone poles that we had cut down to 3 or 4 feet.
They were to be used as part of a dock set and without a problem they were cut and delivered the next week.
The pole pieces might seem a little odd to people looking at what was coming into a building on Park Ave, but it was the 12 foot row boat that was truly fun to watch as the movers tried to get it in the freight elevator and up to the 15th floor.
During a busy period and needing more room for a project, the Studio rented an empty floor in our building to put up a large set that was too big for our regular space.
I did not do a lot of work in the fashion studios as most shots were simply done in front of any number of colored seamless paper roles that the Studio had.
For one special shot they paid to have 6 inch squares of gold leaf glued on a 4 x 8 piece on Masonite.
We all joked that it looked like Ring Ding wrappers (back then they were still wrapped in foil) and that it would have been a lot cheaper to do.
A lot of photo tricks that the photographers did back then can be done in Photoshop these days, but in 1981 we still had to do some things the hard way or sometimes maybe the crazy way.
One standard trick was doing double exposures with a background slide in the camera which resulted in any kind of image they wanted outside of windows.
For one shot in the fashion studio I was asked to put up a wall with a fireplace in it.
Real wood logs were in the fireplace sitting on a piece of plywood over the carpeting that was part of the set.
During the actual shot I was asked to stand behind the wall spraying lighter fluid down on the logs that had been painted with rubber cement and set afire.
For a few seconds there would be a big whoosh of flames, the photos taken and the fire quickly put out.
I was told that they did this all the time and that the fire they had the previous year was not all that bad.
It was not too surprising when the company comptroller gave me the details about the payoffs to the fire and other building inspectors and of course it was the UPS delivery man who was the local bookie and handled the football pool.
I did win twenty bucks one week.
I would need to go to the comptroller’s office almost every day to get purchase orders to buy paint or other items for the various shots, all of which had to be assigned to a specific account for each of the clients.
People seemed to gather in that office, there was always a lot of goofing off there and we often played darts.
Everyone would put up a dime on the table and take a shot and whoever was closest won the dimes.
One day while a bunch of us were playing darts the company president walked in and almost got hit by a dart.
Instead of yelling at us to get back to work he said:
“I’m sorry, I’ll come back later”
It is no wonder that the company had problems.
The fashion models were an interesting group.
The women always came in sweats with their high up or pulled back and then would spend an hour or more with the stylists in the dressing rooms and then come out for 10 minutes of work in front of the camera.
The male models always came in well dressed, with great tans.
I remember way day in the elevator hearing one model tell another that he had just gotten back from Greece where he had been working on his tan and what a great time he had there.
This was a time before tanning salons, tuff life.
There was an area of the Studio that had all the headshot books from the different modeling agencies in the City and each model had her own page with several photos of her in different poses and looks.
Account reps would work with clients to pick out several choices for each set-up.
The rep would then call the agencies and see who was available.
“I’ll take blonde number 15, 28 and 34 and brunette numbers 23, 57 and 109”.
One time we were doing a towel shot where the model was to stick her upper body through a hole in the table and wave her arms at all the pretty merchandise.
The model got to the Studio, saw the set-up and said “I don’t do towels” and left.
The junior photographers were always more than willing to make a few extra dollars to work as hand models when a shot called for it.
We did bring in a special “Leg Model” for one shot.
Leg and arm models were usually a bit older, maybe in their 30’s, but still had great limbs and the good ones always had work.
Watching a fashion shoot is fun because they will do anything to make the clothes fit and look right on the model.
They will cut a suit coat right up the back or use spring clamps to pull fabric tight.
Weights might be added to the hems of skirts to pull them down just right.
Food shots are also surprising in what they do.
Lard is sometimes used in place of ice cream and turkeys are basted in dish soap and cooked just enough to give then just the right color and texture.
There was a story that someone tried to eat a turkey after a shot and got very sick.
We all liked it when there was a shot with fresh fruit and veggies because everyone got to take some home after the shot was done.
Like in Theatre, the result only has to look right from the front and point of view of the camera lens and if is not seen then it may not be there and products might be (usually were) enhanced to look good.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
LIRR
Commuting every day by train was a new experience for me.
The trip took an hour and a half each way plus another 20 minutes by bus or subway to get from Pennsylvania Station to where the Photo Studio was on Park Ave.
I got up each day just before 6:00 AM and rushed to get the 6:20 Train; we would cram onto the old diesel engine train and stand for an half an hour until we got to Babylon where we changed to the newer electric trains.
With everyone else I would run to get a seat for the next hour in to City.
I had become a Dashing Dan, a regular commuter on the Long Island Railroad.
I got up each day just before 6:00 AM and rushed to get the 6:20 Train; we would cram onto the old diesel engine train and stand for an half an hour until we got to Babylon where we changed to the newer electric trains.
With everyone else I would run to get a seat for the next hour in to City.
I had become a Dashing Dan, a regular commuter on the Long Island Railroad.
If I had time I would get a coffee and butter roll from a coffee truck (roach coach) at the train station.
Once I got to work two hours later I would stop in to coffee shop on the ground floor of our building for another coffee and a toasted bran or corn muffin and then go upstairs, punch in and then wait for something to do.
If I did not have any work leftover from the day before I would wait in the little shop/office drink my coffee and read the paper until the designer and account reps came in and figured out what needed to be done that day.
There were days when I was never called to do anything until after lunch and just hung out.
There are people who have commuted 30 years or more on the LIRR, but in my year I experienced many different things.
Of course we were often late for any number of reasons: Rain, Snow, Ice, Wind, and at times it seemed that even Sunshine on a clear day would cause delays.
Once I got to work two hours later I would stop in to coffee shop on the ground floor of our building for another coffee and a toasted bran or corn muffin and then go upstairs, punch in and then wait for something to do.
If I did not have any work leftover from the day before I would wait in the little shop/office drink my coffee and read the paper until the designer and account reps came in and figured out what needed to be done that day.
There were days when I was never called to do anything until after lunch and just hung out.
There are people who have commuted 30 years or more on the LIRR, but in my year I experienced many different things.
Of course we were often late for any number of reasons: Rain, Snow, Ice, Wind, and at times it seemed that even Sunshine on a clear day would cause delays.
There were times that the train hit something on the tracks, equipment failures, a fire on the train and someone having a fatal heart attack in the smoking car.
You do not want to be at a train station after someone has been hit by a train.
I did not make it to work that day.
You do not want to be at a train station after someone has been hit by a train.
I did not make it to work that day.
One the same day that someone died on my train and i was late to work, two other people were late getting to work because someone had a heart attack on their train or subway.
I tried to make good use of my almost four hours on the train each day.
Sleep was always welcome but I would often read books or any of the number of newspapers left on the train coming home at night .
It was reading an article in one of those newspapers about public school districts banning certain books that made me want to read Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and then most of his other books.
Sleep was always welcome but I would often read books or any of the number of newspapers left on the train coming home at night .
It was reading an article in one of those newspapers about public school districts banning certain books that made me want to read Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and then most of his other books.
After a short time I could even read while riding on the subway and remember laughing out loud at parts of Vonnegut’s God Bless You Mr. Rosewater.
Too many nights my diner was a slice or two of pizza and beer I would pick up running through Penn Station to catch my train.
I was aware of class snobbery on the train when I would come home with a little sawdust or paint on my work clothes.
The Wall Street suits did not like to sit with us Blue Collar Workers.
Friday nights in the summer was always fun because in addition the regular riders the Boys of Summer would be going out to their summer houses on Fire Island.
They would have bags of groceries, some little dog with bad skin and sometimes even one of their mothers came with them.
The only time I saw all of the classes mixing on the train were those guys standing between cars smoking some “Wacky Tabacci”.
The Wall Street suits did not like to sit with us Blue Collar Workers.
Friday nights in the summer was always fun because in addition the regular riders the Boys of Summer would be going out to their summer houses on Fire Island.
They would have bags of groceries, some little dog with bad skin and sometimes even one of their mothers came with them.
The only time I saw all of the classes mixing on the train were those guys standing between cars smoking some “Wacky Tabacci”.
I remember one time that I saw somebody that I rode with all the time off the train and I could not place who they were or where I knew them from.
It was an interesting time, but I glad that I had only to do it for one year and also very happy that I was no longer riding the train when the next year there was someone taking random shots at people in Penn Station.
It was an interesting time, but I glad that I had only to do it for one year and also very happy that I was no longer riding the train when the next year there was someone taking random shots at people in Penn Station.
My time in the train was interesting but the Photo Studio would offer many more stories.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Vogue-Wright Photographic Studio
I had been out of Grad school for just a year and had worked various free-lance Theatre jobs in NYC, New Jersey, New Hampshire and on Long Island, but at the end of August 1981 I started working at Vogue-Wright Photographic Studios in NYC.
My brother, a photographer in the Studio, had told me that things were not getting done on time because the carpenter that they had was just a bit too laid back and not a take charge kind of guy so I had sold the president of the company that I was just what the Studio needed.
I was brought in to add a little more planning and construction expertise to Studio and worked with the company designer to figure out how to build the sets needed for the wide variety of photo shoots that the Studio did.
I do not know what they told the other carpenter, I was never really his boss, but the designer would talk to me about the different projects and I would pass it on to him.
He did not seem to care and did what he was asked to do, more or less, often less.
There was a lot for me to learn about how things were normally done.
The Studio was on two floors of our building with the 15th floor being where most of the full size room sets where put up and the 18th floor had the offices and Fashion Studios.
We did some unique shots but most were simple table top set ups with seamless paper, fashion shots in front of walls and many room shots.
The JC Penny catalog was our biggest client, but with did work for Brooks Brothers, Spiegel, A&P Food Markets and numerous other small shots.
The typical set-up was just two intersecting walls, with a gap for lighting and sometimes window.
The designer would pick a paint color that matched one of the highlight colors in the product that they were selling.
We seemed to do an endless supply of bedroom set-ups with every color and pattern of linens that they sold.
We used hard covered, Hollywood or TV style flats.
Traditional Theatre flats were made with 1x3 pine lumber frames with canvas skins.
Hard cover flats use the same 1x3 but attached on edge and covered with ¼” ply back in 1981, but today Luan Ply is used.
It was at the Studio that I started using Drywall Screws for the first time.
The screws had only been around for a few years and had been designed for attaching Drywall (Sheetrock) to metal studs.
The original screw teeth were fine and often would pull out of wood, plus the steel used was brittle and would easily sheer.
The birth of the cordless electric drill, and that everyone is always looking to make things easier, the use of Drywall Screws caught on fast in both Theatrical and General Construction.
As the use of the screws caught on, manufactures made improvements in both the steel used to make them and the screw threads.
If you go to Home Depot or Lowes most of the screws you would find are called deck screws and it is hard to find the original style meant for steel studs.
Back when I first started working in Theatre if we wanted to use screws we would have to drive them in by hand or use a Yankee Screwdriver.
My accident with a Yankee Screwdriver in High School I documented in a previous post.
Whenever I think about it I have to stop and find the small scar on my arm.
It is still there.
When I took the job I was not sure how long I would stay there, I did not want to give up on Theatre, but it was a good paying job with good benefits and it was the best offer I had at the time.
I will chronicle some of the more interesting events that happened to me over the next year in the Studio, around the City and even on the train ride to and from work each day.
.
My brother, a photographer in the Studio, had told me that things were not getting done on time because the carpenter that they had was just a bit too laid back and not a take charge kind of guy so I had sold the president of the company that I was just what the Studio needed.
I was brought in to add a little more planning and construction expertise to Studio and worked with the company designer to figure out how to build the sets needed for the wide variety of photo shoots that the Studio did.
I do not know what they told the other carpenter, I was never really his boss, but the designer would talk to me about the different projects and I would pass it on to him.
He did not seem to care and did what he was asked to do, more or less, often less.
There was a lot for me to learn about how things were normally done.
The Studio was on two floors of our building with the 15th floor being where most of the full size room sets where put up and the 18th floor had the offices and Fashion Studios.
We did some unique shots but most were simple table top set ups with seamless paper, fashion shots in front of walls and many room shots.
The JC Penny catalog was our biggest client, but with did work for Brooks Brothers, Spiegel, A&P Food Markets and numerous other small shots.
The typical set-up was just two intersecting walls, with a gap for lighting and sometimes window.
The designer would pick a paint color that matched one of the highlight colors in the product that they were selling.
We seemed to do an endless supply of bedroom set-ups with every color and pattern of linens that they sold.
We used hard covered, Hollywood or TV style flats.
Traditional Theatre flats were made with 1x3 pine lumber frames with canvas skins.
Hard cover flats use the same 1x3 but attached on edge and covered with ¼” ply back in 1981, but today Luan Ply is used.
It was at the Studio that I started using Drywall Screws for the first time.
The screws had only been around for a few years and had been designed for attaching Drywall (Sheetrock) to metal studs.
The original screw teeth were fine and often would pull out of wood, plus the steel used was brittle and would easily sheer.
The birth of the cordless electric drill, and that everyone is always looking to make things easier, the use of Drywall Screws caught on fast in both Theatrical and General Construction.
As the use of the screws caught on, manufactures made improvements in both the steel used to make them and the screw threads.
If you go to Home Depot or Lowes most of the screws you would find are called deck screws and it is hard to find the original style meant for steel studs.
Back when I first started working in Theatre if we wanted to use screws we would have to drive them in by hand or use a Yankee Screwdriver.
My accident with a Yankee Screwdriver in High School I documented in a previous post.
Whenever I think about it I have to stop and find the small scar on my arm.
It is still there.
When I took the job I was not sure how long I would stay there, I did not want to give up on Theatre, but it was a good paying job with good benefits and it was the best offer I had at the time.
I will chronicle some of the more interesting events that happened to me over the next year in the Studio, around the City and even on the train ride to and from work each day.
.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Di and Da
The big story in the summer of 1981 was not the plays that I worked on at Seton Hall University but the wedding of a pretty 19 year old girl to a goofy looking future king.
I watched some of the “Wedding of the Century” on a grainy black white TV in the Theatre office.
Now their son is getting married this spring in another “Wedding of the Century”.
I wish him better luck then his parents.
The final play of the summer was the Tony Award winning play Da by Hugh Leonard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_(play)
It is a memory play set just after the funeral of the main character and as Charlie comes home he finds the Ghost or memory of his father is still at the home.
The play is flash backs to different moments in Charlie’s life growing up that involved his father.
My favorite scene is one in which Charlie is talking with a neighborhood girl who will “go down back” with the boys.
Just as she agrees to go Charlie’s father comes by and ruins the moment.
“Oh, she's a fine girl, from a good family” Da tells Charlie.
Charlie’s introduction into manhood would have to wait for another day.
The lead character of Da was played by the Director/Department Chair and Charlie by Rudy Hornish, a local actor who had just finished working on the film Ordinary People.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0395183/
Rudy told a story about how after he won his Oscar for directing the film, Robert Redford sent certificates of thanks, with mini Oscars printed on them, to everyone who had worked on the film.
They loved their Irish Theatre at Seton Hall and one of the directors who was there in 1981 is still working there today.
http://www.shu.edu/academics/artsci/seton-hall-theatre/
In addition to the summer job I had also applied for a full time job working at the University.
The interview for the full time job was during my second week there.
They gave the job to someone with more experience but at the end of the summer, just before I left, the Chairman told me that he enjoyed working with me and maybe he hired the wrong guy.
As it turned he was right and the other guy was fired before the end of the first year.
They had their chance but I was moving on to other things by then.
My older brother was working as a Photographer in NYC and told me that the studio that he worked for was looking for someone like me to be like a technical director building sets for the different photo set ups.
I took a trip into the city and met with the president of the company and sold him on the idea that I was just what he needed to save his studio, or at least make it run smoother.
They offered me the job at $250 a week plus medical and dental benefits.
This was about $50 more than the junior Photographers starting wage so I guess they really wanted me.
So at the end of the summer, with no other leads on Theatre jobs, I started working full time in Manhattan at Vogue Wright Photographic Studios on Park Avenue near Union Square.
Living back with me parents on Long Island, I would commute on the Long Island Railroad for the next year.
Those train rides alone could fill another blog, but highlights of my adventures in the Photo World are soon to follow.
I watched some of the “Wedding of the Century” on a grainy black white TV in the Theatre office.
Now their son is getting married this spring in another “Wedding of the Century”.
I wish him better luck then his parents.
The final play of the summer was the Tony Award winning play Da by Hugh Leonard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_(play)
It is a memory play set just after the funeral of the main character and as Charlie comes home he finds the Ghost or memory of his father is still at the home.
The play is flash backs to different moments in Charlie’s life growing up that involved his father.
My favorite scene is one in which Charlie is talking with a neighborhood girl who will “go down back” with the boys.
Just as she agrees to go Charlie’s father comes by and ruins the moment.
“Oh, she's a fine girl, from a good family” Da tells Charlie.
Charlie’s introduction into manhood would have to wait for another day.
The lead character of Da was played by the Director/Department Chair and Charlie by Rudy Hornish, a local actor who had just finished working on the film Ordinary People.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0395183/
Rudy told a story about how after he won his Oscar for directing the film, Robert Redford sent certificates of thanks, with mini Oscars printed on them, to everyone who had worked on the film.
They loved their Irish Theatre at Seton Hall and one of the directors who was there in 1981 is still working there today.
http://www.shu.edu/academics/artsci/seton-hall-theatre/
In addition to the summer job I had also applied for a full time job working at the University.
The interview for the full time job was during my second week there.
They gave the job to someone with more experience but at the end of the summer, just before I left, the Chairman told me that he enjoyed working with me and maybe he hired the wrong guy.
As it turned he was right and the other guy was fired before the end of the first year.
They had their chance but I was moving on to other things by then.
My older brother was working as a Photographer in NYC and told me that the studio that he worked for was looking for someone like me to be like a technical director building sets for the different photo set ups.
I took a trip into the city and met with the president of the company and sold him on the idea that I was just what he needed to save his studio, or at least make it run smoother.
They offered me the job at $250 a week plus medical and dental benefits.
This was about $50 more than the junior Photographers starting wage so I guess they really wanted me.
So at the end of the summer, with no other leads on Theatre jobs, I started working full time in Manhattan at Vogue Wright Photographic Studios on Park Avenue near Union Square.
Living back with me parents on Long Island, I would commute on the Long Island Railroad for the next year.
Those train rides alone could fill another blog, but highlights of my adventures in the Photo World are soon to follow.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Candide and Shadow of a Gunman
The Theatre at Seton Hall University was the only truly Theatre-in-the-round that I have ever worked in.
I had recently worked in the Guggenheim Museum, and although the building is round, the Theatre was set up in a normal proscenium style and when you were in it you did not sense that the building was round.
In college we had gone over designing in the round as part of my scene design classes, but Seton Hall’s Theatre was a real challenge.
I knew what to do in theory, but made sure that I talked with the directors who had already worked the space for their advice and insights before I started my designs.
The acting space was of course round, sunken down below that seat level about 18 inches and maybe 20 to 24 feet across, with entrances that went under the seats at the twelve and six o’clock positions.
For the musical Candide I used three platforms, a center unit with two side ones at the 4 and 10 O’clock positions.
There were also to small platform/steps units that came in from the house level down to the floor level at the 2 and 8 O’clock positions.
There was very little other scenery; simple stools, boxes, props and a few cutouts.
The lighting was as colorful as I could make it.
The play is fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Problems?
Oh course.
On the day we were to open the play I was told that the Theatre was going to be used as part of freshmen orientation.
I went to yell at the Dean, who as it turned out was a priest.
For a moment I had forgotten that Seton Hall was a Catholic University.
The second play of the summer was Shadow of a Gunman by Sean O’Casey, an Irish play set during “the Troubles.”
It is not one of his best of his plays, but the cast did a good job with it.
The simple set required only a single room in a city tenement apartment.
I first designed what I thought that the room would look like without regard to the fact that we were in the round.
It seemed that walls would not really be an option, but I figured out a way to use them anyway.
I used painted Styrofoam panels about 4 inches thick that followed the outline of the ground plan and they were cut in an irregular line ranging in height from 12 to 24 inches.
I made working doors that were cut just above the door knobs.
For the window I made a real double hung window but the top half was just a 1 x 2 without all of the trim and molding and some of the audience would view the show through.
We only used one of the stage’s entrances and I had the actors come in and walk a quarter of the way around the edge of the Theatre before they came to the apartment door.
The director added business for the actors to do as they came and went from the apartment that added to the understanding of the character’s motivations and actions.
Not one my favorite plays, but I was happy with the results.
One afternoon one of the actors in the play stopped by the Theatre and I got to take a ride in his classic Model T Ford.
Although in the Model T, a few of us did take a couple of other road trips that summer.
My assistant and I went to visit my friend Randy from college who was working in a nearby Theatre and another time some of us decided to go into Manhattan for one last late night drink because the bars in New Jersey closed too early for our taste.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, but because we never found the bar that one of us was looking for it really was a waste of time as we settled for a quick drink in some random dive.
As at most Theatres that I have worked; people at Seton Hall liked to work hard and play hard too.
It is most enjoyable when you like the people you are working with and can have a good time together whether you are working or having a drink after a show.
I had recently worked in the Guggenheim Museum, and although the building is round, the Theatre was set up in a normal proscenium style and when you were in it you did not sense that the building was round.
In college we had gone over designing in the round as part of my scene design classes, but Seton Hall’s Theatre was a real challenge.
I knew what to do in theory, but made sure that I talked with the directors who had already worked the space for their advice and insights before I started my designs.
The acting space was of course round, sunken down below that seat level about 18 inches and maybe 20 to 24 feet across, with entrances that went under the seats at the twelve and six o’clock positions.
 |
| Ground Plan for Candide |
For the musical Candide I used three platforms, a center unit with two side ones at the 4 and 10 O’clock positions.
There were also to small platform/steps units that came in from the house level down to the floor level at the 2 and 8 O’clock positions.
 |
| Set and Lighting Design - CANDIDE 1981 |
There was very little other scenery; simple stools, boxes, props and a few cutouts.
The lighting was as colorful as I could make it.
The play is fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Problems?
Oh course.
On the day we were to open the play I was told that the Theatre was going to be used as part of freshmen orientation.
I went to yell at the Dean, who as it turned out was a priest.
For a moment I had forgotten that Seton Hall was a Catholic University.
The second play of the summer was Shadow of a Gunman by Sean O’Casey, an Irish play set during “the Troubles.”
It is not one of his best of his plays, but the cast did a good job with it.
The simple set required only a single room in a city tenement apartment.
I first designed what I thought that the room would look like without regard to the fact that we were in the round.
It seemed that walls would not really be an option, but I figured out a way to use them anyway.
I used painted Styrofoam panels about 4 inches thick that followed the outline of the ground plan and they were cut in an irregular line ranging in height from 12 to 24 inches.
I made working doors that were cut just above the door knobs.
For the window I made a real double hung window but the top half was just a 1 x 2 without all of the trim and molding and some of the audience would view the show through.
We only used one of the stage’s entrances and I had the actors come in and walk a quarter of the way around the edge of the Theatre before they came to the apartment door.
The director added business for the actors to do as they came and went from the apartment that added to the understanding of the character’s motivations and actions.
Not one my favorite plays, but I was happy with the results.
One afternoon one of the actors in the play stopped by the Theatre and I got to take a ride in his classic Model T Ford.
Although in the Model T, a few of us did take a couple of other road trips that summer.
My assistant and I went to visit my friend Randy from college who was working in a nearby Theatre and another time some of us decided to go into Manhattan for one last late night drink because the bars in New Jersey closed too early for our taste.
It seemed like a good idea at the time, but because we never found the bar that one of us was looking for it really was a waste of time as we settled for a quick drink in some random dive.
As at most Theatres that I have worked; people at Seton Hall liked to work hard and play hard too.
It is most enjoyable when you like the people you are working with and can have a good time together whether you are working or having a drink after a show.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Summer Theatre in New Jersey
In between looking for work I took time to get together with 3 college friends to see the Grateful Dead at the Nassau Coliseum on May 6, 1981.
I thought it was a pretty good show and later it was made into a selection of the “Dick’s Picks” series of CDs.
http://www.amazon.com/Dicks-Picks-Vol-13-Uniondale/dp/B00005V8PM
You can buy it and check it out for yourself.
Another show that I went to back in 1977 was made into Volume 34 of the series and I would also recommend that you give it a listen.
http://www.amazon.com/Dicks-Picks-34-Community-Rochester/dp/B001W2FDOI
I was surprised to see a photo in the liner notes that could be me, it really is too small to tell, but I like to think it is me standing there grooving to the Dead at the show in Rochester.
Although I enjoyed working at Theatre Three I needed to look for a better paying full-time job.
I landed a job designing the sets and lights for three summer productions at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.
The job was just for the summer but they were also looking for someone to take over full time in the fall so I jumped at the chance to go there.
The productions were the musical Candide, Shadow of a Gunman by Sean O’Casey and Da by Hugh Leonard.
I had worked on the first play of the summer, Candide, five years before at Gateway Playhouse so I was familiar with the play but I was not ready for the fact that it was a true Theatre-in-the-Round.
Quickly I had to learn how to design both sets and lights in the round.
It was typical Summer Theatre with limited money, crew and time but it went well and I was happy with the results.
The school had arranged a room in a local home own by an old Polish lady who had been renting rooms to young college men since the early 1950’s.
I was told that the room I had in the attic had once been rented to local New Radio DJ “Cousin Brucie” back when he was in school or working but his bio says he went to NYU, so I really do not know.
In any case he was once one of the most powerful DJs in America and was the man who introduced the Beatles at their first Shea Stadium concert in 1965.
Unlike in New Hampshire, my assistant actually worked with me even though he too had a part in the first play.
There were also a couple of young interns and the production manager who helped from time to time.
It was a nice place to work mostly in part because it was not minus 20 outside.
The cast and crew were a friendly group and we ended many days at one of the local restaurants, most often “Bunny’s Pizza and Booze” which is still there, but they dropped the “Booze” part of the name.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS355US356&wrapid=tlif129574825140310&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=bunny's+pizza+south+orange&fb=1&gl=us&hq=bunny's+pizza&hnear=South+Orange,+NJ&cid=17215325486080447497
Being a Catholic University there were not too many naked people running about as had happened in previous theatres, but somehow we still managed to have a good time that summer.
As with most of my experiences working in Theatre, I have fond memories of working at Seton Hall that summer and some stories about what happened both on and off stage to follow soon.
.
I thought it was a pretty good show and later it was made into a selection of the “Dick’s Picks” series of CDs.
http://www.amazon.com/Dicks-Picks-Vol-13-Uniondale/dp/B00005V8PM
You can buy it and check it out for yourself.
Another show that I went to back in 1977 was made into Volume 34 of the series and I would also recommend that you give it a listen.
http://www.amazon.com/Dicks-Picks-34-Community-Rochester/dp/B001W2FDOI
I was surprised to see a photo in the liner notes that could be me, it really is too small to tell, but I like to think it is me standing there grooving to the Dead at the show in Rochester.
Although I enjoyed working at Theatre Three I needed to look for a better paying full-time job.
I landed a job designing the sets and lights for three summer productions at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.
The job was just for the summer but they were also looking for someone to take over full time in the fall so I jumped at the chance to go there.
The productions were the musical Candide, Shadow of a Gunman by Sean O’Casey and Da by Hugh Leonard.
I had worked on the first play of the summer, Candide, five years before at Gateway Playhouse so I was familiar with the play but I was not ready for the fact that it was a true Theatre-in-the-Round.
Quickly I had to learn how to design both sets and lights in the round.
It was typical Summer Theatre with limited money, crew and time but it went well and I was happy with the results.
The school had arranged a room in a local home own by an old Polish lady who had been renting rooms to young college men since the early 1950’s.
I was told that the room I had in the attic had once been rented to local New Radio DJ “Cousin Brucie” back when he was in school or working but his bio says he went to NYU, so I really do not know.
In any case he was once one of the most powerful DJs in America and was the man who introduced the Beatles at their first Shea Stadium concert in 1965.
Unlike in New Hampshire, my assistant actually worked with me even though he too had a part in the first play.
There were also a couple of young interns and the production manager who helped from time to time.
It was a nice place to work mostly in part because it was not minus 20 outside.
The cast and crew were a friendly group and we ended many days at one of the local restaurants, most often “Bunny’s Pizza and Booze” which is still there, but they dropped the “Booze” part of the name.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS355US356&wrapid=tlif129574825140310&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=bunny's+pizza+south+orange&fb=1&gl=us&hq=bunny's+pizza&hnear=South+Orange,+NJ&cid=17215325486080447497
Being a Catholic University there were not too many naked people running about as had happened in previous theatres, but somehow we still managed to have a good time that summer.
As with most of my experiences working in Theatre, I have fond memories of working at Seton Hall that summer and some stories about what happened both on and off stage to follow soon.
.
Monday, January 17, 2011
THEATRE THREE, Port Jefferson, NY
Going back and looking at my tax records, I made less than $500 in 1980; at least that is what I paid taxes on.
So in working on a couple of rock shows in Ann Arbor, several freelance jobs in NYC and my month in working in New Hampshire I took home less than $500.
It seems that I was not going to get rich working in Theatre.
There were not too many places hiring in January when I got back to New York.
I read the trade newspapers and sent out more resumes and waited to see what would come up.
In the middle of February 1981 I was hired to design the lights for a production of the Threepenny Opera.
I do not remember how I found out about the job as I had been looking for theatre working in NYC and this was on Long Island close to where I lived.
My former employer supplied the lighting equipment to the Theatre and may have told about the job, but I am not sure.
Theatre Three is in Port Jefferson on the north shore of Long Island about 20 miles from my family’s house in Sayville.
I both excited and a bit worried about designing the lights as it had been almost a year and a half since I had last deigned the lighting for a play.
I had designed several sets and had done mostly set construction work during that time.
The building was long and narrow and had been a Movie Theatre at one time and there was also a Cabaret Theatre in the lower level.
It seemed that the bar in the Cabaret was a popular place for off-duty cops and nurses to hang out and drink.
One day when walking through the bar one of the cops thought I was carrying a gun, but it was just my new Buck knife on my belt.
It turned out that I worked with director before on several productions by the Sayville Musical Workshop
and one of the actors in the play, Brent Erlanson, had played Bobby in the SMW production of Company and I was saddened to learn that he passed away recently.
They must have liked me as I was hired to design both the set and lights for the next production of Table Manners, one of the three plays in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests trilogy.
Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the play, but it is the only play that I have worked on that was reviewed by the New York Times.
The review was so-so:
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/03/nyregion/theater-in-review-table-manners-offrs-meal-in-itself.html
Of course my name is not in the review, it never mentions the set or that they were even are on a stage.
There is nothing in the review for me to say: “Hay, I Did That!”
Oh well, maybe next time.
The construction staff were not trained “Theatre” people but local carpenters who used 2 x 4’s and sheetrock to build the walls on the set.
I guess it made sense for them to build it that way as they were able to use the skills of the people who they had available and saved money doing it.
The finished set looked fine and cost less than if they had used 1 x 3’s and muslin, the common building materials used in theatre at that time.
It would not have worked if there had been multiple sets or were trying to fly scenery in and out.
While at Theatre Three I also did the lighting for some kind of fashion show/benefit to help some good cause or another.
One of my recently graduated students currently works at Theatre Three.
I am happy to know that they are still there and doing well.
I was disappointed to learn that The Airport Playhouse, another Long Island Theatre that I once worked in, closed this past December.
.
So in working on a couple of rock shows in Ann Arbor, several freelance jobs in NYC and my month in working in New Hampshire I took home less than $500.
It seems that I was not going to get rich working in Theatre.
There were not too many places hiring in January when I got back to New York.
I read the trade newspapers and sent out more resumes and waited to see what would come up.
In the middle of February 1981 I was hired to design the lights for a production of the Threepenny Opera.
I do not remember how I found out about the job as I had been looking for theatre working in NYC and this was on Long Island close to where I lived.
My former employer supplied the lighting equipment to the Theatre and may have told about the job, but I am not sure.
Theatre Three is in Port Jefferson on the north shore of Long Island about 20 miles from my family’s house in Sayville.
I both excited and a bit worried about designing the lights as it had been almost a year and a half since I had last deigned the lighting for a play.
I had designed several sets and had done mostly set construction work during that time.
The building was long and narrow and had been a Movie Theatre at one time and there was also a Cabaret Theatre in the lower level.
It seemed that the bar in the Cabaret was a popular place for off-duty cops and nurses to hang out and drink.
One day when walking through the bar one of the cops thought I was carrying a gun, but it was just my new Buck knife on my belt.
 |
| The Threepenny Opera, 1981 |
It turned out that I worked with director before on several productions by the Sayville Musical Workshop
and one of the actors in the play, Brent Erlanson, had played Bobby in the SMW production of Company and I was saddened to learn that he passed away recently.
They must have liked me as I was hired to design both the set and lights for the next production of Table Manners, one of the three plays in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests trilogy.
Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the play, but it is the only play that I have worked on that was reviewed by the New York Times.
The review was so-so:
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/03/nyregion/theater-in-review-table-manners-offrs-meal-in-itself.html
Of course my name is not in the review, it never mentions the set or that they were even are on a stage.
There is nothing in the review for me to say: “Hay, I Did That!”
Oh well, maybe next time.
The construction staff were not trained “Theatre” people but local carpenters who used 2 x 4’s and sheetrock to build the walls on the set.
I guess it made sense for them to build it that way as they were able to use the skills of the people who they had available and saved money doing it.
The finished set looked fine and cost less than if they had used 1 x 3’s and muslin, the common building materials used in theatre at that time.
It would not have worked if there had been multiple sets or were trying to fly scenery in and out.
While at Theatre Three I also did the lighting for some kind of fashion show/benefit to help some good cause or another.
One of my recently graduated students currently works at Theatre Three.
I am happy to know that they are still there and doing well.
I was disappointed to learn that The Airport Playhouse, another Long Island Theatre that I once worked in, closed this past December.
.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Leaving New Hampshire
I enjoyed the people I worked with in New Hampshire, but it was the working conditions were tough.
As I have in the past I have gone through programs and have looked up some of the people I have worked with to see where they are now and what they are doing.
As noted in a past post, George, the actor who played Scrooge is still living and working in Manchester.
He was a good guy and made those from out of town feel welcome.
I found out that the extra stage manager who they let design the lights is currently works at Lincoln Center in NYC.
Although he was not able to help too much in the shop I liked my assistant and we shared the experience of living in the “welfare hotel” and I was glad he was there when ever the “creepy guy from across the hall” was around.
Besides talking about him seeing the Beatles we talked about many different things including the poet Richard Brautigan whose new book The Tokyo-Montana Express I was reading at the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Brautigan
He is best known for his book Trout Fishing in America.
I enjoyed the book but I think I enjoy the folk group that took its name even better.
I have seen them perform live twice and would recommend both their music and Brautigan’s books.
I found out that my assistant, Steve Witting, did do a little more technical theatre but turned to the Dark Side and became an actor full time.
Some of you may remember him as a Burt on TV in The Hogan Family in the late 1980’s.
He has done a number of movies and was recently in Shutter Island and on Boardwalk Empire on HBO.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0937059/
A year later I would run into staff Technical Director who ran the Palace Theatre while I was walking through Madison Square Park in NYC.
At the time I could not remember his name or where we had worked together but just had a general “Hi how are you doing” conversation.
It took a while but I finally remembered him hours later.
I found that he does lighting work in the Boston and surrounding New England area.
Someplace I still have a pair of scissors that I accidently took from the Theatre when I left.
Unfortunately I never got any production photos of the play so the scissors are my only memento of my time working in New Hampshire.
Just as I had done a few months before, I moved back to Long Island and begin again to look for work.
It was January 1981 and things were a bit slow at first but soon they would pick up and the next chapter in my adventures would begin.
.
As I have in the past I have gone through programs and have looked up some of the people I have worked with to see where they are now and what they are doing.
As noted in a past post, George, the actor who played Scrooge is still living and working in Manchester.
He was a good guy and made those from out of town feel welcome.
I found out that the extra stage manager who they let design the lights is currently works at Lincoln Center in NYC.
Although he was not able to help too much in the shop I liked my assistant and we shared the experience of living in the “welfare hotel” and I was glad he was there when ever the “creepy guy from across the hall” was around.
Besides talking about him seeing the Beatles we talked about many different things including the poet Richard Brautigan whose new book The Tokyo-Montana Express I was reading at the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Brautigan
He is best known for his book Trout Fishing in America.
I enjoyed the book but I think I enjoy the folk group that took its name even better.
I have seen them perform live twice and would recommend both their music and Brautigan’s books.
I found out that my assistant, Steve Witting, did do a little more technical theatre but turned to the Dark Side and became an actor full time.
Some of you may remember him as a Burt on TV in The Hogan Family in the late 1980’s.
He has done a number of movies and was recently in Shutter Island and on Boardwalk Empire on HBO.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0937059/
A year later I would run into staff Technical Director who ran the Palace Theatre while I was walking through Madison Square Park in NYC.
At the time I could not remember his name or where we had worked together but just had a general “Hi how are you doing” conversation.
It took a while but I finally remembered him hours later.
I found that he does lighting work in the Boston and surrounding New England area.
Someplace I still have a pair of scissors that I accidently took from the Theatre when I left.
Unfortunately I never got any production photos of the play so the scissors are my only memento of my time working in New Hampshire.
Just as I had done a few months before, I moved back to Long Island and begin again to look for work.
It was January 1981 and things were a bit slow at first but soon they would pick up and the next chapter in my adventures would begin.
.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
It's 20 Below Zero, What Could Go Wrong?
I do not remember that there was much of a set for A Christmas Carol, just a few pieces to suggest some locations and lots of fog.
Although they can be a problematic; we used a large Dry Ice Fog machine that spread out a nice two foot thick layer of fog all over the stage floor.
There was one day when something was different; the temperature, humidity or a door open some place, when the fog came out of the hose it just stayed together, ran across the stage floor and over the edge into the orchestra pit.
The next day it was back to normal and we never did find out what made it do that.
Someone had the idea to have the Ghost of Christmas Present make his first entrance flying in from above in a large Santa-like chair.
It did not seem all that safe but many ropes and two batten pipe that were tied together were used to make it work.
It was hard to keep it all in balance as a large actor got in and out of the chair and we had to stop it from zooming up and smashing the lights or other scenery above the stage.
A hundred pound plus sandbag was used to balance the weight when the actor was not in the chair.
During the intermission the chair was lowered, sandbag was removed as the actor sat in the chair and then flown up and out of sight.
It took four of us at the fly rail to keep the chair from flying up out of control as the actor, and his weight, stepped off of the chair.
Although it was an accident waiting to happen, the audience loved as the chair was lowered in.
Fortunately there was never a problem with the chair.
One night there was a robbery from the dressing rooms when someone snuck in during a performance and stole some of the actors’ wallets and a gold watch from George, the actor playing Scrooge.
George was from the area and went out after the show, down the alley behind the theatre and found where the thief tossed the empty wallets.
One of the actresses was fortunate in that she had put most of her recently cashed paycheck behind one of the dividers in her wallet and it was still there when it was recovered.
No one else was to be as lucky.
We had ten or more of shows before Christmas and several more after a day or two off.
I rode down to New York City with someone from the company and took a train out to Long Island to spend the holiday with my family, but had to fly back up to New Hampshire on Christmas night.
Working holidays is the price one pays for all the “Glory” of working in Show Biz.
I had gotten a new Buck knife from my brother for Christmas and put it in my bag to check, but when I got to the airport I found out that it was a little twelve seat twin engine plane and there were no place for checked bags and I had to carry it on with me.
I told the guard at the check point about the knife and she did not care and said to have a nice trip.
Ah the good old days of 1980 when things were a little easier.
The flight was fine but it seemed to be even colder than before.
I was concerned that the next play was to open in less than three weeks and we had not yet had a production meeting.
The set that I designed was just small bits pieces of scenery and although it worked for A Christmas Carol I did not know how I was going to design and build the set for Oklahoma! by myself in such a short time.
I was not going to be able to paint a backdrop or two in the small shop or build all of the required elements needed for the musical and it might be too late to rent a set.
On the day of the last show of A Christmas Carol I had decided to quit and go back to New York.
I was cold, I had been lied to about many things and just wanted to go back and start again.
As I walked up the stairs to the Theatre office I could see people running about and sensed that something was wrong.
The sprinkler system had frozen and burst the pipes and flooded the theatre with thousands of gallons of water.
Water poured down from the ceiling into the house left box seats and then spilling over into the orchestra pit and flooding the dressing rooms.
The dummer was near tears as his hand-made wooden drum kit was floating in the water.
The last performance was cancelled and we struck the set.
The company had planned to do the next show in a concert format at a local high school and told me that I would not be needed.
They gave me two weeks severance pay.
It took me a day or two to pack up and arrange to go back home.
As I walked past the rehearsal studio a few blocks from the Theatre I saw that there had been a burst pipe there as well, as a river of ice was coming down the stairs and out the front door.
My last night there I packed up my things and sat in my cold room watching the ball drop on New Year’s Rockin' Eve and when it hit the bottom all I could think was:
So there I was at 8:00 AM on January 1st, waiting in the cold to take a bus back to New York, thinking about what was in store for me in 1981 and beyond.
.
Although they can be a problematic; we used a large Dry Ice Fog machine that spread out a nice two foot thick layer of fog all over the stage floor.
There was one day when something was different; the temperature, humidity or a door open some place, when the fog came out of the hose it just stayed together, ran across the stage floor and over the edge into the orchestra pit.
The next day it was back to normal and we never did find out what made it do that.
Someone had the idea to have the Ghost of Christmas Present make his first entrance flying in from above in a large Santa-like chair.
It did not seem all that safe but many ropes and two batten pipe that were tied together were used to make it work.
It was hard to keep it all in balance as a large actor got in and out of the chair and we had to stop it from zooming up and smashing the lights or other scenery above the stage.
A hundred pound plus sandbag was used to balance the weight when the actor was not in the chair.
During the intermission the chair was lowered, sandbag was removed as the actor sat in the chair and then flown up and out of sight.
It took four of us at the fly rail to keep the chair from flying up out of control as the actor, and his weight, stepped off of the chair.
Although it was an accident waiting to happen, the audience loved as the chair was lowered in.
Fortunately there was never a problem with the chair.
One night there was a robbery from the dressing rooms when someone snuck in during a performance and stole some of the actors’ wallets and a gold watch from George, the actor playing Scrooge.
George was from the area and went out after the show, down the alley behind the theatre and found where the thief tossed the empty wallets.
One of the actresses was fortunate in that she had put most of her recently cashed paycheck behind one of the dividers in her wallet and it was still there when it was recovered.
No one else was to be as lucky.
We had ten or more of shows before Christmas and several more after a day or two off.
I rode down to New York City with someone from the company and took a train out to Long Island to spend the holiday with my family, but had to fly back up to New Hampshire on Christmas night.
Working holidays is the price one pays for all the “Glory” of working in Show Biz.
I had gotten a new Buck knife from my brother for Christmas and put it in my bag to check, but when I got to the airport I found out that it was a little twelve seat twin engine plane and there were no place for checked bags and I had to carry it on with me.
I told the guard at the check point about the knife and she did not care and said to have a nice trip.
Ah the good old days of 1980 when things were a little easier.
The flight was fine but it seemed to be even colder than before.
I was concerned that the next play was to open in less than three weeks and we had not yet had a production meeting.
The set that I designed was just small bits pieces of scenery and although it worked for A Christmas Carol I did not know how I was going to design and build the set for Oklahoma! by myself in such a short time.
I was not going to be able to paint a backdrop or two in the small shop or build all of the required elements needed for the musical and it might be too late to rent a set.
On the day of the last show of A Christmas Carol I had decided to quit and go back to New York.
I was cold, I had been lied to about many things and just wanted to go back and start again.
As I walked up the stairs to the Theatre office I could see people running about and sensed that something was wrong.
The sprinkler system had frozen and burst the pipes and flooded the theatre with thousands of gallons of water.
Water poured down from the ceiling into the house left box seats and then spilling over into the orchestra pit and flooding the dressing rooms.
The dummer was near tears as his hand-made wooden drum kit was floating in the water.
The last performance was cancelled and we struck the set.
The company had planned to do the next show in a concert format at a local high school and told me that I would not be needed.
They gave me two weeks severance pay.
It took me a day or two to pack up and arrange to go back home.
As I walked past the rehearsal studio a few blocks from the Theatre I saw that there had been a burst pipe there as well, as a river of ice was coming down the stairs and out the front door.
My last night there I packed up my things and sat in my cold room watching the ball drop on New Year’s Rockin' Eve and when it hit the bottom all I could think was:
“Fuck You Dick Clark!”
So there I was at 8:00 AM on January 1st, waiting in the cold to take a bus back to New York, thinking about what was in store for me in 1981 and beyond.
.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
A Christmas Carol, December 1980
For those of us who work in Theatre we all know that many of the things that go wrong behind the scenes are never seen by the audience.
Although I had many issues and problems putting together the set for A Christmas Carol, the production looked good and the audience enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it and liked the original songs written for the show.
It was put together like a summer stock show, quick, cheap and with most of the people hired in NYC with one popular local actor staring as Scrooge.
I found out that the actor who played Scrooge, George F. Piehl, still works in the area and has his own Theatre Company and recently celebrated 34 years of performing on stage at the Palace Theatre with a review show back in September.
http://www.stageoneproductions.net/
As I had noted earlier, things were not quit what I expected when I got to New Hampshire.
The cast and crew were mostly college students or recent grads like me and the show was put together in just a few weeks.
So when I got to town I found out a few things were not as they had told me in NYC, I had no crew; the shop was small, unheated and had few tools.
The budget, if there was one, was very tight and for most of the set I would pull and adapt set pieces from their stock.
I was told that I could charge paint and other items at the store right next to the Theatre, but when I tried to charge the first time I got yelled at by the owner.
“How dare you try to charge more when you guys already own us a lot for the last show!!!”
I apologized and explained that I was new, but then I went and yelled at the producer and told him to never put me in that position again.
I cannot find the right words to tell you how bad the rooming house really was.
The owner of the house ran a local photo shop and when I stopped by one day to complain about the lack of heat, he suggested that I leave to oven on with the door open.
It truly was a “Welfare Hotel” mostly filled with old men except for myself, my assistant and the “Creepy guy from across the hall”.
I was told that the “Creepy guy from across the hall” had just gotten out of jail, something about a murder but no proof.
One night when I came home from work I found blood outside his door and that the door was full of marks and dents.
Seems that the “Creepy guy from across the hall” had beaten the shit out of his girlfriend who was trying to kick in his door, but when the police came she begged to stay with him.
Ah, true love.
I was a bit apprehensive one day when the “Creepy guy from across the hall” knocked on my door and asked for my help.
It seems that one of the old men who lived down the hall had fallen out of bed and the “Creepy guy from across the hall” needed my help to pick him up and put him back in bed.
The long walk to and from the Theatre was extra hard when it hit 20 below zero, before the wind-chill factor was added, and I had to stop over for a while in the apartment of a co-worker and warm up a bit before I tried to make it back to my place.
I had to pull ice chunks out of my bread.
Fun.
One night while walking home alone in the cold and snow some crazy guy was following me, he was dancing in the road, bouncing about and acting, well crazy.
He did not worry me too much except when he ran ahead of me and down the side street that I had to take to get home and I decided that it might be wise to take out my new Buck knife and have it ready just in case, but I luckily did not need it.
I have never felt that I needed to have a weapon ready before or since that night; even I was staying at my brother’s place back in the summer of 1976 and was taking the “A” Train from Times Square back to Brooklyn late at night.
.
Although I had many issues and problems putting together the set for A Christmas Carol, the production looked good and the audience enjoyed it.
I enjoyed it and liked the original songs written for the show.
It was put together like a summer stock show, quick, cheap and with most of the people hired in NYC with one popular local actor staring as Scrooge.
I found out that the actor who played Scrooge, George F. Piehl, still works in the area and has his own Theatre Company and recently celebrated 34 years of performing on stage at the Palace Theatre with a review show back in September.
http://www.stageoneproductions.net/
As I had noted earlier, things were not quit what I expected when I got to New Hampshire.
The cast and crew were mostly college students or recent grads like me and the show was put together in just a few weeks.
So when I got to town I found out a few things were not as they had told me in NYC, I had no crew; the shop was small, unheated and had few tools.
The budget, if there was one, was very tight and for most of the set I would pull and adapt set pieces from their stock.
I was told that I could charge paint and other items at the store right next to the Theatre, but when I tried to charge the first time I got yelled at by the owner.
“How dare you try to charge more when you guys already own us a lot for the last show!!!”
I apologized and explained that I was new, but then I went and yelled at the producer and told him to never put me in that position again.
I cannot find the right words to tell you how bad the rooming house really was.
The owner of the house ran a local photo shop and when I stopped by one day to complain about the lack of heat, he suggested that I leave to oven on with the door open.
It truly was a “Welfare Hotel” mostly filled with old men except for myself, my assistant and the “Creepy guy from across the hall”.
I was told that the “Creepy guy from across the hall” had just gotten out of jail, something about a murder but no proof.
One night when I came home from work I found blood outside his door and that the door was full of marks and dents.
Seems that the “Creepy guy from across the hall” had beaten the shit out of his girlfriend who was trying to kick in his door, but when the police came she begged to stay with him.
Ah, true love.
I was a bit apprehensive one day when the “Creepy guy from across the hall” knocked on my door and asked for my help.
It seems that one of the old men who lived down the hall had fallen out of bed and the “Creepy guy from across the hall” needed my help to pick him up and put him back in bed.
The long walk to and from the Theatre was extra hard when it hit 20 below zero, before the wind-chill factor was added, and I had to stop over for a while in the apartment of a co-worker and warm up a bit before I tried to make it back to my place.
I had to pull ice chunks out of my bread.
Fun.
One night while walking home alone in the cold and snow some crazy guy was following me, he was dancing in the road, bouncing about and acting, well crazy.
He did not worry me too much except when he ran ahead of me and down the side street that I had to take to get home and I decided that it might be wise to take out my new Buck knife and have it ready just in case, but I luckily did not need it.
I have never felt that I needed to have a weapon ready before or since that night; even I was staying at my brother’s place back in the summer of 1976 and was taking the “A” Train from Times Square back to Brooklyn late at night.
The show went well but there were a few surprises yet to come.
.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
The Hunt for Work, A Cold Adventure
Although I had several jobs in the Fall of 1980, like most people working freelance I spent most of my time looking for the next job.
Like many others I would read through the "Trade Papers", Back Stage and Show Business, looking at the want ads.
Although both magazines deal mostly with acting jobs, there were a few tech and design jobs mixed in.
Today most Theatre tech jobs are listed in Artsearch published by the Theatre Communications Group.
http://www.tcg.org/artsearch/index.cfm
TCG also publishes plays and American Theatre magazine and also supports theatre productions all over America.
I sent out many resumes and dropped others off at theatres all over the New York City area.
There are theatres in all kinds of spaces, some good and some bad, and one long and narrow theatre that I interviewed was planning a double bill of staged versions of Frankenstein and Dracula.
They said that I could design the lights if I also built and painted the sets, ran the light board, sold tickets and gave them $50 a week.
I did not take the job.
At another theatre I was given a script to read; came back a few days later talked with the director but in the end I did not get the job.
Many old hotel ballrooms have found a second life being used by various theatre groups because rehearsal and performance spaces are very costly and hard to find in NYC.
I remember showing up for an open interview for jobs on a cruise ship and saw a line coming out the door and going down the street.
No one would ever mistake me as a Broadway dancer and as I got near the line I was told that those there for “techie” interviews could go right up so I squeezed my way up the stairs.
When I got to the top of the stairs I saw a large room full of hopeful dancers trying their hardest to make a good impression and get a job.
I remember thinking at the time that there were so many in the room that those in the back row could be naked or on fire and the director would never see them.
My interview was actually in a large storage closet and like many others I never heard back from them.
It does not seem to matter what work you have done in other places or where you have studied, when looking for work in NYC all they care about is what you have already done in the city no matter how small or bad it was.
I interviewed for a job at an out-of-town Theatre and was offered a three production contract to design the sets and lights for The Merrimack Valley Theatre Company in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The plays were to be A Christmas Carol, Oklahoma! and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
So right after Thanksgiving I packed up my special hammer and got ready to move North for three months.
After a long bus ride to New Hampshire I checked in at the theatre office and soon found out that things were not going to be as planned.
First of all the rooming house where they normally put up most of the cast and crew had just burned down and they had to scramble to finds rooms for everyone.
As I noted in a recent post my room was in an awful “Welfare Hotel” that was a long walk from the shop and theatre.
The scene shop had no staff, just my “Assistant” who had been cast in the show and a friend of the lead actor helped out once and a while.
To add to the fun it was a record cold December and it was 20 below zero several times.
I did not think that I was going to enjoy my time there.
One big positive was that The Palace Theatre was very nice, opened in 1915, it had a long and interesting history of productions and had been renovated a few years before I got there.
http://www.palacetheatre.org/about-us/
I have already written about the death of John Lennon but there were many other special moments that made my time in New Hampshire memorable and I will detail them in the next posts.
.
Like many others I would read through the "Trade Papers", Back Stage and Show Business, looking at the want ads.
Although both magazines deal mostly with acting jobs, there were a few tech and design jobs mixed in.
Today most Theatre tech jobs are listed in Artsearch published by the Theatre Communications Group.
http://www.tcg.org/artsearch/index.cfm
TCG also publishes plays and American Theatre magazine and also supports theatre productions all over America.
I sent out many resumes and dropped others off at theatres all over the New York City area.
There are theatres in all kinds of spaces, some good and some bad, and one long and narrow theatre that I interviewed was planning a double bill of staged versions of Frankenstein and Dracula.
They said that I could design the lights if I also built and painted the sets, ran the light board, sold tickets and gave them $50 a week.
I did not take the job.
At another theatre I was given a script to read; came back a few days later talked with the director but in the end I did not get the job.
Many old hotel ballrooms have found a second life being used by various theatre groups because rehearsal and performance spaces are very costly and hard to find in NYC.
I remember showing up for an open interview for jobs on a cruise ship and saw a line coming out the door and going down the street.
No one would ever mistake me as a Broadway dancer and as I got near the line I was told that those there for “techie” interviews could go right up so I squeezed my way up the stairs.
When I got to the top of the stairs I saw a large room full of hopeful dancers trying their hardest to make a good impression and get a job.
I remember thinking at the time that there were so many in the room that those in the back row could be naked or on fire and the director would never see them.
My interview was actually in a large storage closet and like many others I never heard back from them.
It does not seem to matter what work you have done in other places or where you have studied, when looking for work in NYC all they care about is what you have already done in the city no matter how small or bad it was.
I interviewed for a job at an out-of-town Theatre and was offered a three production contract to design the sets and lights for The Merrimack Valley Theatre Company in Manchester, New Hampshire.
The plays were to be A Christmas Carol, Oklahoma! and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
So right after Thanksgiving I packed up my special hammer and got ready to move North for three months.
After a long bus ride to New Hampshire I checked in at the theatre office and soon found out that things were not going to be as planned.
First of all the rooming house where they normally put up most of the cast and crew had just burned down and they had to scramble to finds rooms for everyone.
As I noted in a recent post my room was in an awful “Welfare Hotel” that was a long walk from the shop and theatre.
The scene shop had no staff, just my “Assistant” who had been cast in the show and a friend of the lead actor helped out once and a while.
To add to the fun it was a record cold December and it was 20 below zero several times.
I did not think that I was going to enjoy my time there.
One big positive was that The Palace Theatre was very nice, opened in 1915, it had a long and interesting history of productions and had been renovated a few years before I got there.
http://www.palacetheatre.org/about-us/
 |
| Old postcard of Palace Theatre |
I have already written about the death of John Lennon but there were many other special moments that made my time in New Hampshire memorable and I will detail them in the next posts.
.
Friday, December 17, 2010
August 1980, Transition
My Thesis review went well and after a few re-writes I would have my MFA in Lighting Design.
It was time to pack up and head on to the “Real” world.
Even leaving Ann Arbor was an adventure.
I had to buy the largest portfolio case I could find; 32” x 42”.
I called the airline to make sure that it would fit if I carried it on, as I was not going to check my artwork.
They said it was 747 and that it would not be a problem.
I got to the airport and went through security (not the same X-rays and chemical tests of today, but they still hand checked most bags) my agent looked puzzled and called over his supervisor.
He said: “Hey this guy has sword in his bag!”
The supervisor looked in and laughed; “It’s just a T-Square, let him on the plane”.
Of course the portfolio case was too big to fit in the over head compartment and they were not sure what they were going to do with it when one of the stewardesses found room behind one of the seats.
So at 24 years old I was done with college and graduate school and moving home with no idea what I was going to do next.
I called some of my friends who were already working in New York City for some help on I what I should do next.
One friend was working over in New Jersey and my first job after college was going out there and helping him strike the set for “On Golden Pond”.
I spent a few days on my friend's couch and do not even remember if I got paid or not.
Another friend gave me the names and phone numbers for two scenic studios that he had worked for and I called the shops and told them who I was, that was just out of grad school and that my friend had worked for them.
Both places said that they had no idea who my friend was but I sounded good and to please come in for a job.
I did two jobs for The Theatre Machine, both on location and I never saw their shop.
This first job was in the Guggenheim Museum down in the theatre in the basement level.
Like the museum, the theatre is round.
I helped to install a set, most platforms for the seating, and had a few interesting moments.
New York City has strict fire codes and all of the wood is fireproofed.
One day I got some sawdust in my eye and it burned for hours and I lost a half a day’s work.
Another we were moving in sheets on Masonite to cover the floor when about 20 to 25 sheets of it fell against me pinning me to the wall.
It was very hard to breathe or yell for help, but I was soon free.
The best thing that came of this job that one day at lunch I had the best piece of cheesecake that I have ever eaten.
Nothing has ever been close but I have no idea of the name or location of the restaurant.
The second job was downtown a bit near Union Square.
In an empty space that had been an Athletic Club, we built a mock-up of a boardroom for 3M.
They wanted to test the size and shape of a new big table they were going to have made to make sure they liked the shape and that it would serve their needs.
It must have been a very expensive table if they spent the extra money to have us build a mock-up of the room and table.
I worked next for Crawford Brother Studio in Brooklyn.
Their shop was in the neighborhood that is under both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and it was cool to see them way above the buildings.
It is a popular view and I have seen it many times in movies over the years.
I was hired to help build the set for a tour for a production of “Oh, Calcutta!”
The show is famous for two things; Lots of naked people onstage and that it ran for a long time.
We built many acting cubes and small platforms that would make the set and loaded them in the bottom of a tour bus when we were done.
They did not too much room for the costumes.
So this was my start and working in the “Real” world, just a few months out of school and more adventures where just ahead.
.
It was time to pack up and head on to the “Real” world.
Even leaving Ann Arbor was an adventure.
I had to buy the largest portfolio case I could find; 32” x 42”.
I called the airline to make sure that it would fit if I carried it on, as I was not going to check my artwork.
They said it was 747 and that it would not be a problem.
I got to the airport and went through security (not the same X-rays and chemical tests of today, but they still hand checked most bags) my agent looked puzzled and called over his supervisor.
He said: “Hey this guy has sword in his bag!”
The supervisor looked in and laughed; “It’s just a T-Square, let him on the plane”.
Of course the portfolio case was too big to fit in the over head compartment and they were not sure what they were going to do with it when one of the stewardesses found room behind one of the seats.
So at 24 years old I was done with college and graduate school and moving home with no idea what I was going to do next.
I called some of my friends who were already working in New York City for some help on I what I should do next.
One friend was working over in New Jersey and my first job after college was going out there and helping him strike the set for “On Golden Pond”.
I spent a few days on my friend's couch and do not even remember if I got paid or not.
Another friend gave me the names and phone numbers for two scenic studios that he had worked for and I called the shops and told them who I was, that was just out of grad school and that my friend had worked for them.
Both places said that they had no idea who my friend was but I sounded good and to please come in for a job.
I did two jobs for The Theatre Machine, both on location and I never saw their shop.
This first job was in the Guggenheim Museum down in the theatre in the basement level.
Like the museum, the theatre is round.
I helped to install a set, most platforms for the seating, and had a few interesting moments.
New York City has strict fire codes and all of the wood is fireproofed.
One day I got some sawdust in my eye and it burned for hours and I lost a half a day’s work.
Another we were moving in sheets on Masonite to cover the floor when about 20 to 25 sheets of it fell against me pinning me to the wall.
It was very hard to breathe or yell for help, but I was soon free.
The best thing that came of this job that one day at lunch I had the best piece of cheesecake that I have ever eaten.
Nothing has ever been close but I have no idea of the name or location of the restaurant.
The second job was downtown a bit near Union Square.
In an empty space that had been an Athletic Club, we built a mock-up of a boardroom for 3M.
They wanted to test the size and shape of a new big table they were going to have made to make sure they liked the shape and that it would serve their needs.
It must have been a very expensive table if they spent the extra money to have us build a mock-up of the room and table.
I worked next for Crawford Brother Studio in Brooklyn.
Their shop was in the neighborhood that is under both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and it was cool to see them way above the buildings.
It is a popular view and I have seen it many times in movies over the years.
I was hired to help build the set for a tour for a production of “Oh, Calcutta!”
The show is famous for two things; Lots of naked people onstage and that it ran for a long time.
We built many acting cubes and small platforms that would make the set and loaded them in the bottom of a tour bus when we were done.
They did not too much room for the costumes.
So this was my start and working in the “Real” world, just a few months out of school and more adventures where just ahead.
.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
All We are Saying is Give Peace a Chance
Thirty years ago today I was working in Manchester, New Hampshire on a production of A Christmas Carol.
This story jumps ahead six months in my blog timeline and I will come back to it in more detail, but I wanted to talk about what happened that day.
I was the Scenic Designer and Technical Director and was also suppose to be the Lighting Designer but the company had hired too many Stage Managers so they let one of them design the lights.
I worked alone most of the time because my assistant had been cast in the play and was rarely there.
They said: “Oh, he has a small part; he won’t have to be at many rehearsals and will be in the shop with you most of the time”.
That of course was just one of many lies they told me and his part kept getting bigger each day.
After working all day in a very cold scene shop, I walked back through the cold to my very cold room in what could best be called a flop house, welfare hotel or just a big dirty dump of a house to unwind and watch some TV.
The regular place that the theater company used had recently burned downed and they struggled to find place for everyone to stay.
Again more details about my wonderful time in New Hampshire will follow.
That night my assistant and I were watching Monday Night Football on TV in my room when the creepy guy from across the hall walks in and says that John Lennon had just been shot.
Shocked, we both turned to look at him and almost at the same time Howard Cosell announced Lennon’s death on the TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n73GFvAyIjs&feature=player_embedded
I worked alone in the shop the next day listening to nothing but Beatles and Lennon songs on the radio and thinking about what had happened.
As it turned out my assistant is the youngest person I know who ever saw the Beatles play live in concert.
When he was about five years old his mother took him to see them and all he remembers is that all of the girls, including his mother, screamed for the whole concert.
When I catch up to this time in my blog again you will see that this tragic moment was just a small part of a very crazy five weeks in my life.
.
This story jumps ahead six months in my blog timeline and I will come back to it in more detail, but I wanted to talk about what happened that day.
I was the Scenic Designer and Technical Director and was also suppose to be the Lighting Designer but the company had hired too many Stage Managers so they let one of them design the lights.
I worked alone most of the time because my assistant had been cast in the play and was rarely there.
They said: “Oh, he has a small part; he won’t have to be at many rehearsals and will be in the shop with you most of the time”.
That of course was just one of many lies they told me and his part kept getting bigger each day.
After working all day in a very cold scene shop, I walked back through the cold to my very cold room in what could best be called a flop house, welfare hotel or just a big dirty dump of a house to unwind and watch some TV.
The regular place that the theater company used had recently burned downed and they struggled to find place for everyone to stay.
Again more details about my wonderful time in New Hampshire will follow.
That night my assistant and I were watching Monday Night Football on TV in my room when the creepy guy from across the hall walks in and says that John Lennon had just been shot.
Shocked, we both turned to look at him and almost at the same time Howard Cosell announced Lennon’s death on the TV.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n73GFvAyIjs&feature=player_embedded
I worked alone in the shop the next day listening to nothing but Beatles and Lennon songs on the radio and thinking about what had happened.
As it turned out my assistant is the youngest person I know who ever saw the Beatles play live in concert.
When he was about five years old his mother took him to see them and all he remembers is that all of the girls, including his mother, screamed for the whole concert.
When I catch up to this time in my blog again you will see that this tragic moment was just a small part of a very crazy five weeks in my life.
.
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