Kenny Gasperson - Actor that played Young Indy's friend

T.E.Lawrence

New member
Just found this at IMDB :)

Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0140393/board/flat/65300942

It was a cool experience. It was also the first role I ever auditioned for and actually got. You can see me in the first episode, I play one of Indy's friends (there were about 6 of us) and I have red hair and glasses. I remember Corey being a pretty cool kid, real down to earth considering he had done a good bit of work at that point. His father was very helpful in helping my acting career, and advised me to get and agent. I did, and got my first speaking role about a year later on an episode of Matlock (Episode: The Defendant).

His profile here:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1996205/boards/profile/
I'm an actor from Wilmington North Carolina who has been involved in several projects filmed here from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles to One Tree Hill. I began acting at around the age of 6 and still audition when projects come to Wilmington. Acting is more of a hobby than a profession(for me at least).

I immediately checked and made these screenshots:

kennynd.jpg

kenny2z.jpg

kenny3o.jpg

kenny4.jpg
 
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Stoo

Well-known member
It's always interesting to hear from other actors in the series, no matter how small their role was. Nice find, T.E.!:)

A couple of notes:
- He is also in a few shots from the classroom scene.
- The scene outside the house was cut from the DVD version.

Here are some screenshots I made 4 years ago for Junior Jones' thread: Lost Tales.

Darwood_1.jpg


I also singled out all of his other friends, too.;)
 

Gasperson

New member
Omg!

Hey guys! I'm Kenny Gasperson, and I stumbled upon this post while googling myself(haha). If you guys had any questions about that shoot, I'd be more than happy to answer them. I can also probably come up with some cool stories from the set if there is any interest.
 
Gasperson said:
Hey guys! I'm Kenny Gasperson, and I stumbled upon this post while googling myself(haha). If you guys had any questions about that shoot, I'd be more than happy to answer them. I can also probably come up with some cool stories from the set if there is any interest.
Just have at it! Whatever comes to mind...

...and welcome.:hat:
 

Gasperson

New member
thanks!

Ok, so I had an interesting encounter early this year that I think you guys might enjoy. I started working at UNCW here in in Wilmington(where the episode I was in was filmed), and my boss had me work with this guy named Ev. We get to talking, and I find out that he's also a local guy and that he had also worked in theater.

While talking about who we knew in the theater community, we find that we have some mutual friends, and then he asked me if I was involved in Young Indy.
I told him that I was, and he said he was Indy's "Fat friend". I mention that I was the "Nerd friend", and we realized we had met each other, albeit 21 years prior when filming the episode. You can see him in the pictures posted above. I also went to middle school with a kid named Michael, Indy's "Black friend", and used to the Love, Indy's "Girl Friend" at auditions years later. I think most of the kids were local with the exception of the other blonde haired kid, I think he was from VA.
 

Gasperson

New member
Also

I think I was like 9 years old when we filmed that. It was the first part I had ever booked through an audition, and I was scheduled to work 2 days. My mother mentioned why I wouldn't be in class for a few days, and the school seemed cool with it. Prior to shooting, they brought me into wardrobe to fit me and even went so far as to craft me a pair of authentic time period appropriate glasses for the shoot. I have pictures of some of that behind the scenes stuff, I'll have to find them and upload them.

Sometime on the second day, someone (a PA?) came to me and asked if I could work an extra day. Of course I said yes, and on the 3rd day I got to be Indy's body double, as Corey had to leave town to shoot at the next location. So, if you watch that episode that I'm in, there is a scene(pictured above), where we're in an attic and Indy is riding a bike. There is then a close up of his legs. Those are actually my legs! I also stood in for a dinner scene of some sort, but don't remember much else about it.

This shoot was easily the most fun I've ever had on set. Imagine being 9 years old, and getting to play the part of a childhood hero's childhood friend! The other kids were all very nice, and we played quite a bit between takes. In fact, in the once scene where we put the dog in the blimp and he starts floating off, we got to play while they were setting up the blimp. This scene was shot off of Chestnut St, in Wilmington and it was right across the street from a school and a graveyard.

While walking through the graveyard, which was of varying elevations, we came across a homeless man sleeping off a hangover next to some graves. Somebody dropped a leaf on his face and he stirred a bit. As I was trying to hold back my laughter, Michael comes up with an armful of leaves and just dumps them on my head. The hobo woke up and looked at us and started screaming. We also started screaming and then bolted back to the set and informed the police that were blocking off the road. I can only imagine how it looked to that poor homeless man. He fell asleep drunk, and was woken up by 6 kids who were dressed like it was 1908. He probably though he went reverse-Rip Van Winkle. Good times!
 

Gasperson

New member
Also

So, after I get back to school from 3 days of shooting, I figure it's going to be business as usual, but NOPE, the entire 4th grade and all their teachers had shown up to class, first thing in the morning for a little Q&A with yours truly. I was pretty much the most popular kid in school for the rest of the year, haha. I was lucky enough to have another TV part in Middle School, and some work in High School as well, so it carried over well.
 

Gasperson

New member
It also just dawned on me...

Oh, another thing I remembered is that in addition to myself and Ev, another actor from the series is employed by UNCW. Shane Fernando, who played one of the two children who run into Old Indy in the museum, is also employed by the school. Small town :D
 
Gasperson said:
Sometime on the second day, someone (a PA?) came to me and asked if I could work an extra day. Of course I said yes, and on the 3rd day I got to be Indy's body double, as Corey had to leave town to shoot at the next location. So, if you watch that episode that I'm in, there is a scene(pictured above), where we're in an attic and Indy is riding a bike. There is then a close up of his legs. Those are actually my legs! I also stood in for a dinner scene of some sort, but don't remember much else about it.
Great stories...! Hope to hear more, you played Indiana Jones' legs!:)

Guess we have another name for the list!

Keep it coming, your Rip Van Winkle/Time Machine story is great reading.

Thanks.
 

Gasperson

New member
A few more...

Ok, so if you look at the scenes that all the kids are in, there is part where Corey, Ev and Michael are in a railcar thing, and they're turning this handle that moves it forward. I don't remember all the details but Corey got smacked right on the kisser by that thing and we had to stop shooting until he regained his composure.

In the baseball scene, while they were setting up for that, I went to craft services(the best part of any set) and got a drink. They had us stand on our marks and I was still drinking and didn't want to move. I also knew that a Dixie cup wasn't specific to the time period and that I couldn't just set it down, so I hid it in my glove. All was good until the director was like "Kenny, open up your glove like you're going to catch the ball". I opened my glove and they saw the cup and everyone got a good laugh.

In the scene where we're in the attic/laboratory, there were beakers full of dyed water and dry ice. That scene took all afternoon to shoot, and there were more shots than they ended up using. One such shot was a close up of me, where I am reacting to some explosion or some such. I remember the director saying "Look scared!" which wasn't hard when the camera is pointed at you and the entire crew is watching. My poor hands were dyed blue from messing around with the beakers and such, but I must have done a good job on the takes, because after they shot it the crew gave me a standing ovation. I'll never forget how that felt, it was amazing!
 

Gasperson

New member
Also

So, at the time that I did this, I was still pretty new to the business and didn't really know much. Corey had done a commercial or two by that point, and maybe some other stuff, and it was his dad who was the "Stage parent". His dad gave my mom all sorts of wonderful advice, and might have even passed along the name of the agency I signed with as a kid. Thanks to his advice I snagged my first speaking credit on an episode of Matlock about a year later. 20 years later, I'm still drawing residuals from that one episode!
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Gasperson said:
Hey guys! I'm Kenny Gasperson, and I stumbled upon this post while googling myself(haha). If you guys had any questions about that shoot, I'd be more than happy to answer them. I can also probably come up with some cool stories from the set if there is any interest.
Very cool.:cool: Ken, welcome to The Raven!:hat: Loved your Rip Van Winkle story as well as your other recollections, especially the distinction of standing-in for 'Indy's bicycle legs'. As you'll quickly be able to tell, I'm a big fan of the series. Very little 'making-of' information is known about these scenes so it's a pleasure to have you join up, Kenny.(y) Plenty of questions for you. For starters:

1) What do you remember about Corey Carrier?

2) Did George Lucas ever drop by the set during your 3 days?

3) Did your character and those of the other kids have names?

4) Re. the filming date: You say you were about 9 at the time. For sure, it was 1991 but can you pinpoint which month?:confused: The only Wilmington dates that I can find for 1991 say between Nov. 11 - Dec. 03 but your parts look like September/October with the colours of the trees & leaves all over the ground (this is from my northern perspective). Is that typical of November in North Carolina?

More questions on deck...

---
Wilimington looks like a nice place. I've been very near there (Myrtle Beach, about a 1 hour drive away) but that was when I was close to the same age that you were in the Young Indy show.:)

15 secs. of your part outside the house with the old car was cut from the DVD release. For your viewing pleasure, here's my upload of the original TV broadcast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuZZqq-z7QI
 

Gasperson

New member
1. Corey was a pretty cool, down to Earth kid. I think this can easily be attributed to his father, who also seemed down to Earth. By this point, I think Corey had filmed in some exotic locations and I can imagine that this would make a lesser kid arrogant. None of that with Corey. We spent pretty much all our free time together over those 2 days. Eat our meals together, played between takes and such. I'm sure Corey had his own trailer on set, it's pretty typical for anyone with at least a few lines of dialogue, but he was always with the rest of us.

2. I don't think George stopped by, I never saw him. He was the one person my mom was really hoping to meet.

3. I don't think any of our characters had any names, but I'll have to find my scrapbook since it has some backstage photos and some pictures from Wardrobe.

4. I'm not sure of the exact dates, but Nov-Dec sounds about right. We tend to run hot through Thanksgiving, and it's not unheard of to be wearing shorts in those months.

Myrtle Beach is indeed very close to Wilmington, and if you're ever in the neighborhood again, let me know and I'll show you some of the locations where things were filmed. Most of it is still standing.

Thanks for uploading the extended version!
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Ken, I didn't comment on your other stories because we were writing at the same time. Very cool anecdotes & info! The Dixie cup/baseball glove.:D (Funnily enough, there were Young Indiana Jones Dixie Cups!)

It was also nice to hear about your perception of Corey. In the few interviews I've read, he seemed exactly as you describe. Thanks for your kind & gracious offer of showing me around Wilmington. I have a very, fond memory of Myrtle Beach but can't foresee being back there anytime soon, unfortunately. For now, let's rack your memory some more:

1) Was it always the same dog in every scene? If so, do you remember it's name? Was it a trained 'movie dog' or did it belong to a Wilmington local?

2) One of the reasons I'm asking about the characters' names is because there was a planned episode that would have taken place in Princeton, 1905. One of Indy's friends in the story was the famous, Paul Robeson, and I've always wondered if the "black friend" in your scenes was intended to be him (they meet again in 1919 on the DVDs). Any indication that this might be so?

3) I'd noticed that you aren't in the finished, railroad scene so it's interesting to learn that you were on the set. Were you involved in some cut footage or were you just an observer?

4) In what order were the scenes filmed? Would you be able to provide a day-by-day recap of the shooting schedule?

Again, more questions on deck...

Your scrapbook photos would great to see (and they might even have dates on the back). If you ever find them, don't forgot The Raven!;):whip:
 

Gasperson

New member
Ask and you shall receive!

Here is an album of all the stuff I had on Young Indy. Pictures, maps and so on. I'll try to answer you questions to the best of my ability.

http://imgur.com/a/FAdDu


1. The dog I don't remember much about, I think it was probably local as most everything else was. I do remember there being some sort of dummy dog for the balloon scene, a stuffed toy dog. I think it had it's own handler though.

2.I'm not sure if Michael was supposed to be Paul Robeson, but if they had it planned that far ahead that would be interesting.

3. Yeah, all the kids were actually present for the railroad scene, even though it was only Corey, Ev, and...Michael? The rest of us were right there watching the whole thing unfold, it was very cool. That railroad is one of the few things not left standing anymore, they tore up those tracks.

4. Ok, so I think the very first thing we filmed was the classroom scene. I think on day one we filmed(maybe in this order), Classroom scene, baseball scene, and maybe the laboratory scene since they were all filmed in/around Saint Mary's Catholic Church on 5th street. We might have also shot the farewell scene on that day too, also around that part of town.

On the second day, I think the first thing that we shot was the railroad scene, and then maybe just the balloon scene. Both of those scenes took FOREVER to set up due to the nature of the shots.

On the third day, it was just me, all the other kids were wrapped. I did the shot in the attic, where I got to be Indy's legs, and I also remember doing a scene where I was at dinner inside of a house. I would have to watch the episode to figure out where I was in that. I'm pretty sure I was a double for Indy in that scene as well.

Another thing I remember about the balloon shot...

As you'll see from the album I posted, the area where the balloon scene was filmed was right near an elementary school. The kids were out at recess when we were between takes(probably right before we gave that poor homeless guy a scare) and were waving to us from across the creek. We must have looked pretty crazy to them too.
 
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MDew

Member
Hi Kenny, welcome to the site! Thanks for coming on here and sharing your recollections, it's been fun to read. Those pictures are great too, a rare glimpse behind the scenes - it's extremely hard to find any pictures of the show's filming.

The location maps & descriptions you've provided will also be very helpful this project - and maybe since you're familiar with the area you'd have some insight into where other Wilmington-area shots are?
 

Gasperson

New member
That's interesting

If the episode I was in is any indication, most of the Wilmington scenes were filmed either downtown or at Screen Gems studio. All the old houses and most of the interiors are all downtown and some of the streets around 5th are still cobbled. I'll have to watch through the series again and see what I recognize.
 

MDew

Member
Awesome, I look forward to the help. On the "MIA Locations" page, if you click on each episode it brings up a gallery of images of the places I'm still looking for.

BTW, I noticed the date on the camera slate for the balloon shot reads:
11/20/91. That solves that mystery! :hat: Those pictures are so cool, any chance I could repost a few of them on my site (with credit of course)?
 

Gasperson

New member
Sure thing!

Knock yourself out! I'll check out more of the pics. Hopefully the mystery shots are in parts of town that haven't changed too much.
 
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