the making of a scarecrow
pt. 2
(continued
from previous page)
Much of that unexpected humour is provided by animals, who never seem to behave well when the cameras are on them. Pop singer Mike Berry, who plays Mr Peters in the series, recalls a nightmare day with Esme the sheep. “Esme was supposed to run towards me and during rehearsals she did it every time. However, once the camera was rolling, she just would not budge. We laid a trail of food and even tried to bring her into the shot with an invisible lead, but we had to give up and do it on another day,” he laughed.
Jon remembered the day he was supposed to produce a squirrel from his coat, but once it was free, it went nuts (Very good Worzel). “It’s impossible to train a squirrel, and when we let it go, we just hoped that it would run in the right direction. We had blocked every nook and cranny in the room, closed all the windows and doors– but we missed one because as soon as I let it go the little creature dashed away and we never saw it again.”
Poor old Worzel was given the bird by a Parrot in one episode (Worzel and the Saucy Nancy). “ I knew that he was looking at me strangely,” said Jon, “not sure what to make of me in my costume, and when I came close enough, he passed comment . . . all over my coat.” The Crowman’s dog Ratter caused a headache in the most recent television series, (4), because the original mutt who played the part was unavailable, and a replacement had to be found. Each morning the new animal joined Jon, Una Stubbs and the rest of the cast in the make up caravan . . . Being turned into an exact replica of the original Ratter.
A catalogue of other disasters have befallen the film crew as they worked,
but everyone reacts good-humouredly to these upsets, even if at the time they
don’t always see the funny side. A constant problem was the barn where much of
the filming was carried out. “It is over 100 years old and had been neglected
for years until we moved in,” said James Hill. “ After moving out all the
rats and birds that had made their homes there, we had to contend with a
constant fog of dust. There was no real floor in the barn, and our movement used
to create a storm like one of those hurricanes you see in the desert
.
A more black and white problem struck during the filming of the Christmas show ‘A Cup O’ Tea An’ a Slice O’ Cake’. The artificial snow laid in the streets of Lymington, Hampshire was so light that it swirled in the slightest wind, creating a constant blizzard. The black moment came during a sequence when Worzel was supposed to appear as Father Christmas from a chimney-and that created havoc both inside and outside the house.
Inside, director James wanted a lot of soot to cloud the room as Worzel emerged, so props men were positioned out of camera to drop
some imitation chimney grime on cue. There was also a machine like a hoover in reverse, to saturate the set, but it proved too efficient, and the room was so black and murky that the cameraman could not see. At the top end of the chimney, Jon was supposed to disappear headfirst, and a platform had been built just inside the stack for him to land on. He missed it! “When my legs kicked around everyone watching was standing back, remarking on how realistic it looked, until they realised that I had not stopped when the scene was completed, and was genuinely trapped, and could not move in any direction. Someone had to climb in and lift me out.”That Christmas show brought an embarrassing moment for Una Stubbs, too. “As I was singing a song, I was supposed to jump on to the wheelbarrow that Worzel was pushing, but I was a little too enthusiastic, missed the side of the barrow and went straight in, so that all anyone could see was my legs pointing up to the sky,” she giggled.
Some of the unexpected comedy does not come from the cast and crew, but from
outsiders who occasionally appear on the sets. “When we spent a week working
in Brixham in Devon, (Worzel and the Saucy Nancy), holidaymakers soon
caught on that we were there, and they used to arrive hours before us in the
mornings to watch the day’s shooting,” said James. “We had to employ extra
people as marshals for the crowds. And enterprising boat owners around the coast
at Torbay stopped trips of the bay and offered voyages to meet Worzel
instead.”
Filming in Oxfordshire resulted in the co-operation of the United States Air Force, who have bomber
bases in the area. It is impossible to record the sound with the droning of enormous bombers and jets overhead, so when the Commander of the base was told of the filming he agreed to change the flight patterns of his aircraft– in return for an invitation to all the children on the base to go to the film set and meet Worzel. The children organised a painting competition, too, and Worzel judged the best picture of himself.Villagers in Braishfield and Stockbridge, Hampshire, are now becoming blasé about the filming, because they are used to seeing the crew arrive every summer. Although both places look insignificant on a map, hundreds of Worzel fans make the detour on their way to seaside holidays, in the hope of catching a glimpse of Worzel, Aunt Sally and the Crowman.
Finally there is one story which could almost have come out of a Worzel script, as an example of scarecrow behaviour. Production Manager Bob King tells it against himself. “We were walking into a field with some extras to shoot a scene, and an elderly lady shoved something into my hand, saying ‘hold this till we finish’. She walked off before I had time to look down, but when I did . . . . . . she had left me clutching her false teeth!”
All text © Waterhall Worzel Ltd & Grandreams Ltd 1982 & 2000
the making of a scarecrow pt. 1