It's great to see the excitement in Darlington over filming "Public Enemies." It brings back fond memories of my own experience some years ago.
I was midway through a two-year stint in Kenya as visiting professor at University of Nairobi. A Hollywood film crew was in town, shooting the true - more or less, anyway - story of Beryl Markham, the saucy, glamorous White Kenyan adventuress who was first to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west.
The story takes place during the heyday of colonial life in East Africa. The more useless progeny of British aristocracy were sent abroad to the agreeable climate of the East African highlands where their chief preoccupations were booze, drugs, sex and sin.
The waning of this colorful, iniquitous era was marked by the unsolved murder of the Earl of Erroll. Early one Sunday morning the lascivious Earl was found dead in his car on the Road between Nairobi and Karen (named after Karen von Blixen who was portrayed by Meryl Streep in another movie based on real characters, "Out of Africa."). The bullet in his head was presumably put there by an irate husband who would permanently end the Earl's nefarious ways.
The unsolved murder with the ingredients of a delicious scandal revealed the freewheeling lifestyles of the wealthier colonialists. Londoners who were dodging bombs dropped by the German Luftwaffe took a dim view of the scandalous lives led by their countrymen. Colonial life in East Africa would never be the same. Beryl's early life predates the murder of the Earl of Erroll.
Beryl Clutterbuck was the daughter of a hard working but unsuccessful colonial farmer. She married a wealthy colonialist, but found married life boring, constraining, and unbearable. She soon ditched her hapless husband and got involved with a Mr. Markham, related to British Royalty.
At this stage of filming, the call goes out for extras. They need some white guys. My interest in movies waned when my boyhood hero, Roy Rogers, left the silver screen. And I scoff at television - I would rather watch paint dry. But actually being in a movie? I couldn't resist. A bunch of us white guys and gals went to the casting office and signed on. It was fun getting the appropriate haircut and outfitted in period clothing.
The scene was a party with dancing, where Beryl was with her new beau. We were taught the steps; the scene was shot several times, and when the director shouted "cut!" for the final time, my dancing partner and I were right beside Beryl, who was portrayed by Stephanie Powers. Sure enough, in the actual film I am recognizable for a second or two. But I didn't know it at the time.
Beryl marries Markham. They have a son, but trouble is brewing. The Markham family insists that they live in London where the boy can have a proper upbringing. But the free-spirited Beryl will have none of that. She leaves Markham and her son, and returns to Kenya.
The adventure-loving Beryl takes up flying. She falls in love with her dashing flight instructor-probably the only man she ever really loved. He rejected Beryl and returned to London. But he saved her life by advising her against flying with another pilot who died crashing his plane - the real life pilot portrayed by Robert Redford in "Out of Africa."
Another would-be-suitor, unable to seduce Beryl, goads her into flying solo over the Atlantic - never had been done from Europe to America. Flying to London, she finds that her aviator has already married. That settles it. Against all advice, she climbs into her plane in bad weather, and takes off across the Atlantic. She makes it, barely, running out of petrol and crash landing on Nova Scotia.
Beryl is rescued, and feted in New York. She begins writing her book chronicling her flight, "West With the Night." After freeloading off friends and admirers around the country she eventually lands in Hollywood, tangled up with a screenwriter. They marry. The writer/husband, jealous of Beryl's publicity, wants credit for "West With the Night," insisting that Beryl is a lousy writer and, but for him, her book would never have seen light of day.
The call goes out for extras. The scene is a party where Beryl's husband is being obnoxious. There is a speaking part, "Come on, Beryl, let's leave," calling for an American accent-the scene takes place in California. My Midwestern accent would have been just right, but another American extra had an inside track. Rats! I begin to understand the desperate clawing ambition of those who want to be in pictures. I really wanted to be in another scene.
Alas! The next day we are called back. Beryl's husband is in a drunken stupor on the rooftop, guzzling from a whiskey bottle, proclaiming to the world that Beryl is an incompetent writer. We extras are to gaze at the rooftop and move slowly toward the house. The scene was only shot once - I found myself standing beside Beryl as she gazes disgustedly at her soon-to-be ex-husband, drunk on the rooftop.
In the final version, I am visible for a split second, standing beside Stephanie Powers before the camera zeroes in on her - after all, she's the star. Only I know that the suit and tie in that frame from the chest on down, clearly visible for several seconds, is worn by me.
With that, my "movie career" ends. We extras were served lunch and got to visit with Stephanie Powers and the cast. We were paid in Kenyan Shillings, thus modestly augmenting my visiting professor salary paid from Rockefeller funds. I returned to my more mundane professorial duties
The real Beryl Markham returned from Hollywood to Kenya, never to fly again. She took up training racehorses, very successfully. She lived out her life in Nairobi and was occasionally seen out and about until her death a couple of years before I got there in 1986. So I never got to meet the real Beryl Markham.
It is thus that I can identify with the Darlington folks who enjoyed their roles as extras in "Public Enemies."
Hosting a movie set provides an economic shot in the arm to a community. Technicians and stars have to eat and stay some place. Materials are purchased and extras are hired.
We need to support Monroe Main Street's commendable efforts to restore downtown to its original architecture. In addition to attracting shoppers and tourists, it will make Monroe an ideal set for movies requiring a rural/Midwestern setting. Green County's villages and rural vistas are similarly ideal for this purpose.
Moving the Green County Tourism Office from its drab digs at the old County Farm to our majestic courthouse will help our able tourism director, Noreen Rueckert, to market Green County for many purposes, maybe even locations for movies.
Darlington proves that it can be done. Providing location for a movie set is more than an economic shot in the arm. It's exciting for the entire region. Plus, it's a brush with glamour and glitz. And it's a heckuva lot of fun!
- John Waelti is a native of Monroe Township and resident of Monroe. He was for two years a visiting professor at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. This piece is based on his experience as an extra in the-made-for-TV movie, "Shadow on the Sun," starring Stephanie Powers.
I was midway through a two-year stint in Kenya as visiting professor at University of Nairobi. A Hollywood film crew was in town, shooting the true - more or less, anyway - story of Beryl Markham, the saucy, glamorous White Kenyan adventuress who was first to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west.
The story takes place during the heyday of colonial life in East Africa. The more useless progeny of British aristocracy were sent abroad to the agreeable climate of the East African highlands where their chief preoccupations were booze, drugs, sex and sin.
The waning of this colorful, iniquitous era was marked by the unsolved murder of the Earl of Erroll. Early one Sunday morning the lascivious Earl was found dead in his car on the Road between Nairobi and Karen (named after Karen von Blixen who was portrayed by Meryl Streep in another movie based on real characters, "Out of Africa."). The bullet in his head was presumably put there by an irate husband who would permanently end the Earl's nefarious ways.
The unsolved murder with the ingredients of a delicious scandal revealed the freewheeling lifestyles of the wealthier colonialists. Londoners who were dodging bombs dropped by the German Luftwaffe took a dim view of the scandalous lives led by their countrymen. Colonial life in East Africa would never be the same. Beryl's early life predates the murder of the Earl of Erroll.
Beryl Clutterbuck was the daughter of a hard working but unsuccessful colonial farmer. She married a wealthy colonialist, but found married life boring, constraining, and unbearable. She soon ditched her hapless husband and got involved with a Mr. Markham, related to British Royalty.
At this stage of filming, the call goes out for extras. They need some white guys. My interest in movies waned when my boyhood hero, Roy Rogers, left the silver screen. And I scoff at television - I would rather watch paint dry. But actually being in a movie? I couldn't resist. A bunch of us white guys and gals went to the casting office and signed on. It was fun getting the appropriate haircut and outfitted in period clothing.
The scene was a party with dancing, where Beryl was with her new beau. We were taught the steps; the scene was shot several times, and when the director shouted "cut!" for the final time, my dancing partner and I were right beside Beryl, who was portrayed by Stephanie Powers. Sure enough, in the actual film I am recognizable for a second or two. But I didn't know it at the time.
Beryl marries Markham. They have a son, but trouble is brewing. The Markham family insists that they live in London where the boy can have a proper upbringing. But the free-spirited Beryl will have none of that. She leaves Markham and her son, and returns to Kenya.
The adventure-loving Beryl takes up flying. She falls in love with her dashing flight instructor-probably the only man she ever really loved. He rejected Beryl and returned to London. But he saved her life by advising her against flying with another pilot who died crashing his plane - the real life pilot portrayed by Robert Redford in "Out of Africa."
Another would-be-suitor, unable to seduce Beryl, goads her into flying solo over the Atlantic - never had been done from Europe to America. Flying to London, she finds that her aviator has already married. That settles it. Against all advice, she climbs into her plane in bad weather, and takes off across the Atlantic. She makes it, barely, running out of petrol and crash landing on Nova Scotia.
Beryl is rescued, and feted in New York. She begins writing her book chronicling her flight, "West With the Night." After freeloading off friends and admirers around the country she eventually lands in Hollywood, tangled up with a screenwriter. They marry. The writer/husband, jealous of Beryl's publicity, wants credit for "West With the Night," insisting that Beryl is a lousy writer and, but for him, her book would never have seen light of day.
The call goes out for extras. The scene is a party where Beryl's husband is being obnoxious. There is a speaking part, "Come on, Beryl, let's leave," calling for an American accent-the scene takes place in California. My Midwestern accent would have been just right, but another American extra had an inside track. Rats! I begin to understand the desperate clawing ambition of those who want to be in pictures. I really wanted to be in another scene.
Alas! The next day we are called back. Beryl's husband is in a drunken stupor on the rooftop, guzzling from a whiskey bottle, proclaiming to the world that Beryl is an incompetent writer. We extras are to gaze at the rooftop and move slowly toward the house. The scene was only shot once - I found myself standing beside Beryl as she gazes disgustedly at her soon-to-be ex-husband, drunk on the rooftop.
In the final version, I am visible for a split second, standing beside Stephanie Powers before the camera zeroes in on her - after all, she's the star. Only I know that the suit and tie in that frame from the chest on down, clearly visible for several seconds, is worn by me.
With that, my "movie career" ends. We extras were served lunch and got to visit with Stephanie Powers and the cast. We were paid in Kenyan Shillings, thus modestly augmenting my visiting professor salary paid from Rockefeller funds. I returned to my more mundane professorial duties
The real Beryl Markham returned from Hollywood to Kenya, never to fly again. She took up training racehorses, very successfully. She lived out her life in Nairobi and was occasionally seen out and about until her death a couple of years before I got there in 1986. So I never got to meet the real Beryl Markham.
It is thus that I can identify with the Darlington folks who enjoyed their roles as extras in "Public Enemies."
Hosting a movie set provides an economic shot in the arm to a community. Technicians and stars have to eat and stay some place. Materials are purchased and extras are hired.
We need to support Monroe Main Street's commendable efforts to restore downtown to its original architecture. In addition to attracting shoppers and tourists, it will make Monroe an ideal set for movies requiring a rural/Midwestern setting. Green County's villages and rural vistas are similarly ideal for this purpose.
Moving the Green County Tourism Office from its drab digs at the old County Farm to our majestic courthouse will help our able tourism director, Noreen Rueckert, to market Green County for many purposes, maybe even locations for movies.
Darlington proves that it can be done. Providing location for a movie set is more than an economic shot in the arm. It's exciting for the entire region. Plus, it's a brush with glamour and glitz. And it's a heckuva lot of fun!
- John Waelti is a native of Monroe Township and resident of Monroe. He was for two years a visiting professor at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. This piece is based on his experience as an extra in the-made-for-TV movie, "Shadow on the Sun," starring Stephanie Powers.
