Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Good Evening, Hometown

 

Shortly after we were married, Beautiful found herself ensconced in new surroundings.  She had only recently retired and had moved to a new community.  It does not require a stretch of the imagination to picture her need to find satisfying activities.  I mean other than pleasing and entertaining me. 

We had occasion to meet the manager/producer for the one-man Hometown Television operation.  Jim and Beautiful hit it off and the upshot was that she became the hostess for a variety program which would air once a week.  There were promises of a new set and who knows whatever else, because I stood around in the background and paid them no nevermind.

Now for a period of weeks, finding interesting and talented guests who were willing to go for their fifteen thirty minutes of very limited fame was not a difficult task.  Please understand that in addition to finding the guests and hosting the program while remaining upbeat there was no stipend involved, and other than operating the camera when the program was taped, Jim provided no assistance to speak of.  In fact, when the spouse requested assistance from the "producer" in locating guests for future programs since the hostess herself was not well-acquainted with the community, it was made clear to her that it was her responsibility to locate and secure guests.

Then, too, when our living room became the rent-free studio and vanilla had to repair to his den while the house was invaded by boy-band or pipe organ builder it became evident that someone was giving more than she was getting.

Clearly, this was not going to work long-term.

BBBH loves performing, and being in the public eye is nourishment to her spirit.  But even with that being on her plate, she could not continue to devote the unreimbursed time to do what she felt she could not do unassisted.  The community had the pleasure of viewing several programs, and quite interesting they were, too, but it had to end.

I guess what BBBH got in the long-run was the ability to say truthfully, "When I had my TV show..."

7 comments:

Shelly said...

Jim is probably still kicking himself for not being more accomodating. It sounds like it was a very entertaining show~

Jim said...

There are users everywhere, it seems.

Chuck said...

One of the best things I ever did was to get out of that business. I was not "on camera."

Lin said...

Wow. Boy, that Jim sure was good at getting what HE wanted, wasn't he? I guess it's true when they say that the more you give, the more they want. It's a shame that it turned out like that--it could have been fun.

Anonymous said...

I have found that some organizations that depend on volunteers to provide services that normally would be paid work, treat said volunteers very poorly. Like the volunteers should be grateful to do unpaid work. I'll help just anybody with just about anything and "thank you" is just fine but don't push your luck...

Vee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
vanilla said...

Shelly, she put on an excellent show, if I do say so myself.

Jim, maybe sometimes the intent is honest, but one gets in over his own head.

Chuck, it wouldn't be a business I would be comfortable with.

Lin, BBBH did have fun with it, and was only sorry that more help was not forthcoming.

Grace, in Spouse's case, she enjoyed what she did, and it truly wasn't the money, but rather the expectation of "more."

Vee, and yet in the rosy world in which I live I believe that most people are honest. Probably honest, well-intentioned, and short-memoried. I'm such a dork. Sorry you have encountered problems with the clientele.