Up early today to fight the traffic into Los Angeles.
Today we register at Central Casting. Back home in Pittsburgh, Judy and I have been working as extras in movies made there. Thanks to our friend Nancy who got the info from her friends Becky and Don, we got to work on some films and other projects.
So far, between us we have been in seven movies, a TV commercial, a PBS documentary and a TV show. The basic function of an extra is to stand, sit or walk somewhere in the background while the actors are acting. It’s been a fun and interesting hobby. They don’t pay enough for it to be a career, so I call it a hobby.
We figured if we could get that much work in Pittsburgh, we could get some in Hollywood. But in order to do that you have to register with the casting company that handles extras. In Pittsburgh, the casting company does everything on line and for free. In Hollywood, it’s done in-line, in person and for a fee, but what the hell. The ultimate for me would be as a dead body on CSI.
For lunch we went downtown to Philippe’s. The home of the “Original” French Dip Sandwich. This place was recommended by one of Judy’s Doctors during her stay at Scripps Mercy Hospital. This place has been in business for more than 100 years and is a step back in time. Everyone orders at the counter and then carries their trays to long communal tables to enjoy their meal. You had just as good a chance of sitting beside an executive as you did a vagrant. Here, everyone was there for the same reason.We had the classic beef French dip. A generous mound of incredibly juicy and tender roast beef served on a French baguette that has been “dipped” in beef juice. This was an outstanding sandwich.
After lunch it was onto CBS Televison City. We had tickets for “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”. Turns out we had Front Row Seats for the show. It is always most interesting to me to see how these shows are put together. That’s why I enjoy the work as an extra, you get to go behind the scenes and see how the magic is made. If you're a regular viewer, you'll understand the excitement when Secretariat showed up!The bonus for us was the guest on tonight’s show…Betty White! We are both big fans and it was great to see her in person. She is always charming and funny.
Getting out of the show around 6:00 p.m. put us smack in the middle of evening rush hour traffic. It took almost two hours to make the 65 mile journey back to the resort. I would kill myself if I had to do that every day.
If you’re interested, here are the movies we’ve done.
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