European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse By Kay Bartlett associated press k Atherine Barry once went to a audition where All she had to do was four years of College weren t much help. The gods of advertising liked somebody else s Giggle better. Tony Addabbo got bit by a junkyard dog while waiting for the cameras to get set. Then the building where he was doing the filming was raided by the internal Revenue service. Margaret Nagle stood under a fire Hose in 45 degree weather for hours making a television commercial and when it was Over she was just dropped at the Chicago Airport still soaking wet and told to have a Nice flight Back. All three plus tens of thousands of others Are aspiring actors in new York City. These three Are All in their 20s, they All have dreams and they love what they re doing. It s a Tough life far More competitive than that of Young trainees climbing up a Chase Manhattan ladder and the rewards Are usually far less spectacular. For most it s endless auditions and acting singing or dancing classes because people who Are not triple threats might As Well go Back to Des Moines. It s a world of part time jobs hash slinging is still a favorite although it s now called presenting Nouvelle cuisine. It produces an idiosyncratic emotional world for the practitioners. You need skin As Tough As a Turtle s when you re being rejected three or four times a Day and then once you get the part you need the ability to shed that Bury the Shell and become emotionally Lithe plumbing the psyche for the Subtle Ness the anger the Power the angst to make bad writing believable Good writing poetic and great writing magic. They Call it acting. And then you won t get to do it in front of your Peers. Everything that is interesting you go out of town to do until your name is Richard Kiley says Casper Roos a 60-year-old actor who has been in the chorus of 13 Broadway musicals and managed to stay in the Field All these years doing films off Broadway television commercials anything to pay the rent. Roos is a rarity of sorts a Man who has managed to stay working in this world of too much Talent and too Little work. There s the old joke about the Guy sitting in the lounge at actor s equity and saying i really ought to get out of this business. I Haven t worked in 10 years " remarks Gerald Simon a Veteran actor with More than 1,000 commercials to his credit. Roos a Silver maned distinguished Man recently played the tyrannical father in Lillian Hellman s another part of the Forest at the equity Library theatre one of the most prestigious showcases in Manhattan. More than 600 actors auditioned for the 13 parts in the Hellman play a Job that entails six weeks of hard work divided Between rehearsals and the three week run. And not a dime of income. But it s probably the Best showcase in Manhattan sure to draw agents casting directors producers to see aspirants in Good roles. Simon and his actress wife Liz Dammarell came to new York to do Shakespeare almost 20 years ago and quickly found that Procter & Gamble was a better Friend than the Bard. But even that is no snap. Television commercials Are As fiercely competitive As the Chance to play Lear. Maybe More so. The average television commercial earns the principal actor $5,000 to $8,000 for a Day s work. A really Good one shown nationally for a Long time can earn an actor up to $25,000. Barry Kathy to her friends is 29 and after four years on the circuit just landed her first National commercial. I come from the Art truth and Beauty school of acting but Chekhov does t pay the Bills she says. So you do the commercials the soaps the films so you can own a Home Send the kids to school be Middle she knows All the tricks of the Trade and takes a bemused View of it All. In the Summers you run around with kleenex to blot your face. You always run for the bathroom As soon As you get there so you can see what you look like. Especially when it Rains. But you have to remember everybody else s hair is going to look As bad As yours. It s eating a Sandwich on the bus Between stops Rushing to wait and never knowing what the Day will she s philosophical about the timing in the business. I might be out 15 times in one two week period and then there will be nothing for two weeks. Then the Only Calls then Are for grandmothers Lumberjacks or casting about for a stage career getting their act together Jerry Simon and his wife Elizabeth Dammarell wait in a Talent office. Katherine Barry auditioned for Biloxi blues but did t get the part. Page 14 Tony Addabbo adjusts his tie in a dressing room Mirror at a fashion showroom where he is modelling clothes. A photos Barry whizzes through the soaps and the commercial auditions but when it s for a larger slice she puts real Effort into it. She recently auditioned for a part in the upcoming Road show of Neil Simon s Broadway hit Biloxi blues. For that she to ked. Three friends had said she was right for the part so she dropped off a picture and resume with the stage manager who then called her. She read the play carefully. A Neil Simon prostitute is different than a Beckett prostitute she says and i immediately got a sense of who she was. I decided i would audition in a slip. I be never auditioned in my underwear before and none of my underwear was right. So i went to Macy s and bought a mauve slip. Then i had some friends Over male and female and auditioned in front of them in the slip. I got comfortable in front of acquaintances just wearing the slip. I decided not to Wear heels. My legs go to Jelly when i m nervous and i did t want to shake. So i did it she did not get the part but she s not Down. She was told she would be kept in mind for the future. In this business that s Good. Dadabbo a 6-foot-2, 25-year-old whose body has been deemed delightful enough for the sexy Jordache to ads sits on a sofa one tuesday morning at the Hughes Moss casting office one of the biggest theatrical casting agencies in Manhattan. He s auditioning for a part that could bring him the Fame and Fortune he wants so badly. This former tree surgeon Model Star athlete wants the Star and Limo treatment More than the Chance to play Chekhov and says quite candidly that the stars and stripes Shakespeare is a Little out of his league. Addabbo tells the casting director that he s got a Good shot at signing a three year contract on one of the soaps. He is being considered for the part of a boy raised in the Jungle and then brought into what passes for civilization on the soaps sort of a Tarzan. Don t sign it this is prime time says Barney Moss partner of Julie Hughes. It s a Light remark. Moss can t guarantee this one and everybody knows that. He s just letting Addabbo know they like him a lot. For this Job casting will go on and on. Thousands of would bes will be seen in California new York maybe even Chicago. Addabbo and anyone else they look at in these Early stages is indeed a Long shot. The producers Are essentially looking for a Young Man who can carry the series a person with the Charm that will Render the television audience to push that Channel for the big Nielsen ratings. It s the brass ring All right. My goal is to get into to. That s definitely where my Success will be says Addabbo. I want to make movies too. It s not easy. It s easier to get into the Pentagon than it is to get into some casting he s got Confidence despite his dad s prediction they would make hamburger out of him once he got to new York from his native Virginia. I just can t wait until i do something big enough to invite my mom to a premiere and buy her a fur coat and have her arrive in a Limo says Addabbo. Juanita Walsh who played the female Lead Regina in the same Hellman play As Roos has an altogether different motivation. She s married to an actor and teaches voice and speech at professional schools and Fame and Fortune Are not important to her. To her the play is the thing. At four i wanted to be a dancer. By the sixth Grade a Singer and by eighth Grade i knew i wanted to be an actress. I knew i wanted the Center of actors come up with a variety of ways to make Money so they can follow their dream. Ward Asquith a former network censor is 55 now and is As fascinated by the Stock Market As he is acting. He manages other people s portfolios to stay afloat. Jack Wilkes 36, Sells quilts keeps a hand in the publishing business and charges $125 an hour to be the Clown at your child s party. If i get five or six jobs a week being a Clown that s a decent business says the newly married Wilkes. James Watkins 52,.dropped out of the acting business when he was a Young Man and the pressures of a wife and three children became too much. The grandson of vaudevillian he became a professional guitarist. The kids Are grown now and he s divorced so i decided it was time to go Back into the rejection he went in with a plan. A 6-footer, he deliberately went from 175 to 240 pounds so he would have a better shot at becoming a character actor. He s also the right age. There s nothing More unemployable than a Young character actor Simon says. The now portly Watkins has been Back on the circuit for a year and he s got the part of a villian in a Pilot soap called Pacific Heights. He s been signed up for the new Woody Allen film and he s on the verge of some commercials. Not bad for a premeditated fat Man who knows the business Well enough to make himself Saleable. Saturday March 1, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 15
