"Good Clean Fun"
Part II
My parents and I flew out to L. A. for the interview and to tour the campus of UCLA. California was so unlike New York. I loved it! The weather was unbelievable--it was so warm. I knew this was the place I wanted to be. We toured the campus the first day I got there. I was introduced to the film school and met the school band director. I played the trumpet in high school and was interested in continuing playing. The sororities were also out in force during the tour. "Pledge! Pledge!" They shouted. Sororities were a drag--a stone drag. Those dumb blondes were definately not for me.
The next day of our tour, my parents went to an all-morning parents meeting. My interview was at 9:00 a.m., so I'd have plenty of time to have the interview and be back to meet my parents for lunch. I took a taxi over to the address the school had given me. The ride was long, and taxi driver kept telling me that he could "get me in pictures."
The ride from hell finally ended when he let me out in front of a tiny studio. A lone security officer was standing at the gate. I introduced myself to him and told him that I was here to see "Mr. Rafelson and Mr. Schneider." The officer look at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. He said, "You must mean Bob and Bert. C'mon kid, follow me." He led me to a small office which was covered in empty food containers. It was the biggest mess I'd ever seen! "Clean yerself a place to sit down. Bob and Bert will be along shortly," the security guard said while he was leaving.
I sat down on a couch which had empty chinese takeout boxes on it. I started having second thoughts about this job and thought if I left right now no harm would be done. Just then, the door swang open and in walked two men with long hair and dressed slovenly. I smiled at them thinking that they were two of the actors who were going to be on the tv show. One of them came over to me and said with his hand extended, "You must be Caroline Courson."
I stood up, shook his hand, and said, "Yes, but people call me Cari. How did you know my name?"
"I'm Bob Rafelson," he said.
I apologized and said, "I just didn't think--"
"That a long, haired weirdo would be a TV producer?" He replied.
Stumbling I said, "No, not that at all. I just didn't think someone so young would." He just laughed and introduced me to his partner, Bert Schneider.
We sat to talk about the job and the concept of the show.