Of flies and carnies...working on a t.v. show, or film can be compared to being a carnival worker...a carny, and I mean that as a compliment. As a wee lad, whenever the carnival would set up at the fairgrounds in the rural town I grew up in I was fascinated, there were all sorts of really eclectic characters that set up the ferris wheel and tilt-a-whirl, wearing worn jeans and sweat stained sleeveless t-shirts, with tattoos liberally inked onto the exposed skin, usually with a cigarette dangling from their lips, the ladies had bleached hair and blue eye shadow and big boobs and chewed gum and looked, for lack of a better word cheap...but I wanted to run away and be a carny, they all seemed to laugh and have fun and get the job done and travel from location to location and there was always a cooks trailer that the heavenly scent of fried onions and sizzling hamburger wafted through the dusty air and there were always thousands of flies buzzing around.

"Heart Attack" had thousands of flies that were supposed to swarm out of the bags of body parts when Tao and Brenda were exploring the crime scene, but the crew ran out of time and daylight and the scene had to be shot at the studio...this part of the story will be continued...

When Brenda arrived at the crime scene in her Eric Javits hat, familiar pink sweater and black, pink and white skirt she was immediately brought up to speed by returning Closer fave, Mikki Mendoza looking fabulous in a Theory suit and blouse. Brenda's feet were shod in her Chanel pumps with the camellias at the toes.
The free clinic set was a real clinic in East L.A. and we moved in right after the last patient had left and the place still smelled of alcohol and germs...let's just say I didn't stay inside too long. The vigilante doctor, played by Bruno Campos, (I worked with him on another James Duff project, the D.A. and profile him in this weeks Hem-ming & Haw-ing) was dressed down so as to be one with his clientele, even my own doctor wears polos and khakis, which to me makes him more accessible rather than a suit and tie.

Brenda appears in another spectacular Irene jacket, a taupey-metallic beauty with rounded collar and lapels and I paired it with a taupe and dusty rose zig-zag skirt. Mrs. Moto blew into the murder room in a 99 Cent Store lime green tank top and black bra and faded thrift store high waisted jeans! Perfection. Taylor looked cocky in a toasty tan shiny suit from Roger Stuart, that contrasted with Brenda and Pope. Isn't Pope being a brat!?! Dr. Morales, the cute as a button Jonathan Del Arco wore a brand new Hugo Boss tone on tone striped suit in cocoa, from Bloomingdale's, he looks great out of his scrubs and in a designer suit, so unlike the doctor at the free clinic! Ms. Reed the Organ Donor Network official was prim and proper in a black linen short sleeved suit with an antique Wedgewood brooch from my Aunt Ethel's collection of jewelry. Little Ruben is dressed in a rather miss-matched way since Sanchez has been taking care of him, little plaid surfer shirts from Nordstrom and multi-striped Charlie Brown t-shirts that clash with the plaid!

So, once we got back to the studio and the a.d. staff had re-scheduled the flies flying out of the bags of body parts they chose a location rather near to the costume department offices, I thought nothing of it till the next morning after they had shot the scene and upon opening the door to my office was greeted by hundreds of flies buzzing about my personal space and a hundred more were in the fitting room and a hundred more were in the shoppers room and a smattering of them were happily ensconced in the "gold room" where all of Kyra's cashmere and vintage are kept. Stella was bombarded by the pests and looked at me with sad puppy dog eyes, I called the production office and was nonchalantly told, "oh, they're sterile flies and will die in a few days", A FEW DAYS!!!??? NO WAY!!! So I put up with the germ filled flying beasts for about an hour and called the office again asking for help, they brought down a fly swatter...brilliant. Then an hour later I walked up to the office carrying Stella and gave an ultimatum--"Figure out a way to get rid of the flies in my office or I'm going home!" I walked Stella around the lot and when I got back to the office this erie blue glow emanated from the open doors of my office, I approached with apprehension and saw Charlotte sitting at her computer with her dark glasses on and the sound of flies being zapped! Production had located a "bug zapper" and it was sitting on my desk and doing it's job! I proceeded to unplug the unit, called Tracey and had her pick up some fly strips and spent the rest of the day on set...came back a couple hours later and there was one sad fly left buzzing about the office. Case closed!

We were on location at St. Vincent's Hospital near downtown L.A. where Brenda wore a vintage chocolate brown Irene jacket and underneath she pulled on an American Living at JC Penney brown and white polka dot swingy dress; who works a swingy skirt or dress better than Brenda Leigh?!

Anyway, I often love just hanging out at location and the night we were at St. Vincent's, it was a beautiful summer night, there was a big tent set up where the crew was fed and the smell of fried onions permeated the night air and as all of us disparate crew members ate together I looked around and thought back to the childhood fascination of the carnival workers and realized I had truly become one of "them," a carny in the best sense of the word! And not a fly in sight.