Well, I've been getting caught up on my movies all weekend and I took a moment to reflect upon a time when I actually got to be in one. lol Seriously.
Stepping Out with Liza Minnelli, Shelley Winters and Andrea Martin. Yup...a movie I will never forget.
It was my first and only experience in being an Extra. In fact, I ended up being called a Special Skills Extra. lol Naw...I didn't have any special skills but here is what happened.
Elgin Theatre is where the movie was actually filmed and first time I had been in there. I remember hanging out in a room with others in the lower level of the theatre waiting to hopefully be called to be used in a scene. Others, not meaning friends. I was always solo for some reason. While waiting, I had a book. In fact, I think it may have even been a binder of homework as I was either in College or University at the time. I went to both. Maybe I went to the Elgin after school? Details are foggy. Well, while my attention may have been in my book or papers, they didn't have my full attention. Smh. I say this because I was able to overhear a conversation between a few of the production people. A conversation that let me know that they needed someone to play a role they either hadn't filled or needed a replacement for. In fact, they needed a black girl and there were only a few of us in the room. Well, that just had me start doing stuff like ruffling the pages in my book to draw attention to myself. Lmao. Yeah yeah.. I thought I was pretty clever. It worked though. It sure did. They looked at me and then looked at me some more. Next thing I knew they were having a conversation with me about my availability and such. I was in. They had me be the daughter of the actress Carol Woods. That turned out to be awesome because I got to hang out with the guy that was playing my brother and was quite cute I might add. Think he was another Special Skills Extra although he did his best to act like he was Somebody. You know..an important actor. lmao I don't really know about being an Extra so i'm not really sure why I was considered a Special Skills Extra as opposed to a regular Extra. But, it gave me a bump in pay and required me to hang around on set for more days then the regular extras which was definitely fine with me. After it was all said and done, I was able to buy my very first leather jacket with the money I made over the week. In those days and at that age, that was something. Trust me.
I haven't watched this movie in years so I can't really tell you where you might find me or if you'd really be able to even recognize me much at all. hahahahaha But, I do remember a scene where we were all in the room for like a cocktail party or something. I was also in another scene where my mom (Carol Woods) was dancing in the kitchen or somewhere and I peeked around the door with the rest of the family to get a look at what she was doing. Yeah....All I can remember. Yet, the few scenes that I was in took about a week of hanging around on set getting paid. Oh..and I remember that there was a lot of food I got to pick at. Boring stuff i'll say. Lots of waiting, hanging out and flirting with the cute brother. lol I remember being attracted to this guys light brown eyes only to catch him off guard at one point when he had lost a contact lens. WTH? Yup...he tried to keep his face turned from me as he put it back in, but I ended up seeing his face with one light brown eye and one dark. That was sure an eye opener. hahaha It was too funny! Many years ago or not, some things you never forget. hahahaha
Oh....and I got to experience the celebrity snobbery! Oh yeah. First hand. I was around the "I'm better than you" attitude. Will never forget it. Was definitely not a fan of Andrea Martin or Liza Minnelli after that experience. lol But the overall experience was a good one, just not something I looked at doing again. It's just nice to be able to say that it was something I did.
I was more interested in modelling in those days.
In fact, I was once a participant/finalist in the Miss Toronto Pageant. No lies. Got pictures.
That's another story. lol
| Queen St W, Toronto |
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