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.
.
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.
.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Brockport Alumni, part 1 of many
Current projects have kept my away from my blog for a while, but fear not as I still have a great deal to write here.
Recently we had four successful alumni from the 1970’s come back and give a talk about their work in Hollywood.
These guys were students at Brockport before my time but after 29 years of teaching I will of course run into some of my former students from time to time.
Just this semester I have seen and half a dozen alumni, a couple each from the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s.
Recently I ran into a guy from almost twenty years ago in Wal-Mart with his two kids.
He had taken my stagecraft class, I think he was an Art major, and went on to have several different professions but after being a general carpenter and now is building guitars.
He said he learned the basics back in my stagecraft class and when he was looking for a new career path the skills he had learned in my class helped him choose his new path.
I know that I do not turn out master carpenters from my class, but it was nice to hear that he felt what he did learn helped him transition to his new career.
Of course many students graduate (or drop out) and I never see or hear from again but I am always surprised by how many I do hear from.
The alumni always seem to appear in groupings over the year: around Christmas time or during the summer when they are vacationing and just happen to stop by.
Some do make special trips just to see what has happened since they left.
Many have come by recently because we have gone through a major building renovation and they want to see the changes.
A few years ago we did have an alumni come back and he performed his one man show and talked with a group of current students about working in NYC for the past twenty five years.
I will have pleanty more stories about my former students in the comming blogs.
My current project is Wait Until Dark a play we did here as part of our summer season over twenty years ago.
I will be returning back to the re-telling of my days working in NYC next and how it was that I came to work in Brockport.
Recently we had four successful alumni from the 1970’s come back and give a talk about their work in Hollywood.
These guys were students at Brockport before my time but after 29 years of teaching I will of course run into some of my former students from time to time.
 |
| Stu Krieger ’73, William Fichtner ’78, Paul Pape ’74, and Jesse Goins ’74 |
http://www.brockport.edu/newsbureau/1597.html
Most times it is not an arrange visit like Friday’s but just an unannounced surprise.
I was working with my student the next day when two of the alumni stopped to walk around the theatre a bit more.
We talked about what was going on at the college today and I was able to show them a few posters I had from their days here at Brockport.
My favorite part of the visit was when asked to take a photo with me, just like you see when somebody runs into a famous person on the street.
Just this semester I have seen and half a dozen alumni, a couple each from the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s.
Recently I ran into a guy from almost twenty years ago in Wal-Mart with his two kids.
He had taken my stagecraft class, I think he was an Art major, and went on to have several different professions but after being a general carpenter and now is building guitars.
He said he learned the basics back in my stagecraft class and when he was looking for a new career path the skills he had learned in my class helped him choose his new path.
I know that I do not turn out master carpenters from my class, but it was nice to hear that he felt what he did learn helped him transition to his new career.
Of course many students graduate (or drop out) and I never see or hear from again but I am always surprised by how many I do hear from.
The alumni always seem to appear in groupings over the year: around Christmas time or during the summer when they are vacationing and just happen to stop by.
Some do make special trips just to see what has happened since they left.
Many have come by recently because we have gone through a major building renovation and they want to see the changes.
A few years ago we did have an alumni come back and he performed his one man show and talked with a group of current students about working in NYC for the past twenty five years.
I will have pleanty more stories about my former students in the comming blogs.
My current project is Wait Until Dark a play we did here as part of our summer season over twenty years ago.
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.
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