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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1959-06-18, Page 2Bellrrr,d ! i e Scenes in Hollywood Hollywood's Central Casting, an organization which furnishes people en masse 19 plug the gaps in the screen between the stars and the scenery, received a phone call from M -G -M, "We need twenty African pyg- mies for the new Tartan pic- ture," a frantic Metro man said, A Central Casting representa- tive asked when the pygmies were wanted. "Yesterday!" screamed the Metro man and hung up, Before the last war, Central Casting had 30 midgets avail- able to serve as pygmies, but they went into aircraft work and never came back. Now the mov- les' captive midget population, like that of the whooping cranes, is down to a half-dozen. So how • —short of amputation—to come by twenty African natives under 5 feet tall? This puzzler was solved by husky, silver -haired Art Bron- son, Central's manager for the last seventeen years. As he ex- plained it last week to News - week's Los Angeles bureau chief Simon Bourgin; "All we had to do was get twenty Hawaiian, Negro, and Mexican boxers in the flyweight class, With make- up they made damn good pyg- mies" The "pygmies" belong to a small army of part-time movie extras who stand in corners, serve as parts of mob scenes, en- gage other extras in silent con- versation, or escort a featured player. They may also perform any one of 115 skills listed by Central Casting. In fact, as union extras, they may do anything but speak lines, Set up as a nonprofit agency in 1926 by the Motion Picture Producers Association, Central Casting performs with efficiency what was formerly done in con- fusion. In the early '20s, extras made daily rounds of all the studios, were picked haphazard- ly by the 'casting managers on .a "You! You!" basis. CC changed this, categorized extras by types and skills, and whittled down the lists from 17,000 to the current 3,000. The hard core of movie extras are the "general" and "dress" extras. The former serve, at $22.05 a day, as convicts, church- goers, passers-by in street scenes. Dress extras are paid an addi- tional $7 to supply their own wardrobes. A third category — NET VALUE — Jana Harvey pretties up some drying fishing nets in Florida on the Atlantic. 0 the "special" extras --- are as singular and varied as life itself, "We could come up with four teams of football players," said Bronson, "For camel drivers we get cowboys. Our elephant boys are real Indian boys who have clone it, We have fifteen. We have men who can handle bulldozers. And roller coasters. We have a stable of jockeys. We have fif- teen gondoliers and, 39 casino dealers. One Of the toughest or- ders we ever filled came in this morning. Someone wanted a man with a just -broken knee. We be- gan by trying to remember who. had been in en accident recently, and the fourth one we called was a bad-lcriee man," Ordinarily, Bronson and his three assistants work hi reverse of the old Hollywood saw: "Don't call us, we'll call you." Central Casting seldom puts' in a call; extras are expected to keep phoning in each day, and they do—to the jingle of 4,500 calls an hour between 4 and 7 p.m. Most call two or three times in an afternoon, "Our four switch- boards light up like Christmas trees," Bronson said. "The oper- ators shout to us ten names at a time and, since we know by memory all about each extra, we pick the ones we need in a mat- ter of seconds." As one might imagine, the de- mand for cowboys is currently at an all-time peak. "We have 200," Bronson concluded, "and with the boom in TV film Wes- terns, they don't lack for work." Cowboys get $29.04 a day, un- less they perform a "silent bit." The classic example of a cow - bay's silent bit: A bystander pointing the direction the vil- lains rode, This pays $61.33, How does a cowboy extra earn more? By shouting, as he points: "They went thetawey!" That makes him a $90 -a -day actor. Desert River We travelled through the desert far hours. There was nothing but pale yellow sand, scanty stunted thorn -bushes and a stony dried-up river bed, with here and there a couple of wretched Bedouin straw huts. No birds sang; not a sound broke the solitude. At the most a cam- el caravan passed by with silent ghostly tread, the asses going ahead as leading animals, Suddenly a remarkable scene appeared on the horizon, as if conjured up by the touch of a wand; towering palaces, gleam- ing white as marble, and cup- olas, and slender pinnacles. The surprising thing was that every- thing seemed to float in the air as if painted on the blue back- drop of the sky in the most deli- cate of colours. As we drew nearer, we could make out the broad outline cif a town, square brown houses huddled together and firmly rooted in the soil. And now the reason for the illusion was clear; the towering structures have white upper stories, but are earth coloured below, so that this part is invisible from a distance. The landscape, too, had chang- ed suddenly. The river bed be- side which we were travelling, dry a moment ago, now contain- ed water, It was led off to the fields, which were luxuriant with verdure, via countless gut- ters and channels. The tops of the slender date palms, heavy with fruit, bowed overhead, the thoroughfares were thronged with the town's inhabitants go- ing home from work at sunset. Brown supple young lads, naked to the waist, drove the small Arabian cows ahead of them. They shouted friendly greetings, while the women in blue shawls cast curious sly glances at us. A lofty wide mud -brick gate swal- lowed us up. We were in Lahej. — From "The Yemen— Secret Journey," by Hans Hel- fritz. ROYAL ADMIRATION — The Shah of Iran smiles as he looks at a radiant Princess Margaret on his arrival in London for e three-day state visit. Following his official visit, the Shah plans to enjoy a two-week holiday in England, HER BIRD'$ FOR THE ARTS— Parakeet feathers are used by Mrs. Florence Bishop, of Knockholt, England, at right, to produce, landscapes such as this. Her pet parakeet doesn't go around bald; she uses molted feathers only, on a painted background. An example of her work - is shown, below, 4jf TABLE TALKS darvt, Andoews. The following recipe for un- cooked cheese cake is planned for 16 servings, But you can easily halve the quantities, al- though it will keep for a week or longed in your refrigerator. UNCOOKED CHEESECAKE (Serves 16) 1 package lemon gelatin 1 cup hot water 1 large package cream cheese 1 cup white sugar - 1 9 -ounce can crushed pine- apple (drained) 1 large can evaporated milk 18 graham crackers (crushed) 3 tablespoons powdered sugar le pound butter Melt butter and add crushed crackers and powdered sugar, mixing well. Spread half of mix- ture in bottom of two 9 -inch cake pans, 1/ inches deep, or. in a 151 x 101/2 x 1 jelly roll pan. Save half a crumb mixture as topping. Dissolve gelatin in cup of hot water and allow to cool. Chill and whip milk, set aside. Mix sugar and cream cheese together in large bowl and add drained crushed pineapple. Add milk and gelatin and stir well. Pour into pan and top with remaining crumb mixture. Chill in re- frigerator overnight, * * * A small recipe which may well become a favorite at your house is for date -filled cookies. You make then as follows: DATE -FILLED COOKIES 2 cups flour 14 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon soda i/2 cup butter 1/ cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 egg, well beaten 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Sift flour. Measure and resift three times with salt and soda. Cream butter. Blend with the brown and white sugar, add egg and vanilla and beat until light. Stir in flour and place in refrig- erator to chill. FILLING- 1 ILLING1 lb. chopped dates 7jfy cup water 1/2 cup white sugar 1 cup chopped nut meats Place dates, water and sugar in suacepan and cook until thick — about five minutes. Cool and add nuts. Divide dough into four parts. Spread filling over sec- tions and roll up like jelly roll. Wrap in waxed paper and store in regrigerator. When ready to bake, slice thin and bake on oiled cookie sheet in hot oven, 400° F. seven minutes. Makes 10 dozen. Although this year's maple syrup "crop" doesn't seem to be anything extra, the following recipes all making use of that delicacy are well worth passing along. NUT BROWN BREAD 2 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt M cup milk 4 tablespoons maple syrup 1 egg 1 cup chopped nuts or raisins Sift dry ingredients together, add milk, syrup and beaten egg. Add chopped nuts or raisins. Pour into greased bread pans and bake 1 hour at 350° F, * * MAPLE PECAN PIE Heat 1/2 cup pure maple syrup with 2 beaten eggs in top of double boiler, beating at high speed till very light, Remove from fire and add 1 tablespoon gelatin dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water. Mix well but not stiff, Add 1 cup cream whipped. Fold into syrup and gelatin mix ture. Pour into baked pie shell and top With pecans, Chill for a few hours before serving. ISSUE 22 — 1959 MAPLE SYRUP FUDGE 2 cups maple syrup 1 tablespoon light corn syrup Y cup thin cream 1 teaspoon vanilla s/ cup walnut moats. Combine maple syrup, corn syrup and cream in saucepan and cook over low flame. Stir constantly until mixture begins to boil. Continue cooking with- out stirring to soft ball stage. Remove from fire and cool to lukewarm. Beat until mixture thickens and loses its gloss. Add vanilla and nuts and pour at once into 8 -inch butered pan. * * * BAKED HAM SLICE 11/2 inch center slice ham ';z cup maple syrup 1/L cup dried bread crumbs 1 teaspoon prepared mustard 74 teaspoon powdered clove 2 cups milk Place ham in baking dish and cover top with mixture made of syrup, bread crumbs, mustard and cloves. Pour milk around (not over) the ham. Bake slowly (325° F.) for 12 hours. Liner's Future From time to time in the last ten years it has been suggested that the day of the big trans- oceanic ship is fast running out, that the liner's future approach- es vanishing point. Prediction would be rash indeed as we en - 'ter, supposedly, the age which, the more fanci'fuliy sanguine. say, will offer us "space" picnic grounds, weekend excursions to the moon and perhaps two-week guided tours of the nearer plan- ets. The fact is, however, that the postwar age has brought us a number of new large lux- ury ships and all of them seen to be doing • quite well during the tourist • seasons, Now Britain has begun ,o talk about replacing the "Queens," the Elizabeth and Mary, In London it is pointed out that France has projected the building of a fine new liner, that our own country may con- struct a sister ship of the United States, that Italy expects to add to her passenger fleet. So Brit- ish shipping, it is contended, will. need some handsome fast "shop - window" vessels too. Whether or not the argument is sound, it does appear that neither ship- ping companies nor the govern- ments which often provide the subsidies for them are yet act- ing, as i•1 the age of travel by swift and elegant oceanic liner is dead and done with, In times when travel seems to be increasing with every new year even the advent of jet plane service has not discourag- ed the plans for designing and running handsome new passen- ger carriers of the kind that once raced for records. No longer do these plans emphasize size and ever greater size, but speed, efficiency and comfort are still considerations of the first order. There is no disposi- tion to believe that in another "Sruy T brua•te a bks"." decade or two everybody who goes aboard will want to be whisked to his destination in hours, On the contrary, the faith is firm that there will '1 - ways be enough persons who en- joy luxury on the surface of the seas to make additions to the world's fleets profitable. In- deed Britain's only fear today is• that of being left behind in the clamor for passage. — Baltimore Evening Sun, Developed New Fruit By Chance Feasting will take place in Oakland, California, in 1960 to celebrate the birth eighty years ago of a fruit which is to -day enjoyed by millions of people 2111 over the world. The sweet and luscious logan- berry is named after its origina- tor, Judge James H. Logan, He produced it in his sunny Oak- land garden in 1880 while car- rying out a series of grafting experiments. • His "man-made" new fruit was entirely unexpected. He was actually trying to produce an improved strain of garden black- berry. This he did by crossing the local wild berry, whose fla- vour he had always liked, with the "Texas Early," a cultivated blackberry. But the gardening judge had also planted some raspberries In the garden and he was amaz- when loganberries appeared. A new, permanent and distinct fruit had come into the world. The Judge himself never com- mercialized the loganberry. "I never received one cent for it," he said years later. "After its Origination I delivered it to a professor at California Univer- sity for the use of the general public and .true to trust he dis- tributed it to anyone wanting it, without cost." Next year's celebration feasts will all feature loganberries on the menus and many a keen gar- dener in California will drink a glass of raspberry or black- berry wine and toast the mem- ory of the man who became known throughout the United States as "The Loganberry's Father." Winning Against Sig Handicaps "/ lead an ordinary life. doing ordinary things," said the short, sandy -haired woman waiting to be called as an honored guest to the platform in Washington's De- partmental Auditorium. "I'm just doing what other people are do- ing." Dr, Anne Carisen, 43, was right in a way. She just does "what other people are doing," but with a difference: she does 11 with no arms, and with arti- ficial legs, The President's Com- mittee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped could have found no more logical re- cipient for its annual trophy award to the "Handicapped American of the Year' When Anne Carlsen was born in Grantsburg, Wis., she had only stubs of arms ending above the elbow, her right leg ended above the knee, and the left was mal- formed, ending in a clubfoot, Left motherless at four, Anne got tire- less encouragement from her fa- ther, an elder sister and four brothers, On a coaster wagon she learned to take part in a modified version of baseball. At eight she was pronounced ready for school, but only after a psy- chologist had gone over her and solemnly pronounced her "edu- cable." Anne raced through two grades•a year. There was time out for a long hospital siege, to straighten out the contractures in Anne's one knee. She went home able to walls, but only with a device so clumsy• that she soon discarded it. When she was in high school, her left leg was amputated below the knee. Then, with artificial legs and crutches, Anne could really walk. But as she advanced to college (St. Paul's Luther Junior College and the Univer- sity of Minnesota), Anne found it harder to win acceptance than it had been among young chil- dren, and harder still to get the training she wanted to make her self-supporting as a teacher, After discouraging years of baby-sitting and of writing, which brought only rejection slips,. Anne Carlsen got the break she longed for: a chance to teach at a special school for crippled children in Fargo, N. Dak, The children, she found, quickly ad- justed to her multiple handicaps, soon seemed not to notice them. Summer studies won her an. M,A., and in .1949 Anne Carlsen got her Ph.D. in education from Minnesota. The next year ,Dr. Carlsen moved in as superinten- dent of the Crippled Children's School, which had moved to Jamestown, N. Dak. There she lives alone in a two - room apartment over the school. The one thing she leavesto others is cooking. In the office she usually dictates letters, though she has learned to write —far more legibly than most peo- ple with normal hands—with a special pen hooked to her stump. •Dr. Carlsen attends conventions all over the country, "traveling easily by plane or. train if it is too far to drive. But driving she loves, in a car with special con- trols, like those for handicapped veterans. "It's the only thing I'm proud of," she says. And since Dr. Carlsen got her license in 1954, she has safely driven .42,000 miles. But when Vice President Rich- ard Nixon presented the trophy last week, Dr. Carlsen had no hands to receive it. Nixon held it while, with good poise on her crutches, she made an apt ac- ceptance speech. JUST LIKE THE BIG ONE — Gerhard Diegad, top, sets up e remarkable miniature version of a traveling European big top, the Krone Circus, bottom, As perfect as human ingenuity can make it, the model circus' parts actually pack into the circus wagons, as does the gear of the real-life road show.