T of R Escapes Yet Again

There are an awful bunch of us who think that the Tournament of Roses made some nefarious pact with the underworld decades ago – they never seem to get bad weather on parade day.

This year was no different. For the past couple days, the Los Angeles basin has been experiencing high-volume winds which have been toppling trees and taking out power lines. That would have made for some interesting floats (or, in this case, kites?) on Colorado Blvd. last week.

Hiatus is officially over for me. I’m booked for most of next week, plus the weekend, if shooting schedules remain the same. And most of the other backgrounders I keep in touch with will be working come Monday morning, or have already done some gigs this week. One friend called last night on his way to set – a night call! As he said, “The things we do to pay the rent.”

Thursday night, I switched on the opening of Criminal Minds, and thought production was playing some type of cruel joke on the viewing public. It was a courtroom scene and the defense attorney was portrayed by Alan Rosenberg, current President of the Screen Actors Guild. The prosecuting attorney was none other than Anne-Marie Johnson, who also sits on the SAG Board, and until a couple months ago, was 1^st VP, making her the head of the Hollywood Division. (She was replaced by Kent McCord.)

Two attorneys going at it head-to-head must have made that scene look familiar to a SAG Board meeting.