REPOST: At This Retirement Home, Aging Actors Craft Shows Like 'Law and Disorder'
What do elderly actors do at retirement homes? At the retirement home run by the Motion Picture & Television Fund, they continue performing with the aid of an in-house network and scripts in extra-large type. “It is one studio in Los Angeles where ageism is never an issue,” reports The Wall Street Journal. Read the full story below.
Image Source: online.wsj.com
LOS ANGELES—After parking their scooters outside, the actors got down to business.
Their production, "Law and Disorder," is a sendup of the popular police procedural—recast with a team of octogenarian crime fighters.
The studio, Channel 22, is the in-house network at the retirement home run by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. It is one studio in Los Angeles where ageism is never an issue.
In fact, some of the actors are about as old as the film industry itself.
"We need something to do because we're not really old enough to collapse or pass out yet," said Norman Stevens, the show's creator, who describes himself as "80-something."
Scripts are printed in extra-large type at the MPTF's retirement home, where veterans of Hollywood's Golden Age spend their golden years. The home serves nearly 200 residents—all of whom worked in the entertainment industry.
Channel 22 is the community's production house, where residents craft short films or TV shows with their contemporaries; more than 1,300 segments have been recorded since it started about eight years ago. The closed-circuit channel airs the programs, and some are available on YouTube.
Programs include a round-table talk show of elderly women called "The Roaring 90s," a documentary about two resident musical composers called "Alive and Kicking" and "The Okie Dokie Show"—a man-on-the-street-with-a-walker interview series in which a resident approaches neighbors, asks what they are doing and then replies, "Okie dokie."
Founded in 1921 by silent-film stars including Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, the MPTF started as a financial-assistance program for actors to help pay for such things as props or who needed help with their rent. The retirement home, open to those who have worked in entertainment for more than 20 years and their spouses, started in the 1940s and has become the fund's anchor project. A few residents were teenagers when "Wings" won best picture at the first Academy Awards in 1929. The average age of new residents is 87.
Channel 22 operates out of a trailer called "The Bungalow" located off a street named for Steven Spielberg; a koi pond is dedicated to late mega-agent Lew Wasserman ; and residents swim in an aquatic center donated by Jodie Foster.
Some residents, like 101-year-old Connie Sawyer, still work professionally. Ms. Sawyer recently appeared on the Fox sitcom "New Girl" and had a role in the 2008 stoner comedy "Pineapple Express" starring Seth Rogen and James Franco. She recently sat down to lunch after auditioning for a commercial.
"I got a callback!" she said.
But retired actors aren't the only ones who get into the act. Former grips, agents and executives play parts. Mr. Stevens, a former film and television producer, cast "Magnum P.I." producer Joel Rogosin, 81, in a role on the most recent "Law and Disorder."
Mr. Rogosin played a German psychiatrist evaluating the sanity of the show's police force, and he rehearsed lines behind a desk in an office converted into barracks for the shoot. But as an old producer, Mr. Rogosin is accustomed to calling the shots, and he had some ideas for his character.
For starters: What if he were a Nazi suffering from an identity crisis that forced him to lapse into speaking Spanish?
The job of controlling what one actor called "community theater chaos" falls to Jennifer Clymer, a 42-year-old former actor who was hired by the MPTF as the station manager after volunteering with the organization. She also makes sure there are enough bagels on set. She stands in the background if another extra is needed and warns actors about tripping over wires. When the producer of a swing-music show suggested overlaying footage of residents dancing along, Ms. Clymer said: "It should be chair-dancing."
At a campus that also houses a palliative care unit, activities like Channel 22 keep residents engaged for what can be lonely days. "It's about giving someone the focus of what they want to do tomorrow," said Ms. Clymer. "As soon as someone doesn't see the point of what tomorrow might bring, it is over."
One short film in production, "Feathers," takes places in the retirement community and follows two old buddies who try online dating after their wives die. It's the passion project of resident Anthony Lawrence, who spent decades writing in Hollywood on productions that include Elvis Presley beach movies such as "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" and TV shows including "Bonanza."
He stars as one of the bachelors, and cast actress Lisabeth Hush, 79, as his love interest. He says she reminds him of his late wife.
Scenes were recently filmed at the campus's new "Doggywood" dog park, with therapy animals from the campus's hospice on hand as extras.
Ms. Hush came to Los Angeles on a bus from New York more than 50 years ago.
"They lost my luggage, so the first word you heard out of me was 's—,'" she said.
More than 45 Westerns were shooting when she arrived, and she was cast as a Nevada dame. She was later to star opposite Charles Bronson in a movie called "The Stone Killer"— she calls him "Charlie"—and portrayed Judith Tremaine in "Thoroughly Modern Millie," alongside Julie Andrews.
She had a stroke more than a decade ago that left her with some paralysis on her right side, so a volunteer at the dog park helped her apply blush and powder for the cameras. "I need lipstick," Ms. Hush reminded her.
She looked around. "Is there a catering truck?" she joked.
As quickly as the terminology and habits come back on set, most Channel 22 players say they didn't expect to work at this stage in their lives.
"I'm not sure what I'd be doing" without "Law and Disorder," said Mr. Stevens. "Probably playing bingo, which I hate."
Veteran actor Steve Inwood is known for his performances in “General Hospital” (1963), “Fame” (1980), and “Staying Alive” (1983). Read more insights on the life and career of a Hollywood actor from this blog.