My good friend then ( and to this day) MARK WALKER and I had made a short film the summer before and had worked on at least 6 High School productions together. He had secured an internship at CASA in the summer of 1972 as a scenic artist ( He is a fine artist, then and now) and I came out there one afternoon to see him.
Mark was busy in the main theatre building, so I hung around the Scene Shop in back waiting for him. I knew a couple of the other guys working out there. The upcoming production was Cole Porter's ANYTHING GOES and they were busy applying silver mylar sheeting onto playwood forms to create arches. I chipped in and started spraying glue down and squeeging the silver sheeting down as smoothly as I could.....
The Scenic designer at CASA that summer was a man named JOE I. TOMPKINS. I had no idea who he was. At some point in my wait that afternoon, he strolled into the shop and said " That's it! That's the way I want it to look!" he was looking right at me and the piece I was working on.
"You're doing a great job!" he said...and I replied, quite honestly..." I don't work here."
Without missing a beat his reply was, "You do now!"
And so I started working at CASA MANANA.
[I should mention that Joe I. Tomkins went on to win two Emmy Awards for his Costume designs for the ELEANOR & FRANKLIN TV miniseries starring JANE ALEXANDER ( pictured with Joe above) and was nominated for two Academy Awards for his costume work on CROSSCREEK with Mary Steenbergen and HARLEM NIGHTS with Eddy Murphy. I learned a Hellava Lot from him that summer, probably the most instructive time of my life. I knew that I wanted to do what He did from that point on...and so I did...Joe is retired and living quite comfortably in Merida, Mexico today, and we still keep in touch. He's a great guy!]
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