Posted by:
Tevai
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)
Date: April 03, 2021 02:33AM
Brother Of Jerry Wrote:
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> Anyway, Bobby Vee sounded like a pretty decent
> guy, and he got a break because The Show Must Go On.
> Who'd have thunk.
Who'd have thunk?
The real world answer is: Anyone who wants to find their own way into the industry (or a company recording contract, etc.).
Although, in many ways, I grew up in the industry (my uncle was a film director--mostly known for his "B" films, mainly mysteries and westerns from Republic Studios)...I went to school with a number of kids who were either already in the industry themselves (singers Penni and Patti Pollack, the Twin Tones, who performed on the Doye O'Dell show every Friday night; Dennis Day--who was one of the original Mouseketeers)....or they were kids who came from show business families. (I went to high school with the daughters of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, and we had many kids throughout my first grade through high-school graduation education whose parents were writers, directors, producers, "craftspeople," musicians, artists, hairdressers, caterers, etc.).
One of the important things about the industry to learn ASAP is: if a given someone wants to break into the industry, volunteer whenever volunteers are needed--no matter what the immediate task may be (so long as you are at least pretty sure you can successfully rise to the challenge).
I was once at Channel 9 in Los Angeles to interview singer Eartha Kitt for one of my regular monthly profiles in LET'S LIVE magazine (health foods, healthy living--very often exemplified by celebrities and other glamourous types living a superfoods, super-healthy lifestyle).
When I arrived at Channel 9 (I was ALWAYS an early arrival), Eartha Kitt was still in the makeup and hair chair. While I was sitting there, just waiting for her to be ready for her eventual interview with me, someone stuck their head in the door and said: "Can anyone here make cue cards?" I raised my hand and said: "I can!" [I had never before made a cue card in my life.]
"Come with me!," I was ordered.
They took me to a nearby room in the studio, showed me the blank cue cards (big pieces of white cardboard), handed me the dialogue I was to write, in VERY large letters, on the cards...showed me where the broad-tipped pens were...and then disappeared out the door.
It was the dialogue for the Eartha Kitt TV-station interview!
I produced the cue cards, took the completed cards to whoever I was supposed to, and sat down, out of camera range, while Eartha Kitt did her interview on live television.
After her on-camera work was over, I followed her back to the dressing room, where I did my own interview with her while she was dressing in street clothes.
At that time, I didn't know if I would ever have reason to claim the credit of "writing cue cards for Eartha Kitt," but if I ever did have the chance, I now had that legitimate credit to make MY presence legitimate!
You just never can tell when a seemingly random credit can mean the difference between getting your foot into the door, and/or getting the exact job at the exact right time which will lead to the entire rest of your entertainment industry career.
Anyone who wanted, or wants, a career in the industry would have done the exact same thing I did.
And probably most everyone who has HAD a career in the industry has a story to tell which likely, in its essentials, is much like mine, when I unexpectedly became an emergency cue card producer for L.A.'s TV Channel 9.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/2021 03:04AM by Tevai.