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Douglas Wambaugh in Court with me in the background.
Jimmy and Jill Brock at a Thanksgiving Day parade with me in the background.
I was cast on the show "Picket Fences" six times for a total of ten days of work. The first three times I worked on the show was on the pilot, so of course I hadn't seen the show and didn't know what it was about. It turned out to be a highly rated drama with a comic touch and was on the air for several years despite inconsistent ratings, due in part to CBS moving it around too much. The show dealt with many contemporary issues such as abortion, adultery, assisted suicide, divorce, homosexuality, masturbation, menopause, murder, school busing, and many others. It dealt with these issues with humor, and had an interesting cast of characters.
The first three times I worked on "Picket Fences" was during a single week, with no two consecutive days and in three separate locations. The first time was at a location in the city of Monrovia, which is in the San Gabriel Valley, Northeast of downtown Los Angeles. I enjoyed working in Monrovia, because the location was only eleven miles from my home. Monrovia was used in many episodes for external shots of Rome, Wisconsin, the fictional town that was the location for the show. The Methodist Church was used frequently for an external shot of the Rome courthouse. This time, however, the interior of the church was used for a funeral scene, and exterior scenes of the funeral church were actually shot at a Baptist Church about a block away. I sat in the church scene and most of the time off camera with an extra who said she was a model and was going to be going to Las Vegas in conjunction with some event, and that her picture would eventually be in the newspapers. Over time I have forgotten what this event was, but sure enough, several months later her picture was in the Los Angeles Times with regard to this event. I think the reason she hung around me was because other extras were hitting on her and she didn't want to deal with that so she used me as somewhat of a shield.
Early in the morning of that first day in Monrovia, I was standing by the wardrobe trailer drinking a cup of coffee, when Ray Walston rode up on a bicycle. Ray Walston was a regular on "Picket Fences" playing Judge Henry Bone, the local magistrate. He eventually won an Emmy for best actor in a supporting role for that part. I observed over the times I worked on the show that Walston always had a bicycle and rode it to get around whether at the studio or on location. While standing there that morning, I asked him what the show had been where Bill Bixby had been his costar, because I couldn't remember. He replied "My Favorite Martian".
A couple of days later, another scene was shot in the city of San Fernando, in the San Fernando Valley and over 45 miles from where I live. It was near where the Rodney King beating had taken place, so, since I was early, I drove by that site on the way to work. The scene was in a school assembly room and was about a concert by a school orchestra. A couple of days after that, "Picket Fences" shot some scenes at another location in Hollywood. At the time of this writing I have no memory whatsoever of that day.
Ten months passed before I was cast in "Picket Fences" again. Once again it was in Monrovia and was some scenes outside the courthouse. The story was about an uprising of Native Americans because of a conflict over their consecrated grounds. Native Americans were cast from nearby reservations and from communities who had a lot of them, even though they didn't often work as extras. They were paid a higher base than most extras. Extras are generally not paid according to their race, although sometimes Asians get a higher base if the role calls specifically for an Asian. Black, White, and Latino extras are plentiful enough that there is no need to pay a higher base. Enough Asians are available also, except when a large number are needed, thus the occasional higher base. Sometimes Latinos are used to play Native Americans, but at other times, at attempt is made for more realism.
In the morning I visited with a woman whose only reason for being there was that she was the landlady for a couple of Native Americans who did not have drivers' licenses, so she drove them to and from their apartments in San Bernardino. I was to be used in a scene at the end of the day outside the courthouse where a TV network reporter was reporting on the end of the uprising. There were four or five of us who were to be print reporters standing behind the network reporter as she gave her report. The actress who played the reporter showed up in the afternoon, and although she had a trailer, she spent most of the afternoon outside visiting with me. Her first name was Susan, but I don't remember her last name. She was one of many actors, who are called day players, who play small roles. Often they have another job, which she did, and which I also don't remember. We were finally all called to the set at dusk, and as people were being placed for the scene, it was decided that Susan would do the scene by herself without any background except a couple of firemen with their fire engines. When I saw the episode aired, I could see why. Her scene was shown on a TV screen that was being watched by other characters in the episode, and more people would have made the screen too crowded.
I worked on another funeral scene, this time at a church in Hollywood. Oddly enough, both funerals I worked on were for mayors of Rome, Wisconsin. This time, scenes were shot both inside the church, and outdoor scenes of people walking in and out of the church. When I saw this episode, I could not find myself except in deep background. And actress named Michelle Greene played a part in this episode. I didn't recognize her at first, but she had been a regular on "LA Law". She looked a little older and not quite as tall as I had expected.
Once again I returned to Monrovia for an episode of "Picket Fences". This episode revolved around a Thanksgiving Day parade in Rome, Wisconsin. A downtown Monrovia street was used as Main Street in Rome, Wisconsin. A large number of extras were cast by Central and Cenex, mostly to be parade spectators. An even larger number of local people who normally were not extras were recruited to help fill in the background, including groups such as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other organizations. An actual high school band was brought in to play the Rome High School marching band. The gig served as a fund raiser for the band.
The local extras recruited off the street and from the various groups were not paid, but they did receive meals. They were always put in the deepest background. One scene where a float was to explode was dangerous enough that for insurance purposes the local extras had to be far from that float, while the extras cast by Central and Cenex could be closer.
During one of the scenes Fyvush Finkel, who plays lawyer Douglas Wambaugh, passed out business cards to spectators watching the parade. Since the scene was shot several times and he handed out several cards each time, I wound up with quite a few, which I kept. Later I'll relate what happened to some of those cards.
It was a very hot day in Monrovia that day, over 90 degrees. Yet we had to bundle up in heavy sweaters, jackets, and overcoats because the scene was set in Wisconsin at Thanksgiving. When the episode aired, I saw myself right behind Tom Skerritt and Kathy Baker, who play the Sheriff and his MD wife, watching the parade. I was surprised to see I actually looked cold. I believe that it was that my face was slightly red from the heat and it actually looked the same as if it had been cold.
Another ten months went by and I was cast for the final time on "Picket Fences". This time it was for a courtroom scene at the Fox Studios. Many courtroom scenes were filmed over a four day period, and I was in the back of the courtroom in many of them. This was a murder trial, with the defendant being accused of the rape and stabbing death of a young woman. The defense attorney was Douglas Wambaugh, whom I mentioned earlier in this chapter. Fyvush Finkel, who played Wambaugh, had just won an Emmy for best actor in a supporting role for this part. At lunchtime I ran into him in the commissary and congratulated him, and at the same time mentioned that I had the Douglas Wambaugh business cards that he had handed out at the Thanksgiving day parade earlier. He was surprised and asked me if I had any extra cards so he could give them to his grandchildren. I replied that I did and would bring them in the next day. The next day, at the first opportunity, I gave him all the cards I had and he seemed appreciative.
The four days went by slowly, with a lot of idle time spent in an adjoining sound stage. An extra, who also worked as a "Miller Girl" handing out keychains and other things in bars to advertise Miller beers, handed out several keychains to those of us that wanted one. It was a welcome break to be called to the set to work for a while.
I stood at the back of the courtroom for some of the scenes and was seated for other scenes. Between takes of one of the scenes where I was standing at the back of the courtroom, I was getting tired of standing. The actress who played the mother of the murder victim noticed this and invited me to sit next to her till the actor who played her husband returned. I appreciated her thoughtfulness.
Another time, while standing in the back of the courtroom with four or five other extras, all of them who happened to be African Americans in their 20's, the other extras were laughing about the fact that so many of them would be in a courtroom scene in Rome, Wisconsin. One of them, a very pretty and light skinned woman, said, "yeah, there are 4-1/2 of us here", an obvious reference to her apparently mixed race background. That comment struck me funny and that's why I remember it. I wound up sitting next to her in the back of the courtroom on the last day for the final scene, the verdict.
The verdict was guilty and they wanted the extras in the courtroom to react in an energetic and happy manner, as we were supposed to friends of the victim and happy with the verdict. Each take of the scene was followed with urging to be more energetic. I had been shaking hands with the gal seated next to me, but suggested we hug when they kept asking for more emotion. So we hugged, and the scene was finally completed. After all that, when the scene was shown we were totally obscured by people in front of us. When I told my wife about my suggestion to hug the girl, she laughed and said, "Oh, now you're Mr. Director".
Subsequent episodes of "Picket Fences" had an appeal of this verdict all the way to the United States Supreme Court and the eventual overturning of the verdict.
A year and a half after the last time I worked as an extra, I happened to see them filming one of the final episodes of "Picket Fences" in Monrovia. I decided to stop and watch them for a while. It was fun watching them and knowing I could leave whenever I wanted to and wouldn't have to work. Tom Skerritt was directing the episode and some of the crew looked familiar, and of course the actors in the scene who were series regulars were familiar. I recognized a wardrobe girl and told her I had worked several times of "Picket Fences" and remembered her. We had a nice conversation and she said that most of the crew were not worried about finding other work once the show was cancelled. The episode that was being shot that day turned out to be the final first run episode to be aired. It was not the final episode, which was the last one shown during the season, but was the last of four first run episodes aired for the first time in the summer after the final episode.
This page was last updated on September 14, 2003
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