Sunday Gazette-Mail from Charleston, West Virginia • Page 25

The man with 14 hats From BiMy Bryant'sshowboat at St. Albans Robert V. Barron has made the trip to the big time of Hollywood By JAMES A. HAUGHT Robert V. Bail-on once was a sane, a a radio ai nouncer and a a thespian (if those adjectives can be applied to a i announcers and amateur, thespians.) Now he's in Hollywood ing as an actor, scriptwriter and apprentice director--and his life goes like this: for the past eight days and nights, I have been putting in 16 to 18 hours a day, tearing the whole movie apart and putting it back together again.

This is a Herculean task 'to begin with, but it was made 100 per cent worse by the fact that we were working on a make-or-break timetable --the. movie opens in 65 theaters in a month. "In addition to editing, I've had to supervise sound, music scoring, i art, dubbing, mixing, processing, optical ef- on lop of everything else, produce two 200- foot theatrical trailers and two TV trailers. "To give you some idea of the insantiy of it all, -at one time I had three editors working on the film. I had the movie in 1,200 pieces and had to run from room to room telling each editor what went where and when--while at the same tune conferring with the title artist and viewing sketches--while listening to, incidental music, themes and bridges on a tape recorder and telling the scorer what to pull and exactly where to place it in the movie--and at the same time I was filling out orders.

for interpositive optical effects: flips, dissolves, etc "Just the music, sound effects and dialogue i i was a monumental challenge. We had two dialogue tracks, a music track, and seven effects tracks going at. one time in many scenes. Every footstep had to be timed precisely, every crackle of the fireplace, every bubble in the moonshine vat, car engines, helicopter dives and a crash, alligators in a dogs, mules, birds, insects, chickens, chickens, chickens The object of that madness is a hillbilly comedy, called Chickenpiek- ers." Barron wrote it, acted in it, helped direct it, and, as you can see, assembled the final prodccl. The film has been booked in several hundred theaters in West Virginia this summer as part of its nationwide run.

It already has been, shown in three in the Charleston area. Meanwhile, the Charlestonian has proceeded to his next He and the independent movie company he's affiliated with much of this, spring in South Carolina making-a 1 half-spoofing shoot-'eni-up about big- time Again, Barron' wrote the script and played one of the supporting roles. This time, i a fellow Charlestonian to appear with him in the cast. William McDowell, an.old crony amateur theatrical'days, took a vacation from his job at the West Virginia. Water Co, and made his movie debut.

He an honorable 'shiner who gets wiped out by a cutthroat syndicate 'which pro- Former Charlestonian Bob Barron with Greta Thyssen, jormer Miss Universe, on the set of Chickenpickers." duces inferior moonshine. the snow every night and use By coincidence, 'a. third it over it Virginian also is was all brown.andiu)l of cig- involved in the film. The chief arette butts The cameraman is Frank poor girt playingtLaa. had to cutter, who grew up at St.

duck the nails, could a and who majored in hear them clanking on Jhe cinematography at the Uni- stage." versity of Southern Cali- During World War 'Bar- fornia. ron's father temporarily tor- If Hollywood is a fantasy, to set up the payroll Bob Barron is in the i or the secret atomic -project. place because his life has been rather fanlastic. He was. ng school in.

Nashville, performing on a showboat he when he was six years old; he ran away from high school and joined a circus; and he out almost penniless to start a movie career, not once, but twice. "I always wished someone would write an article about tracked me and "jerked him," his wife, says, "becuase me back." he really has done all those things the press agents'make was sent lo a'board- "and ran off to the Barnum and Bailey Circus. "For three months I had a job tending.the animals," he says. "I got as'far'as Sarasota, before 1 my dad Later in high school, Barren, appeared in school was announcer on a high school radio station, and wrote a school newspaper col- up a other Hollywood people." a was born in Charleston General Hospital umn called "The a on Dec. 26, 1932, the son of a Waste." He served in the Army during the Korean War and spent three monlbs in Korea, then returned to Charleston and turned to radio.

He first Carbide accountant. he was six years old, some family friends recruited him for the role of Little Eva in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" being performed by Capt. i worked at the old.WKNA-AM 4m Barron as littler in TV show tvilh Mickey Rooney, CHARLESTON, W. VA. Bryant's showboat at St.

Al- station, and later was to be bans. on the a of WGKV, "I went up to heaven every WHMS, WKAZ and WTTP. He i he recalls. "I got took all speech classes of- hoisted by wires up into the fered at Morris Harvey Col- theater loft. One night a wire lege.

broke and I went up feel-first In 1955, the lanky announc- and had to hang there for the er made his first 'try for a rest of the act movie career. He went to for the scene of Liza lywood "cold" meaning crossing the ice, they sifted wilhout a prospective job or down artificial snow. Well, tt contract--and began shopping was kind of a low-budget op- for acting work. He landed eration, so they'd sweep up several small roles and man- SUNDAY GAZETTE-MAIL.