notonlyamovie | Entries tagged with post-acting

The most successful creation of Sandra Peabody's post-Last House on the Left career in TV production was undoubtedly her Emmy-winning Popcorn, but all good things must come to an end, and in 1993 the show was not renewed. After the cancellation, Sandra was laid off from KATU.¹

She certainly didn't stop there, of course. Even while Popcorn was still running, in 1988 she produced A Time to Care, a documentary about the Twin Oaks Care Center in Albany, Oregon. Sandra was interviewed for the Albany Democrat-Herald newspaper:

"It's a neat idea for a series because what they're basically saying is that more than ever people are reaching out to help others."²

Sandra told the paper that the first segment would look at how volunteers helped the home's residents. The show was picked up by Group W (Westinghouse) to be syndicated and distributed.

Her continuing interest in creating content for children and young people was shown in 1994 when she acted as casting director for Wee Sing Under the Sea, the ninth instalment of the long-running Wee Sing series of home videos. This was filmed in Sandra's home city of Portland, the last entry in the series before production moved to Los Angeles.³

Although in 2001 Sandra created and producing the public television series Zone In, a show which Szulkin (p197) says covered "tough issues for kids", by then she had begun to turn her attention to acting coaching, as well as acting as a talent agent to help young actors make their way safely in the industry.

In the late 1990s, Sandra taught the Meisner technique to the then-unknown Bret Harrison. Although he was only fifteen at the time, Sandra was sufficiently impressed with his early mastery of Meisner's "living truthfully under imaginary circumstances" and emotional openness to invite him to attend more advanced classes without payment.⁴

We've already noted both Harrison's and Alicia Lagano's success in starting professional acting careers after studying with Sandra. Another youngster who ended up on screen after being taught by her was Calais Radcliffe, who began with an episode of the sketch comedy series Portlandia while still a fifth-grader. Sandra helped her arrange to audition – successfully – for the show. Her mother reported that she was told Radcliffe was:

"really good, able to improv, and [...] comfortable talking to adults."⁵

Once again, Sandra's commitment to supporting young actors paid off. Similarly, Harrison reported that she "showed [him] what acting was really about" and was the one who had encouraged him to go to Los Angeles in order to further his career.⁶

I've said in the past that I don't intend to name the institution where Sandra Peabody currently works; she deserves peace. What I will say is that after more than a quarter of a century, she is still offering classes for both adults and children this winter – emphasising a "supportive environment", just as you would expect from the woman who's been creating those for half a century.

¹ Schulberg, Pete. "Where does news stop, advertising begin?". The Oregonian (19 February 1993). p46.
² Lopez, Cindy. "Sweet Home care center included in documentary". Albany Democrat-Herald (29 July 1988). p5.
³ Dickson, EJ. "‘Wee Sing,’ a Direct-to-Video Children’s Musical Series, Has an Adult Following Online". vice.com (13 April 2014).
⁴ The Oregonian (24 September 2007).
⁵ Turnquist, Kristi. "West Linn fifth-grader played the scene-stealing, bratty MTV exec on 'Portlandia'". oregonlive.com (8 January 2013).
⁶ Yim, Su-Jin. "Chicken-Winging It As An Actor". The Oregonian (17 January 2001). pB01.

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Watch on YouTube

The first ever Popcorn, uploaded to the official KATU News YouTube channel in 2022

I posted recently about Sandra Peabody's early career after acting, including her first teaching post and her first major award in children's TV production. Today I'm going to cover perhaps her most remarkable creation in that respect: Popcorn. You can watch the debut episode from 1985 above, complete with "computer" genius Kernel Popcorn and the iconic theme tune.

Popcorn was aimed at children between around six and ten years old. It ran on Portland, Oregon-based ABC affiliate station KATU between 1985 and 1992 and began as a one-off special before being expanded to a full-fledged series. Especially originally, Sandra fulfilled multiple roles: for the launch special embedded above, she was credited as overall producer; features writer, producer, director and co-editor; and studio production producer and writer!

Even that understates the extent of Sandra's dedication to the show, however. She spent a lot of time combing local schools for ideas, as well as training children to appear on camera – one of Popcorn's key features was that it was presented by kids, not by adults talking down to them.¹ Sandra found it hard to winnow the 50 or so applicants down to four, telling The Oregonian that:

"There's still a lot of the kid in me. [...] They were all wonderful in their own way."²

The final selection was based on personality, naturalness on camera, ability to read a TelePrompTer (Autocue) and ability to ask questions. This last point was crucial, as Popcorn both sent its young presenters out on location and invited guests to the studio, including multiple Olympic champion speed skater Eric Heiden.³ Considering the show aired at 7:30 am on a Sunday, this was quite some coup.

Unsurprisingly for public service television, money was always very tight. The show's annual budget was just $25,000, around a tenth that of a single episode of a successful-but-not-stellar series. Popcorn's props budget was almost non-existent, a mere ten dollars per show. Undeterred, and despite her other duties, Sandra visited local garage sales and flea markets to obtain items to help enhance the show.⁴
This brought her a significant honour – the Ollie Award presented by the American Children Television Festival. Sandra asked for a better time slot for Popcorn, but was told that ABC would not permit preemption of its network programming. So she turned back to what she did best: encouraging kids to participate. More than 400 letters arrived asking to help with Popcorn, and so she set up auditions.

This being Sandra Peabody, she didn't do things by halves. She set up a "Spotlight on Kids" section, which accepted everything from jokes to music to science experiments, and asked for two-minute audition tapes. Over 300 arrived. The solution was simple: edit each tape down to 30 seconds because, in Sandra's words:

"We want to make them look the best they can look."⁵

Sandra told The Oregonian that, in time, she intended to work her way through all 300 of the tapes. Because of course she did. The segment premiered in 1987, by which time the show had acquired a partial sponsor: a popcorn maker!
Although clearly created as a labour of love, Popcorn is the show that won Sandra her greatest professional recognition. As well as the aforementioned Ollie, it picked up three significant accolades including her Emmy:

1987: National Association of Broadcasters Award, in the "Service to Children" category.
1988: NAPTE Iris Award, in the "Excellence in Local Broadcasting" category.
1992: Northwest Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Public Service Announcement or In-House Campaign" category.

Popcorn was mentioned more than once in submissions to the US House's deliberations on the state of children's TV. In April 1989, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) publication, Service to Children: Television Idea Book was attached to the organisation's submission to a Telecommunications and Finance Subcommittee hearing. Its listing about the show noted that:

"Themes of personal effort and self-assurance permeated the program. Popcorn gives kids the chance to 'do anything they do the best'."⁶

In March 1993, the show was mentioned to the same House subcommittee in a statement by Paul LaCamera on behalf of the NAB. The statement referred to Popcorn:

"This outstanding program [...] informs and educates children in a creative way [and] has tackled some tough issues, including the Persian Gulf War."⁷

By the time of LaCamera's statement, Popcorn was no longer on the air. However, its legacy extended well beyond its few years on Portland's screens. One of the original four "Popcorn reporters", Aaron Cooley, grew up to become a professional writer in his own right. He created the ten-episode Showtime series The First Lady, a 2022 drama which explored the pressures and experiences of Betty Ford, Eleanor Roosevelt and Michelle Obama.⁸
Four decades after she had created Popcorn, the love and care for young people that Sandra Peabody poured into the show she created was still reverberating. Popcorn may be gone, but its influence lives on.

¹ Christensen, Mike. "Broadcasters Fight Requirements for Children's TV", The Atlanta Journal and Constitution (16 November 1989). p24.
² McDermott, Judy. "Popcorn", The Oregonian (16 December 1985). p29.
³ News article, The Oregonian (15 December 1985). p41.
⁴ Buttler, Ruth. "Experts really care what goes into kids' TV", The Grand Rapids Press (1 November 1987). p124.
⁵ "Letters inspire talent segment", The Oregonian (27 March 1987). p48.
⁶ "Children's Television." Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, First Session, on H.R. 1677 ... April 6, 1989. p78.
⁷ "Children's Television." Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session, March 10, 1993. p50.
⁸ Turnquist, Kristi. "Portland native Aaron Cooley on Showtime’s ‘The First Lady,’ and TV’s true stories trend", oregonlive.com (12 April 2022).

loganberrybunny

After The Last House on the Left and several further exploitation films, Sandra Peabody's final screen acting role was as Bird in 1974's Teenage Hitchhikers, as we've already seen. She continued to act on stage for at least a short time after that, as she is listed as having appeared in Tunnel of Love at the Oregon Ridge Dinner Theater; this play ran from December 1977 to January 1978.¹

Sandra remained in theatre for a while, starting out on what would become a major part of her life: supporting young people in the arts. She was hired by the highly prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts, teaching theatre techniques to children.² In 1982, now working for Cablesystems Pacific, Sandra created Portland Tonight. This was a late-night talk show based loosely on Johny Carson's hit The Tonight Show, but with a strong local element.³

Also in 1982, Sandra devised Get Movin' ... with Kids, a children's variety show. She certainly put in the hours with this programme, acting as writer, director and producer. Get Movin' ran for 26 episodes and won Sandra her first major accolade, the 1983 CableACE Award presented by the National Cable Television Association for Best Children's Series. It would not be her last.

Sandra created Get Movin' at a time when funding for kids' TV was on the wane. She was determined that children's own ideas would play a prominent part, placing an ad in the Portland Children's Museum's newspaper – playfully called Boing! – asking to hear from them about their interests. On top of this, she obtained the use of the cable company's local studio to hold auditions for local talent.⁴

Her next show would be the one that would bring Sandra her greatest success: Popcorn. That is a fascinating story which deserves – and will get – a post of its own in the future. But by the 1980s Sandra Peabody had moved decisively onto a different career path, overcoming both her sad experience on Last House and the more expected problems of kids' TV finances to begin a lifelong commitment to safely supporting young performers.

¹ "Wednesday at Oregon Ridge", The Baltimore Sun (4 December 1977), p146.
² "Popcorn", The Oregonian (15 December 1985), p29.
³ News article, The Oregon Journal (21 January 1982), p15.
⁴"Children's talent captured on film for TV showing", The Oregonian (21 December 1982), p26.

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As I noted in my post last week about Sandra Peabody's career beyond acting, her approach to the craft was and remains informed by the Meisner technique. This was summed up by its originator, Sanford Meisner (1905–97) as "living truthfully under imaginary circumstances". That means an emphasis on emotional authenticity and moment-to-moment connection. Meisner himself is considered one of the greatest teachers in American acting history; Sandra's acceptance by his Neighborhood Playhouse and two years of study with him were a mark of her considerable promise as a 19-year-old Carnegie Mellon drama student.

Meisner became disenchanted with the then (and later) popular Method approach to acting. While the Meisner Technique Studio that bears his name makes a point – as Meisner himself did – of not disparaging actors who find Method works for them, it also points out that the "sense memory" approach to Method acting was limiting, and that this view was in fact shared by the famed Russian acting teacher Konstantin Stanislavski (1863–1938). The Studio's website notes that:

Sandy did not believe an actor needed to experience trauma in order to play a traumatized person. He also noticed harmful habits in actors who relied on their emotional scars. To that end, he developed a new approach, centered around an actor’s imagination.

In other words, rather than drawing on real past trauma as a way of getting "inside the head" of a similar character, Meisner's technique teaches actors to develop imaginary backgrounds but to react to them in the moment as real. The psychological health benefits include the avoidance of potentially retraumatising "dredging up" of old memories from real life, and the ability to more easily "de-role" (step out of character) after a scene without lasting harm.

This combination makes Meisner's technique very useful for playing difficult emotional roles. An actor whose character is unnerved by their scene partner's character will "live authentically in the moment" and so react genuinely instead of consciously "play-acting" their responses. With cinema, where the camera's close gaze makes micro-reactions much more noticeable to viewers than they are in some other forms of acting, this makes the person's reactions believable – because, in the moment, they are real.

The Meisner teaching programme is demanding, and Meisner himself is described by emotionalpreparation.com as "a tough but passionate teacher, pushing his students to their limits but always with the intention of helping them become truthful and honest actors". Sandra would not have been able to cruise through her two years by any means.

She would have undertaken exercises like the Repetition Game (two actors repeat phrases back and forth, focusing on their partner's behavioural and emotional shifts) which "helps actors get out of their heads"; and learned the Reality of Doing: an actor who needs to cry for a scene should be feel that need naturally, without forcing or consciously pretending. Meisner's technique places the emphasis on "truth, instinct, and emotional authenticity".

For Meisner to be successful and safe, an actor requires their scene partner to be emotionally open, responsive to impulses, present and attentive and committed to listening. Since the technique requires openness and vulnerability, as well as spontaneous responses, both partners must also have complete mutual trust. This allows the emotional vulnerability that is necessary for Meisner to be safe and effective. As a professional Meisner teacher, Sandra's own assessment of her student Alicia Lagano noted her willingness "to be open and real".

Sandra has now been teaching Meisner's technique for a quarter of a century. Her earlier work as a children's television producer gave her further insights into what actors need from the outside. Children are in general naturally more open than adults, and Sandra frequently teaches young people in her acting classes. Her apprenticeship from Meisner himself, her experience as a screen actress, and the experience she later gained in production and teaching, all go together to explain her success in coaching actors like Lagano and Bret Harrison who have achieved professional acting careers.

Sandra Peabody clearly grasped Meisner's technique very, very well indeed.

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Although this blog is intended primarily to bring together evidence regarding Sandra Peabody's treatment during the production of The Last House on the Left, I very much also want to show a side of Sandra that is often overlooked: what she did after leaving acting. Her final on-screen role was as Bird in Teenage Hitchhikers, which hit drive-ins in 1974. I haven't seen it, but I've always been glad that her farewell to exploitation (and indeed to film acting) was in a silly comedy where she wasn't being brutalised on-screen or off.

After that, she made a move into the production side of things, with a number of television shows to her name. Perhaps most notably, she was executive producer (and a lot more besides) on the Oregon-based children's show Popcorn, which ran from 1985 to 1992 and won Peabody an Emmy, among other awards. I'll be devoting an entire post to that one at some point, as it is a remarkable story and one full of Sandra's deeply admirable devotion of her professional life to creating exactly the safe, supportive spaces she had been denied as a young actor.

For the last quarter-century, Sandra has worked as a talent agent and acting coach, showing a strong interest in working with young people. She has drawn on the Meisner technique (behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances) she learned in her youth from Sanford Meisner himself, and is still giving classes today, even though now into her late seventies. I have chosen not to identify the institution at which she now works; although she does not conceal her involvement, nor does she make a show of publicising it, so I would like to allow her to maintain the peace which she seems to have found in that role.

Some of Peabody's pupils have gone on to professional acting careers. One of these is Alicia Lagano, who among her many roles has appeared as Cristina Castelli in All About Us and Selena in The Client List. Sandra had this to say in 2012 when asked by The Oregonian for her memories of Lagano's early promise:

"She had so much compassion for everything in the world. She was open and affected by everything, which is a great element for an actor to have, that kind of feeling and ability to relate to things and be so open at such a young age. She was willing to try everything, to throw herself on her face. Some people worry about their image and what they look like and what people will think of them. She was just so open and real."

The appreciation was mutual, with Lagano calling Peabody "a great teacher" and "so honest". But look at Sandra's quote there. She praises Lagano first of all for her compassion. Then she goes on to note her openness and realness, and her willingness to be vulnerable. I find that profoundly moving: here we have a woman who was treated by David Hess with the very opposite of compassion, who had her vulnerability and openness exploited for abuse. She is nevertheless encouraging those things safely in her own student.

Moral courage is defined as having the strength to stand up for one's ethical beliefs regardless of adversity. That is exactly what Sandra Peabody displays here. As we will see, it is not the only example of this throughout her life.