Happy Holidays! and Good news / Bad news

Anybody remember me?  Sorry it's been so long....something about cooking for 43 at 5 different dinners here, cards, wrapping, mailing packages and 3 weeks of decorating.  It was great!  So to relieve my Post Christmas Traumatic Stress Syndrome, I put a ladder up from my library side today and reached in as far as I could under the eaves and managed to pull out a box labelled "Film Stuff."  That's a very scientific technical term, I know.  So the good news is that there is a lot of Magnum stuff in there.  The bad news is that, other than this photo of these 3 studly 80's  guys in their shorts, everything is unfortunately in slide form.  The other good news is that there is lots of stuff I can put on ebay and maybe make enough money to buy a slide scanner for my Mac.  The ones you see for $99 everywhere (I even bought one once) only work on PC's.   And no, I'm not sending you the slides so you can scan them!  So there will be some new posts of what looks like quite a few sets I haven't shown.  You may have to identify most of them as the slides aren't labelled.  Some boxes say "Luther Gillis Den, Guesthouse," "Whorehouse," "T.C.'s LR & Office" and some blank ones.  I think there still should be more slides somewhere, but I could only reach in so far.  The real access to that space is full of stuff.  There is also paper work, stationery, and even an asset list of set dressing for a year among other things.

The man who bought my Magnum jacket a few months ago would be amused to know that instead of the jacket at Christmas, we received this card.  It almost seems strange to see it say "Merry Christmas" on it.   I forgot the jackets took a long time and we were given this card instead.  A little "Magnum humor"  (very little).  The other is a page that we were given (at least mine seems to be an original) of an ad Tom took out in Variety magazine.  In case you don't know, no one ever says "Thank You" in this business.  I always say that fact you haven't been fired yet is the only thanks that you will ever get.  Tom was different and was very appreciative. 

So, not the most exciting post, but that's probably going to be it for my inagural blog year of 2008.  I'm going to be away from my computer until January 12 and will start posting again soon after.  I really appreciate all of your encouragement regarding this blog.  May all of my good karma pay off soon with a job in 2009! 

The picture is of  my crew members,  Al on the left and Russ on the right, and me with the great legs in the middle.  It was taken outside my office.  Tom's office was off on the right, next door to mine.

I will look forward to posting more next year as long you keep enjoying them!

Hauole Makahiki Hou!

Rick

Higgins' "Other" Bedroom Set

In the hopes that I might find some pictures, I climbed into a storage area under a stairway in my home that I open about once every few years.  I did find a Magnum file that had my original start papers and things from my employment.  I did find some photos printed from some slides.  They were labelled "Higgins' Bedroom.  I do remember doing an another bedroom for him later.  I'm guessing this might have been part of a flashback or something because the walls are just painted and not the usual aged plaster look.  Ironically there is virtually nothing from his original bedroom set posted earlier so there must not have been any interest in continuity.  There is also nothing of mine in this room which tells me it must have been closer to my "end" as the decorator or maybe even after when I became the assistant to the person who replaced me.  I still did many of the sets even though I was never given credit for them.........another long story that I can't put in this blog.  I do have a few more sets to post and then I have got to dig out my oldest files and hope I find the mother lode.  Maybe I could post some "Jake and the Fatman" sets and drive you all crazy trying to figure out which Magnum sets they were?  That wouldn't last long since you're all too smart for me on this subject!

     One of the few benefits of unemployment, I mean "availability," is I can really do up Christmas.  With no TV sets to dress, that leaves my house and lots of Christmas stuff I haven't had time to dig out in years.  It doesn't pay much, but it keeps me off the beach.  Hope all you anonymous people out there and my loyal 14 followers are having a good holiday season as well.  Posting again soon!

Aloha,  Rick

'Twas the Week Before Christmas.......or thereabouts

This is my "Magnum Christmas Story."  Sorry, it doesn't involve Santa, little children or puppies.  We were doing some sort of terrorist training camp out in Kahuku on the North Shore of Oahu (like no one would notice) right before Christmas one year.  Normally set dressing does tents, everything in them, and even camouflage netting.  Sometimes the net might be part of the set and sometimes it is used to hide something in the distance like the camera truck, inappropriate signs, or buildings.  The Kahuku location chosen was perfect in every way except for a large trailer home that was used by the caretaker and his family too near the set.  My crew hung a very large camouflage net to cover the house so that it wasn't noticeable from the set.  

     I think it was the art director who ultimately found the old plane that special effects head, Jack Faggard was to blow up.  Jack was a really good "powder man" and known for his big explosions.  In the film business, while explosive powder is used, it is more for show often blowing harmless pieces of cork as debris.  The actual damaged look might be created later by tools or paint and much more controlled than what might appear on the screen...still, it is an explosion and not always 100% predictable.  On the day of the explosion, all the usual precautions were taken, crew cleared, and the family of the home was allowed to watch from a distance.  Off went the charge--a lot more than was expected--and it looked great!

Moving on to the next scene, the family returned to their home on the other side of our camo net hung to hide their house.  What they found was that all  their windows had been blown out, their Christmas tree was on the other side of the room along with their presents.  Whoops!  So the show paid for new windows, another Christmas tree and I'm not sure what they did about the presents, but I'm sure there were a few more!  The shock wave of the blast had traveled through the netting and right at their house.  Possibly special effects hadn't noticed how close the house was behind the net or maybe it was just a mis-directed blast.  In any case, it was almost not a very Merry Christmas for the family who luckily had watched the explosion.  And they all lived happily ever after.  The End.

It's time to play....NAME THAT EPISODE!

This is another one of those sets that looked good then, but would probably get me fired today in its simplicity.  I think the painter would be in the same boat as the paint aging is pretty bad, too.  I have no idea which episode this was from but we built this from scratch in an area known as Sherwood Forrest on Waimanalo Beach--even though I think it was supposed to be in the mountains somewhere.  

I thought it was good that you see that we didn't build any more than was necessary--hence the half of a water tank.  It looks like the Greens Department had a ways to go getting some planting around the base of the cabin.  There is very little age or uniformity in the dressing out on the deck.  This sort of "screams SET" and doesn't look believable to me now.  I've already checked--the fireplace rocks do not line up with the ones in Agatha's house (which sounds like I'm succumbing to "Magnum Mania" for detail!)--although it is strangely the same size.  The stones all look too uniform and plain for supposedly being lava rock.  Well, not much more to say about this set since I don't really remember any more stories about it.  Since there is no way for me to top the last 2 postings, here is something less exciting for you to ponder.

As I am getting close to Thanksgiving, I may or may not have time to post again this week.  Robin Masters would be right at home with my overindulgent feast, but unfortunately Higgins has the week off and I'm doing it all by myself.  OMG, I'm slipping into Magnum dementia!

Happy Thanksgiving to all and let's be thankful for what we do have whether we are celebrating with turkey on Thursday or not.

Aloha,  Rick

Look what I found.....The Guesthouse Set! (and ME!)

Who would think I'd ever put this photo of me on the internet?  Well, I sure won't be mistaken for Tom Selleck!  One day the Art Director, Archie Bacon, and I were walking by the unprotected, uncovered Ferrari and I just happened to have my camera.  Like a couple of naughty kids, we took turns taking pictures of each other sitting in the car.  Yeah, I'm SO cool that I didn't even know how to open the door from the outside or the inside so I had to climb in and out!  This was the "driving " Ferrari.  They also had a "tow" Ferrari which they used behind a camera truck for when you saw Tom inside the car "driving"--which he wasn't.  Again, cutting back and forth between actual driving shots and sitting behind the wheel shots, it looks pretty good.  That's the soundstage behind me on the left.

On to the guesthouse photo--it turns out I did have one in my portfolio.  That means that when Indiana Jones comes over and we go on a quest in my attic to find the long buried photos, there could be more (?).  I know you all have seen this set more recently and more often than I have so pardon my first impression on seeing it for the first time in decades--what a dump!  It's much smaller than I remember and almost looks dirty with those walls.  Ok, please, no hate mail and death threats--it's just my first thougts after all these years.  You can see the make-up tables being stored inside the set since space was always a premium on that stage.  George Sumner was a personal friend of John Hillerman so that painting had to hang prominently over the fireplace.  It would not have been my choice since it photographed so dark on camera.  Basically the furniture was pretty much run of the mill sort of middle class Sears contemporary items.  I had forgotten there actually were windows on the camera left side of the set and the smaller one on the landing.  Normally a set would be lit for filming and then the lights taken down and used elsewhere.  As you can see, the basic lights were left up on the catwalk all the time because this was a permanent set.  The guesthouse set was fairly close to the side wall of the soundstage--the back wall maybe 6-8 feet away which made it difficult to have a higher ceiling since the roof sloped down at that point.  You can see the small ceiling sections over the entry door.

There was a door to the right of the TV set that really did lead into Tom's bedroom set.  There was also a small wall portion that could be used as part of the "4th wall" but was seldom seen.  I think that is my leadman Russ Maki standing on the set.  

Many have asked what happened to all the items.  I am amazed at how many of those items did survive the "great purge" when they tore down the old set dressing building a few years ago.  It's funny how when things are taken away from their original environment, they just become "stuff."  Like after my parents had died and we sold the family home, I brought things back to Hawaii that had been in that house for decades.  Somehow without the wall paper and windows and familiar surroundings, the things just weren't the same.  What few items that may or may not still exist in the new storage area,  are the property of the State of Hawaii Film Office and would not be for sale--so don't ask!   I'll be the one getting in trouble for even mentioning it!

I found a few other surprises--even a "funny" Christmas story (and photos) about an explosion we did that accidentally  blew out the windows out of a house and sent their Christmas tree flying across their living room.  Have to wait for Christmas for that one!  Again, thanks for all your encouragement and comments.  (don't stop now!)

"Echoes of the Mind" 2-Hour Season Opener

This has to be one of the biggest and best sets I've ever done--in many ways.  This episode stared a fairly unknown actress playing the good twin/evil twin (yes, that plot again) in a 2 hour season opener that Marco will tell us which one--at least I remembered the title he told me).

The location was amazing!  One of the great homes of Honolulu happened to be empty.  In the mid 80's it was for sale for $5.9 million.   It is now the Contemporary Art Museum although some elements of the home remain.  A chance to furnish several rooms in this home (and have the budget to do it) was a dream come true and I ran with it!  There were still amazing resources back then to choose from:  Robert Rose / Kreiss Collection, Orientations by Greg Mills,  Consignment Center, Rattan Art Gallery, and   Treasures of the East were all world class decorating resources (and all gone now).  I remember the black rosewood bench along the wall cost $16,000 (relax, rented for 15%).  Well, it was almost a purchase when someone sat on the arm and cracked it.  This was one time I didn't let my usual honesty get in the way.  We glued it and never said another word!

The most memorable and wonderful event to come out of this design was my meeting the late Betty Ho.  Betty was one of "the little old ladies" who did these amazing, creative flower sculptures ("arrangement" is too common!) for the Honolulu Academy of Art (ironically the former location of the home by the builder of this home).  Anyway, I'd heard that Betty had a group of ladies who could do some large scale and elegant arrangements for this set.  I needed something elegant, opulent, and overscale to help fill these huge spaces--like a 60 foot living room and a 30 foot wide window.  We became immediate friends and remained so for 20 years until her untimely death.  I learned a lot from her but mine never seemed to match the elegance of hers.

By comparison to most of my sets ( as you may have noticed), this one is not as "full" as most of my sets are.  My reasoning that it's easier to take something out than have to find something to put in didn't really apply to this set.  It was 80's contemporary with Asian influence in a tropical setting.  I also did a bedroom and some outdoor spaces, but I don't know if I have photos of those areas or not.  These photos are just the ones I've had in my old portfolio.

This season the producers gave me a photo made from a frame of film that showed my name in the credits.  It has Sharon and Tom sitting on that striped day bed with Higgins looking on and my name.  It's still framed and I don't want to take it apart to scan.  I guess you can always stop motion at the end and see for yourself.

Anyway, I don't think I will be topping this set in the blog any time soon so I hope you enjoy it.

As always, your comments and questions are appreicated!

Aloha,  Rick

Cheesy to Sleazy Photos that didn't fit in part 1 or 2

I I guess I made these photos too large as I got the "error" notice when I tried all of them in the Part 1 post.  P.S.  sorry about my typos--I shouldn't have the TV on next to my computer when I'm posting.  Unfortunately not watching Magnum reruns!

I don't remember where I got all those great mannequins, but they really worked out well.

A friend of mine who was the main scenic artist for the opera here painted the Mona Lisa with the bikini top.   I hate to tell you but that is my statue of Venus de Milo.  She's been living in my bathroom for 20 some years (without the pasties on).  So much for my degree in art history--more like desecration of art history.  Thanks for looking..........Aloha,  Rick