More stories from the motion picture set.
The second half of filming when we were shooting the Sean Connery movie “Just Cause” was in North Miami, working out of Greenwich Studios.
Greenwich dates back to the 1960’s when it was used to shoot the TV series “Flipper.” That show was a spinoff of the 1963 movie “Flipper,” starring Chuck Connors and Luke Halpin, followed by a sequel called “Flipper’s New Adventure.”
“Miami Vice” was headquartered there in the 80’s.
The deep pool at the back of the sound stage was used for close up water shots with the famous dolphin. It was covered during our time with a plywood floor where we set up the production sign shop, and had been for decades.
The TV show also featured a young up and coming actor in a small role named Burt Reynolds. Ironically he was my boss decades later for two years on the TV show “B.L. Stryker.”
The giant barn-like building was old by then and kinda dirty and grimy compared to modern sound stages. We built a full scale two story prison wing, complete with real steel-barred cells and sliding doors.
A prop replica of a prison electric chair had been made for some of the end scenes. At first it was stored in a distant part of the sound stage while it waited to be used. But so many clowns on the crew were sitting on it to have their picture taken, it was starting to do minor damage.
Thinking it would be safe they moved it next to the office door on the north side. The crew mainly used that door and the office people rarely did. None of them could actually see the chair.
The payroll department had a habit of screwing up our paychecks and promising to fix it… In about two or three weeks.
So one of the other signwriters from our shop made a pretty good sized sign and hung it on the front of the electric chair. You had to look right at it as you walked into the door.
“Warner Brothers Payroll Department. Have a seat and we’ll be with you in two or three weeks. Maybe.”
It wasn’t discovered for four days. A friend of mine who happened to be there said 007 had walked in through that door and let out a belly laugh.
The sign shop had been assigned to make several full electric cabinet signs (like you see in a strip mall) with lettering on the faces that one of the art directors had designed for the “bus station” scene coming up.
He picked some outlandishly rare colors for the cut vinyl lettering. The colors wouldn’t be available anywhere but Miami, and they were EXPENSIVE.
Luckily the biggest sign supply company’s headquarters was there. Still is. The office called, found that they had the vinyl we needed, opened an account and placed the order.
A Teamster driver named Lou was assigned to drive me across Miami to get the material. Lou was a big brawny Mafia looking guy (as your typical Teamster) with gold chains and a thick Brooklyn accent.
When we got there, there was a bit of a language barrier. The sales staff were all Cubans who must have just gotten off the boat. We told them why we were there.
“What thees Wanna Brotha sign shop? I no hear of them in Mammi?”
After about 15 minutes of me trying to be diplomatic and communicate to no avail, Lou had had enough. Must have been time for the Teamsters lunch break, as per contract.
He grabbed the boxes, headed toward the door. With all of the staff shouting at him, his head swiveled backwards.
“BAH FONGOOL! Go back to Cuba to your boyfriend Castro!” We took off with all of them chasing behind. We hopped in the truck and squealed out of the parking lot.
Don’t ever mess with a Teamster’s lunch break.
The cost?
Thirteen hundred bucks in today’s dollars for an amount of material that in normal colors would be about $60. Never mind the salary hours of two fairly well paid people to go get it.
Because a scrawny little Los Angeles A.D. pointed to a chip in the sample color book.
Bet you wonder why movies cost so much to make?
Thom Caraccio ([email protected]) is a retired musician and retired motion picture scenic artist living in West Palm Beach, Florida who hails from Columbus. He graduated from S.D. Lee High in 1968 and still considers Columbus his real hometown.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
