Trixie Hope, digital art by Paul Monsky

 

TRIXIE ON A ROLL

See it on YouTube, thanks to Mr. Mark Holmes!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_xJ2OGYxOg&fbclid=IwAR1MGTcOd-5tV9Cv6fmuyB-QEUX0TEGLaFZDUUuSVVgCneppzWtt5D5BaOM

Trixie and Dixie

Trixie and Dixie

Cover art for planned second short story collection

Colors by Rusty Gilligan

The Goldilocks Rush

   Trixie looked at her reflection as she checked her makeup, displaying some degree of puzzlement. She'd been cast as Goldilocks for a TV production, but her natural golden locks had been stuffed into a platinum blonde wig. Why? Because the station was going to use some stock footage taken on location, for scenes showing Goldilocks enter the house of the three bears. 

   Through a snafu, the actress doubling for Trixie in those scenes was a platinum blonde. Despite the fact that this was going to be broadcast in black and white, the director felt her hair still needed to match that of the other girl. And really, who would notice her hair when this was going to be the first Goldilocks to be be dressed in a Creek Bend bikini? It was an odd show, for sure. With sponsorship by the Creek Bend Bikini Company, the production could afford to hire a movie starlet like Trixie Hope, but on condition that she also wear the product. When Trixie signed on, she thought this was going to be for the kiddies, but her wardrobe suggested her audience wouldn't be quite so limited. On the other hand, she spent much of her time in front of the camera so dressed, so this was prettymuch business as usual -aside from the wig.

   KLOR had some professional production facilities, but locally-produced programming had been of fairly minor interest to viewers which preferred reruns of Space Patrol. Maybe a good-natured comedy show built around a beautiful girl in a bathing suit would help widen the viewership for original programming. Of course, this would raise the bar a bit for expectations of future shows with similar visual appeal. Other stations did well with original programming, their viewers more interested in new material than old reruns. Creek Bend was a unique location in so many ways. The number of annies who lived there was what most people knew about the town, since it boasted a higher count of annies per capita than any other location. With that in mind, a new twist on the Goldilocks story seemed a perfect idea to the station manager.

   It was more difficult for Trixie than she imagined. Aside from the final scene, she would be doing all her shots by herself. This meant exposition was going to be provided almost entirely by Trixie as Goldilocks talking out loud to herself. Still, everything was going fine until the shot where the chair she was sitting in gave way and she hit the floor. The break went as planned, but she twisted her foot in the process. She wasn't seriously injured or anything, but it did make it difficult to walk to her next mark. Her final scene would have her sitting in the baby bear's bed, fortunately, but the camera crew was having difficulty getting the scene where she moved to the bedroom to check out the accommodations. Trixie hobbled through the door as best she could, but soon she was hopping from bed to bed and making sounds of discomfort. 

   "Trix," the director called cut again, "is there any way you can get through this without moaning?"

   "I'm sorry, but I'm doing my best. Maybe you should write in that I hurt my foot."

   "I think we'll have to. We have to finish within the hour so the film can be edited in time to go on tonight." He paused and looked around at his crew, then back to Trixie. "Okay, we'll make the limp part of the scene, but it means re-shooting the part where you walked into the bedroom."

   "Alright," Trixie hung her head, "I don't want to, but I will."

   "The only other option is to ice your foot down again."

   "Do you have to do it all in full shot? Maybe I can wrap the ice pack around my ankle and then you can just shoot me in medium."

   "That'd work except for two things. One, full shots were requested by the sponsor, since you're wearing their product. Now I might be able to get around that with medium full shots that would keep your feet off screen, but there's no way to hide your feet when you crawl into each bed, so you'll still need to take it off for those shots."

   "Was it their idea that I be barefoot in the first place?"

   "Don't knock it, Trixie. If you'd hit your foot that way while wearing heels you would have twisted it worse."

  "Yeah, I guess you have a point." Trixie hopped over to the first mark. "Let's just get this over with. I can get through it faster if we just write-in the ankle."

   The next few minutes passed quickly enough, thanks to the practiced speed of the camera crew brought in from C.B.I.P., a move which proved essential in getting the production assembled on time. Another break came from the fact they were shooting it more or less in order, so as to cut down on the amount of editing required. Trixie rubbed her foot as she waited for the next scene. It was much better now, and would be back to normal by bedtime. She was rather unsure how the TV special would come out, but she did her best. The sore foot allowed her to do some physical comedy by playing up her discomfort during filming. That at least made the scenes more interesting than they were written, which was pretty straight. In fact, the new scenes were so funny that they made the opening feel rather dry. Time didn't allow for the earlier scenes to be punched up with more jokes, so hopefully a slow build would come across as appearing planned in advance. This raised the bar a bit, in terms of making the climax more amusing, so the crew took a break as the actors mulled over how to throw in more gags. Time was short, though, so there'd be some ad-libbing once the cameras were rolling again.

   Trixie was at least allowed to relax during this, since she was already snuggled up in the baby bear's bed and would remain there until chased out for the big finish -now clad in a night gown which, had she been able to change earlier in the scene might have allowed her to wear the ice pack all along. The actors were allowed to make up the scene on the spot, since they were working from such a familiar plot. Trixie pretended that her foot was still in pain and hobbled around as the bears gave chase. The bears in question were a real family, and they came from a circus background. This allowed for a wild slapstick scene of the three falling all over each other and continuing to trip as they struggled to back to the feet. This realistically gave Goldilocks time to slip out, despite her hopping about on one foot. The camera crew burst out in laughter at these antics. Under normal conditions, this would ruin the take, but the station manager had an idea. When the film was cut together, it would be broadcast WHILE it was being viewed by a live audience. This way, their laughter would be recorded and cover the chuckles of the film crew.

   For this to work, the film would have to be screened on the stage normally used for the local kiddie show. The projector would beam the show onto a huge wall opposite rows of seats which normally housed local children and their parents. It was the same screen which ran cartoons shown for Mr. Sam's Treehouse. Now the challenge was to get the film processed and edited on time to go on that night. Things weren't usually this slapdash, but the shooting of the film had already been scheduled for earlier on the same day that a planned program had to be dropped from the line-up. It was cutting it close, but the director assured the station manager that the film could be put together in time to go on. And this guy should know, having cut his teeth on B westerns.

   One complication this immediate release offered was that there was no time to record a soundtrack. This, too, had been taken into account. Mr. Sam had a house band which scored his show. It was a small orchestra, with barely enough pieces to qualify as such, but it was a practiced group that knew how to improvise and create a professional sound on the spur of the moment. The band was already in the practice of doing spot scoring for silent cartoons which sometimes popped up in Sam's library, so this would be right in track. Although this all may sound rushed and crude to the outsider, it was more or less business as usual for everyone involved. The live aspect of it all even added a sense of freshness the show might otherwise not carry. Trixie stayed on hand to warm up the audience with a comedy routine she'd practiced during the time the film was being processed. Simone and Gail even joined in. It was right down to the wire, but it was working just fine.

    There wasn't time for printing title cards, either. This was solved by writing the opening title cards on boards carried in front of the camera by Simone and Gail, alternating minimal information which included the show's title, star, sponsor, and director. While the show was being screened, the control booth was buzzing as a full credits list was being created, this to be super-imposed over the broadcast when the film itself had finished and the band played out the clock.

   When it was all over, the station crew was exhausted. Trixie stayed through the show to hand out autographs to the audience members as they left. When she had a chance to rest, she sat reclined against one of the seats and twirled her foot. It was all better now, particularly since she'd had a chance to ice it down again while the show itself was being run. The show came off better than it really had any right to, and the audience enjoyed it tremendously. Gail had run through a quick news report during the aftermath of the showing, but was glad to see Trixie was still around after the job was done. Gail took a seat close by.

   "You're a real trooper, Trixie."

   "When you do it long enough, you don't really think about anything else but getting the next scene done." Trixie stretched. "After this, though, I think I could use a rest."

   "Will you have tomorrow off?" Trixie smiled at the question.

    "No, I'm shooting a two-reeler with Dixie tomorrow. How soon will we know if the ratings for the Goldilocks show were worth the rush?"

   "Not for a while yet, but we've already gotten calls asking for a re-broadcast soon. I have a feeling it went over rather well, indeed."

    "Good news for the Creek Bend Bikini Company. They may sponsor more of these shows."

   "That's going to be interesting. I wonder what story they'll want to do next. Little Red Riding Hood?"

   "If they do that one, I know the perfect couple to play it." When the idea was run by Roger and Crissy, Mrs. Ralphwit showed less reluctance than she usually did when asked to do a little acting. A fun little show for local television might be the best way to test the waters, and it would let the couple work together. Roger didn't think much of the idea, but he could picture Crissy as Little Red Riding Hood. With a hood and caplet over a matching Creek Bend bikini, Crissy would be quite adorable. But then, Crissy was always adorable. When the couple had been talked into taking part in a Thanksgiving play, Roger thought he looked ridiculous in his Pilgrim uniform. Crissy, though, she was as cute as could be in her outfit. Every brush with acting only seemed to confirm that the studio head was right in thinking that Crissy would be a natural.

   After hearing about the hectic circumstances of the earlier production, however, now known in the business as The Goldilocks Rush, Crissy felt sure she'd better leave that sort of thing to the professionals. And really, Daisy Poise would look just as darling in the same Red Riding Hood outfit. When it all came together, though, it says something about Trixie's work ethic that she was still a part of the production. Her youthful features were hidden under a white wig in order to play Grandmother, but somehow that only added to the sense of fun. What's more, Trixie had already agreed to play the lead in the Cinderella episode they were planning next. Once that one was in the can, though, she was going to go on a long vacation far away from any cameras or shooting schedules. 

   Trixie didn't have quite the vacation she expected. She drove her little trailer to a picturesque spot in the woods, only to spot a family of wild bears foraging around. Yep, there were three of them. Trixie turned right around and drove back to town. Maybe she'd go to the beach instead. 

Wendy's Wild Ride

   Wendy Marco held up two pieces of fabric, one a yellow color, the other pink. She was trying to figure which best complimented her face. Steve was about to do another photoshoot, and he always worked in color. Wendy had to be sure which color would suit her best, but the decision was coming more difficultly than it needed to. Wendy turned and smiled as she saw Trixie step into the room and make for a changing booth. It looked like Trixie was going to be wearing blue today. Trixie returned Wendy's greeting and noticed what she was doing. Trixie paused and looked at Wendy's reflection.

   "Pink is your color, Wendy. Of course, pink is the color most us around here wear best. Better go with the yellow. Trudy is wearing pink, and Dixie is in red."

   "Thanks, Trix!" Trixie nodded with a smile as she turned back to the changing booth. Wendy held up the yellow top and nodded with approval. This would work just fine, although if anyone wore yellow well it was Trixie. She looked good in any color, really.

   Trixie Hope was a very pretty girl, though she would have blended into the background at most movie studios. She worked with annies frequently, however, which often made her stand out in whatever crowd she found herself in. Although she was an actress of considerable star-power on her own, it was the teaming of Trixie Hope with annie Dixie North for a string of two-reelers which gave Trix her most visibility with the public these days. Though she was never described as such, many in the public saw her as the studio's token 'regular' girl in C.B.I.P.'s stable of "femanimal" starlets. (Before really getting to know the annie girls, the Boss had already coined the label "femanimal" to describe them for publicity purposes.  In the years since, the "femanimal" term had stuck, despite the Boss coming to wish he'd never invented the descriptive for the wrong impression it presents.) Trixie had sort of been accepted into the fold for her constant presence, the unofficial annie starlet.

   Trixie parted the curtain and stepped in front of the mirror to check herself. She certainly wore a Creek Bend bikini well, and blue was very complimentary to her form. In a moment, Wendy stepped into view in her yellow bikini. Trixie shot up an "okay" sign and Wendy smiled as she took a look into the changing room mirror. Wendy had to stop and consider Trixie's partner Dixie. There was a girl with cat features, red hair which included a huge tail, and yellow skin which rather closely matched the tiny patches of fabric which were now encasing Wendy's body. Wendy shook her head.

   "I don't know how Dixie does it."

   "Does what?"

   "Coordinates her wardrobe colors. Must add a challenge to it when you have skin the color of a school bus." Every now and then an annie would be born with a pretty wild coloring. Most were regular flesh tones, a great many of them were paper white, and you had a few shades in between. Every now and then, though, you'd run across a girl with skin that was pink or yellow or even sort of orange in color. Some men with bird features could even be green or blue on occasion! For an annie, this could make color coordination a factor to consider even in finding a spouse (or such was the case according to a popular joke that had been going around for years now). At the least, this sort of shading could make it interesting for a girl to dress herself in the right way. Imagine the typical cares a girl has about lighting conditions, then add the skin of a cartoon character to the mix...

   "She wears a lot of whites and blacks," Trixie noted, "I guess those are the safest choices in her case." Trixie hadn't really thought about it before, but Wendy raised a point regarding Dixie's challenge when it came to wearing colored fabrics. It was a challenge Trixie had been spared by not being an annie. Of course, Wendy didn't have that problem either. Only a few annies really did. Must they feel they got the short end of the stick, so to speak, or do they just feel more unique and thus more valued?

   In Steve's studio, Dixie checked her lipstick as Trudy looked over some notes Steve had written up for today's shoot. As Wendy and Trixie stepped into the room, Steve readied his camera. He planned to snap off a few candids before the girls got down to business. Candid shots offered a freshness which was more difficult to achieve when his models were posed. He got a good shot of Trixie and Dixie discussing hairstyles. Dixie's hair had to accommodate not only the shape of her head, but also her cat-like ears. Trixie almost always wore pigtails to offer a more cutsie, child-like appearance. She'd been wearing her hair like that since childhood, in fact, but still had the youthful features to pull it off.

   Wendy wore her hair pretty loose, aside from the styled curls of her bangs (though she often wore her hair pulled back into a ponytail if she were at all active). Trudy kept her hair cut short due to her own cat ears, but her overall look was balanced by her long feline tail. Each girl had their own distinct appearance, making this grouping an interesting selection for a group photoshoot. The purpose of this shoot was as much to promote the studio's newest expensive prop, said item being a futuristic car with a bubble dome canopy, built for a science fiction picture. The girls were herded outside to the parking lot where the car was waiting. There, Steve got off a few more candid shots as the girls inspected the car they were going to be huddled around for the next hour or so.

   Within a few minutes, Steve could have called the job completed, as he'd already gotten plenty of material before even getting to the posed pictures he'd planned out. By now, Wendy was sitting in the driver's seat. The car had been built over the chassis of an old roadster, but there was little evidence of this origin as the prop had been built so complete as to allow the movie camera to get in close. It was a beautiful design, with lines akin to a Corvette. It looked like a combination of a space ship and a miniature submarine. Wendy scanned the dashboard's numerous dials and switches, wondering which were functional and which were only window dressing. The builder of the car was supposed to be on scene for the shoot, but he'd been delayed -by car trouble of all things.

   "This thing is beautiful," Trudy patted the hood, "do you think cars will ever really look like this?"

   "Some already do," Trixie offered, "at least those dream cars they build for auto shows. A pity those never seem to make it into production."

   "Yeah..." Wendy sighed, "there was this powder blue number from Pontiac I think, had a fin out the back and twin windshields that looked like they came from fighter jet cockpits. I wanted that car."

   "I guess their time hasn't come yet," Dixie ran her hand along one of the curves of the chrome trim, "I wonder if any of us will be around when it does. Annies don't age, but they don't live forever."

   "They live a good while," Wendy palmed the steering wheel, "you might make it, Dix. These things may come to us sooner than we think, too."

   Wendy began to climb out of the car to let the next girl try the driver's seat, but in doing so her foot clipped the dash and activated the control for the giant clear bubble dome. Wendy yelped as she pulled her hands back into the vehicle to avoid the dome as it snapped down over the cockpit. She blushed as the other girls giggled. The mood was light until Wendy reached for the same control to raise the dome back into it's open position. Wendy accidentally flipped the wrong switch, causing the car to roar to life. Her eyes popped wide at this mistake and she reached to shut the car back down. What she didn't realize was that her foot was over the gas pedal, and that her weight was placed on her foot as she shifted her body.

   Providently, none of the other girls were standing in front of the car as it took off like a sling shot. Wendy was so surprised that all she could think to do was grab the steering wheel and do what she could to prevent hitting anything. The other girls were left in a cloud of smoke as the car shot away. Steve ran to telephone the gate. Wendy was headed in that direction. Along the way, Wendy had to hold the car steady as it roared between stages and through lots. An elephant brought in to make a jungle picture was so startled by the vehicle that it reared and made ready to charge. It's handlers managed to get the beast under control, but in the time it took to do so Wendy had already sped through several more outdoor sets. She zipped through a Western town where the combatants of a gun battle came to stunned silence when the bubble car blazed by. On another outdoor set, a string of harem girls parted like the Red Sea. 

   It was all happening so fast that Wendy could only concentrate on not hitting anybody. Whenever she tried to slow the car, it became harder to control and threatened to plow into the side of a building. Wendy gulped as she realized that she had to keep the car at top speed until she was in an area open enough to allow for her to come to a stop without running into anyone. The main gate was opened just in time for Wendy to go roaring through and onto the main street of the suburb area directly outside the gates. Wendy tried to slow down again, now that she was on a wider street, but even this area was too crowded for her to risk doing any damage. She'd have to race through town to the more open areas beyond.

   The town square was taken aback as the futuristic vehicle made the scene, looking like the vanguard of a Martian invasion. The car roared along main street toward the town's outskirts. Although Creek Bend was a small town by any measure, it suddenly seemed like the population of Creek Bend was at least triple what the welcome sign indicated. Wendy wondered if she'd run out of gas before the car got to an area where it was safe enough to slow down. Fortunately, the car could turn on a dime, and Wendy was able to avoid plowing into the fence running along Blake road. Wendy was looking for a pasture where there would be plenty of room. 

   Far behind her was a growing number of cars racing after her. Trixie and the other girls were in the lead car, with Steve directly behind in his own car. A few more cars from the studio followed, joined by the Sheriff, the fire chief, the newspaper editor, and a growing number of curious farmers, store owners, and townsfolk.

   Wendy finally came to the opening to Haskell's cow pasture. The car was turned and sped along one of the few flat stretches of land to be found in the area. Finally, Wendy could power down and let the car drift back and forth as it finally wobbled to a stop. Wendy still didn't know which switch shut off the engine, however. Cautiously, she reached over and touched the switch she was fairly certain was the canopy control. Wendy sighed as the dome raised and pulled back. She jumped out of the car and staggered a bit as she made sure the car was absolutely still. She dared not put on the emergency brake, for fear of not knowing which device WAS the emergency brake. The car was just going to have to sit here until someone who knew how could come and drive it back to the studio at normal speed. Or tow it back, as the car was finally beginning to sputter from limited fuel reserves. 

   When the car finally pooped out, Wendy turned to see the others approaching. Trixie pulled to a stop and the girls pilled out of her car to surround Wendy. Wendy was alright, but she had been so tense during the episode that she nearly collapsed when Dixie and Trudy put their hands on her back to support her. Steve was on scene a second later. He hadn't even had time to think about his camera, which he'd tossed into the seat next to him. He knew his business, though, and immediately grabbed the device to snap off a few more candids as Wendy regained her composure. This rural background offered some much more interesting visuals than the bare lot back at the studio did. They'd have to finish the shoot out here anyway, with the car having run dry.

   Soon enough, what seemed to be the rest of the town had arrived on scene. Steve had to convince the Sheriff that what had just happened wasn't a publicity stunt. Once the matter had been settled and the assembly calmed down, there was a great deal of interest in the futuristic car which had caused the whole thing. The starlets, even in their Creek Bend bikinis, were almost completely un-noticed.

   "Are you sure you're okay, Wendy?" Trixie asked.

   "I'm fine now. I'll tell you this, though, I'm not as upset over not having that dream car anymore."

   "What now?" Trudy asked of her peers.

   "The car will probably star in it's own picture after this." Dixie crossed her arms as she looked on at the crowd of farmers and townsfolk huddled about the car, she and her friends completely ignored.