When I asked readers to send me questions to answer here, I got this one from three different readers. This version is from Michael Kelley, who's been watching the old Tonight Show episodes on Antenna TV…
In the beginning of the Johnny Carson repeats, a stage fellow throws a big disk thing up to another stagehand above. What in the world is it?
That's what's called a gel. It's a color filter for one of the stage lights. So you have one guy up on a ladder adjusting a light that's mounted way up high and he yells to a guy below to toss him up a certain kind of gel that will tint or diffuse or otherwise alter the output of the light…and the guy below throws it up to him.
One of the more interesting aspects of TV and film production — and it's amazing how so many people in the business pay no attention to this — is what the stage crew does. The setup or the teardown on some stages can be acts of mesmerizing skill and efficiency and even physical strength or daring. I've seen stagehands scamper up and down ladders that you couldn't get me on for Leonardo DiCaprio Money.
One of the first times I wrote a variety show, the crew had to do the "load-in" in one night. A game show called Liar's Club was taping on our stage until 8 PM. At 8:01, they had to be out — all their sets, all their gear, everything — and this army of grips and lighting guys and set people just moved in…and they had until 10 AM to bring in and set up everything, including a full-size working merry-go-round.
I decided to see how this was done, partly for fun, partly for education. I went to Canter's Delicatessen and bought a sack of sandwiches. Then I drove to the studio, found a spot on the stage where I thought I wouldn't interfere or get trampled and I just watched and passed out free sandwiches to anyone who wanted one. It is still one of the most astounding things I have ever witnessed — all these people working all night, hauling in huge scene flats and furniture and assembling and placing everything exactly where it was supposed to be. It was like seeing a city erected in fourteen hours, much of it right before my eyes.
I left about 4 AM because I had to sleep and get back there for a 10 AM rehearsal. When I returned, some of the men (and women!) who'd been working all night were just wrapping up…and indeed, there was a working merry-go-round on the stage. Several children of staff members and a few beefy stagehands in t-shirts were riding on the horsies.
If you work in TV or movies and you've never seen this, go see it some time. It will give you a much, much greater respect for the people who do this kind of thing for a living. Tossing those lighting gels up is just about the easiest thing they do.
