Casting Call fo…

Casting Call for Niles Silent Film

TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS WHO WANT TO BE IN PICTURES!

We are filming THIS WEEKEND in Niles! Please come!

We want you all to be movie stars – Please come! (Okay, maybe “star” is too lofty – how about “very much appreciated extra” )
Here’s the deal: there is a silent film being shot in Niles and at the canyon over the next couple weekends. THIS SATURDAY, October 13, we are filming a pivotal, important scene involving a train robbery and need the most costumed extras – if it isn’t done that day, it can not be replicated until March of 2013! So time is of the essence – the time commitment is from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and a yummy lunch will be provided at work’s end (from The Nile Cafe so you KNOW it will be tasty)

Please show up at the train station in Niles (it is on the other side of Sullivan Underpass) off Mission Blvd. – part of the filming will include a ride on the Niles Canyon Railway, as you’ll be the train’s passengers during the hold-up. All participants will be fed and receive onscreen credit. (Nearly all of our production budget is going toward film and processing, as we’ve elected to replicate 1913 filmmaking techniques, with a hand-cranked camera and real 35mm film.)

And YES talk to your friends, frenemies, neighbors, hammy family members, fellow workers and students. We mainly want adults and older teens but some kids would work. We really want 75 people for this shoot – there will be periods of excitement and periods of “bring a magazine” but it is only a few hours and you will be part of an experience that put Niles on the map a century ago. And people are still talking about it.

Be part of Niles Film Legacy!
In addition to the MANY, MANY extras on Saturday – we need 15 people for townspeople on Sunday, October 14 – the filming schedule would be all day – 8:00 am – to the late afternoon.

Thanks for your consideration.
We hope you can participate in this project.
Rena Kiehn
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
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MORE INFO:
The film is a production of the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum http://www.nilesfilmmuseum.org, and is intended to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Essanay Film Company in Niles, a village within the city of Fremont.

Essanay was the the second studio that Charlie Chaplin worked for in the U.S., and was co-owned by America’s first cowboy star, “Broncho Billy” Anderson. The film depicts a fictional account of Anderson’s 1913 arrival in Niles, and features a train robbery and a western-style shootout. The Niles Canyon Railway is contributing use of one of their steam trains to the project.
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ON COSTUMES:
Now, for what to wear! We hope that you may just have the perfect outfit in your closet but in case not, we may be able to rustle up some appropriate duds. The best thing to do is to come Wed or Fri between 5:30 – 8:00 pm at the museum. I can show you want we have and also counsel you on what you may have that could work. Or bring any clothes you have and we can assess them for the film. It will be in black and white so there is some leeway on colors of clothes.The costuming style we’re looking for is that of the 1900s or early 1910s. It need not be “western,” and should certainly not be 19th century “western.” The year the film is set in is 1912 but many of the people are not well-to-do so it is very conceivable that they would wear older vintage clothes.

One suggestion I have is to see if any theater group in your area did The Music Man – the play is set in 1912 so the clothing would accurate to the era. Not the musician uniforms, rather the towns peoples’ outfits.

As it is the ladies should wear white gloves and black lace up shoes with cream hose if they are dolled up and day gloves if they are wearing calico or formal farm clothes. If they are dressed for “down on the farm” they do not need gloves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Music_Man

http://www.4cdrama.com/musicman.htm

http://www.einsteinscostumes.com/music_man.html

http://www.broadwaycostumes.com/shows/music-man.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_7457051_make-man-costumes-middle-school.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=music+man+costumes&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Nm1iUIu0M-q5iwLwlYCQCA&biw=1280&bih=865&sei=Lm5iUKarLuStiAKx5YD4Dg

https://www.google.com/search?q=music+man+costumes&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Why Didn’t They ALWAYS Call It “Cottage Cheese”?

Long ago cottage cheese was called by the humble if homely name “curds and whey.” Even now, one sees whey as one of the ingredients in cottage cheese if one reads such container labels.  I think I have determined why the name cottage cheese wasn’t the early choice — bad rhymes.  Yep, bad rhymes.

Would we all have known about Little Miss Muffet if her dish had brimmed with cottage cheese? I think not. The rhyme would have been rather more randy, wouldn’t it have:

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,

Eating her cottage cheese.

Along came a spider that sat down beside her,

And look, she’s so frightened she pees!

Well, that would hardly be a thought fit for youthful minds of the Victorian era.