New Career Move

Would you believe that at the age of 73 I have made a new career move? I was the focus of a TV commercial made last Wednesday at St. Mary's hospital. Let me explain.

I saw Dr. Berman two weeks ago and we congratulated each other on the 10 anniversary of the implantation of the stent graft at St. Mary's Hospital on Feb. 28, 2000. We both felt like pioneers in regard a procedure that is now commonplace around the country and paid for by insurance. If you will recall I was Berman first patient and the first to be paid for by insurance in the state of Arizona. All things considered, that was something to crow about. Anyway, last Monday I got a call from Berman's office asking me would I submit to an interview about the stent and I said sure. An hour later I got a call from a woman who called herself "a casting director" and would I mind if she came out to tape an interview. (Sue got a big laugh out of the "casting director" bit, thinking it had to be bullshit.) She showed up on Tuesday morning and she and her son taped a two minute spiel on the procedure 10 years and the events leading up to it and in the post-op period. It turned out she was indeed a casting director for both films made in AZ but especially commercials shot here. At that point it was beginning to dawn on me what seemed to be happening. That first interview was essentially an audition and I didn't know it. Just as well, probably. She told me that 5 people have been chosen from the 5 catholic hospitals in Southern AZ and I was chose to represent St. Mary's because of the pioneering operation 10 years ago. And I assume Berman must have told somebody about my background as a teacher and lecturer. The 5 hospitals are operated by a Catholic Corporation called Carondelet. (You don't pronounce the t.) Later on Tuesday I got two more phone calls, one from "the Line Director" who told me to be at the hospital at 1:30 on Wednesday and one from "wardrobe" who gave me a list of don't in terms of clothes and told me to bring 6 shirts. So on Wednesday I played pool from 11 o'clock to a little after 1 PM, and drove to the hospital where I was taken up to the 4th floor where the Hospital had given them some rooms and the use of a corridor, which is where the shoot would take place. There had to be at least 25 people in the crew and I'd bet their average age was under 30 and the corridor was crammed full of equipment and light panels of different tones. There were so many lights the temp in the place I had to stand had to be close to 90 degrees. But first I was handed over to wardrobe and makeup, which was a bit of a hassle because the wardrobe guy didn't like the 4 shirts I had brought and I didn't like what he wanted me to wear. I won that argument, thank god. The makeup gal was nice but fussed over my hair throughout the shoot and even put a bobby pin in my hair.

The shoot itself went pretty smoothly. A nice kid was the director and he treated me well, very respectfully, which I appreciated. I'd say my spiel was a little longer this time, closer to 4 or 5 minutes, and I injected facts about the stent graft and some humor which had the the crew laughing. They had me say a couple of lines, on of which I said one at least 30 times in every conceivable way. I'd say the whole bit took about an hour, maybe a little more. Then the still photographer and two of his assistants took me to three different locations to shoot some stills. One of the young men noticed I was having trouble walking all over the place--the hospital is huge--so he got a wheel chair which I really appreciated. In fact, altogether these kids treated me, as a person and a novice, very well. The told me they like the way I put some personality into my spiel that the other 4 people ( one for each of the 4 other hospitals) did not. They said they would send me a sample of those stills by email so if they do I'll send you a sample too.

How much was I paid you might ask? I got a $25 gift certificate for Target. A friend of mine, of the same age, was in a Starbuck's ad in Seattle, as they needed an older gentleman sitting in the way of the camera, and he got a $20 coffee certificate. The ad I was in will start to be shown on TV on March 22, but only in the southwest I think.

It was a fun and interesting experience.