Bizarre bathroom reader, p.17
Bizarre Bathroom Reader, page 17
On average, how many hours of work (including makeup, suiting up, actual filming and re-shoots, etc.) did you go through each day?
Since I played two characters that means I was also working pretty much all the time, which was also another bargaining chip for, you know, issues I had when they asked me to come back for the third pick-up. Usually, a SAG work day is eight hours, sometimes ten hours, it has to do with whether you’re on location or at the studio as far as getting overtime. We usually ended up filming mostly ten hours, rarely sometimes twelve hours, but you go into what’s called “golden time,” when you make twice your salary per hour, which shows don’t like to pay, especially lower-budget ones.
What unique point of view, sensibility, and performance traits did you bring into the role of Superboy?
I felt I didn’t want to bring what Chris Reeve had brought to the character. I had concerns about doing what he had done, so I went to make Clark insecure as opposed to nerdy. I definitely feel that I fell more into the comfortability, the organic process with the character at the second pick-up of thirteen. If you look at the first thirteen, the second thirteen are of much higher quality. They put more time and energy into developing characters, and I think it showed. And also, that Clark was the alien, not Superboy. I wanted to get that across; Superboy is who the character really is, while Clark Kent is the alter ego.
What would you say is your favorite episode? Why?
I’d probably have to say, probably Revenge of the Alien Part 1 and 2, which was when production quality shifted to a higher caliber.
What brought your involvement with the show to an end? Was it abrupt or foretold?
They had promised me a raise several times, due to me doing most of my own stunts and wire work, and we had a couple of mishaps and things like that occur. When it came to going back for the third pick-up I questioned them about the raise and they said, “No, we can’t, we don’t have the money,” so no one was willing to come up with the money. There were multiple people—Viacom and the Salkinds—and I had received a moving violation on private property, which was dropped by the sheriff’s department in Florida, and at that time I wrote a letter to the sheriff’s department which was published in the paper, and the producers used that against me saying that was something I shouldn’t have done as it reflected badly on the character I was representing. So they said I needed to come back and was lucky to have my job, but I decided not to go back. In retrospect, I wish I had stuck to my contract. I was young and wish I hadn’t written that letter to the sheriff’s department. It wasn’t a bad letter, just not the appropriate thing to do. Even though they dropped the ticket, it was still not the right way to go about that. So, long story short, they recast the character.
What did you learn from this experience, and what did you bring from it, moving forward with your acting career?
I was relieved in a lot of ways to be off the show for many reasons, but at the same time I also had regret around my behavior, and wish I had stuck to my contract, because that was the right thing to do.
In your view, what changed most in television between the late 1980s and late 1990s?
I think audiences have become more and more sophisticated—reality TV not included in that comment. As we see, shows evolve, and as audiences become more savvy they’re not willing to be spoon-fed just traditional formulaic work, and so a lot of shows have become more and more creative to get audiences on board. Obviously, another change in that time period is seeing more film actors doing television. It became more accepted, whereas before that it was kind of taboo for a feature film actor to do television, it was a sign their career was going down. But, because of the changes in media, the payoff—what production companies can make, their profit margins—has gone down, so there’s been less work available, so you have more film actors doing television, and now it’s more common to go back and forth.
Which would you say are the main differences between starring on Superboy, and a hit show such as Melrose Place?
I wouldn’t even put them in the same realm. Melrose Place was a good job but not something that I’d say I loved. I enjoyed the work, but the quality of what the show was about and all that is not what I am about, but I’m grateful for the work, and it was a fun experience; a definitely well-oiled machine by the time I came on at the seventh season. It was an “easy” job because I would work two to three days a week, as opposed to every day of the week on Superboy.
What was your journey as a healer like, all those years? How did you balance both activities?
I don’t call myself a “healer” because I feel like the Creator or Higher Power of our understanding does the work, and I also teach and share what I do so that people don’t think I have some special gift. I don’t balance both activities, because I have really put acting aside, probably after The Christmas Card (2006), which was a very successful Hallmark production I did. That’s when I shifted to full-time helping people in the work that I do now. If I could find a project that’s profound, and reflective of my heart, I might be open to it, but I don’t pursue acting at all anymore.
How did reconnecting with the Superman character feel, when starring in Robb Pratt’s excellent Superman Classic and Bizarro Classic animated short films?
Yes, Robb is a talented director with a passion for Superman. I enjoyed working with him as he tried to cast voice talent from related productions (like Flash Gordon). It was fun for me to play Superman characters plus Ming the Merciless and to be involved in related projects, but outside of Superboy. Robb is someone who will be doing great things in the animated world in the future, and I would be open to working with him again for sure. He’s become a good friend since we met close to ten years ago.
SAVE YOURSELF
Let’s face it, “survivalism” made the bulk of what we now call “life,” until the twentieth century wrapped some in a cozy safety blanket where an almighty government took care of their needs from cradle to grave, everybody was nice to each other, and nothing ever went wrong; but, as with every bubble, the illusion of safety—or control, or kindness—sooner or later always bursts. If you’re not the kind of person who waits for somebody else to save you, you might be a member of the survivalist subculture all along . . .
1. A term dating from the 1970s, survivalism gathers individuals or communities who prepare for emergencies (hence, the term “prepper”) large and small. From buying candles in the event of a blackout, to building your own nuclear shelter, survivalists gather the stuff they think might come in handy in the event an emergency, a crisis, a natural disaster, or even the apocalypse strikes—all in direct proportion to their fears, or the issues of the day.
2. Those who have suffered financial distress or unemployment are likely to safekeep hard currency or stockpile food “for a rainy day.” Someone who has been robbed or mugged will likely spend money on home security measures, take self-defense lessons, or at least entertain the notion of buying a gun, just as parents concerned for the well-being of their children will have a first-aid kit at hand. Others with an overly political or religious stance will prepare for an awaited “end of days” by building shelters or retreats where they will keep their supplies. The list is endless!
3. The importance of the Scouting movement’s influence in the formation of the preparedness mentality cannot be overstated. A subculture in itself, this private, non-political, educational organization with a paramilitary bend was founded in 1910 by British Army Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) as the Boy Scouts, while his sister Agnes (1858–1945) established the Girl Scouts, both of which put into action the ideas expressed by Baden-Powell’s seminal Scouting for Boys: A handbook for instruction in good citizenship (1908). Since 1910, the Boy Scouts of America in particular have indoctrinated an estimated 110,000,000 children in those same principles of self-reliance (including basic wilderness survival tactics), and is currently joined by around 2,500,000 young recruits, and another million adult volunteers.
4. Survivalists—many formerly scouts in their youth—began to coalesce around a number of publications (including books, magazines, and newsletters) during the mid-1970s, when sociocultural malaise began to grip a world still recovering from the “summer of love” hangover, and the fallout of the Oil Crisis (a vengeful oil embargo conducted by Arab nations on Israel supporters) which drove formerly staunch western nations to their knees.
5. Authors with a survivalist streak would initially cash in on their particular areas of expertise. These included economist Howard Ruff (1930–2016), who prodded people to invest in gold, silver, and other hard valuables, and USMC pistol expert John “Jeff” Cooper (1920–2006), who focused on defending your home or bunker against small-arms fire; but it would be generalist homesteader Donald E. Sisco (b.1932) who named the burgeoning movement from its fringes via his newsletter, The Survivor, as well as his much-sought-after Granddad's Wonderful Book of . . . series and The Poor Man’s James Bond series of—you bet!—self-published books, written under the pseudonym “Kurt Saxon.”
6. As with many other subcultures, survivalists have developed their own specialized military-inspired abbreviations jargon, including BOB (“Bug-out bag,” containing everything needed to leave home during an emergency); EDC (“Everyday carry”); G.O.O.D.(“Get out of Dodge,” as in leaving town); YOYO (“You're on Your Own”); and the quaint TEOTWAWKI (“The end of the world as we know it”). On a humorous note, unprepared and in-denial people are often referred to as “zombies” and “pollyannas,” respectively.
7. Purchasing and stocking up a convenient BOL (“bug-out location”) is considered an integral part of survivalist preparedness. These refuges, ranging from urban safehouses or shelters to rural retreats, have to be self-sufficient and easy to either defend or escape from should the need for evasion arise.
8. If Cold War nuclear holocaust fears fueled survivalism during the 1980s, and the Y2K “computer-bug” scare did so in the late 1990s, terrorism, global warming, and pandemic disease have given the subculture a renewed push and global adherents during the first two decades of the twenty-first century. With renewed interest, however, comes heightened scrutiny both from the media and the government, an unholy complex which has painted survivalists as a whole as “extremists” prone to domestic terrorism.
9. Survival has been portrayed in fiction since ancient times. Eighth-century BC The Odyssey isn’t just a “hero’s journey” but one of the earliest stories of survival at sea, while Daniel Defoe’s (c.1660–1731) Robinson Crusoe a thousand years later would set the “lone survivor” template, somewhat followed by mid-twentieth-century authors George R. Stewart (1895–1980) and Richard Matheson (1926–2013) on Earth Abides (1949) and I Am Legend (1954) respectively. On the silver screen, no other production would capture the survival zeitgeist than First Blood (1982), based on the 1972 novel by David Morrell of the same title, which would kick-start the whole “Rambo” franchise. A year later, The Survivors (1983) would go a step further by painting an unflattering picture of the survivalist movement as a whole. Long stepping up where the movies left off, television would later bring survivalism to the forefront with popular shows like LOST (2004–2010), and the enormously successful Doomsday Preppers (2011–2014).
BONUS FACTS
In addition to being embroiled in the abduction and rape of a Mormon missionary (the infamous “Manacled Mormon Case”) in 1977, stalking the same man in 1984, and cloning her pit-bull dog in 2008, former Miss Wyoming, and all-around tabloid queen Joyce Bernann McKinney (b.1949) was charged with the vehicular manslaughter (hit and run) of Holocaust-survivor Gennady Bolotsky (1928–2019) in 2019.
Delight led to astonishment when American novelist Anne Parrish (1888–1957) found an old edition of Jack Frost and Other Stories while perusing secondhand books in the stalls along the Seine (Paris, France) and it turned out to be her own childhood copy of that book.
Richard Nixon (1913 – 1994) had mad music skills, excelling at five different instruments—piano, saxophone, clarinet, accordion, and violin!
In 2021, an unused 1936 The Blue Lotus graphic novel cover illustration by Herge (born Georges Remi; 1907 – 1983) was sold at auction $3,100,000.
Invented in 1938 by Sylvan Nathan Goldman (1898–1984) to induce bigger sales, the shopping cart was initially rejected by his store customers.
EVEREADY
Perhaps it’s time to remind everyone of FEMA’s Emergency Supply List (www.ready.gov), if only to be on the safe side, and keep a BOB readily available for a quick escape . . .
•Water: one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
•Food: at least a three-day supply of nonperishable food
•Battery-powered or hand crank radio, and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
•Flashlight and extra batteries
•First aid kit
•Whistle to signal for help
•Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic
•Sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
•Moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties for personal sanitation
•Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
•Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
•Local maps
•Prescription medications and glasses
•Infant formula and diapers
•Pet food and extra water for your pet
•Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification, and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
•Cash or traveler’s checks and change
•Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person
•Complete change of clothing including a long-sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes
•Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper—when diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using sixteen drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe, or bleaches with added cleaners.
•Fire extinguisher
•Matches in a waterproof container
•Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
•Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
•Paper and pencil
•Books, games, puzzles or other activities*
*Author’s note: I swear I did not make this up, but if you’re searching for puzzle books, look no farther than page 472!
THE PLACE NOT TO BE
According to the US Army, the 120 American towns at most risk for an NBC attack—that’s nuclear, biological, and chemical, folks, not Will & Grace reruns—are:
Akron, OH
Amarillo, TX
Albuquerque, NM
Anaheim, CA
Anchorage, AK
Arlington, TX
Arlington, VA
Atlanta, GA
Aurora, CO
Austin, TX
Bakersfield, CA
Baltimore, MD
Baton Rouge, LA
Birmingham, AL
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Charlotte, NC
Chattanooga, TN
Chesapeake, VA
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
Colorado Springs, CO
Columbus, OH
Columbus, GA
Corpus Christi, TX
Dallas, TX
Dayton, OH
Denver, CO
Des Moines, IA
Detroit, MI
El Paso, TX
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fort Wayne, IN
Fort Worth, TX
Freemont, CA
Fresno, CA
Garland, TX
Glendale, CA
Glendale, AZ
Grand Rapids, MI
Greensboro, NC
Hialeah, FL
Honolulu, HI
Houston, TX
Huntington Beach, CA
Huntsville, AL
Indianapolis, IN
Irving, TX
Jackson, MS
Jacksonville, FL
Jersey City, NJ
Kansas City, MO
Kansas City, KS
Knoxville, TN
Las Vegas, NV
Lexington-Fayette, KY
Lincoln, NE
Little Rock, AR
Long Beach, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Louisville, KY
Lubbock, TX
Madison, WI
Memphis, TN
Mesa, AZ
Metairie, LA
Miami, FL
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Mobile, AL
Modesto, CA
Montgomery, AL
Nashville, TN
New Orleans, LA
New York, NY
Newark, NJ
Newport News, VA
Norfolk, VA
Oakland, CA
Oklahoma City, OK
Omaha, NE
Orlando, FL
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Providence, RI
Raleigh, NC
Richmond, VA
Riverside, CA
Rochester, NY
Sacramento, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Antonio, TX
San Bernardino, CA
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Santa Ana, CA
Seattle, WA
Shreveport, LA
Spokane, WA
Springfield, MA
St. Louis, MO
St. Paul, MN
St. Petersburg, FL
Stockton, CA
Syracuse, NY
Tacoma, WA
Tampa, FL
Toledo, OH
Tucson, AZ
Tulsa, OK
