by Ed Nelson
There was no school for me today though I cheated and had brought my Latin book with me to add to my Latin vocabulary. I really wanted to close out ninth grade before I went back to Ohio.
At three o’clock I headed over to the stunt area. Lately I had become one of the guys. If someone needed a spotter for weights or a partner to practice a stunt move they called on me. It was fun.
I did the sword thing and weight lifting. I was able to add five pounds to my heavy lift.
It was almost five o’clock and I thought Dick Wyman would be here soon. He was but he had John Wayne in tow. Mr. Wayne started out.
“Rick, I thought you would like to know we have a deal hammered out with Baxter. Dick has signed for you as holder of power of attorney. John will be providing you with copies.”
“I want you to know you have done a fine thing. Taking care of John Baxter’s money problems and keeping our expenses in line is a smart move. Word will get out that people can work with you. That means a lot in this world. Too many of your fellow actors are plain greedy. Speaking of greedy, that SOB Baxter tried for five points but I held him off at three.”
I tried to look unhappy but I’m not that good of an actor. Mr. Wayne took one look at me.
“Oh Hell, I could have got it down to two.”
Then he started laughing.
I think Dick Wyman was more up about it than I was on the way home. I invited him and Janice out to dinner, my treat but they had other plans. So it ended up a quiet evening with hot dogs and a pint of Alta Dena ice cream in front of the TV. I was tired so I didn’t read.
Saturday was another day in sunny southern California. Man it rained and rained. I watched a lot of TV, studied Latin and read up on Biology. I did get so bored that I called Bellefontaine. Everyone was fine. Dad had heard from two more shower head manufacturers, they were very interested.
I talked to my brothers and sister for a long time. They insisted on using Spanish so I even got some practice in. I found out that Denny was dating a girl and he wanted some big brother advice and didn’t want Mum and Dad to hear.
I explained what French Kissing was and told him he was too young. I had only one chance to do it with a girl at my age, so why should he get to start so young?
Sunday I finished up my letter while the rain still came down. It seemed like a waste of paper as I had talked to them at home three times this week but I kept my word.
I did buy a Sunday paper from the dispenser on the corner. In the entertainment section there were pictures of me, standing my ground against the coyote. They even had a shot of the coyote in midair as I fired. It was a cool shot. They made a big deal about Paul Grant running away and now suing for the lack of security. It didn’t cast him in a good light.
There was a lot of TV watched. I did my regular and sword exercises and later that night read about a man who lived in an Iron Castle.
Chapter 32
At the studio Monday morning we had a kick off meeting for Sir Nick. We would be working differently on this movie. We would be on set ten to twelve hours a day. My schooling would be worked in between my shots, the same with workout and coaching time. The day would start in costume and makeup at 6:00 a.m. and we would hope to be done by 6:00 p.m. at the latest.
The daughter of the ranch foreman who would be my love interest was coming from Central Casting. Actually five young ladies were auditioning for the part. One each day this week, they would arrive at eleven o’clock to read lines for the camera. Then they would accompany me to lunch to see how we got along.
I was shown the girls pictures. I had no doubt which one it would be. There was Cheryl’s twin. Dark hair, those big eyes it was scary how much she looked like my Cheryl.
The meeting went till eleven as all the details of this movie were worked out. We would have to do several shots on location. For some scenes that needed to be done in the country, instead of a set, there was a ranch in Colorado we would be going to. It was called Easterly Ranch.
Mr. Wayne looked over at me. “It’s a small world Rick, its Clint’s place. When we did, ‘It Never Happened,’ we got talking and we had a scout go check the place out. The countryside really matches Johnson County, Wyoming.”
I did wonder why we didn’t go up the road to Johnson County, but who am I to understand the movie business.
The first young lady was too nervous and flubbed her lines badly. She was so upset her mother who was accompanying her took her home before lunch. It was a shame.
After watching the failed audition I went to makeup and costuming. As usual the scenes were being shot in logistical order rather than in the linear story form of the movie.
Today was working on the scene were Sir Nick ropes a calf and finds out that his English saddle won’t work. English saddles don’t have saddle horns to tie the rope off. A calf fighting the weight of a horse is one thing. The strength of the human arm is another.
The hardest part of the scene was holding onto the rope long enough to show the strain, but letting it go before my arm was ripped off. The first three takes I let go too early. No one gave me a hard time about it. The fourth attempt I held on, too long and was pulled right off my horse. I was very fortunate that I wasn’t hurt.
That caused a hold up in production. They discussed having a stunt man performing what they first thought was a simple scene. While this discussion was going on I had a thought. Why not use a break away rope? Take a normal lariat and splice in a section with a lower tensile strength. Have the strength such that puts some strain on the rider but breaks before they are pulled off the horse.
I brought that up to the prop man handling the lariats. He thought for a few minutes and said come with me. Since they were still arguing about how to handle the scene I wouldn’t be needed.
I let the Assistant Director know that I was going to a workshop with a prop man. He had no problem since he could retrieve me with a runner if needed.
My trip to the workshop was my first, but would be far from my last. It was better than I envisioned Disneyland to be. They could make or jury-rig anything. While I wasn’t a hand’s on mechanic I did love to see how my ideas could be brought to life.
The prop man, Raul Rodrigues, told me.
“We are always concerned about tensile strength but in the other direction, we don’t want it to break. I think we have some string that is rated at one hundred and fifty pounds. We used it for items that weigh fifty pounds or less.”
He found the string in short order. He cut ten strips each five foot long.
“Why so many,” I inquired?
“Retakes,” was his one word reply.
The only problem was its diameter was less than the lariat. I asked, “Do you have any fabric covered wiring?”
“It is somewhere around here.”
As he led me directly to it. Raul certainly knew the inventory.
We found a section that was close to the same diameter as the lariat. Raul stripped the cloth off the wire. Actually he cut a section and pulled the wiring out of the cloth. He peeled the cloth back a couple of inches, put the bare wire in a vise and pulled the cloth right off. He repeated this ten times.
After threading the string through the cloth he cut ten lariats and spliced the string to the lariat. As a Boy Scout in good standing I was really interested how he did that so the string wouldn’t pull off the lariat. We then headed over to the paint shop where they did a quick and dirty match, then painted the cloth. It wouldn’t stand up to close examination but it would do.
Raul explained, “If this were a big budget movie we would have had weeks to do this and would’ve dyed the cloth to a perfect match.”
By this time we had been gone an hour so I figured the scene would’ve been shot by now and our efforts wasted.
I was wrong when we got back they were still arguing. I learned this happened a lot. Instead of shooting the scene as written they were now trying to rewrite it. Why I don’t know. Maybe some writers can’t let things go.
>
Anyway Raul and I talked to one of the animal wranglers and they let a calf loose after I was mounted. I chased it down and of course missed with my first attempt. On my second throw I nailed it and the string hidden in the rope broke perfectly.
The Director was watching as he was getting upset with the arguing. He asked how we did that.
I replied, “Raul made a break away lariat. It will work perfectly every time. We have nine more of them. You will just have to edit out the rope breaking.”
“That’s no problem,” he responded.
At that he hurried the crew back to work. As people were setting up one more time Raul spoke up.
“Senor Rick the way you told the Director he will think it was my idea.”
I answered in Spanish.
“It doesn’t matter who gets credit, we are a team making a movie, let’s get the job done friend.”
Raul beamed in reply.
“Did you go to school in Spain,” he asked?
“Spain came to me,” I told him.
That began a good working relationship with the crew. Raul shared his experience with the other members and word got around that I was a team player and not a stuck up star. It is amazing how much easier things go when people like helping you.
It only took two more takes and the Director was satisfied. He told me that it was a really good shot, showing me almost being pulled off my horse, but letting go before I got into trouble. It was exactly what he wanted to portray.
He also said, “I’m going to arrange a small bonus for Raul, he really bailed us out.”
“Good idea,” I replied.
Chapter 33
We broke for lunch then I went to the schoolhouse to meet Mr. Danson. He informed me that I passed the Spanish exam and then took me over to Hollywood High. After checking in at the office we headed for the Biology Lab.
Miss Powell was ready for me. There was also another student there a nice looking girl my age. She was taller than average with light brown hair and brown eyes.
I would say all her features were average, but when put together she had a nice look. I could see as she got older she would look very high class. Dignified is the word I was looking for.
Miss Powell introduced me to Nina Monroe.
Nina very quickly said, “No relation to Marilyn.”
“Of course not, she is Hollywood, you are Paris.”
Where that came from I had no idea but it worked. Nina lit up. Miss Powell told Mr. Danson.
“We are going to have to watch this one.”
Nina was to be my team mate in the lab exercise. She had been out with the whooping cough and had missed the lab portion of Biology. This was one of her study hall periods.
Nina asked if I was the actor in the papers that was feuding with Paul Grant. I told her I didn’t know I had a feud going. Miss Powell broke in and told us it was time to get to work. I decided I like the inside of machines better than the inside of frogs.
I had done the study portion of the lesson so I knew the names and where to look for things but it still took a while to figure out what I was looking at.
I’m sorry to say on the subject of frog innards Nina was all girl. She wanted no part of them. She held up her end by taking the notes and drawing diagrams. That worked out very well as her writing was so much neater than mine and we had to turn the notes in. I’m afraid the typewriter had ruined my handwriting. Use it or lose it!
We worked most of the lab period while Miss Powell graded papers. If we had any questions we were to ask for help, but she preferred we sort things out for ourselves. While Nina and I cut up, poor late Mr. Froggie who would no longer go a courtin, we talked a little about our backgrounds.
She loved the line about Paris and couldn’t wait to repeat it to her friends. Too soon the session was over and it was back to the studio.
I told Mr. Danson that I was going out with Mr. Wyman to look for a new car this evening. He was pleased to hear that. I could drive myself to class.
Back at the studio I headed to the stunt area. After my sword work and lifting I sat and listened to a bull session while waiting for Dick Wyman to show up. They were talking about parachuting as a sport. There were World War II surplus parachutes available for a couple of bucks each.
Apparently there was a small airline company out at Bakersfield that had modified an aircraft so that it was easy to jump out of. They were talking about buying chutes at an Army Navy surplus store and trying it. It sounded like fun. I asked them to keep me posted on when they were going to try it.
Dick showed up and asked about my day. I updated him as we pulled out of the studio.
He then said, “Now let’s talk about the important stuff like a new car.”
“I’m holding out for the 58 Thunderbird convertible in red.”
“You can afford that?”
“I’m fifteen years old, single, working in the movies, yes I can afford that,” I said smugly.
“Well if you are going to be snotty about it I can drop you off at your apartment.”
“Hey, wait, I’m sorry. I do have the money and my parents have approved. It is from money I earned before this movie ever came up.”
Dick knew most of my history. I filled him in on the rewards from the bank robbery and capturing the rustlers. How I had helped set my parents up in a successful business. I didn’t say anything about gold sitting in a safe deposit box. That was my ace in the hole.
“So the movie money is all gravy. Good for you kid. I guess you have earned whatever car you want.”
As we were finishing the conversation I realized that we had pulled into a Ford dealership. He had never intended to take me home.
“You got me Dick.”
“I have noticed that teenage boys need that occasionally to keep them straight.”
When we went into the showroom there it was, sitting on a rotating pedestal, was my dream car. The 1958 Ford Thunderbird convertible in red was beautiful. The sticker said it was an eight cylinder with 352 cubic inches and a four barrel carburetor.
A salesman came over and said, “She is a beauty isn’t she?”
Dick had stepped back so I replied, “Yes she is.”
When I replied the salesman looked disappointed for some reason. He introduced himself and shook hands with Dick and me. He asked which one of us was buying a car today. When I told him it was me he told me.
“Now you have seen your dream car, what can you really afford.”
For some reason Dick was now sniggering.
“This is the car I want and I can afford it.”
The salesman looked at Dick for help. By this time Dick was holding his mouth shut and getting red in the face. Some help he was.
“Mr. Daniels, I said to the car salesman. I really can afford this car. It is going to be an outright purchase. May I take it for a test drive?”
Even I could see the poor salesman was torn. Luckily by this time my ever so helpful mentor was back under control.
He told Mr. Daniels, “Rick can afford the car. I’m his mentor from Warner Brothers. He is working with John Wayne on a movie currently.”
At the same time he handed Mr. Daniels a business card. Those were the magic words.
Mr. Daniels recovered his composure which he had just lost and suggested we take the car out for a test drive. He asked to see my driver’s license.
When he saw my birthdate he muttered, “Movie stars.”
The car was a dream. I would’ve done nothing but drive it around all day but Dick and Mr. Daniels convinced me that we had to eat dinner some time tonight.
We went back to the dealership and the fun began. Mr. Daniels wrote the deal up at sticker price. I looked at him raising one eyebrow as I did.
At the same time I asked, “What numbers are in the Blue Book?”
From there we went back and forth enough that Mr. Daniels had his Manager come over. That was a good sign. I would have definitely been paying too much if the salesman didn’t
have to ask for the boss. I had looked up the names of several Ford dealerships in anticipation of this moment.
“Dick didn’t the studio recommend Claremont Ford?”
“They did but this one is closer to your apartment so I thought it would be easier to get it serviced here.”
“Well this isn’t working lets go to Claremont.”
As I was saying this I was standing up.
“You’re the boss.”
That got the price to a reasonable amount. After signing all the paperwork with Dick countersigning as a holder of my power of attorney, I showed them Mr. Sloan’s card from Wells Fargo.
“I will have a certified check drawn up for this full amount and drop it off tomorrow afternoon after you have the car prepped for delivery.”
The Manager whined enough about a deposit that I pulled out the cash in my wallet and gave him two hundred dollars as a down payment.
He was going to start on whinging some more, but shut up all of a sudden. I think he saw the deal going down the drain if he kept it up. During all of the negotiation’s Dick had made very few comments and those in response to direct questions from me.
When we left for home he asked me where I had learned to deal like that.
“I had a talk with my Uncle Wally before I left home. I knew I was going to buy a car.”
“Your uncle must be some wheeler dealer.”
“Knowing Wally, he would have talked them into giving him an unaccompanied test drive and kept it for the whole seven weeks. He would’ve taken it back with a bill for all the gas he had used.”
It wasn’t that late when we returned to Dick’s apartment. It would be eleven o’clock in Ohio. I called and after convincing Mum that everything was all right told her about the car purchase. She wasn’t that impressed. It could have waited until next Sunday.
That night I read about a slave boy that got lucky when he was bought by Baslim. He was educated in the skills he needed to survive. After Baslim was captured and executed, the boy escaped on the starship Sisu. He ended up being identified as the heir to a spaceship building company.
The company was involved in the slave trade. He ends up taking over the company and getting the pretty girl. I found it to be pretty unbelievable. The guy having one piece of luck after another was hard to swallow. A good read but unreal plot.