Author Topic: PROPS: Stopwatch Use  (Read 7203 times)

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MileHighSM

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PROPS: Stopwatch Use
« on: Aug 30, 2007, 08:32 pm »
Was anyone on here professionally SM'ing in the mid-80's?  If so, did you use/wear a stopwatch?  If so, digital or like a track stopwatch?
« Last Edit: Jun 09, 2009, 01:01 am by PSMKay »

Beatr79

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #1 on: Aug 30, 2007, 10:19 pm »
To quote my favorite Disney character, Alice: "Curiouser and curiouser."

Why, exactly, are you asking this question?  Studying the evolution of stage management techniques or what?  Its just so specific! 

By the way, I was watching Saturday morning cartoons for the better part of the 80's and have no substance to add to this topic.


MileHighSM

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #2 on: Aug 30, 2007, 11:37 pm »
I'm working on "Noises Off", set in the mid-80's and two of the characters are stage managers.  They're debating having one of them wear a stopwatch, but we weren't sure if that was "period".

nmno

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #3 on: Aug 31, 2007, 03:15 am »
I did the show several years ago and we bought the Broadway prop package and as I recall we had a stopwatch for Poppy, although I don't recall what kind, if that helps at all (if it was good enough for b'way...)  Plus, you've got to ask if SM's in ENGLAND in the 80's wore stopwatches...

BalletPSM

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #4 on: Aug 31, 2007, 10:50 am »
Does it help tell the story of the play?  Are the director and designers ok with a bit of anachronism? 

Then go for it!

Stage managing is getting to do everything your mom told you not to do - read in the dark, sit too close to the TV, and play with the light switches!

thehayworth

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #5 on: Aug 31, 2007, 12:27 pm »
I think they used sundials.
"This time for sure."

philimbesi

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #6 on: Aug 31, 2007, 01:24 pm »
I thought they were so precise the didn't need watches over there...  ;D

loebtmc

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #7 on: Sep 01, 2007, 02:46 am »
FWIW the stopwatch I used in the (ahem) 80s is still my favorite....an old black sports stopwatch with NO SOUNDS - no beeps of any kind -

love it

dramabrit58

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #8 on: Sep 01, 2007, 09:58 am »
I am from England and now live in the US.   Noises Off is such a farce anyway I am not sure the audience would even notice what time of timing device was being used.  If done right the audience will be rolling on the floor laughing over the sardines.........  And I have actually stage managed Noises Off.  Writing the blocking down for that was extremely interesting.
:)

starsineyes

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #9 on: Sep 13, 2007, 11:58 am »
I find it interesting that you want to get down to the very tiny details...I wish I could help but when my school went to do Noises Off it was cancel because of the content..yeah I know it was dumb- We couldn't do a lot of things there...

LiLz

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Re: Stopwatch Use
« Reply #10 on: Sep 14, 2007, 02:33 am »
I still use the Stopwatch I used in the 80's - go ahead and laugh ... yes, I'm old.  It's a beautiful Heuer Trackstar and it's analog.  If I remember correctly, digital was fairly new and unreliable in the 80's.  I remember having a Dick Tracy wristwatch with an alarm that went off whenever it felt like it.  Old people ramble.

LiLz