Horror Stories About Prop People. Part Three.

Okay.  I was producing "Happy Days".
We were doing an episode where Ralph Malph was trying to impress a girl.
The girl was played by Amy Irving.
I'm sure it's something she's still trying to live down.
We wanted to get a pair of those eyeglasses that has Slinky eyeballs.
I mean what's more funny and character-driven than that?
We went to our prop man, the less-than-legendary Gene Gossert.
Gene was ancient then, and was, among other things the prop man  for "The Real McCoys".
And he swore up and down that they don't make the Slinky eyeballs glasses anymore.
He then fished out this pair of glasses that had little wings attached to the upper corners.
And they sparkled.  And they weren't the least bit funny.
But Gene then swore up and down that they were just as good.
Who were we to argue?
I mean, the man worked with Walter Brennan, and all.
So we were stuck and went with the glasses with the wings that sparkled.
It got nothing.
It died like a dog in front of the live audience.
They all knew better than Gene Gossert.
Cut to: a week later.  I'm on Hollywood Boulevard, going to one of my favorite movie memorabilia
shops, Larry Edmunds Bookstore.
Right there in the front window are the eyeglasses with the Slinky eyeballs.
Not only do they still make them, but they only cost twenty bucks.
Another example of the prop man simply wanting to make his own life easier by not doing his job.
I thought about buying a pair for each of the writers to wear at the next run-through, but I honestly thought he might have been so dense that he wouldn't have even realized that he was being mocked.
So I spared him the embarrassment that only we had by using those ersatz glasses.
There will be one more of these next time.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.
The phone number for tickets for my play, "Who Wants Fame?" beginning July 30th in Detroit, is 248-579-3365.  If you're in the area, you'll have a great time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------