During my years at Warner Bros. they were filming the series "Scarecrow and Mrs. King", which starred Kate Jackson as a typical suburban housewife who found herself embroiled in a never-ending series of adventures involving spies. My office building was often featured in the series, sometimes as an Army base, and the data center next door was used often as an airport terminal. Over time I got friendly with some of the crew as they were setting things up.
In June 1984 I was working at our office in Munich when the show came to town for the episode "The Times They Are a Changin'". As a crew member told me, one of Kate's demands (she had a lot of them) was that she wanted some episodes set in Europe so she could get there on Warner's dime. She had the clout so off the whole crew went. This day the scene was in the Marienplatz, the large pedestrian area in the center of the city. I decided to walk over to check it out during lunch.
When I got there one of the Assistant Directors was yelling at the crowd of extras hired for the day, telling them to stop staring at the camera, and to turn around and look at the Town Hall. He was getting pretty frustrated and saying "Why won't they listen to me???" Well, I suggested, maybe it was because he was telling them in English. A new instruction in German and everyone turned around. Problem solved!
As a reward they stuck me in the crowd. I can be seen briefly (back to the camera, of course!) as the stars pass through the scene. An even better reward was meeting up for dinner and drinks at a local beer hall when filming wrapped for the day. I hate to imagine what the bill was for that little gathering.
It was a beautiful day in Munich. Here's a view of City Hall towards the right as I walked through the Marienplatz
This is the group of extras all pretty much facing the wrong way. The people on the other side of the red & white tape are local folks being kept out of camera range, so their staring was not a problem.
When the extras got pointed in the right direction it was time for Kate Jackson and the actors playing her sons to rehearse their stroll through the Marienplatz.
Here Kate Jackson is joined by Beverly Garland, who played her mother in the series. Beverly was very friendly off camera, a real difference from her co-star.
Another view of filming a very short sequence that took a very long time.
It was a great coincidence that all this went on while I was working about a 5 minute walk away.
And here's my big moment on screen, the reward for helping sort out the extras. That's me in the gray coat with the Mickey Mouse camera strap. I still have that strap and the camera I took these shots with.