European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 28, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A. A a / a a a a. A a a a v a a a a a a. A a a a a a Quot map John Hicks and Kathy Jennings audition an infant for a commercial. For babies by John Barbour associated press he meter is running clicking off thousands of dollars an hour in expenses. Camera Crews  technicians a Dawdle the stand ins the mothers the baby handler the attending nurse Are transfixed. The \ advertising Man  directors anxious eyes flit from his watch to. The non developing scenario before him. A. A a. Center stage is the Star. A baby. Quot they Are probably the most difficult commercials in be Ever shot a says Mike Rogers senior vice president to the creative director for dub Needham. He handles tire a commercials. A nonetheless babies Are great for the advertising business. No one can say How Many commercials babies make in the United states or what percentage of the business infants command but they soil. From the time the Puppy tried to pull a tyke s bathing suit Down in the ads for suntan Oil to today s tiny tots with adult voices talking about fast food restaurants they Are a sure vehicle for merchandising. A John Hicks has a company called baby wranglers that casts babies. Quot maybe its just the innocence Quot he says. Will he get the part Kart Pfeiffer 9 months old puts on a winning smile during his audition. Quot there a a vulnerability and there san exuberance. I Don t want to get too philosophical about it but i do think we re. Living in a pretty jaded world and when we see something like that it attracts . Quot 1 Quot. It May attract the viewer but it is a major headache for the adults who do the filming. A Quot you re helpless Quot Rogers says. Quot you go through a lot of Nail biting and hair pulling because there is absolutely. Nothing you can Dor you can do everything possible to create an environment and cast the right baby. But if that. Baby in t feeling Well or is a Little bit Cranky you re out of   mind that there Are seven stand in babies waiting in the wings. A baby might be cast in the morning and is Fine in the morning. But when it comes to shooting the scene it is afternoon and maybe that baby  an afternoon baby. Quot you have a baby you want to use and hell come to the set that morning with a rash Quot Rogers frets. Quot or at a some Point in a production schedule you  bring that baby in and you la find out All of a sudden she has a Cut lip. Because she was playing  . A one commercial for Michelin tires started with a hand drawn pinup of a big eared baby in a tire and a line. Quot so. Much is Riding on your tires. Quot the Campaign has been running six years now much longer than Norma gone a through some 40 babies and still gamers awards at the. A same rate As it did the first year More than 30 in All there s great Money in it for the babies too if they hit. Get on air last a while. Otherwise they make the screen actors Guild minimum of about $265 a Day which barely pays for the Gas and the Wear and tear on Mother if the commercial goes through the Cycle then the baby stands to make $6,000. To $10,000 there Are instances of babies making much More Kathy Jennings Hicks partner cites the Case of a baby who worked maybe five minutes and made $40,000. Then there was another Case of a baby who was. Chosen to be the spoke baby for a certain product the. Baby was put on a retainer. ,. Quot nobody took into consideration that babies change r. Both physically and temperamentally Quot Jennings says a Quot so by the time they went to film a second commercial v not Only did t the baby look the same the baby was t temperamentally suited Quot they tried a second baby and then dumped the commercial but the first baby worked two Days and made $60,000. Hicks is a whirlwind of action during the casting Call what actors Call the cattle Call running out of the audition room to give a baby Back to Mother running Back with another putting the baby on the mat with a Bunch of toys playing peekaboo making strange noises blowing. A bubbles. A a a a. He May seem quite mad but he is carefully assessing this baby measuring attention Span Independence Good humor Energy level. He will see 150 babies a Day Cut the Tot to some 30, three will eventually be chosen the Star and two stand ins. A. He meets one Mother in the waiting room she hands the baby Over to him and the baby cries. He hands the a baby Back says the baby is Lovely but a Little nervous today. The Mother cries. A Quot she knows its Over and she wanted another try a Hicks says Quot to was trying to be real Nice and you have to try to explain that if i brought the baby into the audition room to Only be appeasing them. I know they have unrealistic  drove a Long Way and i feet bad for them. A \ Quot one of the toughest things we have to do is to hand a baby Over to an actor or an actress Quot Hicks adds. Quot in an audition All i have to do is get a baby to perform and they can do some pretty amazing things. But when i have to hand that baby to  or an actress i be lost control and it s  a. An actor May be Able to fool the creative execs but he can t fool the baby. Quot the baby can Tell by the touch. It s. Instinctual and the kid will scream. Its the Best alarm system for bad acting you la Ever . Hicks remembers one commercial involving three babies in costume one of whom kept falling asleep. Then someone got the Bright idea of putting a pair of a sunglasses on the dozing child and it actually added to the commercial s Charm. One commercial will linger in Mike Rogers memory a forever. A.  commercial was to feature a baby in a tire and a dog sitting next to him. The dog was to get up walk. Offstage and return with a Puppy held by the Scruff of his. Neck. The dog would Deposit the Puppy in the tire next to the baby. A. But the Crew worried Over the safety of the  can t control the Little Puppy and we were All concerned it would bite the baby Quot Rogers says. So they put up a partition which the camera could not see Between the baby and the Puppy. The dog dutifully dropped the Puppy into its compartment in the tire. Then. , the unexpected. The baby reached Over picked it up and started to bite the Puppy Quot Page 16 the stars and stripes monday january 28, 1991