Herman On The Set

     'LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!'
      To most people, those 3 words typify a world of glamour and excitement - the world of motion pictures. To five Mancunian teenagers, those words have meant 3 weeks of hard work and little sleep, but a lot of fun. Herman's Hermits have just finished filming their first full-length movie 'There's No Place Like Space'.
      Visiting with the boys on the set at MGM Studios, I found them all enthusiastic about their work. 'It's been great fun!' exclaimed Herman, sharply dressed in a black and white houndstooth jacket (as befits one of the Ten-Best-Dressed Englishmen).


HERMAN

      'Yesterday we were suspended in mid-air on wires', Karl Green chuckled. 'That was my favorite bit'.
      A prop man walked up and fiddled with Karl's guitar strap. He stooped down for a moment, while the lad shifted his instrument a bit. When the man straightened up - whonk!
      'Owww!' the poor man clutched his head and moaned, 'He's hit my bass' shouted Karl, who quickly apologized.


KEITH

      'Hermits on stage!' came over the loudspeaker and the boys rushed to the set, a hotel room. The scene was done half a dozen times, as lighting and sound men tried to co-ordinate their activities, until all was perfect. Time after time, the five spoke their lines, displaying the patience and composure of much more experienced actors.
      'We don't mind doing scenes over and over. 'We're used to it. It's kind of like doing a TV show, where you've got to sing your number over and over.
  


BARRY & KARL

      His fellow Hermit dashed over and soon he was swinging back and forth across the huge hall, barely missing lights, dressing rooms and stage hands.
      'Bzzzz!' A loud buzzer halted all movement in the studio, except that in front of the cameras. The sound, like a loud kitchen timer, means film is rolling and no one breathes if he values his life.
      After the director shouted 'Cut!' talk resumed and Karl observed, 'It cost thousands of dollars for them to film a scene and not use it'.


LEK

      'The only thing that annoys me' Keith Hopwood confided, 'is all the wardrobe changes. Every few minutes we have to change our clothes. Why, look at this shirt', he pointed to his blue shirt which is part of the Hermits' usual performing gear. 'The MGM people have washed it every day for the past two weeks. It's even missing a couple of buttons but I can't wear a different one. They don't want to have me wearing one shirt in the first part of a scene and another in the second half!'
      'Keith! Come and swing me!' Karl yelled across the studio, the old theatre where Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy sang, long before he was born. The bass guitarist had latched onto a rope that hung from the ceiling.
      This past week was purely pleasure and relaxation for the five, who in a year and a half have recorded 5 hit singles and 2 smash albums. The parents of Peter Noone, Keith Hopwood, Barry Whitwam, Karl Green and Lek Leckenby joined their sons at their temporary home in Benedict Canyon.
      Today it's off to Chicago to begin another round of concerts and TV appearances in the East. Kind of a busy life for 'hermits!'

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