Pan Am And Organized Meandering

The Pan Am shoot I was booked was today. I found out at 930 last night where my call time and place were. 630 AM in BROOKLYN. (My face upon this news)

I packed my bag, set my alarm for 430 AM, took a shower, and went to bed. It still hurt to get up that early. I caught the 507 train which was both late and slow. I messed up and took the express A instead of the C and had turn around and go three stops back towards Manhattan. And I was about five or ten minutes late and panicking. In the dark. In the subway. In Brooklyn. Yeah.

Turned out I wasn't the last one there and had to wait in a huge line for my voucher. There was no prompt check in or roll call, so hopefully my suck-y use of public transit didn't hurt my possibility of future jobs with them. Traded my voucher for my costume-the famous sexy plaid pants!- got dressed and headed to hair and makeup. Luckily, a hairdresser with little curlers nabbed me out of the line. Her name was Elaina, and my little hair was just what she wanted. So I didn't have to wait in line as much. Got my makeup and the hair finished. I was still among the end of the lines, so I wasn't involved in the shots from the first angle.

Didn't bother me too much. There was coffee, and they were still paying me the same, even if I was taking goofy pictures of my hair in the holding room. Score!

It was a massive operation. More than a hundred of us went thru hair, makeup, and wardrobe in a little over three hours. And there was some intense hair on the ladies! My Peggy Olsen flip was eclipsed by some truly stupendous beehives. But those girls didn't have plaid pants! It's time for the turn around, so up to the set I go. (I had a hard time getting a good picture on my tablet. Forgive the awkward face and instead concentrate on the plaid pants and loafers. They are even more awkward in the best way possible!)

We were shooting  at 1 Hanson Place. It's a beautiful old bank building that largely gets used for shooting bus and train station scenes in and around NYC. Penn and Grand Central stop for no film crew! The architecture of the building is a fabulous hodgepodge. When bored, the building gave you plenty to look at.  I started off in line for tickets. Then I was coupled with Wayne. We came in from the back and bought tickets multiple times as we planned our elopement to niagra falls, wandered around, and checked out the maps. Which were purple. And of Michigan. I should have nabbed one as I was leaving. Then I was pulled by one of the crowd control people to be a part of another couple. If any of the takes make the cut, I am the crazy one behind the really pretty black lead actor (I think the character 's name was Joe) as he buys his ticket to Mississippi. My partner in this couple was a guy named Chris. He's 23 and from Houston. Small world. He was also wearing a paisley button up and mustard sweater combo that was almost as stylin' as my pants and loafers. :-)  More crowd meandering after that. One last shot meandering with Chris, and it was time to wrap. We were done at 330. It was painless and just the right amount of time. Checked everything back in, got my voucher, and headed back home. With my 60s hair. Trying to brush it out would just make it Ka-razy, so I decided to just work the hair. All in all, not a bad days work. I had a good time. I got paid to have my hair and makeup done and then walk back and forth. Sweet! :-)