Thursday, March 21, 2013

Vocabulary Update

Here are some new terms I've come across in the past several months:

Getaway day: the last day of a loadout, when the final truck comes after the 10 a.m. coffee break and the stagehands leave early.
stay guy: The stagehand kept late for overtime when the other stagehands are cut at 5 p.m.
Broadway wrap--wrapping a prop gift box so that the lid can be taken off without ripping the paper. This enables the propman to use the box over and over.


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Joke of the Day: Local #1 Interview

Despite being a fourth-generation member of Local #1 IATSE, the Theatrical Protective Union of New York City, I am embarrassed to say that I had not heard this joke. I had to hear it from a brother in Local #600 IATSE, which is the camera operators' local.

To understand this joke, you must know that Local #1 was once a fathers' and sons' local, where members could nominate one man (and it was all men back then) to join the local, and if you had two sons, you'd marry the second one to a local member with only daughters, so your son's new father-in-law could nominate him.

The joke is a man walks into his Local #1 interview. The union man interviewing him looks at him sternly and says, "I have two questions for you: Who's your dad and how is he?"

--Dylan Foley