by Ed Nelson
He told us to hold the scripts till later. We had to go over the shooting schedule first, so we knew when and where we needed to be. I hadn’t really thought about it, but every actor wouldn’t be required to be on the set ready to go every minute of the day.
We were all scheduled for our scenes. There would be some days where we may not even have to be on the set at all. There were even multiple shooting sets for indoor and outdoor scenes.
The kicker was that shooting schedules needed revising everyday as they changed so frequently. So you really had a one day notice as to when, where, and if you were needed.
We had finished page one of the shooting schedule when Paul Grant showed up. He made an entrance. Some entry, he could barely stand up. There was no doubt that he was hung over. If one of his gang hadn’t been helping him he wouldn’t have made it to the table.
His buddy set him in a chair, where Grant promptly fell asleep. The Producer and Director looked like they had just swallowed lemons. This wasn’t a good start.
Strangely Mr. Wayne seemed pleased about something. I gave him a look. I had practiced for several hours in front of a mirror. I could raise one eyebrow at a time. It was like asking a question without saying a word. He shook his head and didn’t answer.
We spent an hour going over the schedule. My part was definitely a supporting role. There was no scene that I would be the center of attention. All my interactions were to give the stars an audience to play to.
After the meeting was finished we all filed out. Paul Grant was still sleeping in his chair. The two guys that had come with him were also sleeping in chairs against the wall. We left them all where they were. These guys needed Mr. Hurley’s attention!
Mr. Wyman then took me to another building. Someone had a sense of humor at Warner Brothers.
Dick said, “Here is the studio school.”
It was a one room school house.
When I expressed that thought he replied, “Actually some days you will have to be in a period costume because they will be using it as a set.”
“If they have ink wells can I put the girls pig tails in them?”
“Sure and you can throw spitballs, and play mumbly peg on the playground or roll your hoop.”
“I’m going to like this school.”
When we went inside it was like any other school room with modern desks, lighting, blackboards, and pull down national and world maps. The Zaner-Bloser alphabet series was posted above the blackboard with both small and capital letters.
There were pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. There was an American flag in a stand. There were hooks for our coats near the door.
Two people a man and a woman were waiting for us. Mr. Danson and Miss Sperry were to be my tutors. Miss Sperry would be doing most of my teaching while Mr. Danson was a supervisor for the company that provided the tutoring service for the studio. He would also help monitor tests. They explained to me that right now I was the only person on the lot of my age and grade so it would be one on one.
They had reviewed my shooting schedule and had it arranged for me to take a series of tests that were approved by the State of California to see where I stood academically. They would use my Bellefontaine lessons as a starting point, but would move me forward or backward as those test indicated.
Mr. Danson explained, “We see students from every educational background you can imagine. Those backgrounds are not all equal. Also all students aren’t equal in their intelligence or how they apply themselves. Unfortunately we see too many through here that think because they are in the movies they don’t have to learn anything else.”
He went on to add, “Rick, we’ve high hopes for you, your grades from Bellefontaine are very high and the curriculum used is a very good one. The studios are always under pressure from the State School Board to prove that their academic programs are as good as the public ones. Your results should help vindicate our program.”
No pressure there!
“After placement is confirmed we will provide any other text books you need. I have an example of your work. Do you type all your essays and reports?”
“I do.”
“Then we will get a typewriter in here for your use. What make and model are you used to?”
“I have an IBM Executive model B at home.”
“That is a nice machine, do you know that there is now a model C.”
“Yes, I was able to get a good price on the model B because of inventory clearance.”
“We will buy a model C for the classroom. It won’t feel that different from your B.”
“Then that is what I will buy for my apartment.”
“I didn’t think you would be out here long enough to justify that.”
“Probably not time wise, but I tend to keep busy so I will need it.”
We agreed that I would be back after lunch tomorrow to start my placement testing.
Chapter 21
Dick Wyman took me over to the studio café for a quick lunch. He talked me into trying something called a taco. It was so good I went back for another one.
After that we went over to the DMV to get my driver’s license. He had me drive his jeep. I had never used a stick on the floor, only the column, but the feel of the clutch was the same so I caught on pretty quick. The hardest part for me was remembering to use the hand signals.
I would remember right and left turns, but really had to think to hold my hand down to show that I was slowing and stopping. It made me appreciate the newer cars with built in turn signals.
We made it there without any wrecks and Dick didn’t look too nervous. We had been given a name, Mr. Dawson. He turned out to be a cheerful looking person about fifty years old. He was expecting us. He sat me down at a table and handed me the written test.
“Take this so we know you know the rules of the road.”
It wasn’t a problem as I had studied them in Ohio when Dad was teaching me how to drive. I’m glad I had since Mr. Pearson hadn’t said anything about this.
There was one other thing Mr. Pearson hadn’t bothered to tell me about. After I handed my test in with a score of ninety percent Mr. Dawson showed me in a book where twenty miles per hour was the speed limit in unposted residential zones. After that he asked.
“What vehicle are you using for your driving test?”
Dick never paused, “He will be using my jeep.”
We went out to the jeep.
Mr. Dawson said, “I haven’t been in one of these for many a year. It doesn’t bring back any fond memories.”
A great way to start a driving test I hadn’t been warned about.
The first thing I did was to adjust the driver’s seat. Dick and I were close enough in height I really didn’t have to do that, but wanted to demonstrate that I knew it might have to be done. Then I adjusted the rearview mirror. There were no side mirrors like our car at home.
While exiting to the highway I mentioned, today is the first day I have driven a vehicle without automatic turn signals so I have to really think about using my hands.
Mr. Dawson chuckled, “Try doing it with a BAR in your lap.”
We drove around for close to fifteen minutes with Mr. Dawson giving me turning directions. He even had me out on Highway 101 mixed in speeding traffic. Going fifty miles an hour in an open jeep is a thrill ride. We returned to the DMV where I parallel parked. The parking gods must have been with me that day. It did help that the jeep was shorter and that I really had a good view behind me.
While we had been driving Mr. Dawson asked me why I needed a hardship driver’s license. I explained that my parents were at our home in Ohio while I was in a movie at Warner Brothers. I needed a way to get around as in LA if you couldn’t drive you couldn’t get anywhere.
He laughed at that and told me it was getting more like that every day. There were now so many cars if I looked south to the city in the basin I would see a brown haze. They were calling that smog. It was from car exhaust fumes.
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He told me he didn’t know how they could fix it, but in the long term it would hurt people’s health. As it worsened there were days when you couldn’t see the mountains. We went back inside where he typed out my new driver’s license.
We were done with work for the day and it was only two o’clock. I did comment to Dick that it was a good thing I really knew how to drive. Dick welcomed me to the world of studio support.
“It depends on who your support person is, obviously as a supporting actor and brand new you don’t rate very high.”
“I guess not, but since it came out okay I now know to be careful in my dealings with Mr. Pearson.”
“As they get to know you and appreciate your work you will get better support. Of course that could take years.”
“All I need to do is survive the next seven weeks. To do that I need stuff for my apartment, when are we going shopping?”
“The sooner the better, let’s go pick up Janice and get it done.”
It didn’t take Janice very long to get ready to go shopping. The S.S. Kresge store was at a mall about two miles away. We piled in Janice’s 55 Chevy and rode over.
They had grocery carts to carry your merchandise. I didn’t think we needed one, little did I know? She first asked if I had enough money on me, when I told her three hundred dollars.
“That’s a start.”
We filled up a cart with kitchen ware. There were dish towels and cloths, pot holders, a starter set of pots and pans, four place settings of tableware, four of silverware, a spatula, and a cutlery set. I thought Janice was going to flip out over some Corning Ware baking dishes. They were white with a blue design on them that she called Cornflower.
She informed me this was the latest in thermal shock dishware. They would last forever. They were even drop resistant. It would take work to destroy these. You could take it from the oven to cold water and it wouldn’t crack. I don’t think I would care to try that, but did pick up a set.
Dick and I kidded her that future archeologists would dig up these dishes and our toilets. They would be the only sign of our civilization. Janice didn’t think this was funny. When Dick and I discussed the possible religious significance of cornflowers in blue, she huffed away to get another cart to fill. Dick had to push the full one.
We went to the bedding area next. Two sets of sheets, pillows and pillow cases, several blankets. Towels, wash cloths, lion and tigers Oh My! I didn’t think it would end. I got to push this cart as Janice retrieved another.
She insisted I needed a broom, whisk broom, mop and bucket, a small radio, TV dinner trays and a vacuum cleaner. We now had three carts full. We headed for the checkout. One hundred and fifty six dollars later we loaded the stuff in the trunk of the Chevy.
Dick and I started to get in the car when Janice said,“Where do you guys think you are going? We aren’t done yet, he needs rods, and drapes.”
Dick tried a weak, “But we don’t know the measurements.”
“I have those,” replied Janice.
Warning, don’t ever try to stop a woman in full shopping mode. I have made this trip seem quick. It was anything but. Janice had comparison priced every item we bought. She insisted I give my opinion on color and design even if I could’ve cared less.
I thought buying the kitchen and bedding items was painful. Drapes are another whole level of pain. Nothing at Kresge met her approval. I was bullied into agreeing with her. We went to another store in the Mall and finally found them at a third store. After we bought these it was after six o’clock.
We stopped at a Danny’s Coffee Shop. Dick was known there so the evening Manager came over to talk to us. He told Dick that their name would be changing to Denny’s Coffee Shop later in the year because of confusion with another LA shop.
They were also exploring the possibilities of expanding their menu. Donuts and coffee wouldn’t make a dinner so after we had rested up a little from the horrible shopping trip we went to a steak house across the road.
We returned to my apartment and unloaded everything. Janice told me I could still use her sheets tonight but please wash and return them tomorrow. That is when I realized that while we had bought cleaning implements we hadn’t bought any cleaning supplies. That and the single roll of toilet paper made me realize that I would be shopping tomorrow.
Dick and Janice left and I spent the rest of the evening unwrapping purchases and finding places to store them. At ten o’clock I fell into bed exhausted. That is when I figured out it was now one a.m. in Ohio and that I had been running all day long. That was my last thought until 6:00 the next morning.
I did my morning duties in the bathroom, performed my exercises and was just finished dressing for my run when Dick pounded on my door. Most people knock on doors, Dick pounds. You would always know it was him or the police. Come to think of it I had pounded on a door not that long ago, but the building had been on fire.
We walked over to the high school track and did some stretching exercises then took off. We worked up to our regular paces. Our strides were close in length so we stayed within ten feet of each other on one circuit of the track. I had been on the inside our first trip around.
Dick moved over to the inside and we stayed pretty even for the rest of our laps. We didn’t talk at all while running but it was still pleasant to have someone else there. After walking a cool down lap we headed back to our respective apartments.
As we walked back we talked about the day and the week ahead. I mentioned buying a car. He told me that he had been asked to help. Dick asked what kind of car I was thinking of. I told him a 1958 Thunderbird convertible.
He whistled and said, “It must be nice to have parents who can afford that.”
He didn’t say it in a mean manner; he meant it must be nice. I laughed and reminded him what I was doing.
“Oh yeah, then it must be nice making that sort of money at your age.”
I asked him if he could tell me what he was making as the head stuntman on this movie.
Now he really laughed and replied, “It is nice to be me!”
We talked about the car for a couple of minutes and our schedules for the coming week and decided to put off the purchase until early next week. That would only leave me stuck for one weekend. Since I would probably need the downtime by then it was no big deal.
I did have the grace to blush internally when I had that thought. Fifteen years old with a driver’s license and getting a brand new convertible. Most teen boys would give their left nut for this. Well maybe not a nut, we had plenty of imaginary uses for them.
I showered and put on jeans and a western shirt, these along with my hat and boots certainly put me in character. Then I went over to Dick and Janice’s place. She had fixed a smaller breakfast for us today. It was oatmeal from a round box, but it sure looked and tasted like porridge to me.
After breakfast we left for the studio, today the guard at the front waved us through when he saw we both had badges around our neck. I went to my assigned room where I was to meet my voice coach.
Chapter 22
My coach was a twenty some year old named Vince Jacobs. Vince told me he had studied at the University of California for dramatic acting. Apparently he was considered to have a wonderful voice but the camera didn’t like him. I didn’t know cameras had emotions so questioned this statement. He explained that some of the best looking people in the world didn’t look right on camera.
For example Richard Nixon our Vice President was very presentable in person, but on camera looked like a thief. He could have played villains, but never a good guy. I thought that a pity since if he was Vice President he must be a man of honor.
Vince explained that he would work with me on presenting my lines in a natural fashion. The background of the story had my family bringing me with them from Ohio, so I had no accent to worry about. All I had to do was say the lines like a real person.
I had no more than two consecutive sentences in the entire script, so I had
figured it would be easy.
He had a Grundig tape recorder which he started. He then read out a line from the script to which I had to respond. I had the script open and read the sentence. He then played it back. From its stilted sound it was obvious that I was reading the line. He had me repeat the line five times Then try it without the script. It took me several more tries and I was finally able to say the line naturally.
He played my line back and it sounded very natural. Then he played his and my lines back. It sounded like there were two different conversations going on. While the lines were both clear they didn’t come across as though we were communicating with each other.
Vince pointed out that the line presented to me came across as a challenge and while the words I used were the right ones, they came across as accepting an invitation to a tea party.
Mr. Andersen played by John Wayne says, “Are you up to this boy, it is long and hard, there will be no running home to mama.”
My reply is, “Yes Sir, I am up to this.”
Not a whole lot to say. On the recording even when I said the sentence in a natural manner it was still flat as if I was disinterested. Vince said the same line but had a rising inflection at the end. The neutral sentence now came off as returning the challenge with a little resentment thrown in.
I tried it that way several times. The last time on the recording it sounded like it was supposed to, Vince came out in a very high tone British accent.
“By Jove I think he’s got it”
In the exact same accent I returned.
“Thank you me Lord, it is appreciated.”
This stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Where did you learn to do that accent?”
“Me mum, she is British.”
“Can you do any others?”
“Not really unless you count my Spanish accent.”
“You speak Spanish?”
“Some I have been learning it this school year.”
“Who taught you?”
“A neighbor lady, Mrs. Hernandez, from Cuba has been teaching me and my brothers and sister. She is originally from Spain, so I don’t know what the accent really is.”
