Trail Tales Cast Chat with Kellie

  (no picture available...yet)

Kellie in White
Raye in Gold

What did you do on the show?

On Set Costumer.
 
Well that was the third season, I was set Costumer... second season I was a wardrobe assistant. I had come out on the first season, my dad was the transportation co-ordinator and I was the Producer's Assistant for awhile.  He left after awhile and I went back to L.A. I came back and since I knew some people in the Costume Department I started scrubbing mud off boots. 

Oh? The 'glamorous' stuff?

Yes, the glamorous stuff.

What were the cast members like?

They were all a lot of fun. Everyone got along really, really well. It was a nice group to work with. Stephen was the goofiest. That's probably not any surprise.

No, no, not really.  So if he was the most goofy... who was the most.... serious?

Serious... no one was really 'serious', but the quietest was Gregg Rainwater.

And the other cast members?
 
Josh, I always loved Josh... and Stephen.. they were all really great. 

Was the wardrobe made for the cast members?

All the principal actors had their clothes made for them at American Costume.. then, the rest of the clothes that were on the guest actors that came in and extras, were all rented from American.  

Your sister had mentioned other family members working on the show...

Actually, my dad was the transportation co-ordinator for the pilot and the first season... my uncle was on that show.. and I met my husband on the show.
 
What was he doing on the show? 

Driving the wardrobe trailer.  We've been married 11 years. We were married right after the end of the third season.

Do you remember the name of the producer you worked for?

Harvey Frand.

As a production assistant, what were your duties?

For Harvey, I mostly did the script revisions... when we'd get new pages, making sure that everyone got them. That kind of stuff. I got to make all the packets and everything. It was a lot of fun... and it was that fun because of Harvey.. he's a funny, funny man. A fun guy. 

Where you on set during the show?

The third season I was on the set all the time.

Any last minute emergencies? 

Not on the main actors.. but the guests and extras.. they would rip their hem out and we'd have to fix it really quickly.

Do you remember any mishaps with the costumes? Odd moments in filming?

There was a very odd moment, which I remember because it was truly frightening.. I don't remember which show it was.. it was the one with the nuns and the tiger.. do you remember which one that was?
 
Tiger's Tale. 

That's the show that we were doing. No one was down on set because the Tiger was working at liberty that day, so everyone stayed far away. No one but anyone that really needed to be down there... and I decided that with a loose tiger, I really didn't need to be down there. Whoever the actress was, they had forgotten to put on their petticoat and so when they went to shoot, you could see right through her skirt. So, they called for her petticoat. There's this long lane down to where the set was.. and there's no one in the lane but me and I'm walking down towards the set and I see the tiger run by the top. Then run back by.. and then start down this alley.

Now, the tiger is loose and it's me and the tiger.. it was like slow motion... like a cartoon. A just stood there and stopped.. I really wanted to run... really bad.  I kept getting closer and closer and I could feel the ground shake and he walked right next to my thigh. I'm 5' 11'' and the tiger came to the middle of my leg.. he was huge! He went around behind me and jumped up on a chair that had a parka on it.. with a coyote ruff collar. He jumped on it like a cat with a mouse. His trainer comes running down the alley shouting.. "He's okay.. He's okay..." So I took a deep breath and went to give the actress her petticoat. That was really, one of the truly frightening moments of my life.




Do you remember .. in the last two episodes, Lou had to have that wedding dress. What it made.. or bought?

That was bought from a store here in Tucson. We searched and searched.. and we had some really nice 'time' appropriate dresses, and none of the people.. producers, directors.. liked them... they wanted that modern *clears throat* kind of wedding dress. That's how we ended up with that.
 

The fans have always commented on it... and wondered if it just wasn't a bit too modern.

It's totally modern dress. Patrick, who was the costume designer, had this...  we had several dresses picked out.. and they picked that one because they didn't pick any of the other dresses that we had found that were appropriate. So I don't even remember who it was that decided that that was the dress. None of us were really happy with it.

Do you remember being on set for any specific episode?

I can't remember anything specific. I was out on set with them for nine months.. that's an awful lot of scenes.  It seems like there's so much stuff. Oh, they all sang me a Christmas Carol one time. We were all in the bunkhouse.. and I was in there because they have to run out and I had to make sure they were right before they ran out of the door and in between they started singing.. and I don't remember what they were singing, but they all sang really well. Steve went to... Julliard for singing. He had a beautiful voice...

Any pictures?

Oh, I've got a bunch somewhere.. I should have a whole roll of continuity Polaroids...  I'll have to go dig through my bags to see if I even have those. I have a little photo album of some on set photos.. I know I have quite a few.

Did you watch any of the episodes on TV?

No, we were usually working when they were on.

I'll have to watch.. maybe the kids will watch.. and then I can sit there and say.. THAT's where I messed up! That's where he has his gloves on..and he didn't have his gloves on before.. oh no!

Continuity.. is that on the part of wardrobe?

Right.. you want to be sure that if you've shot a scene before ... you had to make sure.. if he walked out of a building with his hat.. and then a scene where he goes out of the building.. you better make sure he has his hat in his hand.. or he's putting his hat on.  Stuff like that... there's also the script supervisor does that too, but for wardrobe... everyone tries to keep track of own stuff.


As I was closing out our little talk, Kellie gave me a little surprise..

I do remember one time... when in the rain,... Josh's black hat started dripping black ink/dye down his face... which was very horrible.. hard to get off...  It was raining and the black dye was running out of his hat. There wasn't much to do.. it was pouring down rain.

Yeah, there's not much you can do besides putting in a call up 'there' and ask them to shut down the waterworks.

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