I've found some cool things in my family history. One of those finds led to an actual TV appearance. Here's the story.
Remember the Salem Witch Trials?
Most people are at least cursorily familiar with this infamous event in American history. It happened in Salem Village, Massachusetts (modern-day Danvers) in 1692, and is still talked about and studied today. The actual town of Salem is near Danvers, and the two cities share some of the witch trial lore. However, most of the drama took place in Danvers, and the majority of the victims lived there, or near there.
Well, early on in my genealogy research, I discovered that one of my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfathers (that's 9 greats, if you're counting) was one of the victims of those trials. He was actually hanged as a witch. His name is on one of the benches at the witch trials public memorial in Salem (I've been there a couple of times).
That's a pretty interesting thing on its own to discover in your family history. But, there was more.
Did You Ever Read "The Crucible," or See the Play or Movie Version of It?
Famed playwright Arthur Miller wrote a well-known play called "The Crucible." It's about the Salem witch trials, and is required reading in many high school and/or college literature classes, so chances are you've come across it. There was also a movie version in the late 1990's starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
The main character of "The Crucible," and the character Day-Lewis played in the movie, is John Proctor. John Proctor was a tavern owner on the road between Salem and Salem Village at the time of the witch trials, and, contrary to the play and the movie, which paint him as a relatively young guy in his late 30's, he was actually in his early 60's when this happened in real life.
He did not have an affair with Abigail Williams, as the fictionalized versions portray, because Abigail was only 11 years old at the time.
Ah, the differences in fiction and fact. But, as a writer, I know we are allowed to take some liberties for dramatic tension in our works.
Anyway, it is this very John Proctor, who not only is famous in literature, but who was also a real person, who is my 9x great-grandfather referred to earlier in this article. He's one of the more well-known witch trial victims, which made discovering him as a direct relative on my family tree even cooler.
So, How Did My Connection to a Famous Witch Trial Victim Get Me on TV?
This is one of the more interesting things that has happened to me....and I've had some pretty interesting things happen over the years.
You see, again, I am a writer.
It's not just something I say I am, with nothing to back it up. I am actually a professional writer; I earn my living by writing, and have for years. I do business writing for clients under one pseudonym, and write fiction novels under another. I make money with both. So, words are kind of my "thing."
Being a writer is what started the journey to TV.
I wrote a testimonial for Ancestry.com, which I'd been using practically since it was invented. It is a wonderful tool for indulging my genealogy passion without having to leave the house much. I still use it.
Well, the good people at Ancestry liked my testimonial. In fact, they LOVED it. Soon after writing and submitting it, I got a phone call from an Ancestry representative asking if I would be interested in being part of a long-form informercial they were doing.
I said yes....at first.
They were interested in all of my genealogical work, but particularly interested in having me talk about my connection to John Proctor, as he's kind of historically famous. That was cool. I love talking about all of my ancestors. So, that's how John got me in the door.
The Ancestry folks had a rep from the production company doing the infomercial call me to set it up. That's when I decided maybe this wasn't something I wanted to do after all.
No, I Do NOT Want to Be on TV Badly Enough to Get on an Airplane
See, I live on the east coast of the United States, and the infomercial was being filmed on the west coast, in Portland, Oregon. And, as it happens, I REALLY hate flying.
It's not like I haven't flown before....I have, many times. I just hate it. Flying makes me dizzy, it makes me feel irradiated by those direct sun rays high up in the sky, the air in most planes is too dry, and somehow, flying makes my knees swell. Plus, I'm kind of claustrophobic (I can't stand elevators, either), and planes are basically flying metal tubes; if I DO get on one, I HAVE to have an aisle seat, as that gives the illusion of more space.
Did I mention I LOVE traveling by train?
Anyway, when the production manager told me I'd have to fly to Oregon, I said "no thanks."
Apparently, that answer blew his mind, because he called back soon after to try to talk me into it. He couldn't seem to believe I wouldn't jump on a plane for the opportunity to be on TV.
But, I'd been on TV before....at least once on the news, and in two TV commercials as a teenager. I am not camera shy, nor am I "camera eager."
I kept saying "no." Nothing in his arguments made it seem like it would be worth flying across the freaking continent, and I didn't want to be in the infomercial that badly. But, he wanted me. He said my story was the best one of the three or four other people they were flying out there for this, and their plans for the informercial kind of hinged on me being in it.
My Husband/My Manager
My husband worked for many years in the entertainment industry as a professional audio technician, and he was used to dealing with these production crews. When I kept saying "no" over and over to the production manager, he finally stepped in and asked me if I wanted him to talk to the guy.
I happily handed the phone over to him, determined to NOT fly to Oregon.
Within a few minutes, my husband became my manager, and worked out a deal with the production guy that none of the other participants were getting. I said before I gave him the phone that they would really have to make it worth my while to get me on a plane, and, with my husband's negotiating skills and familiarity with the industry, they DID make me a deal I was willing to accept.
It was a pretty sweet deal, one I really couldn't turn down, and they even agreed to pay to fly my husband out there with me and put us both up in a nice hotel. Those were just a couple of the numerous amenities my husband managed to get for me.
So, it was off to Oregon after all.
So, What is Filming an Infomercial Like, You Ask?
The production manager asked me to bring as many old family photos, family tree print-outs, and pedigree charts as I could fit in my suitcase. It didn't matter what branch of my family....they were going to be using these things to dress my scene.
We had first class plane tickets, which made me never want to fly coach again. They really spoil you in first class. When we got to Portland, there was a town car waiting to pick us up and take us to our hotel, and the same town car (with the same production assistant driver) came to get us the next day to take us to the filming location.
The location was in a nice house they rented from a private family in an upper class neighborhood. I've heard some families make money renting out their houses to filming crews for movies and TV, and this was an example of that kind of thing.
The fenced-in back yard was where all the large equipment was set up, and there was also a tent for the Ancestry.com executives who had come to watch to sit under in the shade. There was a smaller tent with snacks underneath it for everyone. The large detached garage in the very back of the yard served as the location for craft services at lunch time.
I don't know who their caterer was, but she served some of the most delicious food I've ever had anywhere.....and, to make it even better, it was all vegetarian (I've been a vegetarian since college)! I still think back fondly on that food. It was so awesome, I made an effort to try some of everything.
We got to eat together with the Ancestry execs and the production people, as well as the other people who were being interviewed in this infomercial.
Most of the morning was spent just wandering around while the production guys set everything up.
Actually Filming the Infomercial--I Got the Star Treatment
Just after lunch, it was time to get started. I was taken to a bathroom inside the house, where a professional Hollywood make-up artist was waiting to do my makeup for the camera. I talked to her about some of the products she was using, hoping to be able to recreate her work. I never could. What she did was so magical, I never wanted to wash it off.
I then got sent to a hair lady, who basically just smoothed out my straight hair, and gave it a light spray. Finally, I was sent to wardrobe, which was just a rack of clothes in the hallway, but the wardrobe lady and I ultimately decided what I was already wearing was perfect. The only things she added were some accessories.
After getting my microphone and associated battery pack attached (the battery pack was clipped to the back of my jeans, with a wire running up under my clothes to the tiny microphone that was clipped to the front of my shirt).....the very job my husband used to do....I was ready to be interviewed.
While I was getting dressed and made up, the production guys were putting the pictures I brought into frames and setting them up on shelves in the office where we would be filming. My family tree charts and pedigree charts, as well as a few stray photos, were scattered across a large desk with a computer on it. It was already set up when I entered the office.
The first thing we did when I got there was get some "B roll" footage, which I later learned was background shots to be used in between, and sometimes over, the interview footage. They had me sit behind the desk, look at my papers, pretend to research my genealogy on the computer....that kind of thing.
Then, they were ready to interview me.
Apparently, I'm a "Rock Star"
The interview consisted of me sitting in a chair in front of a very hot, very bright light, the camera, and the director. The director did all of the interviewing from off camera.
Most of his questions were about John Proctor and his life, as well as his connection to me. I'd long ago memorized the list of ancestors that led from him to me, so that wasn't an issue. I know this aspect of my genealogy extremely well. I'd been regaling my students with tales of John Proctor and the Salem witch trials for years prior to this, when I was still a teacher. It always proved to be a popular subject.
He also asked some questions about other branches of my family, as well as how I got interested in genealogy, and WHY I loved doing it. As I said before, I'm not camera shy, and I'm extremely enthusiastic about genealogy, so I was incredibly animated and bubbly throughout the interview. In fact, I may have been TOO enthusiastic at times, because my husband, watching from the sidelines, said there were a few times I got so excited about what I was discussing that I actually looked kind of crazy.
But, I was in my element, talking about my favorite thing, to a captive audience. I LOVED it. I was practically bouncing in my chair.
The director and the crew loved it, too. When we were finally done talking, the entire room, with all the crew members packed into it, as well as a few looking in from the window outside, broke into applause, and the director said to me, "You are a rock star!"
I guess maybe I AM a genealogy rock star.
None of the other three people being interviewed were comfortable in front of the camera at all, and no one else got a round of applause, so I guess I did well.
Conclusion--What Became of That Infomercial?
After I was done filming, the town car took us back to our hotel, where we promptly called a cab and asked the driver to just take us on a tour of Portland, since we'd never been there. It's a really beautiful, and kind of eclectic town. We wandered around the area near the hotel after the cab ride, and found some cool things to see there, too.
If I wasn't such an east coast girl at heart, I could see enjoying living there. Anything west of the Mississippi River has the wrong "vibe" for me, though.
We got to fly home 1st class, just as we'd arrived there, with town car service from our hotel back to the airport the next day.
The infomercial aired for just a short time that fall, late at night after most people went to bed, since it was one of those half-hour infomercial things. It DID win an award that year for best long-form advertisement, which I saw about six months later when I looked up the production company online (they never sent us a copy of the infomercial on DVD as they promised they would....we tried for a few years to get it, and they kept promising it, but never sent it).
One of the stills of me behind the desk from the B roll was used as advertising on the Ancestry.com website for a few years after we filmed the infomercial. And, the most interesting thing of all is that I seem to have given the company their slogan for the next five or six years.
One of the things I said during the interview that seemed to impress the director the most was when I said genealogy was all about honoring our ancestors, because they were real people who once truly walked the earth, that they had lives and feelings, hardships and times of happiness, and they deserved to be remembered because of that....because they were real people, like all of us, not just some names carved on a headstone or printed in a book. They existed.
The first commercial of regular length that Ancestry aired after the infomercial disappeared from the world of television featured an actress repeating those words I spoke, and she said them practically verbatim.
That was probably the biggest compliment of all.