Life on the streets.

A long time ago, like nearly 30 years ago, I was an extra in a McDonald’s commercial. My role? I was to eat french fries in the background. It was actually pretty easy to do, but after at least 30 takes, I was ready to go. Unfortunately that was not part of the agreement and I stayed to collect my $50.00. (At least that’s what I think I was paid.)

One of the more memorable moments of that long evening, the McDonald’s was closed when the commercial was filmed, was the “family” who was sitting at the table next to me. They too were eating french fries and I guess the son didn’t pace himself as well as he was supposed to. During one of the takes, and I promise you this is 100% true, he threw up. It was all caught on tape; to my knowledge that portion of the commercial ended up edited on the floor right next to the….nevermind.

Since the filming of my last, and only commercial, I have not had to turn another one down; okay I have never been asked to be in another one, I guess I am just not made for the small or big screen.

In Chicago, and New York, you will see filming going on around the city. In fact, I saw “The Dark Knight” being filmed, and the water tower from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” For anyone who remembers the movie, it said, “Save Ferris,” It was visible from the train stop in my neighborhood and we had no idea what it meant until the movie came out.

The photo above was taken last week when I was in New York. A crowd, all visitors to the city, were gathered around the filming taking place. Because there was not a large trailer, or an extensive group of people from the production company, I suspected this was either a commercial or a very low budget movie. I was right, it was a commercial for Hershey’s chocolate; the woman, who I had no idea who she was, said the same lines at least two times. How do I know? I left the second time she said them. I guess the McDonald’s flash back, came back.

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