Things seen in the background.

[somersetstokie]

This thought was prompted by Chuffedstokie's recent thread, headed "John Collier. John Collier". He commented: "Can't even remember the programme I was watching on Sunday evening but in the background on the street corner was a John Collier shop."

I got to thinking of some of the bizzare things that must have accidentally or mistakenly appeared in the background of a filmed sequence over the course of time.

This glimpse of something seen in a film shot reminded me of a minor but slightly unusual event that occured in the early 1980's. At the time I was working for a national retail Jewellery chain and as is necessary with this sort of shop, the front showpiece windows would be emptied to the safes each night and the premises secured by shutters.

There was a BBC drama mini series produced for television at the time entitled "The Mad Death" and the three-part series examined the effects of an outbreak of Rabies in the United Kingdom. A French visitor to Scotland smuggles her pet cat, affected by Rabies, into the country, sparking a terrifying outbreak of the disease, which threatens to engulf an entire community. The spread of the disease among the animal population goes undetected at first- until the first human falls victim to the terrible Mad Death.

The serial was made by BBC Scotland and the episodes were filmed in 1981, around Scotland including inside East Kilbride and Irvine Shopping Centres. It was transmitted 2 years later in 1983. We had a branch in the shopping centre where filming took place and at one point a rabid dog is seen entering the shopping centre. The alarm had already been raised regarding a possible Rabies outbreak, and when the animal is seen at the shopping centre the order is given to evacuate the precinct and a police marksman is brought in to shoot it. In the first scenes of the dog, our Jewellers Shop is seen clearly in the background, active, lit up and trading. The evacuation of the centre was portrayed as taking 6 minutes, and later scenes show the empty Shopping Centre closed down. In the developing action in the shopping area our Store is clearly shown again, securely closed, with the pads out of the windows, lights off and shutters down. Achieved apparently within 6 minutes. The Company's Directors actually gave the shop a Trophy Award for completing the fastest ever apparent secure shutdown of a branch in the history of the business.

[lordb]

When Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald John Peel is in the background

[somersetstokie]

Jun 14, 2020 16:57:50 GMT lordb said:

When Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald John Peel is in the background

Never knew that! True or just a coincidence in a conspiracy theory?

[chuffedstokie]

Don't you just love TV continuity.

[lordb]

Jun 14, 2020 17:01:20 GMT somersetstokie said:

Jun 14, 2020 16:57:50 GMT lordb said:

When Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald John Peel is in the background

Never knew that! True or just a coincidence in a conspiracy theory?

He's on the footage...just a moment or two before the shooting
Peel was a DJ in Dallas at the time, he'd met JFK at one point.
Blagged his way in saying he was from the BBC.
Edit: just looked it up again, he actually said he was from the Liverpool Echo

[Deleted]

A friend of mine appeared in a Mike Leigh film on both ends of the screen. He was an extra and walked round the back of the camera before appearing the other side of the filming. When they came to cut the film Mike Leigh told him he's never work in films again. Was a party scene, one second he's on the right, next he's on the left.

[marwood]

Jun 14, 2020 17:01:20 GMT somersetstokie said:

Jun 14, 2020 16:57:50 GMT lordb said:

When Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald John Peel is in the background

Never knew that! True or just a coincidence in a conspiracy theory?

He was in the press conference right before, Jack ruby at one end, peel the other, Oswald centre stage. theres footage on youtube
i don't think he was in the corridor etc where Oswald was actually shot

equally as momentous:-

Vic Reeves (before he was famous) dancing in the background of a Shaking Stevens video

[danceswithclams]

Jun 16, 2020 23:28:55 GMT marwood said:

Vic Reeves (before he was famous) dancing in the background of a Shaking Stevens video

I hope that's as funny as Jason Statham dancing (in a not at all gay fashion) in this early 90s Shamen video:

[Deleted]

There's a scene near the start in 28 Days Later when Cillian Murphy is walking around where a bus in the background has gone in the next scene if you look closely. Good to know that despite London being deserted and bitey people running amok, the 72 bus to Hammersmith is still running. Well done London Transport

[somersetstokie]

I feel that I should reference the famous "Three Men and a Baby" Ghost, from the 1987 film that starred Tom Selleck, Ted Danson and Steve Guttenberg, and followed the three bachelors as they tried to bring up the love child of one of them.

But behind the laughs, there was a more sinister urban myth that gripped and freaked out most viewers. Just who was the boy who appeared behind the curtain in one of the scenes?


i.ytimg.com/vi/LSDzUnBmwK0/hqdefault.jpg




About an hour into the film, Jack (Danson) is seen introducing his mother (Celeste Holm) to baby Emily. As they walk through the New York City apartment, they pass a window that seems to have something leaning against it. But when they pass by seconds later, there is clearly a little boy watching them. Released before the internet could bust the myth, and perhaps thanks to the dodgy quality of VHS when it was released for home viewing, we were all convinced we were seeing an apparition.

One story was that it was the child of one of the production staff who sadly killed himself, another was that it was a child who died in the apartment.
Eventually it was revealed that the image was not a ghost boy but a more mundane advertising cardboard cut out of Danson from a dog food commercial his character appeared in.