I have long been a firm believer in humor being a very healthy thing. And to be able to look back and laugh at one's self can be priceless. With that in mind, here is the true story of what happened to me during the day when the pickers came to town.
While most of the crew was off shooting the approach footage, one of the producers and I came into my office to discuss the upcoming events of the day. She mentioned that probably the last thing they would shoot for the day would be a close-up of me talking about my past history, my family's involvement with Studebaker and some of the other businesses we have been in and my music career.
"Great, no problem," I thought. That was all off the top of my head and stuff I have told thousands of times.
We started filming. The show is not as it seems and is not as spontaneous as it appears. Some scenes are shot several times over and over to get different angles. Everyone is fun to work with and it is a good time in a relaxed atmosphere.
However, the morning passes quickly, and the crew takes a lunch break. They set up a table under the awning of their motor home that you never see on TV. You also never see the big U-Haul truck or the three or four SUV camera cars, but they are there. You also never see the three or four camera operators, the several sound men, the two producers, the director, the purses and a few others that were running around.
While they were on break, I headed to my office to try to make a phone call to a friend. One of the girls followed me in and handed me a carry-out box with a cheeseburger and french fries in it from a local restaurant.
I must at this time embarrassingly mention that I lost two front teeth in an auto accident in 1966.
Yeah, you guessed it! The first bite into the cheeseburger and I broke the front two teeth off my partial.
Panic set in. I was getting ready to do a close-up interview for a very popular TV show and my two front teeth just fell out.
So, I grabbed some 80-grit sandpaper and the crazy glue and stated repairing my plate. Of course, I am still trying to call my friend, but since the number four button on my cell phone does not work, it is very hard to call anyone in Lewistown.
After getting things sanded smoothly enough, I slapped the crazy glue to the partial and started blowing on it in an attempt to make the glue dry faster. During this time, I was also trying to get a few bites of food.
After a few minutes, one of the girls walked in. Not wanting to be caught with my teeth out, I slammed the partial into my mouth.
She left the room after a minute or so. I tried to remove the partial, only to find that I had just crazy glued it to the roof of my mouth. Pulling on it confirmed the fact that I had best leave it there, as I didn't want to tear the skin from the roof of my mouth. Not only that, but the two teeth I had glued on were both very loose and very crooked.
As the afternoon moved on, I tried to leave my teeth alone, but my tongue just would not listen, and it kept jiggling my loose teeth. By the time the close-up interview came, I was a nervous wreck. I was sure they would fall out during this period. Even though it was on tape, it would have been very embarrassing in front of the crew, not to mention the delay it would have caused while I went to repair them - again.
So if you know me, and you think I look a little nervous or jittery during this close-up, now you know why.
It could only happen to me.
