Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:04 Hi everybody. My name's John Raby and I'm the host of the somewhere in time podcast called call back yesterday. This is a pod let designed for anyone who is unmatched an Island this weekend at the 30th annual somewhere in time weekend at grand hotel or anybody who wishes they could be there like me to get the time travel experience, just right. Go to the place where I conducted the interview during last year, somewhere in time weekend, and listen, very intently and concentrate if you do it just right, it'll feel just like it's 2019. This interview was conducted in the parlor on the way to the dining room. And imagine as we speak that ladies and giant hats and men and spans are walking by
Speaker 1 00:00:49 My name is Joe Addie and my title. Well, let's see, I like keeper of the flame, but I'm the president of insight, the international network of somewhere in time enthusiasts.
Speaker 0 00:01:02 And what were you doing in the summer of 1979?
Speaker 1 00:01:06 Well, I actually fell into working on this beautiful film and through some very extraordinarily unique circumstances. And I ended up working on the film for three weeks and I was an extra in all the 1912 scenes. I wore five different costumes and I worked for three weeks. Well, let's see. Um, I actually came to watch, but like I said, I landed in, uh, working on the film and, uh, I actually show up 10 times in the movie I'm in all the 1912 scenes, except for the park scene. I'm a dancer on the dance floor, a walk across the lawn in front of Christopher Plummer and the breakfast scene and a writing outfit. Um, I'm in the theater right near Chris sitting in the theater. There's, there's a lot of places.
Speaker 0 00:01:50 How'd you wind up on makin Island? The summer of 1979.
Speaker 1 00:01:53 Actually, I came here with my husband. We were planning to come my earliest clear memories of my life. I was here when I was three and a half years old and he had never been, so I said, let's go to makin Island. This was in may. We set up a reservation to come here in the, for the end of may. And I happened to see, uh, you know, about a week or two before we were leaving to come. Uh, Christopher Reeve was on the news desk with channel two in Chicago. After we were watching movie, he came on and bill Curtis said, we're going to have an interview with Chris grievous and Tom making a movie. And then Chris did this great interview. And of course I knew him from Superman in LA and really admired his work. And he said, they're going to make an Island to film after they were filming four days in Chicago where I live.
Speaker 1 00:02:34 And so, uh, I thought, Oh my gosh, I wonder if they'll still be there when we get there. And they were, they were, you know, there was, uh, we, we got to watch the rain scene, uh, in front of Laura Robert's house. And we mingled with the crew and the cast and at Chris, and then they invited me back to watch the ballroom scene. And I ended up being dressed through these really bizarre circumstances, but I ended up being dressed for us into a 12 dress and in a carriage and on my way to the ball for the dining room scene, just like Cinderella.
Speaker 0 00:03:06 Had you ever worn period costume before? Were you into this at all?
Speaker 1 00:03:09 Absolutely not. I had never had such an experience, so I felt like Cinderella and, uh, we, and then I was picked to be one of the dancers on the dance floor and actually showed Chris how to do the dance.
Speaker 0 00:03:23 And it was what you danced with.
Speaker 1 00:03:25 Well, he came up well for among the small group of us that were standing, waiting for the scene to start to be S P shot. And he walked up and said, now, how do you do this dance? And I showed him how to do the dance. And at the funniest thing was, he turned to me and he said, after he let you know, I counted it out with him across from him and so forth. And he got this and he stopped it. And he said, I mean, after he got it, he stopped and said, are you the dancing coach? I said, no. And he said, well, you know, you should, because you really look like, you know what you're doing?
Speaker 0 00:03:55 Don't take this the wrong way. Um, was this a dance, like a waltz or something where you got to hold him or where he got to hold you?
Speaker 1 00:04:03 No, I didn't. There was no holding. No, I was just thrilled.
Speaker 0 00:04:08 Let's do the tango crit now next the tango. No, that'll take a couple of weeks
Speaker 1 00:04:14 Ugly. Let's start now. No, I was, I was actually thrilled to, to just be involved. Yes. And then, and then I got to know Chris and I went flying in his plane with Jane on a day off. And we had wonderful time and I was friends with him for 25 years until he died. And I'm still friends with Jane
Speaker 0 00:04:32 When the movie came out, what'd you think?
Speaker 1 00:04:35 Well, we all absolutely totally believed that what we were making was something extraordinary. And I was, I witnessed to the love that was poured into every frame of this film. And when it came out under the very sad circumstances of the actor's strike and stars couldn't make any personal appearances to promote the film cause that was considered work during the actress strike. So, uh, when the film basically died at the box office, it was heartbreaking for absolutely every one of us. And we thought that it had been dealt a very cruel blow because the critics were very cruel to the film. Uh, they had put Chris on a pedestal for good reason in Superman, but because he chose something so completely different, uh, in his next film here, and somewhere in time, they were gonna just tear him down and they were very cruel, unusually cruel, and, and, and people weren't in the mood for romance in 1980, they really weren't. It was the beginning of the black special effects films. We'd had Superman close encounters of the third kind we'd had of course star Wars. And, um, and so all these special effects films there, hadn't been a period film done in about 10 years. And, uh, so it just really wasn't the flavor of the day
Speaker 0 00:05:44 As we are now in the lobby of grand hotel, we're now surrounded by women wearing giant hats. Yes. Giant hats, beautiful hats.
Speaker 1 00:05:51 Sounds exactly incredible accessories. This weekend is a time machine. I always tell is the closest thing to actual time travel that they'll ever get, because it's always like time traveling when you come to Mackinaw Island. But when you're surrounded by 800 people in dress in period clothes, it is the closest thing to time you'll ever get. If you love somewhere in time, there's a lot about you. I already know you believe in true love and commitment. You have old fashioned values. You are romantic at heart. You appreciate beauty and you feel displaced in our violent and chaotic world. And you wish for a better one. And that combination of wonderful qualities is what sums up somewhere in time fans. So when you come here, you mingle with people that are so likeminded and you meet people and you find you can be instant friends, fast friends. And so it becomes like this takes on this sort of family reunion. And every year these people stay in touch with each other all year round and then they meet back in 1912 to, uh, or the somewhere in time weekend to honor and celebrate this film. That's brought them together.
Speaker 0 00:06:56 Thanks for listening to a call back yesterday. Padlet, please subscribe and give us a rating. And I hope I'll see you next year on Mackinaw.
