| 4/1/2008
10:57:00 AM |
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Local View: Rendezvous with glamour,
glitz
 |
John
Waelti
| 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.
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