Posted by:
Tevai
(
)
Date: June 16, 2021 03:52PM
G. Salviati Wrote:
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> RESPONSE: This reminded me of something I read
> recently about Debbie Reynolds who (apparently)
> had no dancing experience when she was cast in
> Singin in the Rain with dancing partners Gene
> Kelly and Donald O'Conner--both expert tappers. I
> don't know if that is true or not, or whether any
> deception was involved, but if you go back and
> watch the "Good Mornin" dance routine you will be
> amazed; and appreciate her level of achievement
> with minimal experience. I suppose you don't
> survive in the entertainment industry without an
> inflated view of what you can do if given the
> chance. Maybe that is a lesson for all of us.
Debbie Reynolds was raised in Burbank, in the eastern San Fernando Valley, within a metaphorical baseball's throw of several motion picture/television studios, which means she is a Valley Girl, so: kind of like a neighbor you've never met, but are very much aware of, to me. (In the Valley, no matter where you grow up, the chances are extremely high that you go to school with performers who individually hold Guild cards, or with kids whose parents--often both Mom and Dad--are both employed by the studios in all capacities, from producer (at the top of the hierarchy) to truck caterer (sort of at the bottom of the hierarchy, at least at the beginning when you're chopping lettuce for tacos).
Almost the entire Valley (population: 1,540,948) is involved in the entertainment industry in SOME way (either directly, or by relationship of some kind with someone else), because if your next-door neighbor is NOT so involved, their cousin who lives in Canoga Park (western Valley) usually IS.
We all went to the same schools, our school debate teams and athletic teams competed with each other (for me in particular: Sally Field at Birmingham, and Ritchie Valens at San Fernando, etc.), and most everyone who lives here is only a very few people removed from all of the entertainment industry personnel who live throughout the entire Valley.
From a sociological standpoint, it is a fascinating phenomenon, and one I began to realize existed when I was at Sutter Junior High School. (P.S. There are many people in the industry, former Valley Kids all, whose "careers" effectively began as babysitters to "name" celebrities who lived down the hill or down the street, and I've heard of this same thing happening with kids who did lawn and tree maintenance too.)
If a given kid is open to what is going on around them (some are; many are not), you can--or you DO--learn a WHOLE LOT about how the entertainment industry operates, just by growing up here. I went to junior high with twin sisters who were featured vocalists every Friday night on a variety TV show, etc. If you are employed to babysit in the "right" homes, there are scripts on the coffee table in the living room and on the dining room table...and the BEST thing is: If you ask questions (like you leaf through a script and you can't understand some of the words used or why the script is formatted in such a strange way), those questions will be usually be taken seriously by an industry adult and will be answered seriously.
Certainly from the perspective of the kids, it is a kind of a common culture that we are all a part of (whether we have any personal, familial, connection to it or not), and it frequently doesn't have much (or possibly anything!) to do with the socio-economic level of your blood family at all, because the kids growing up are mostly all an integral part of this common culture as they mature, year-by-year.
If they decide they want, or might want in the future, to enter into the industry, that kind of entrance is usually readily available--along with the learned wisdom and experience of those who have gone before and are often still active at that moment.
If you ["the kid"] show any real interest, your interest will be taken seriously, and your industry education will begin immediately...and you just might start receiving invitations to openings, or press events, or whatever. This happened to me.
[I babysat for a middle-aged couple who had their own public relations (p.r.) firm, and I asked questions, and I received a surprisingly good education in practical public relations along with my paycheck--knowledge which actually became the basis of me, several years later, writing one-third of three different magazines every month for a publishing company. Keep in mind that the job I was hired to do was change diapers and bottle-feed their newly born infant son. As I remember, I was paid a dollar an hour for that job, but later, THAT job allowed me to get the job which then established me as an industry pro.]
This is a lot of musing on things I've been thinking about, in one way or another, since I was in elementary school, because throughout my life I have found this phenomenon incredibly interesting.
I hope someone finds these musings of value.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2021 06:22PM by Tevai.