Date: Wed, 7 Sep 1994 07:08:08 -1000
From: derwin@mach2.wlu.ca (Daryl Erwin)
Message-Id: <CvrrLK.JLz@info.uucp>
Organization: Wilfrid Laurier University
Subject: Kites in the Movies (Pacific Heights)
On Sept 6th (last night) CBS and a local independent, showed an old re-run
of the move 'Pacific Heights'. It stars Melanie Griffth(?) and Michael Keaton
and one other guy. Anyways, to make a long story short, in a couple of
scenes, they show this "other star" at work.
He worked in a Kite Factory!
The scenes show him in his office looking down on the production floor.
On the floor we see, 5 or 6 sewers, rolls of cloth along with a few single
line kites hanging in the rafters incl. a couple of facet kites.
Anyone know by chance, where this might have been filmed? Just a little
trivia stumper...
......available for rent, I assume at your local video store.
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Date: Wed, 7 Sep 1994 13:03:52 -1000
From: jburka@eng.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka)
Message-Id: <34lgso$hs8@mojo.eng.umd.edu>
Organization: Project GLUE, University of Maryland, College Park
Subject: Re: Kites in the Movies (Pacific Heights)
In article <CvrrLK.JLz@info.uucp> derwin@mach2.wlu.ca (Daryl Erwin) writes:
>
>On Sept 6th (last night) CBS and a local independent, showed an old re-run
>of the move 'Pacific Heights'. It stars Melanie Griffth(?) and Michael Keaton
>and one other guy. Anyways, to make a long story short, in a couple of
>scenes, they show this "other star" at work.
>
> He worked in a Kite Factory!
>
>The scenes show him in his office looking down on the production floor.
>On the floor we see, 5 or 6 sewers, rolls of cloth along with a few single
>line kites hanging in the rafters incl. a couple of facet kites.
>
>Anyone know by chance, where this might have been filmed? Just a little
>trivia stumper...
Would you believe it was shot on a set?
According to an old snippet in KiteLines, Alice Mackey was consulted for
details on the factory, materials, and kites. Books were bought from
KiteLines for the house (though I don't remember seeing any...and I
apparently turned on the movie last night too late to see any of the kite
factory scenes (if, indeed, there was more than one)).
For those who don't recognize the name, Alice Mackey ran the great little
factory KiteCraft, out in Bloomington, Indiana, back in the '80s and very
early '90s. She made a number of great single line kites, including a mini
snowflake, a miniature Tri-D Box looking thing, and other "generic" kites,
as well as a few originals, including the Sky Ray delta and the beautiful
Tri-Star box. She also did manufacturing for a few folks; I have a Red
Braswell Tumbling Star that she made; she picked up production after
Rainbow, the original manufacturer, couldn't keep up. I believe Alice was
also doing the sails for Ralph Offredo's kites.
When I first met Alice, she had a small factory in half of a house, about 4
blocks from my freshman dormitory, that had been converted for commercial
use. She had no real interest in retail, but she had a room, basically a
large closet, with a few goodies in it. A couple of years later, she was
trying her hand at retail, having moved to another location close to the
central retail area in Bloomington. The factory was the back half of the
store. She had some stunt kites, a couple of Revolutions, a full selection
of her own kites, and some Spectra Star stuff, as well as the other
non-kite knick-knacks you'd find in a kite store.
The last time I spoke to Alice, she was getting ready to close up KiteCraft
and go back to school. I don't know whether she sold the designs for the
the original kites she made, or if they've just fallen by the wayside.
Anybody out there know what happened to her?
Jeff
--
|Jeffrey C. Burka | Pithy, insightful quote to be inserted |
| | when one occurs to me. *If* one occurs |
|jeffy@eng.umd.edu | to me. |
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