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Health & Fitness

Patch Blog: Country Gal/City Woman--'Christmas in Connecticut,' Part 2

Only in the movies: "If you suddenly decide to spontaneously start dancing in the middle of the street, even perfect strangers you meet will join you, knowing all the right steps!" (Borrowed)

Ever have second or third thoughts about "doing" something?  For all the right reasons except for the fact that it might not meet with "everyone's" sentiments?  That's the way it has been with this Blog...but we are all adults here, right?

It's been a bit like pulling, one by one, the petals off the daisy that we little girls (and the more uncertain boys) back in Iowa would resort to when it came to boyfriends (or girlfriends)..."He (she) loves me" - "He (she) loves me not".  Back in "those good old days" the daisies I picked for this kind of expert advice ran out of petals every time...

Lucky for you, stripping away the petals of the only daisy left in my patio area, it looks as if I have no other alternative but to share with you the exact details of a day in the life of the good people who lived in South Arcadia in late 1991; and if the "hero" of the day, then, is not the hero of today in some of our eyes, so be it!  It's still a good story!

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Let me take you back in time to the months of October and November of 1991, to the suburbs of Arcadia, California, where the calendar pages were confirming it would, in due time, be Winter.  The days were getting shorter, and reliable Fritz Coleman of KNBC, predicting, mayhap, real snow on nearby Mt. Baldy and other Ski Resorts, just in time for a White Christmas!  If not that, then there were always the snow machines...

Not much had been going on in the south end of our town but in other sundry parts of Arcadia, lately there were rumors that a famous movie star was out and about scouting sites for a Turner Movie Classic to be called "Christmas in Connecticut," a remake of the 1945 classic starring Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet and S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, one I did spend a thin dime to see in Atlantic, on a Saturday afternoon.

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He was seen tooling up and down the myriad streets of our bedroom community in his Hummer. Word had it that he was going to hire citizens to be "extras" in this movie that would star ruggedly handsome Kris Kristofferson, Laker's No. One Fan and fashion-model-skinny Dyan Cannon (the ex-Mrs. Cary Grant) and some others, large and small, not quite so well known. Well, Tony Curtis was definitely well-known but he wasn't in any scenes being shot in Arcadia.  His scenes had been shot earlier in nearby Altadena amid a mob of fans, mostly women in the Golden Girl age group.

The pivotal man in this plot, the man who single-handedly had made the post-war Hummer famous, Mr. Universe himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was signed on to be the Director; he was the guy in the white tee-shirt in the Hummer, the man who was tooling around Arcadia.  The day he parked the Hummer at 5705 Lenore Avenue in South Arcadia meant he meant business...he had found the perfect location for one of the most important scenes in his movie!

For the true movie buff, I probably will not "make your day any better" when I divulge two or three movie-making secrets I learned by peeking during my lunch break.  It really is "deception" but in its most "honest" form.  More on that later...

By now you are probably wondering how I know even this much about how Arnold spent the months up to and including part of December of 1991. It just so happened that one of the places scouted for a couple of the important scenes to wrap up the movie was the Friends Church where I had lovingly toiled as secretary, treasurer, board of trustees member, pew polisher and window washer on work days since 1965.

The Hummer parked in front of the Church was a dead giveaway that this location was exactly what Arnold had in mind: yes, the Trustees decided, the pews could be removed, wooden floors could be laid down over the new carpet and the scenes completed before the following Sunday's services.  

Voila!  As if by magic and by following the set decorator's schedule, The Sanctuary would be transformed into a Community Hall fancied up with Christmas stuff, where Kris and Dyan, the movie's romancing couple, would dance the early evening away amid friends before leaving the Hall, cookies and punch behind, exiting the scene on cue.

To boot, the entryway sidewalk in front of the Friends Church was ideal for artificial snow to be blown about as the sleigh drawn by a beautiful horse left the dance with Kris and Dyan snuggled up under cozy robes.  Perfect! 

Arnold was happy with the arrangements, the Trustees of the Church were happy for there was a fee involved for the use of the premises.  A number of Church members were signed up to be extras and instructed to show up on December 5th in winter togs...all, perhaps thinking, surely among them someone to be discovered just like Lana Turner was at the drugstore counter in Hollywood, if you want to believe THAT story!

December 5th, the actual day of filming came and was almost over by the time I arrived at 5 o'clock on "location."  (A previously scheduled doctor's appointment for my late husband would have to come before any promising "Girl Friday Career" in the movie business, at least in 1991.)  Out of "the loop" again, it would seem!

This was not my first brush with Hollywood.  While working in the office at Standard Felt Company in Alhambra the first four months of my new California life, I met and worked alongside Al Gilbert, an up-and-coming young dance choreographer who later became instructor to youngsters The Jackson Five and future Mousekateer Annette Funicello, (discovered by Walt Disney at a dance recital); and, as they say, the rest is "history."  Who knew?  Al became known as the Pied Piper of Dance during his long and illustrious career as a Dance Master and owner of Stepping Tones Ltd.  And, yes, Arcadia had an Al Gilbert Dance Studio in the late 1970's.  Several years ago I learned of his passing away in 2003 at the age of 81.  One of several regrets I hold close to my heart is that I did not enter that front door for another "try" around the dance floor with one very dear and gentle man. 

I may well have been Al's one and only failure:  a few brief, but light-hearted quick steps on the well-polished floor during the noon hour at Standard Felt (A Henry Edwards Huntingon enterprise) proved what I have always known.  If one hasn't learned how to milk a cow or churned butter by puberty, you can pretty much bet that she is not going to be a farmer's wife, let alone a Ginger Rogers or Debbie Reynolds even with the most adept of instructors.  Googling "Al Gilbert" will give you a great read on what it takes to "step out" on that road to success in the late 1940's...talent and work hard!!   

So....arriving late at the scene where the stars and the Church extras were acting out their lines at the dance inside the Church walls, the sleigh was standing nearby sans the horse and driver (I'm thinking the scenes involving the horse were completed during my absence), the limousines with their attached chauffeurs lined up both sides of Lenore Avenue, klieg lights, cameras, overhead booms (for sound) and reflection boards being wielded by stagehands, I was swept up in all the excitement as were a lot of the neighbors and local Lookie Lu's who had dropped by to see what all the commotion was. Even the Arcadia police men and women strolled the premises which I found exciting, too! Uniforms! Sleepy South Arcadia had come alive!

Sometimes I just cannot help myself, wanting to know all the inside details of what makes things tick. But why I walked over to the parking lot where all the movie stars' huge trailers were parked and where the Transportation Crew was settled in, doing nothing but waiting for the movie to wrap up so they could all head for home, well, that is what I do best...ask questions and soak up information to be mentally filed away to be used 20 years later in a Blog.

Only a shy and innocent cornfed lass from Iowa would ask the typically "blonde" question: "Is anybody famous here?" Of the Transportation Crew yet!  Yup, that got their attention, so, being a good neighbor, I shared with them that all my relatives back in Iowa thought I had movie stars for friends ever since I had written them about Martin and Lewis and my close encounter with Jerry.  "They" take things so literally back in Iowa!

Now about those little secrets:  In those movie scenes where the actors are dancing dizzily around and around the dance floor and you think they are really better than anyone on "Dancing with the Stars"..well, don't you believe it! The dancers are standing, and safely anchored, on a moving platform and are not "boot-scooting" at all...very deceptive, right?   And...the "snow" comes out of a machine, isn't really "snow" and that is a trick that is as old as Mt. Baldy but, nevertheless, very convincing.  Back in 1991, these revelations were "big news"; today, not so much.

Furthermore, "Arnie" is really not all that tall, not all that muscular nor all that different from the average "Joe" hanging out with his crowd at the Bit o' Bavaria down the street on Live Oak Avenue.   It had been awhile since his Mr. Universe days, and time does march on, even for movie folk.

Dyan might have been "going over her lines" as she huddled near the entry of the Nursery with her make-up artist..my best attempt of a "Rose Bowl Princess-like" wave went unnoticed.  She may be myopic, and I know how that goes...whatever!

As day turned to dusk and, with Kodak camera in hand trying to find just the right moment to "snap" Kris Kristofferson as he hurried to his "home away from home," I think I might have caused him to swallow his orange-colored Tic Tac (he jumped a country mile!) when I reached out to sweep a small tree limb from his path.  He might have thought I was reaching out to touch his arm.  In his role as a forest ranger in the film, one would think he would be more alert and know when to duck, right?  But it could have been he was reading my mind....

But the "blondest" thing I did that evening was to turn down a chance to meet Arnold on a one-to-one basis.  Here's how that went.  Previously I had met a young man...he was seated among the Transportation Crew when I asked if there was anyone famous there, remember?...by the name of John.

John and his wife were there as part of the movie and as personal friends of Arnold's.  After a while of chatting,  and John realized I was not a threat to the completion of this movie, he asked me if I wanted to meet Arnold, who, at that exact moment, was passing by.  It would have been the ideal time to exchange small talk, ask him how he's doing, how's the wife and family, when's the next "cattle call"... that sort of thing. (Yes, I do know John's last name but to save him considerable embarrassment, I am not disclosing it at this time....he sorta got in trouble with the Government when he was involved with the House Banking scandal of 1992 after the making of this film.)

I can close my eyes and see the disconcerting look of disbelief on the face of my new friend, John of political fame in Washington D.C., as I stammered a stuttering "Not now," to his invitation.  What was I thinking?  Evidently, I wasn't.

So, kids, I am here to tell you now: when an opportunity that may never come again, presents itself to you in the form of a "gift," take it! We all know "It is not over until the Batlady sings!" and, perhaps, there will come another Kodak Moment for Arnold and me, perhaps not!  We both have a lot on "our plates" right now. 

But if "they" decide to cast a considerably older, even shorter, curly-haired, chubby Blogger type "fading-fast femme fatale" for the role of "Batlady"...why, I am sure I can take time from my Facebook Friends and NordicTrack exercise bike to audition if the price is right.  Every Geriatric Doctor's column I've read lately says..."You Seniors, with your still-uncompromised values and virtues, have gotta keep movin', movin', movin'!"

Seriously, no doubt "Christmas in Connecticut" will soon be seen on Turner Network again for the 19th time; and I and Sadie (in her rakish nightcap and who loves television), will watch it with the same wide-eyed enthusiasm I felt watching it being filmed on that comfortably chilly and wintry night, just before Christmas 1991.  It was a too-short week of "make-believe" watching scenes from a real live movie being choreographed from beginning to end, a dream come true for that little Country Gal of so long ago.

Sadie and I wish a bit of that "magic" for you....!

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