as they wanted some film of children cheering around Waitara oval. From memory
the whole school trooped down to the oval and were given streamers to wave
about and then on cue cheer, boo, hiss etc. There were no players on the field
we just had to pretend. None of the visual footage seems to have been used but I
suggest the audio was used in parts of the finished production.
This was a Friday afternoon when we usually had sport so it was no big deal.
[Could you imagine trying to do it today? You would require forms filled out in
triplicate, privacy issues, duty of care, OH&S etc etc]
We were back at school by 3pm when the bell rang to go home. My mate and
I raced home got on our bikes and went back down to the oval. The junior star
of Skippy, Garry Pankhurst, was sitting in a car parked under a shady tree next
to the tennis courts with his teacher. We rode up, basically said hello, and talked for
a short time. He suggested that we should come back in the morning as they would be filming.
Next morning I jumped on my bike and went off down to the oval to watch.
The director rounded up every one standing about
and put them in the old grandstand to cheer and carry on, on cue yet again.
He then got us to walk down the stairs of the stand whilst the bad guys
Lex Mitchell and Reg Evens, pushed their way past us. If you watch this scene,
it would seem that it was done with two takes as in the first I appear behind them
and then at about the 19 sec mark there is a glimpse of me on the right of them on the stairs
and the guy with the glasses in the brown jumper is no where to be seen.
I remember it being a lot of fun.
My 5 sec. of fame…
