Thursday, May 8, 1986/The Battalion/Page 5
s Aggie history buff gets to try his hand at acting
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woman,
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By Dawn Butz
Staff Writer
Most people have at one time or
nother dreamt of becoming a
tovie star.
For Robert Reed, a member of the
'exas A&M Living Historians, that
lu ream came true for four days in
ililri'' l P r ‘'-
|( 'l ' ' Well, maybe not quite a star —
~~ leed worked as an extra in the tele-
ision mini-series, “North and
outh, Book II,” which is running
~iis week on CBS.
Reed said Warner Brothers sent a
V ewsletter to living historian groups
iroughout the United States calling
/orie-enactors for the movie,
v "T his is the first movie where
Varner Brothers relied more on the
ou ridt V-enactors rather than the movie
event! ars.” Reed said.
mother i^The living historians group is
Ided. tade up of people throughout the
n was atfcn who have a common interest
latapf -the Civil War.
eople,
tiours.
The
re-enact the battles of
groups
efa, he Civil War. Reed said each mem-
had «r owns replicas of the uniforms
n theoi nd equipment the soldiers wore.
“They called for re-enactors so
thedi hey wouldn’t have to worry about
ma j 0l caching people how to do it,” he
(he aid. “We were told we’d get paid
i ses 23 >60 a day and just to bring the uni-
e suhje orm and everything that was cor-
ert ”
mutes. CLl
ton a tiffi eec was 1 ie on ly member from
It’s a iv
he A&M group who was able to
make the trip to the filming site just
north of Natchez, Miss.
“I skipped school and went out
there for a weekend and a couple ex
tra days for the filming of the show,”
he said. “I just walked onto the set. It
surprised them that I had just
walked on the set after coming all
the way from Texas.
“I strategically went at the very
end of the four weeks of filming. Ev
erybody runs there right away at the
beginning. What can you do with
2,000 people? Mainly just shots that
are far away.
“As time goes on, the numbers
start dwindling, people have to go
back to work, they’ve taken all the
leave they can.
“I went so that I could do the
close-ups.”
Reed said all of the filming was
done on one field, but the field was
disguised differently for each battle.
For the sake of authenticity, some
of the soldiers at night slept in rep
lica tents while others slept undef
the stars. They also ate army-issue
food similar to that served during
the Civil War era.
“We had ‘hardback,’ ” he said.
“That’s just fiour and water mixed in
a bowl, made into a paste and baked
just like cookies.”
Reed said they also ate “pigback,”
the backside of a pig. He said this
consists of two inches of fat with a
small amount of meat on the bottom.
The soldiers were filmed while
eating and each morning as they
discourse ,
fc?|Two friends of slain woman
vt: missing; search continues
. was mitS
diether t-
would CM
utions. i
3(3, of St]
1 HAWKINS (AP) — Police
questioned an Ore City man
Wednesday in the slaying of an
|8-year-old Hawkins woman as
the search continued for two of
her companions who disappeared
during a weekend lake outing,
authorities said.
H Investigators from Wood and
Upshur counties feared Hawkins
residents Bryan Boone and Gina
Turner, both 20, were abducted
along with Suzanne Harrison.
I The 38-year-old suspect, twice
convicted of sexual offenses, was
charged with two counts of at
tempted aggravated robbery.
Wood County Sheriff Frank
White said he was being ques
tioned about the slaying and dis
appearances.
A Wood County clerk said the
alleged robbery attempts, though
they happened at Lake Hawkins,
were unrelated to the slaying and
disappearances.
Wood County sheriffs dis
patcher Joanne Monk said the
search for the missing man and
woman had been unsuccessful,
despite the use of tracking dogs,
scuba divers and searchers on
horseback.
Harrison, who disappeared
along with Turner and Boone at
Lake Hawkins Sunday night, was
found beaten and strangled Mon
day.
were awoken by a bugle call, he said.
“We’d come out of our tents and
the cameras were on us,” he said.
Reed said the filming went from 8
a.m until 6 p.m., at which time ev
eryone gathered at the campsite,
singing songs from the era while
some played banjos.
Reed said he made a lot of friends
during the filming.
“Everybody knew me because
they were surprised that someone
would just pop up out of nowhere
like that,” he said. “They called me
‘Texas’ the whole time.”
For the battle scenes, Reed, who
played a Confederate soldier, said
he was matched with a Federal sol
dier so he knew who he was sup
posed to fight.
“They’d put us behind the walls
and we’d pick a Yankee on the oppo
site side so we’d know what we were
going to do,” he said. “It’s like, ‘I’m
going to kill you and you’re going to
fall this way and that’ — to save peo
ple from getting hurt.”
Reed said there were a lot of acci
dents at the film site.
He said a 12-year-old boy shot
himself in the eye, and a gun went
off when a man was cleaning it,
shooting the ramrod through his
finger.
No bullets were used, just gun
powder, but many people were
stabbed with bayonets and run over
by horses, he said.
Reed said ambulances were always
on the scene.
Patrick Swayze, left, and Robert Reed on the set of “North and South, Book II.”
“In one shot that’ll be in the Battle
of Antietam, they gave me a rubber
stage knife and put a Yankee in
front of me with a couple of guys
shooting on the side of us,” he said.
“I wrestle him to the ground and
stab him.
“I was worried because they do a
lot of clipping, but when I was
watching last night (Monday) a guy
looked right at the camera and they
didn’t cut it, so I don’t think they’ll
do anything because the shots were
pretty good.”
Reed said the stars of the movie
stayed on location. He said most of
them were “regular human beings
and really nice.”
But the biomedical science major
from Houston said he doesn’t want
to be a movie star.
Southland magazine policy receives support
DALLAS (AP) — The decision to
stop selling adult magazines in 7-
Eleven convenience stores has
prompted 15,000 telephone calls
and letters, most in support of the
move, an official with the chain’s
parent company. Southland Corp.,
said Wednesday.
Allen Liles, vice president for
public relations, said 92 percent of
the letters and phone calls have been
supportive, “which we’ve been very
happy with.”
He also said it was a new customer
survey showing declining support
for the sale of Playboy, Penthouse
and Forum that contributed to
Southland’s decision to stop selling
the magazines.
Liles said Southland never reveals
the results of its scientific customer
surveys, but the decline in support
of 7-Elevens carrying the magazines
was “substantial.”
In an interview last August,
Southland Chairman John Thomp
son had said customer surveys then
showed that 7-Eleven’s customers fa
vored the convenience store’s sale of
the magazines.
In announcing its policy reversal
April 10, Southland also had
pointed to testimony in hearings
conducted by the U.S. Attorney
General’s Commission on Pornogra
phy.
Liles said Southland had its own
representatives at those hearings
and had concluded that “there is a
growing public concern about a pos
sible link between pornography and
child abuse.”
His comments were made in an
interview after Southland’s annual
meeting on Wednesday.
Thompson didn’t mention the de
cision on the magazine sales in his
remarks to shareholders.
But one of the shareholders,
Louis Benno of Dallas, brought up
the issue.
“I want to thank the officers for
their stand on pornography,” he
said. “It must be working because
Playboy closed three of their Bunny
clubs.”
He called for applause, and there
was sparse hand-clapping. Thomp
son merely thanked him for his com
ments.
Thompson also announced at the
meeting that while he will remain as
chairman, he vyill step aside as chief
executive officer to give the job to
his younger brother, Jere Thomp
son, president.
“We think this will promote a
smoother transition as I approach
the age of 65,” said the 60-year-old
executive. “I will remain as.chairman
of the board. I am not retiring.”
In addition, shareholders re
elected directors of the company, in
cluding Clark J. Matthews II, the ex
ecutive vice president and chief fi
nancial officer whose conviction on
securities violations was reversed in
March.
While his conviction by a federal
jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., was on ap
peal, Matthews continued to serve as
an officer of the company.
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■530
344
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