Hollywood Mom — Chapter 5

Chapter Five — The Big Screen Movies and “The Shaggy D.A.”

Here we are folks, the fall Equinox has arrived! Gold and orange windsailing leaves carpet lawns and fields. Ghoulish, sardonic jack-o-lanterns peer out of windows and keep watch from porches as goose-bumpy chills bloom on our flesh. Add to that, it’s the “season of the vote” Time to choose our new President. Are you ready?

No matter how you choose to vote, by mail, drop box or at the polls, don’t forget your mask! The now well-known Covid-19 virus has added it’s misery to the melee by raising its ugly head for a second time around, threatening the world, this time with a more intense strain of the killer that has already claimed the lives of many. Caution is the order of the day.

Let’s hope my mother was right. When she was challenged by unsettling circumstances or conditions, she would say: “This too shall pass.” Legend says that when the Bible’s King Solomon was suffering from acute depression, his jeweler forged the now infamous ring with the above quote emblazoned on it to remind the King that time would move forward, leaving troubles behind.

Defending against an unseen enemy has many challenges attached to it, but we are resilient as a species. Despite the masks and social distancing that have intruded upon our daily lives, I believe we can effect change through prayer, meditation, contemplation, and musing. Do whatever you can do to help change this diseased reality into something that lives only in our past. Remember the age-old wisdom of Buddha; “with our thoughts, we create the world.” We need to redirect our thoughts. We need to “see” the world that we want to manifest.

Meanwhile, I offer the following which is an easily digestible snack, as well as the end of my wonderful, wacky, enlightening Hollywood Experience. Enjoy!

Big Screen Movies — “The Shaggy D.A.”

By now I had a live-in housekeeper and thank goodness because, for several months, working on this movie meant waking at four-thirty a.m. and arriving home at five-thirty p.m., sometimes even seven-thirty at night, depending on what scenes were going to be filmed. Special permission was granted for my son to work at night. I would leave instructions with Rosa, the housekeeper, and made sure my children knew how to reach me in the event of an emergency. Rosa barely spoke English, so my then teenage children knew that aside from cooking, cleaning and laundry, they were in charge.

Loading my ten-year-old in the car, along with my set chair (most set moms bring their own chair), my electric typewriter, reams of typewriter paper and books to read, I would head out to merge with the other early-morning freeway commuters. I loved those early morning drives. The sun seemed brand new, the day was fresh and full of promise, and a cheerful group of creative people awaited us at the end of the drive!

This was a Disney movie and Disney sets were happy sets. This movie was peopled with Suzanne Pleshette, Dean Jones, Tim Conway, JoAnne Worley, Vic Tayback, Keenan Wynn, Dick Van Patten, Jerry Marin, Bobby Porter and (sorry) too many others to mention, all stellar actors, including Elwood, the shaggy dog himself. It was here on the set of “The Shaggy D.A.” that my son celebrated his tenth birthday, complete with a specially made cake, and the presentation of a Mickey Mouse watch. That was fun!

Sometimes, on lunch hour, my son and I would “cruise” the gift shop that was right next to the cafeteria. I could have spent a fortune on the jewelry, paintings, and statues, but I reluctantly refrained.

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Suzanne Pleshette played Betty Daniels, my son’s mother, in this movie. I remember sitting next to her on the set. She was gorgeous, gregarious and verbally playful, her only complaint being about a scene in which she would have to be clad in a slip. The scene took place after she and her movie family had had all their furniture and belongings stolen, and she was now sleeping on the bedroom floor, covered only with her fur coat. The scene was to be shot from behind her. A hand would come into view and snatch her coat, exposing her slip covered derriere. Because it was a Disney movie, wardrobe went with a plain white slip. I guess a black slip would have been too daring, too risqué for a Disney movie, but Suzanne wasn’t having any of that. I know this is the first time a Disney movie will show a woman in her underwear, but if my butt is going to be featured in the shot, the slip must be black! The concession was made and, if you’ve seen or will see the movie, make note of Suzanne’s black slip! Even Disney was not about to challenge his female star.

There was one more scene that screamed “caution” to Suzanne. The big (very big) Old English Sheepdog, Elwood, was to stand up and put his front paws on Suzanne’s shoulders. She was concerned about that scene as she had heard that that breed of dog could be unpredictable, and she really liked her face. I can’t say I blamed her for her trepidation. On his hind legs, Elwood was at least as tall as she was, maybe taller, his face no more than three inches from hers. Her movie double filled in for all the rehearsals, Suzanne stepping in at the very last moment. Fortunately, Elwood was a real gentleman and left her unscathed.

I remember Suzanne wearing a stunningly beautiful white gold, diamond ring, the diamonds in full circle around it. I admired it. Everyone admired it. She told me the story of how she got that ring. One of her best friends was Nancy Sinatra. Frank Sinatra had just returned from a business trip to New York and upon his return, walked into the room where Suzanne and Nancy were visiting. He tossed a little, black box from Tiffany’s at each of them. They were both bedazzled by the rings they found inside. Frank does stuff like that, Suzanne said. Unless she was filming, Suzanne had the ring on whenever I saw her.

I really enjoyed being around her. She was easy, comfortable and seemed very unaffected by her profession. I remember watching her one night on “The Late Show” as Johnny Carson’s guest. He asked her what she would like people to most remember her for. She responded, “that I was a good daughter and a good wife.” Her sincere and genuine reply touched me.

Besides being comedic and uninhibited, she was unreservedly candid about her thoughts. She also had a vocabulary that would make a truck driver blush and wasn’t afraid to talk about the dark side of Hollywood. One day she pointed to the multi-storied Universal building and said, do you see that big black building? It’s full of big, bad people.

Suzanne smoked like a chimney, lighting cigarette after cigarette, almost before the last one was out. One day while lighting one she said I really love smoking. Everyone says I should quit, but I have no intention of quitting though I know it’ll be the death of me.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent chemotherapy in the summer of 2006; she rallied, but in late 2007, she barely survived a bout of pneumonia. She died of respiratory failure on Saturday, January 19, 2008.

I’m so glad for the days I spent in her company for those short four months.

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Dean Jones, a dear sweet man, played the part of Wilby Daniels, my son’s father, in the movie. What an agreeable soul he was. Always courteous and gracious, always encouraging, with a quick and playful wit. I had recently extricated myself from an all-encompassing religion, so was a bit unnerved when I discovered, by his own admission, that he was a born-again Christian. Is he going to try to save me? I wondered. But no, he didn’t. In fact, he only related how he’d nearly died before becoming a born-again Christian.

As a very young man he’d had big dreams but, as can happen in life, he found himself experiencing one let down after another. He became very depressed. He felt his career was a decided failure and there were numerous other problems that he was trying to work through. The light at the end of his tunnel was quickly fading to non-existent.

One night, in his confused and lonely misery, he decided he may as well take his own life. There was no success, no hopeful future that he was looking forward to. He rented a hotel room wherein he planned on carrying out the awful deed of ending his disappointing life, but while pondering his state a light appeared in the room and, according to Dean, the face of Jesus appeared. The dialog between them was enough to convince him to change his mind and give life another chance. He left that hotel room and went on to find and live a happy, successful and fulfilled life. I’m so glad I met him as I, too, had been troubled by life. I was nowhere near the hotel room stage, but between the religion and the mental abuse from my marriage that I’d been experiencing, some days were more than gloomy. I think there are reasons for meeting certain people along our road of life. Hearing Dean’s story gave me hope, and his warm and genuine smile helped to make arriving on the set a daily pleasure.

Dean died after a struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 84.

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Tim Conway played Tim, the happy-go-lucky, optimistic, ice cream man in the movie, whose patience was daily tried by Brian, my son’s character.

Despite his comedic reputation, I found Tim to be quiet, almost reserved. Over time I found that many, if not most, comedians were introspective and brooding, most likely the result of a turbulent childhood. Tim seemed to be going through a discomfort at the time. I remember that his car, a Jaguar, was having technical issues. Maybe his attitude had something to do with this? But no, I couldn’t help but think it was something more personal, maybe a marriage thing. I certainly wasn’t going to ask.

Despite any problems he might have had, Tim was enjoyable to be around and couldn’t seem to help adding humor to any conversation, be it a quip or a weird and strange sound. On or off camera, his adlibs were way out in front of simply amusing.

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JoAnn Worley. What a likeable lady. She was happy and charming, just like she was on “Laugh-In,” a television series from the sixties/seventies. Some of you “oldies but goodies” may remember it.

JoAnn played Katrinka Muggelberg in “The Shaggy D.A.”, and flitted around the set, off and on, even though she wasn’t an everyday character, but the finger in her dimpled cheek (as often seen on Laugh-In), along with the accompanying one note “song”, always lifted spirits!

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Keenan Wynn. He seemed so ancient and mysterious to me, as I was only thirty-three at the time and he was — old. Besides the studio medic, Keenan’s personal medic was always on the set whenever Keenan was, especially the day of the infamous pie-fight. Ah yes, hundreds of cherry pies were flying! My son had been waiting for this scene since first reading the script. He knew it would be a down’n’dirty scene and begged that he himself could be hit with a pie. He was.

While JoAnn was throwing pies, Tim was loading her hand with the next one. My son was throwing pies at every “bad guy” he saw! Everyone showed up to watch that day, even those who didn’t have a set call.

Keenan’s mean old codger of a character, John Slade was definitely scheduled for a pie in the face and, despite concerns about his age and health, Keenan willingly agreed to the cherry-flavored missile. As he stood there, his stogie sticking out through the cherries and cream, set medic and his own attendant scraped away the pie filling, peering into his face. You okay? The medic asked. I’m good, said Keenan, brushing away the hands. I think he enjoyed being a kid again.

The second unit director, Art Vitarelli, (he directed the car and bicycle scenes), was there watching, as was my youngest son who stood next to him and happened to be enjoying a bag of chocolate covered raisins. Art looked down at him and said, those look mighty good. Can I have a few? My son attempted to pour a few raisins into Art’s hands but misjudged, the raisins falling to the floor. He looked up and said, dryly, those are yours. Art burst out with robust laughter. Fortunately, he had as unique a sense of humor as did my son.

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This was a messy movie for sure. After the pie fight scene, we had to do a “tar-and-feather” scene, on another day of course. My son and Dean Jones, while trying to escape from the bad guys, inadvertently drove through a paint factory, setting off spray guns that painted my son, Dean, and the jeep they were in, orange. The chase continued, leading them through a pillow factory where clouds of feathers rained down on them. That was another messy scene that my son thoroughly enjoyed, as did Dean Jones. It was Dean’s chance to be a boy again and, once again, laughter was the order of the day. Fortunately, their dressing rooms had showers, and the “paint” was non-toxic and was water soluble.

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One of the perks of being on that movie was the times when my son was in a sound booth taping dialog. My youngest son and I got to hang out in the editing theatre on Disney’s lot. During that time, they were re-editing “Tron.” We daily got to watch the process, scene after scene, over and over. My son loved it. I set myself up by the available light and worked on a story I was writing, and here comes a blatant plug for it. It’s a story about our planet and the need to prepare our children for the work ahead of them as they try to repair the damage that we adults have caused. The book is called, “Castle Fehn: A Visit with Mother Earth.” I wrote that story over thirty-five years ago, and it has just recently been published and released but it’s still timely, in fact, more so now than ever before.

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Bobby Porter was my son’s stuntman. He did all the stunts while dressed up in the Elwood dog suit, (during the sweltering, summer, California heat), filming all the action scenes on the Disney back lot. He was the guy who, as Elwood the dog, rode the bike with Tim Conway on the handlebars (another hilarious scene). Also dressed as Elwood, he drove a car, etc. In between scenes, he played board games with my two boys. He was a very cool guy and being small, he looked like one of the kids but often talked about his beautiful, Asian wife and his own two sons. We thoroughly enjoyed his company. Bobby has worked all kinds of movies such as “Day of the Animals,” “Planet of the Apes,” “The Shaggy D.A.,” “Battle for the Planet of the Apes,” “Flatliners,” “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and is still actively working in Hollywood.

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Jerry Marin. What a wonderful character in life, as well as on the big screen. He was my son’s stand in. He was also one of the Munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz” and did numerous other stand-in jobs for many other child actors. His beautiful wife, Elizabeth, worked as stand-in for many young girls in a variety of movies. Jerry and Elizabeth were “little people” with enormous personalities. I remember how happy Jerry was, as he talked about the recent delivery of the small-sized furniture they had ordered for their home. It came all the way from Japan. Now our feet can touch the floor, he said. Jerry loved fine cigars, too. I was saddened to hear of his recent death, but his ninety-some years on this planet were filled with happy times, and his presence on the set was always welcomed.

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Irene Burke: set teacher. She was an older woman (she won’t mind me saying that) who made school fun for many child actors, for my son, and for me. A trailer had been set up on the studio lot to be used as the classroom. The one-on-one scenario of teacher/student helped to make my son’s class assignments fly by. Leftover time was used for creative projects. He made three-dimensional angels out of cardboard. He made “Moses” out of a quart beer bottle and some rags, and an assortment of other treasures. If my son wasn’t needed on the set till late that afternoon, a chauffeur would drive all three of us to places like the Griffith Park Observatory or Museum, or the La Brea Tar Pits. So much fun! So much good company!

Irene was a very special lady, who inspired my own writing abilities. She was married but kept her own house. She saw no reason why husbands and wives should have to live together under the same roof just because they had a marriage license. Visitations to each other’s homes makes life more exciting, she once said. A light went on in my head. That made good sense to me!

A few years after the movie was over, Irene’s husband passed. Irene left the country and moved into her dream home to retire and write. She had purchased a hundred-year-old house in Ireland. I did turn slightly green. She was my kind of lady, and like Suzanne and me, she was an “off-the-wall” Aquarian!

She and Suzanne were both inspirational women to me. They knew who they were and were true to themselves. Something I was just beginning to learn.

An added bonus to this movie experience was when we pulled up to our local movie theater and saw my son’s name on the brightly lit marquis.

A few years later, when I visited the sound stage of The Shaggy D.A., I saw bits of dried and petrified cherries in some of the corners where we filmed the cherry pie fight.

Scavenger Hunt

Have you ever been on a scavenger hunt? They can be fun — and crazy! We spent part of one summer working on an uproarious movie called “Scavenger Hunt.” How could it not be funny with stars like Tony Randall, Cloris Leachman, Scatman Crothers, Cleavon Little, James Coco, Richard Mulligan, Richard Benjamin, and a host of others, including my son, and a few unpredictable Ostriches. If you’re interested in the long roster of other celebrities appearing in the movie (and there were many), you can google it. They’re all listed.

The feeling of this movie reminded me of the comedy, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.” I wonder how many of you are old enough to remember that movie.

“Scavenger Hunt” was a multi-location movie, migrating all the way from San Francisco to San Diego. It had more than its share of slap-stick comedy (on and off screen). Sometimes it seemed more like a traveling party than a movie.

Because it was summertime and the kids were out of school, my daughter, my youngest son, and I followed the circuit of sets. It was a surprise and delight to discover that we were scheduled for two weeks of filming in San Diego. Yes! San Diego beaches! My oldest son even took time off from work to join us. He wasn’t going to miss that location.

We stayed in Pacific Beach, a short distance from downtown San Diego. Our hotel was right on the beach (those movie location-scouts really did us right!) When my son’s scenes were finished for the day, we migrated to the beach shore for wiener roasts and Frisbee games. One day we met a group of Portuguese fishermen who told us tales of a strange-looking, monster-like creatures caught in their fishing nets. They even had pictures! One more reason why I will never go diving in the ocean!

As an avid reader, I often hauled novels with me to the sets, which were many and diversified, both the novels and the sets. Sometimes I buried my nose in a book while lounging on the sand; sometimes I sat on a chair beneath a tree; sometimes I found solitude in a dressing room, tucked away from the too bright sun and the friendly but noisy chatter. Several of the books I’ve written had their beginnings on a movie set, fueled by the creative energies that abounded all around me. Typing away on my “IBM Selectric II” typewriter, I was apt to forget the time till someone knocked on the door to remind me of lunch. I had an advantage most writers don’t have, too. Since there was no Google in those days, if ever I found myself stumbling over a word, I had the convenience of an actual, living, Webster’s Dictionary Board Member at my fingertips — enter Mr. Tony Randall! He’d served on Webster’s board for years and knew the spelling and definition of any word I threw at him. He was also a wise and traveled man. Hearing that my youngest child was juvenile diabetic, and since my older son was in the running for a part in a new movie called “Masada” (to be filmed in Jerusalem), Tony’s advice was, if your son gets the part, be sure to take your youngest son with you as the doctors there are very advanced in the treatment of diabetes. Sadly, for us, we missed out and the role went to someone else (lucky kid).

Tony had a very dry, but very spicy, sense of humor, though at times he seemed a little lonely. I enjoyed spending time around him while on the set. His role in the movie was as the father to my son. They worked very well together. I was happy to learn that later in his life, Tony married and had sons of his own.

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Cloris Leachman: a spunky, health-food-wise, vegetarian lady, who often brought her own food to the caterers, complete with her orders on how to cook it. An avid health-food-regime person long before the craze hit the scene Cloris didn’t hesitate to declare the downfalls that could arise from consuming sugary drinks and desserts and unnecessary fats, but one day while having a playful tussle with a crew member about her chair, a very large (and very sweet) chocolate candy bar fell out of her pocket, much to her chagrin. The crew member grabbed it and held it up for all to see, teasing her about her very strict diet. Poor Cloris. As her face reddened, she did her best to explain the need for it should her blood sugar drop. She chased that crew person across the lawn, threatening to smack him with her script, till we all ended up laughing, as did she. But with my diabetic son to care for, I perfectly understood the need for an instant “sugar-fix.”

Cloris was always one of my favorite character actors, and I was thrilled to meet her. I fondly remember her wonderful performances as Nurse Diesel in Mel Brooke’s “High Anxiety” and of Frau Blucher in “Young Frankenstein,” as well as her humourism on “The Mary Tyler Show.” She was down to Earth, outgoing and extroverted, unlike other comedians I’ve met. I truly enjoyed watching her interact with others on the set. She was warm, likable and very easy to talk to. Many don’t know that, as “Miss Chicago,” Cloris competed in the 1946 Miss America pageant, (winner of which was Marilyn Buferd). Cloris has certainly earned all the honors bestowed on her since.

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All in all, working “Scavenger Hunt” was very comforting and relaxing, in addition to being so waggish. My kids and I truly needed that happy energy in our lives. The word divorce had been haunting me, rattling around in my head for several months. My husband had moved out and spent most of his time traveling with his female “partner.” I found it interesting that the song “I Will Survive” by Donna Summer was at the top of the hit parade at that time. I had visions of him turning his car radio off when that song came on.

Our two-week time in San Diego was glorious. Besides our wiener roasts, we built bon fires on the beach; roller skated in the underground parking lot at the Pacifica Hotel; and Dick Wicklund, the set teacher, taught the boys to make what he called Russian airplanes out of paper, which they launched from the hotel roof; we went to a local theater and saw “Love at First Bite”; and went out to dinner every night. Again, because we were on location, we all got per diem ($$) and spent it freely! The fun and happiness that I and the children had missed out on for so many years became plainly evident while on that location.

Interesting enough, it was on that movie that I “found” my second (and last) husband (just sayin’). He was a driver on the set and picked us up and drove us to the shooting location every morning and back to our hotel at night. I certainly wasn’t man shopping, but that shiny black hair and those green, green eyes were hard to miss. I ended up taking “green-eyes” home with me! His own two boys moved in with us and we were a married family for ten years.

Other movies

We worked on a few movies because of requests by Jackie Cooper, No interview or audition needed! Yay!

Resurrection

This was a 1980 American drama film about a woman who survives the car accident that kills her husband but discovers that she has the power to heal other people. She becomes an unwitting celebrity, the hope of those in desperate need of healing, and a lightning rod for religious beliefs and skeptics. It starred Ellen Burston, whose character “crashed” her car while trying to avoid hitting my son who was riding his skateboard in the street. Written by‎: ‎Lewis John Carlino

Lipstick

A 1976 American rape and revenge thriller film directed by Lamont Johnson and starring Margaux Hemingway, Chris Sarandon, and Anne Bancroft. Mariel Hemingway also has a supporting role as Margaux’s onscreen sister. The film follows a fashion model who is raped by her sister’s music teacher.

My twelve-year old son was also chosen for his small part by Jackie Cooper, and was delighted to spend the day at Santa Barbara’s beach with these two glamorous beauties. Even more so because his scene involved finding a scantily clothed Margaux lying on a rock on the shore. Somewhere I have a picture of him standing next to a kneeling Mariel. Both sisters were in the six-foot range so, even kneeling, Mariel was taller than my son.

Disruptions, Tidbits and Warnings

On a personal level and true enough, the disruptions in our lives grew in number. We endured the open looks of displeasure from our religious peers, which grew more frequent and intense (we were hanging with worldly people after all!) till we didn’t even want to attend the five meetings-a-week. (We were once very pro-active in the church). One night a simple “straw” broke the camel’s back. Some remark about how our son looked like a girl and that we should give him a haircut. I wondered if anyone ever said that to Samson of the Bible, a faithful servant of God. After many “straws,” and disapproving glances, we all got up and left, never to return. Deep down inside I was happy. My love and respect for a divine creator never suffered and, in fact, grew stronger once I was away from the rules and protocols imposed by the erring judgement of humans.

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FYI, if you are considering Hollywood as a possible future for all or one of your children, the disruption in both yours and your children’s lives will be real and evident in many respects. The interference in their social and after-school life will be obvious. While a showbiz life can be educational and fun (and good for one’s bank account), I would suggest you talk frankly to your children about what they might gain, as well as what they will lose. For example. As soon as I picked the younger ones up after school they would ask, any auditions today? I usually had to say yes, meaning another drive into Hollywood on crowded freeways, not arriving back home till near or after dark. It became routine and we got used to it.

Their combined work had already generated enough money to put my youngest son in a very prestigious private school, and my oldest son and daughter through cosmetology school (another firm “suggestion” from their father). Again, the profession chosen by their father and not them, was to no avail.

My eldest son did do some commercials but soon adamantly refused to take time away from his life to attend auditions, and chose not to immerse himself in that world, much to his father’s chagrin. My daughter also did commercials and print jobs but she, too, took another road. The print job she did for “Jeep” became a very visible freeway ad and one day she said, with her sarcastic humor, Okay. That’s enough exposure.

Important Tidbits

Depending on your child’s age, work permits might differ state to state. I suggest you ask for a list of requirements and/or restrictions regarding a juvenile working on a set, in fact, I urge you to get to know what is or isn’t allowed as regards a working child. Memorize the rules or keep a list of the rules with your child’s work permit.

I believe work permits must still be renewed yearly until your child reaches the age of eighteen but, as things change, you’ll want to check with your states Labor Board Department as to how often your state requires the permit to be renewed, and whether there are any fees involved. Your child’s agent should be able to help you with this process as well.

A quick note of interest; if your very young child happens to be a twin, you’re in luck! Both twins will have to have their own work permit, but studios love to hire twins. Why? Because young children are only allowed to be on set for small increments of time. No sun-up to sun-down days for them. Movies and series’ especially, even some commercials, can require more time with your child. Let’s say children, aged two to five, can legally work three hours per day. If there are two of them the time on the production set doubles, as with the Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen twins, or Lindsay and Sydney Greenbush from Little House on the Prairie. This is much to the delight of the production company.

Another legality is that your child will have to work under the Taft Hartley law for their very first job which basically says that, even though there are hundreds of other children who are already union members and who could do the job, your child has exactly what the sponsors or production team are looking for, so he/she gets the job. The production company usually takes care of that paperwork.

Now for the Warnings!

The not-so-nice news is that no work scenario is perfect. There are some things to be cautiously aware of, especially in Hollywood. There are some dark and shady things — thoughtless, immoral people, with ulterior motives, as the news media has recently shown. Although I was somewhat ignorant of the dangers that lurked beyond the audition room, strange as it may seem, my very young children were immediately aware of it. My own kids were more in tune with the prevailing influence than I was at the time. I repeat, I was naïve, but had taught my children to respect themselves and to stand up for and defend their honor. The following are cases in point.

My ten-year-old son was always ready to perform and was reliable and eager for the spotlight, but not so eager as to violate his principles. One well-known photographer invited him to a one-on-one photo session that was to take place in a hotel room. Mom (me) was asked to wait in the adjoining room so as not to distract him while the photography ensued. I would be right next door so felt at ease. Unbeknownst to me, my son was given one of those rather skimpy, Speedo bathing suit to wear and was asked to pose by crawling around on the floor. It just didn’t feel right to my son, so he declined, but the photographer insisted that it would be okay. My son said no. When the photographer pressed him further, my son took a step toward the man and said NO! Realizing that this ten-year-old meant business, and that there would no doubt be a scene if he pressed further, the man relented, and the session was over. Later, I saw this same photographer in a fleeting and insignificant article in a newspaper. He’d been arrested for child pornography and, I believe, spent time in jail.

Several episodes of the no-longer airing “Dr. Oz” show featured Corey Feldman, who spoke candidly about himself and his fellow actor Corey Haim and their exposure to this world of sexual and blatant promiscuity, and of well-known directors and producers who were involved.

Another time, as I understand it, my not yet teenage son was offered alcohol by one or more well-known Hollywood stars. He refused and mentioned it to me, at a much later date.

These are only two of the kinds of incidents that kids might encounter in Hollywood. My son did lose some jobs because of not being willing to do “favors” for directors and/or producers and was told so by them. As a young pre-teen, he watched as some of his associate actors were invited, by various producers, to their back-lot trailers or offices. What happened in those offices, who knows?

There have also been fatal, mishaps on a Hollywood production because of blatant disregard of rules, case in point, the “Twilight Zone” movie set.

The director in question (John Landis) was very aware of SAG rules regarding children being on a set at night, especially without a studio hired child-welfare worker. The director, in a hurry to film the final scene of the night (yes night), a knowingly dangerous scene, proceeded to break the rules about working children at night. As later testimony showed, warnings were issued to him by crew members, cautioning him about filming the scene, but the warnings were ignored. As a result, the well-known actor Vic Morrow, and both the six and seven-year-old children in the scene were killed by a falling helicopter. Had there been a teacher/welfare worker on the set, even an informed guardian, to overrule the director’s bad decision, Vic Morrow and the children might still be alive. Why there wasn’t is the all-important question. A transcript about that fateful night on the set of The Twilight Zone movie can be Googled. I choose not to include those gruesome details in my book. I add only the warning about broken procedures and violated rules.

So, the word of caution is, if you’re thinking of allowing your young one to begin a career in Hollywood there are many rewards. If you decide to step into that world, enjoy yourself. Just be sure you are the pesky, always nosey mother, aka, the necessary evil. If you can’t be there, be sure there is a knowing, capable, responsible adult on the set with your child — at all times.