The Star Trek Cattlecall
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| Fanwork | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Star Trek Cattlecall |
| Creator: | Peggy Schwarz |
| Date(s): | 1979 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Star Trek Cattlecall is a 1979 poem by Peggy Schwarz.
It was printed in Infinite Diversity #3.
The topic was a fan's experience in trying out to be an extra in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It is unclear from the poem whether its author was one of the chosen few, but since there is no future poetic commentary, chances are she was not.
For a fascinating article about this topic, see Faces in the crowd, a 2007 blog post by Therin of Andor.
Some Tidbits
- the try-outs were October 9, 1978, the fitting for costumes was October 11, 1978, and the filming was October 16, 1978
- Bjo Trimble and four other fans "passed the word along" to other BNF fans who each provided a list of names to Roddenberry
- the tryouts were on Gower Avenue
- Susan Sackett was in charge of reading off names, Bjo Trimble led fans to the secret door, Louise Stange gave each fan their admittance letter
- fans sat in bleachers under hot lights while "watchers" at tables observed them chatting
- three authors (David Gerrold, Kathleen Sky, Katherine Kurtz) were "scattered" among the crowd
- Robert Wise, the film's director, casted Bjo (well, of course!), and four other fans off the bat (likely the other four BNFs who provided the lists, because of course!)
- regarding appearances for the chosen: men had to cut their hair short but they could keep their mustaches, women would have to put their hair in buns or have short hair (no word on mustaches for women)
- if you weren't short or fat or over forty, then "all was fine" and you got to stand in a line, all others were told to go home
- those with acceptable appearances waited some more and were joined by more women
- Jo Ann Christy was chosen as "The Vulcan of the crew"
- there was more decisions by TPTB and a lucky twenty-one or so more fans were chosen, including Marge Hovt, Karen Trimble, and Sue Stephenson