Just One of the Himmelfarbs

Yesterday I was the patriarch of the Himmelfarb clan; grandfather of the Bat Mitzvah girl. Or something like that. It was my first paid acting job of 2009 as I performed in the background on the set of Ronna and Beverly, a TV pilot being produced for Showtime.

The stars of the show are Jessica Chaffin and Jamie Denbo who have worked together for several years as a comedy sketch team portraying events from the lives of Ronna and Beverly, a pair of oft-married and divorced Jewish women from Boston who, among other things, authored a book titled, You'll Do A Little Better Next Time: A Guide to Marriage and Remarriage for Jewish Singles." You can find more about these funny women on their YouTube page and read about the pilot in a TV Guide article (1/08/09).

The scenes in which The Ancient One worked showed a batch of very sick Himmelfarbs and other guests arriving at a hospital suffering from apparent food poisoning, the result of "bad shrimp" served at the Bat Mitzvah party. Because he spoke up first, The Ancient One was selected as the member of the mob who threw up as they all entered the reception area. Fortunately, the mixture was fruity sweet, making the 7 or 8 (or maybe more) takes of the scene bearable. It also accounts for the "stuff" on his shirt, as seen below:

All in all, it was a fun day at L.A. Center Studios. And fortunately the shot was indoors for it was one of those rare, very rainy days in Los Angeles. Yes, they do happen! It also felt good to be working again, if only for one day.