First of all I hope everyone had a fantastic summer... and to begin I want to thank you for reading... Next week marks four years since I started this venture and I can only hope it's been as enjoyable and interesting for you as it has been for me.
As much as summertime has always been a time of action and adventure for me over the years it's also been a time of reflection and recharging... this past summer has been much of both. Someone a long time ago said to me while death was waiting at the door "After I'm gone if you ever need me I'll see you in your dreams" and in as much as I've spent most of my life trying to understand facts and proof... I've always been and still am deeply comforted with this thought. As much as I would like to I really don't believe in the afterlife or ghosts and spirits... but I'm touched somewhere in my soul when I see a movie like "Ghost" or read books like "The Lovely Bones" or "The Whole Town's Talking"... what I do believe is that we can manifest the memory of people who we loved or someone who had a significant part in our life in our daily actions and in our subconscious and these people and those or new situations and insights can show up in our dreams at night. and that sometimes those memories with new experience and knowledge can maybe help us find new answers when we need them... if we listen to our dreams... but more about that later.
My wonderful friend Fanella once told me "I have lived through every bad day of my life" I've been thinking about her since she died especially sometimes going over some bad days and sleepless nights wondering about life and the uncertainty of the future that started last November... I've dreamed about her and in one of these dreams I remember something she once told me that I had lost sight of in that loosing sleep and being frightened by something that may or may not happen is robbing you of the happiness of your life right now... so with that I've tried to re-ground my thoughts and be more positive about the here and now and put purposeful positive energy into dealing with negative people and life issues.
I had a very vivid dream a few weeks ago about two memorable months in the summer of 1977 during the production of the movie "Grease"... I worked as a background dancer and filled in some scenes I was at the time somewhat disappointed with what I was doing because I was lead to believe I was auditioning for something more substantial... and like many others I thought it would be a bit more like the broadway show but it was cleaned up and polished and sadly most of the songs from the show became background music... but the fact of the matter is it was one of the most fun summers I've ever had and lead to some really great opportunities (at least in my opinion) that I would have never had otherwise...
It was an interesting summer I had not counted on and ended up living in a house in Hollywood Hills for the summer... and working incredibly long hours... I met some really interesting people that summer from Hollywood elite to people working in the porn industry (Harry Reems and Al Parker) who would have given their left nut to have the opportunity I had that at the time when I did not think it was good enough for my talent and background (I was so arrogant for someone who was really just getting started) I'm not going to get too much into the egos and personalities that ran off the Richter scale that summer... I'll just say that there will never be another person like Alan Carr and because of him I worked in two more of his productions that lead to even better things so I'm deeply indebted to him... and Randal Kleiser will always be one of my favorite people in the world.
I think Dinah Manoff and I were two of the youngest people on the set... but I in those days especially looked and acted older than I my actual age... it was an interesting cast of characters in their 20's and 30's playing High School students. The film shot June through August that summer and since that time I don't think I've ever met anyone who has not seen the movie and people always ask me about the production and in particular what it was like to work with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta... the truth I had very little actual contact with them...outside of production only a very small amount of professional socializing not really enough to write anything particularly spellbinding or captivating... It was a different place and time in the world and Hollywood... there was a lot of sex, drugs and rock and roll going on for some of the cast and crew... I alas was not a part of any of it and had a fairly clean cut PG-13 rated summer. But I can share this...
There was a great deal of location work done in the Los Angeles area in addition to what was done at the studio.
The opening sequence (that I had no action in) was filmed near Malibu...
There were three separate locations used for "Rydell High School" (the name was a nod to Bobby Rydell)
The exterior and some of the interior sequences were shot at Venice High School
 |
| If you can spot me... you win a prize! |
as well as the segment shot on the bleachers and lunch area and the sport scenes and pep rally.
The Drive-In scene was shot at the Pickwick Drive-In
The segment for the dance was shot in East LA at Huntington Park High School during a heat wave and was one of the longest, hottest and sweatiest five days of my life...
The finale carnival scene was shot at John Marshall High School in Los Feliz...
This was the one really big continuity error evident in the background as JM HS was near Griffith Park and nothing like those hills or the observatory were visible at Venice HS... I don't think audiences noticed or cared or that much of the choreography was done on the fly... but somehow it all came together.
The one location that really surprised some people was that the malt shop scene was filmed on the Paramount lot...
As were most of the interior scenes...
Like many movies before it the final casting is perhaps one of the most important factors in a success and some of the preliminary casting considerations will illustrate this...
Before John Travolta was signed the part was turned down by Henry Winkler...
Marie Osmond supposedly turned down the part of Sandy played by Olivia Newton-John that was used as publicity fodder.
Eve Arden replaced Paul Lynde as the school principle---
Alan Carr wanted Harry Reems to play the coach and Paramount would not have any part of it and the role went to Sid Caesar---
Lucie Arnaz wanted the role of Betty Rizzo and they offered her a chance to come in and read but her mother got involved and said she should not have to audition out of basic noblesse oblige and the produces cast Stockard Channing---
The part of Tom Chisum (the hunky football player) was originally played by Steven Ford (Gerald Ford's son) he just disappeared one day and eventually was played by Lorenzo Lamas who agreed to become a blonde to play the part---
I really enjoyed meeting and talking with Eve Arden and Alice Ghostly... the only person I knew previously was Susan Buckner (Patty Simcox) from something I had done at Universal the year before... and on a side note met Carrie Fisher, Teri Garr, Jane Fonda and Kirk Douglas and George Cukor. Eventually we finished filming and even though with every good intention I had planned to stay in touch with some members of the cast and crew but sadly never did and only saw some of them at the 20th year reunion screening in 1998.
Even though it got panned by the critics it's been one of the most successful movies ever released and I'm happy that I had a small part in all of it.
One of the biggest lessons I learned that summer is we can look at life two ways... either we are lost or we are finding our way... that is still my motto... and like most everyone I know... after all these years... I'm still finding my way in the world... and when my friend Fanella visited with me in one of my dreams this past summer and reminded me...
and maybe most importantly it's important to live not just survive...One of the things that made all of this possible is I have one person in my life who is like no one else on earth who is my soul mate and best friend... Thank you Nicholas... we make a great team and finding our way is much more fun than I could have ever done alone or with someone else.
See you in two weeks! I have some interesting ideas about where we will go!
