I remember shooting a scene with the campers in the sleeping quarters. For some reason I had a hard time remembering my lines. I would get lost and just start ad-libbing all the way. I honestly think the scene was scrapped though I could be wrong. Robert always had great patience but I guess after so many takes I finally found his breaking point. I'll never forget it because he was so funny. He finally got tired of me messing up and with the script flying in his hands he yelled, "What do you think this is, creative writing? Read what's in the script"! As you know, I would always go fishing during the day if I had nothing else to do. One day I decided to go fish off of the dock in the campsite. More often than not I trekked through the woods to fish the Hudson River but this particular day I figured let me try the camp lake. I think they were shooting the scene where the boys are throwing water balloons at Angela. This took place toward the middle and lower part of the camp if I remember correctly. It was not near the lake.

I must also say that it was not uncommon to have locals walking around because sometimes they were required to be in the shot. As I stood alone fishing at the end of the dock I was approached by a huge farmer-type character: overalls and everything. He saw that I was fishing and engaged me in a conversation. He was a strange looking guy and I just thought that he was here to play some part (30 years late for Deliverance!) so I spoke with him thinking nothing more of it. After a few minutes the conversation took a turn. He told me he was just curious about the movie and wanted to see what it was all about. He asked me if I wanted to go fishing on his private lake. I said, "What"?! He said, "C'mon now boy I got some good fishin' where I'm at." I'm thinking " Oh, so that's what you call it - fishin"! So I told him to get lost. He was pretty persistent. I had a few choices. Swim (because I was at the end of the dock), fight (in which there would have been a real dead body on the set - not mine) or talk my way out. Fortunately I was able to talk my way out with no further incidence.

I told Robert about it but the guy had vanished. From that moment on, my eyes were on the lookout for any strange characters. Coming from the city, I hadn't met any "friendly" farmers and wasn't about to start! It was for this reason I kept an even closer eye on some of my younger buddies, particularly my baby sister - Felisssa. We didn't need for this to turn into a "real" horror story. Great premise for a movie though! A schedule was always left on each of our hotel room doors. This would let us know if we were on call for the shoot that day. If we were, it gave us the pick up time in which we were brought to the campsite. You always had the option to go have breakfast, lunch or dinner even if you did not work. The mess hall was at the campsite. The bus was always available to take you back if all you wanted to do was eat assuming you had no obligation for the day. As you already know, I used to go fishing when I wasn't on call. I have enclosed a few pictures of me fishing, quite successfully on the Hudson River. It was so far up north that the river had broken down into smaller streams. It did not resemble the huge river that connects Manhattan, NY to New Jersey. I took Loris that day and he took the pictures. We had such a great time catching fish and I really enjoyed his company. Here is a talented guy custom made for the theatre. If there was someone I thought would make it to Broadway my money would have been on him for sure! He deserved it, certainly more than I did. Anyway, this particular time I went alone. The area I fished was about a mile or more into the woods off the highway. I followed a narrow dirt path to a fisherman's paradise. I swear that any fish in that area had never seen a fishing lure! I caught a fish on almost every cast!

I was so preoccupied with catching one fish after the next that the hours just flew by. Before I knew it, it began to get dark very fast. I always wore a pair of fishing waders over my pants to prevent me from getting wet. This allowed me to enter the water to make longer and more accurate casts. Well I know you may not believe this but it is absolutely true. I knew it had begun to get dark rather quickly and I started to get worried that I would not find my way out of the woods. Just as my concern started to become elevated I felt something around each leg. To my horror I had a snake wrapped around each leg by the knee. They both must have been washed down stream by the current and thought my legs were trees or something. I took the butt end of my fishing rod and carefully placed it between my knees and the snakes and pulled them off very slowly, one at a time. They continued to get washed down stream. Now you may think that this was the scary part but it wasn't. It got dark and I got lost in the woods! Now I was scared. Fortunately I carried a flashlight but it didn't do much to help because in the woods you need a spotlight with a 30-foot circumference. All I saw illuminated with my 2-foot light beam was leaves, trees and bushes. My flashlight was almost useless! As I walked hoping to find that little dirt path, I walked smack into a bush. Face first! Here I was with all of my fishing equipment, completely lost and beginning to hyperventilate. It was pitch black dark. I have never seen this kind of dark before in my life. Having already had the "friendly" farmer experience the only thing that was going through my mind was Dueling Banjos! Yes, the theme from Deliverance was screaming through my head like the Jaws theme to every swimmer!

I must have smashed into every bush and tree grunting like a cave man as I tried to get out. All I knew was to go up the hill since I came down a hill to get to the water. It was what I could have run into along the way that had me so worried ie; Clem and his brother Clem. Look, I'm from the city. I have no problem with the concrete jungle but to me the woods were the real deal. And to navigate them in pitch black darkness is insane! Finally after what seemed to be at least an hour, battered and bruised I stumbled onto the highway at about 10pm. I had sticks in my hair, leaves and scratches all over me. It was a disaster. Problem was that I was a few miles from where the motel was. What a way to end such an ordeal, with a brisk 4-mile hike!

To put things in their proper perspective I told this story to a friend of mine a few years ago who was quite older than I was. I was excited about telling the story with the snakes and getting lost in unfamiliar territory thinking it was a pretty cool story. He said, "Do you want to know what is even more scarier?" I figured there can't be too many things scarier than that, so what is it? Then he told me. He said, "Frank, how would you like to get dropped into North Vietnam in the middle of the night by parachute? They know you are there and you hear them walking around while you try to hide. The snakes that are there are not the kind from the Hudson River but rather 10' - 15' pythons." My friend was the only one to survive that particular evening. He wasn't worried about Clem. He was worried about Charlie. That's a man's man!

Jeff: You told me an interesting story about how you originally first met Kathy Kamhi. Please share that. Frank: Perhaps 6 months to a year prior to shooting SC I auditioned for the soap opera, All My Children. I can't remember if I was on my way in or on my way out but nevertheless I passed in front of Kathy Kamhi's dressing room. I didn't know much about the soap opera and certainly didn't know who she was but as I passed in front of her dressing room I heard a blood-curdling shriek! I could have sworn that someone was getting slaughtered. The screaming was to such a degree that I didn't even hesitate to bust into the room or give any thought to the fact that I have no business going in. It was more of a natural reaction that I think anyone would have done. Anyway, when I ran in I saw Kathy sitting on her chair in front of the make-up mirror with her knees and feet held high above the floor, arms folded in and screaming for dear life. Not seeing any threat (like a rapist) I asked, "what's the matter"! She pointed to a cockroach under her dressing room vanity. I sighed in relief for the lack of any danger but then again I wanted to kill her (figuratively of course) for giving me a heart attack! I sleighed the beast with a quick foot, she thanked me and we sat for a moment to enjoy a nice, relaxing conversation. Who would have known that in the near future I would be working not only with Kathy but John, from All My children as well! It was a nice reunion when I got to see her again though I'm sure she didn't want to be reminded of the incident. In Kathy's defense, I personally know 2 of the biggest, burliest guys that are scared to death of spiders! Their screams and reactions can challenge the best of any woman's! It happens to the best of us.