LET THE CAMERA ROLL: WALK THE LINE

                                     

     A picture of real live Johnny Cash stationed in Germany.He was in Air Force from l951-to 1954. (Interesting that Ben was in Korea at the same time. And they both were Morse code interceptors.)


So the day we had anticipated finally arrived. Ben 
was instructed to go somewhere (I can't remember where); he left his car and was transported with other extras to Humes High School, my alma mater, of all places.They waited in the cafeteria               
  to be called. Ben said he thought of all the days I had spent in that school; it has changed so little. 


Other extras were more interested that Elvis had been there, even used the bathroom, for heavens sake!! v


  Boys dressed in airforce uniforms were running all around.


 One man he got to know made a hobby out of being an extra at every possible opportunity. He  wanted a speaking line, if only once!!


Soon they were transported downtown, where the court yard of an old brewery had been transformed to a street in Landsberg, Germany.
 Old pic. .
  How it looks today.Scene shot in courtyard not visible in this picture.

They had Ben take his place on a bench. (Shoot.)_


Then decided the bench wasn't high enough. Put something under it to raise it up. (Shoot.)


Then it needed to be moved one way or the other. (two shoots.) 


Ben needed to hold the newspaper higher. (another and last shoot.) 


Each time a young man walked by him. Ben thought he was a stand in. He was 6 inches shorter than Johnny Cash. Later Ben realized it was the star, who had been selected earlier by Johnny Cash, himself!!


So Ben was through. He watched as the airforce boys rode in an authentic jeep across the end of the street. 


When more shots were required, they had to push the jeep back to start again, because it couldn't go into reverse. 


He heard that some of the boys were in an air force class scene shot back at Humes.


 So it was time to turn in his costume and put on his own clothes and reluctantly head for home.


Eventually Ben received a small check for his work.(Don't remember how much, maybe $50.)


 In November,2005, the movie at long last was released. When it came to Memphis, we were in the theater anxiously, nervously waiting.When his scene was shown...where was Ben? Nowhere to be seen. We rented a DVD and didn't find him there either!!! 


Anna Rose Brewer, our granddaughter, saved the day. She played the DVD frame by frame. And VOILA!! There he was. Obviously, Joaquin Phoenix felt threatened by this extra. haha. We took a picture of it and I framed it.
Walk the Line previewed at the Telluride Film Festival on September 4, 2005, and went into wide release on November 18. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon), and Best Costume Design (Arianne Phillips). The film grossed a total of $186,438,883 worldwide.




Thanks to Roy for putting this picture on facebook...

I am so sorry I couldn't get many pictures online to accompany this "happy memory" entry. I have the advantage of having heard this
 firsthand...oh, well. I really had so much fun remembering. I hope YOU OUT THERE are enjoying happy memories of your own.


old7lady9blogger80@gmail.com
All for now, love memphis annie    
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