So, that was something. I was lying in bed waiting for what I knew would happen. Then it did. My phone exploded with text messages from people all over the country saying they just saw me on TV. It was neat. Very satisfying. Reviews all seem to be good, with the only complaint being that there was not enough of me. I still have not watched it, and probably never will.
I feel like I have not eaten solid food in the 3 days since this CBS thing looked like it was actually going to happen. Just operating on pure and electric anxiety. “Electric” is not a bad word for it, as it reminds me of the time I stuck my finger in a light socket and felt white energy rocket through me. It was a clean but lethal feeling, one that could have lasted as long as it had to to wrap things up for me at that early age. I think I was 12 or 13.
I was mostly nervous because I had little memory of what I actually said at the interview. I know I misspoke on a couple of facts and figures, which I attempted to clarify in follow-up emails. I guess they did not use those bits? I was reminded during the interview of my doubt that any significant number of outdoor free-standing phone booths actually existed prior to the 1950s, when the aluminum Airlight model was introduced. Passing mention of “phone booths” in print sources never seems to clarify if the structure was indoors or out, and I think the term “booth” is often used generically in reference to any kind of public telephone structure. It is nothing to lose sleep over but in the context of this discussion I think I got things jumbled. I also neglected to name the real villain in the death of the payphone, which is the Lifeline program that gives free or very cheap cell phones to the poor. Those folks are the payphone’s last reliable customer base, but giving them free phones makes their use of payphones unnecessary.
I spent the afternoon walking to Calvary, where I sat in the chapel for a little while. I did not see another human all the while, except for a security guard racing across the yard in a van. They seem to have hired a private security company, as did St. Michael’s. I looked at some pornography while I was there. Maybe there is no reason to clarify but that sort of thing in a chapel just sears itself across my mind. It’s like pure evil, and yet so damn good because of that.
Yet, as nervous as I was leading up to it I find today that I don’t much care. 6 million people saw my fat face for a few minutes. People I have not heard from in years reached out to say it was cool. “Adorable” seems to have been a common comment. Hah. And a documentary filmmaker who I worked with last year said she wants to go ahead with her project even though she did not get funding. She said she showed the video of me to some people and that they “wanted more” or me, which is a weird concept for me. Is there any more of me?
This film was not the usual bullet list of facts and figures about payphones. It was an exploration of things, I guess what you’d call a character study. I did not anticipate that, and the discussion went off on all tangents, touching on certain vulnerabilities I have to abusive relationships and, if I remember right, even touching on the subject of suicide. We filmed it at what I would say is my #2 favorite payphone of today, second only to the rogue phone I spotted a few months ago and which as far as I know is still in semi-illegal service.
The phone we used is near a high school, and it so happened that the kids were getting out of school when we were trying to do this. One kid screamed “FUCK YOUR CAMERA!” and hurled his body at the payphone enclosure with the apparent intention of toppling the thing. Another kid stuck his face in mine, then screamed something unintelligible into the camera before moving on. I am surprised to say that I did not even crack a smile, nor did I have any feeling of fear that these kids would get more violent.
The CBS segment had been in the works for months already when it finally was filmed, and it sat in the can for months afterward. Obviously this is not a timely news piece, it’s filler, so it’s no surprise that it sat aside for so long. For the filming I had to be at the NYPL’s Schwarzman building at the unholy hour of 8am. I have not seen 8am, except to stay awake until that hour, for a very long time. I got there and asked a security guard if there was a film crew inside. He answered in the affirmative, and said I needed to be issued an ID badge. I replied that no one had told me to expect that. He went inside and quickly came back out, smiling and saying I was “bona fide” and that I would not need any kind of badge. It would have looked dumb to be sporting a “Hi, My Name Is…” thing on TV.
I got inside and found 2 crewmembers setting up a phalanx of cameras, with the producer and Mo Rocca standing by. No one fed me any questions ahead of time, and we spoke for a total of what I guess was about 90 minutes. I had never heard of Mo until a couple of weeks prior. I could not have been more wrong about this but from what I found of his œuvre I thought he was a “gotcha” type of comedian interviewer who gently (or not-so-gently) ridiculed his subjects. On account of this I actually almost declined to do the interview.
But that just did not seem like the style of CBSSM, which at the time of the filming was still hosted by Charles Osgood. The interview style was nothing even close to what I had imagined, which I associate with John Oliver and his ilk. If anything it felt a little over the top in some ways, with Mo asking me questions about things I wrote and comments I made as far back as 20 years ago, and not even on the payphone site but on The Place of General Happiness. They did their research.
If I was unusually nervous about this finally airing it is because, for one thing, I don’t like doing TV. But more to the point I had only foggy memories of everything I said that day. I did, however, remember getting some facts and figures either wrong or not entirely accurate. I guess none of that stuff was used. I remember the film crew guys commenting (positively) that I was “non-stop” in talking about the subject matter. I guess their subjects often clam up? I don’t know but the next day they went to Washington to talk to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. There’s a change of pace.
Funny thing, when the producer called to schedule this he said he was calling from CBS. Moments earlier I had just gotten off the phone with CVS, the pharmacy. I was puzzled as to why they would be calling me back within seconds of what seemed like a conversation with no need for follow-up.
Anyway… It was fun, and the contacts I’ve received since the airing yesterday have been very gratifying. Now I get to catch up with that.
