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Ambassador Brush
Early February, 2005
The super Tammy Smith, who had booked me on
Fun With Dick and Jane,
paged me, asking after my availability for a probable
five day gig
for the film
Jump Shot.
The location was the Ambassador Hotel, at which Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.
There were a few... issues with this particular shoot, mostly being One Of Those Sets where the background artists were considered Props That Eat.
Background Holding was moved right next to set; craft services grumbled and growled about "having to" move up there to where we were, hence their providing next to nothing for us the entire day.
The casino set was right next door to the new holding area, separated by an open patio.
At one point as I stood facing out, my back to the door to the set, something that would seem to have been oncoming rather forcefully brushed past my left arm.
The sensation was strong enough not to just move but to shove the fabric of my shirt.
The sensation took just long enough time that I could look down and see the fabric resuming its position from being pushed.
It was as though I had simply been in someone's way, and my shirt had caught on their passing.
There was no wind on the bright and sunny day, and I first glanced up at the tree under which I was standing, then down to the tiled floor.
There was nothing that had fallen from the tree that would have grazed me.
I thought about it for about a minute, and deduced what must have happened, as I'd had
another unexplained encounter before
on a set.
Tammy came up and was chatting away with us, and as the project's main director
Mark Rydell
happened to walk by us, Tammy conveyed to us that he is very background-actor friendly.
She and I also discussed how the Ambassador Hotel was where Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, at which point I asked Tammy casually, "So this place is haunted...?"
"Oh yes, absolutely," she said, indicating cold spots and (as she is somewhat of a [psychically] Sensitive Nature), experiencing strange feelings.
I told her about a little while earlier my being brushed by something moving past me, but didn't get into my previous, more extensive ghostly encounter on the other shoot.
As it was, over 90% of those promised on a five-day gig were released at day's end, not to return.
Sadly, I was among this group.
At the time I was unaware that being booked for more than a day, by waiting to day's end to release us
(so as for us not to have any way to book something else for the following day),
we/I could have reminded them they must pay us for the initially-promised following booked day.
Our only "consolation"... the film has only been at film festivals and never made general release.
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