After several episodes on Maisel as a garment factory worker, it was nice getting back to
playing other characters in its final season. Nothing wrong with garment workers, mind you. I just missed the suits, ties, and fedoras. In this scene, I was a commuter.This particular gig was filmed on June 27, 28, and 30, 2022 in Manhattan and two different locations in Brooklyn, all standing in for an Upper West Side subway.
Seeing that it was supposed to be winter, it only made sense that we all wore seasonally-appropriate wardrobe. This would have been dandy if we hadn't been working during a stretch of brutal only-in-New York summer humidity. Oh, and wearing N95 masks when the cameras weren't rolling. Yes, we do suffer for our art television.
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| Between takes: the Maisel extras sweat it out underground in the Bowery. |
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| In the rear, admiring the pillbox hat. |
The first scene takes place on the #1 train along Broadway, but it was filmed in an abandoned station in the Bowery (the same location for my subway gig on Shades of Blue in 2017). I'm in the left rear of an authentic subway car of the time. (In one of the takes, Rachel Brosnahan stood directly next to me, but apparently my handsome mugg was too distracting.) Look carefully and you might see the original ads that were in the subways at the time. What you can't see is how uncomfortable we were in a station where the heat index was at least 90 degrees. (Brosnahan, aware of the conditions, thanked us for hanging in there -- a little thing that goes a long way.)
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On the far left across the tracks, wondering why there isn't a cop around when you need one.
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The next scene was filmed three days later at the 9th Avenue station in Brooklyn, subbing for the 59th on Broadway. We were here four hours for a scene lasting 30 seconds. Maisel and her ex-bf are transferring to a different train but are on opposite sides of the track. The ex runs up the stairs and into Maisel's car...  |
Still in the rear left, wondering how long the subway ride from hell will last.
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...And now we're back in the Bowery station on the first day of filming. I'm in the same place as before, minding my own business. I would have had more time onscreen, only a cop (not a real one) got in the car and blocked me. Just to put things in perspective, we spent eight hours in this first station for two scenes running a total of two-and-a-half minutes.
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On the right, the man in the grey flannel suit emerges from his
transportational crypt. |
The fourth shot, which is supposed to be Rockefeller Center, was filmed on the second day outside the Transit Museum (a former subway station) in Brooklyn. This scene, which lasts less than 90 seconds, took over three hours to shoot, while countless comfortably-dressed pedestrians stood nearby gawking. To recap: The entire subway sequence took 15 hours over three days to film, out of order in locations nowhere near the areas they're supposed to be. But who watches TV for realism?
Even with the heat and heavy wardrobe, it was a good gig. Three days work, getting in the same shots with Rachel Brosnahan, and seeing a subway ad with Ed Sullivan shilling for the new Kodak Brownie. What more can a 1961 guy ask for?
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