[GreenKeys] My experience acting for Warner Brothers

[Gary Buda]

Don, 

I enjoyed reading about your great fun on the movie set.  Maybe I will get to 
see you in the movie. 

73's,

Gary WA0NDN
NNNN

On Sunday 16 October 2005 05:33 am, Don Robert House wrote:
> Filming "Flags of our Fathers"
>
> Friday, October 14, 2005. An exciting day.  Up at 5:10 a.m. for the
> drive to Hollywood.  All of the Teletype equipment and Facsimile
> equipment packed in the back of David Weil's van.  We arrived about
> 8:20 a.m. at the Formosa Street gate at the old Goldwyn studio and
> drove to Sound Stage 2.  A huge studio with lots of history around.
> The people were very patient and kind to David and me. We were under
> contract to the Warner Brothers Art Department for the film
> production based on Jim Bradley's book "Flags of our Fathers."  This
> is the story of the men who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo
> Jima.
>
> David and I set up the equipment and then I was off to get my costume
> and 1945 haircut.  They shaved off my goatee but kept my mustache.
> They took away my good glasses and gave me horn-rimmed prop glasses.
> Great, now I can't see worth a damn!  A runner came to escort me to
> the set of the White House oval office.  Next to the oval office is a
> Secretary's office.  The model 15 was placed to the left of the
> Secretary's desk.
>
> I tried to explain to the Director, Clint Eastwood that the format of
> the message and the age of the machine would make it almost
> impossible to type an accurate message complete with military
> formatting (especially since I could not see).  Mr. Eastwood said "I
> suppose you will want Workman's comp for your sore fingers".  I said
> "No, I have neuromas in my feet and arthritis in my hands but I am
> here to help the best I can."   I continued to explain that David
> would be transmitting the exact text from a precut tape from behind
> the set. So he said "OK, let's go with it!"  As the camera crew set
> up to film from behind me and roll up to the Teletype, I was chatting
> with the actor "David" who would be "dictating" the message to me...
> Again trying to explain the headers before the actual text.  Mr. "E"
> came up next to me and said "We have come all this way without
> thinking, lets not start now!"
>
> After the first take it became obvious that the dictation needed to
> come after the routing and header information so David Weil marked
> the tape at the end of the word
> "C O N F I D E N T I A L" That is the time the actor David started
> dictated the message as I typed while the 15 was in the receive
> mode.  Two of the character actors told me that I was a good actor
> because they could not tell that I was merely depressing random keys,
> and that it looked as if I was actually typing the message.
>
> The next take Mr. E told me he was going to film the side of my head
> as the camera came up to the machine and that my head would be 20
> feet high on the screen.  This with his typical grin and laughter in
> his voice.  I told him I hoped he was kidding... The assistant
> director told me, "oh no he never kids."
>
> Anyway, we finally finished the filming and the cast and crew went to
> lunch about 3:30 p.m.  Mr. Eastwood shook David Weil's and my hand
> and thanked us for our contribution to his film. David and I were too
> tired to go to lunch and were facing a three hour drive back to San
> Diego.
>
> The filming of the facsimile machine will be next Wednesday so I will
> be on call to assist David in it's operation.  It will be a "staged"
> reproduction of the wire photo of the famous flag raising, done with
> as the prop master put it, "with smoke and mirrors."
>
> All very interesting, somewhat challenging, and also tiring.  An
> experience I will not soon forget.  This is not the first time we
> have provided machines for films, but it was the first time our
> contributions were serving as very important contributions to key
> scenes in a major motion picture.  "Flags of our Fathers" will be in
> theaters sometime in 2006.
>
> I would like to thank David Weil and all of my Greenkeys friends that
> helped us with our contribution to this motion picture.  Special
> thanks to Robert Downs for shipping the PP-86E power supply on short
> notice...  And to George Hutichison for Model 14 and 15 adjustment
> advice plus locating a couple of 5Z3 tubes from Glen Gallati's store.
>
> Before I changed my clothes one of the crew took me aside for a
> production photograph.  He also kindly took a photo with my digital
> camera.  I will post the photo on my webshots site:
>
> <http://community.webshots.com/user/realstuff>   Look in the Teletype
> & Data photo album...
>
> Don Robert House, K9TTY
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