| As 1979 rocked in,
the KISS Impersonators looked like they would be just as big
in 1979 as they were in 1978. There were a lot of plans and
ideas on the table that would keep them busy for the first half
of the year. In January, a movie script titled "KISS vs
The Clayman" was in the works. The movie would debut the
group and feature them as super heroes fighting a clay creature
that could take on the shape and size of anything it wanted.
The idea was soon dropped due to the high production costs that
would come with it. There were also plans in the works for another
concert in April. |
Because
of their possible job opportunities with Walts Productions,
the group scheduled a picture day for Monday, January 29th.
It was a rare school holiday so they decided to take advantage
of it with a photo session. The group spent a total of seven
hours getting ready and shooting pictures. There were five people
taking photos that day, Troy's mom, Joey's mom, and Jack's mom,
Kevin Greene, and Walt stopped by for a short period to get
some shots. In the end there were some good shots taken considering
no one was using more than an instamatic camera. The members
were Joey Capelli as Ace Frehley, Troy Correia as Gene Simmons,
Greg Garro as Peter Criss and Jack Standish as Paul Stanley.
This was the only time in the groups history that the members
remained the same for two events in a row, the second concert
in December 1978 and picture day 1979.
In mid February all plans for a third concert
were canceled when Jack's dad caught him and Kevin Greene
lighting a fire in the room under the stage. This had become
a hang out of sorts for the guys, but after this incident
they had to tear the entire stage set down. This closed the
chapter on the groups shows and soon there were some tensions
within the group.
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Picture Day - January 29, 1979 |
| Shortly after the concept
for the KISS Vs The Clayman movie was dropped, Troy began work
on another scrip which sort of followed the KISS Meets The Phantom
of the Park idea. The new script titled, KISS and the Mad Scientist
was being put together as a project for Troy's film-making class
at school. Troy hooked up with his classmate, and friend, Jeff
Correia to be his partner in the project. Jeff had a hand in
helping with the script and both would share in the actual filming.
Jeff would also step in to replace Jack who left for the filming
due to issues within the group.
By the beginning of March the script for KISS
and the Mad Scientist was complete. Plans were made for the
first day of shooting to begin on Saturday, March 10th. Since
the groups former Principal, Mr. Lewis was so supportive of
the group, they went back to him to see about using the auditorium
at Patterson Elementary for shooting the concert scenes for
the film. Mr. Lewis was extremely supportive and Troy was
able to secure use of the auditorium for the weekend. He was
given the keys without any sort of insurance policy or adult
signature (Troy would not turn 17 until one day before the
shooting would begin). This is something that would be unheard
of today. Even with a multi million dollar insurance bond
it's highly unlikely a minor would be given they keys to a
elementary school auditorium for the weekend.
On the afternoon of March 9th the group set up their stage
set in the auditorium at Patterson Elementary. The next morning
at 7:30 a.m. the group arrived at Patterson and by 8:00 a.m.
were putting on their make-up. At 12:30 the make-up was complete
and filming began. Filming lasted until 6:00 p.m. with the
group completing most of the shots that would be needed in
make-up. Once finished with filming they went home to clean
up and returned about 7:30 p.m. to tear down the set and clean
up the auditorium. Once the auditorium was cleaned up, Troy
shot a stop motion clip for the scene where the cop is shrunk
by the Mad Scientist.
During the remainder of March, through all of April, and in
to May, filming continued. All of the shots that involved
other cast members along with a few shots of the group without
their make-up were completed during this time. On Saturday,
May 5th, the group once again gathered at Patterson Elementary
at 7:30 a.m. to film the remaining shots in make-up. About
the time the group finished their make-up there was a fire
in one of the portable classrooms across from the auditorium.
The fire department showed up and extinguished the fire before
it could do any real damage. Not one to pass up an photo opportunity,
Troy sent Joey out to ask the firemen if the group could pose
by the firetruck. They were given the okay so the group posed
for a few photos along side the truck and even got one shot
with one of the firemen.
|
Joey plays around with a movie camera
in between shooting.
|
Mr. Lewis had shown up to deal with the
fire and since he was such a supporter of the group, Troy
decided that since they still needed someone to play the
police commissioner in the movie, he would ask Mr. Lewis
if he would do it. It took a little persuading, but they
group was able to talk him in to it. Not only did they get
get a commissioner, they were able to get a location to
shoot the scene. Once Mr. Lewis was finished dealing with
the issues of the fire, the scene with Mr. Lewis and Joey
was shot in Mr. Lewis' office. The group then continued
shooting until about 6:00 p.m. before heading home to clean
up. At about 7:40 p.m. Troy returned to the auditorium to
tear down the set and clean up the auditorium.
Over the next week a few last shots were
completed and all of the remaining film was developed. Shortly
after production began back in March, rolls of film had
been developed as they were shot and basic editing had begun.
The footage was viewed, final shots were chosen, cut, and
saved. By the end of production, Troy had a 4'x2' piece
of cardboard hanging in his bedroom that held each of the
400 plus strips of film. By the time the film was completed,
a month had gone in to the writing, three months had gone
in to shooting, over three hundred hours had gone in to
the editing, and countless hours were devoted to other aspects
of the production.
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The movie was produced for Troy and Jeff's
film-making class, but was not complete before the final project
was due. Their teacher gave them an "A" based on
the rushes and allowed them to bring the final project in
during summer school for viewing. Sound was originally going
to be added, but during the audio production the bulb in the
projector burned out and sound was never added as planned.
In the late 1980's Troy finally added a humorous sound track
to help allow viewers to follow the plot.
On the night of June 21st, the first viewing of the film took
place at Troy's house. The running time was about 19 minutes.
It was viewed by most that worked on or were in the film.
Everyone in attendance felt the film was a success except
for Troy who felt the final product fell short of his original
vision.
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Film Credits:
KISS and the Mad Scientist
Writers - Troy Correia with Jeff Correia
Director - Troy Correia
Editing - Troy Correia
Cast
Ace Frehley - Joey Capelli
Paul Stanley - Jeff Correia
Gene Simmons - Troy Correia
Peter Criss - Greg Garro
Zachary Smith - Joe Capelli
Police Officers -
William Robertson
Greg Garro
Police Commissioner - Bob Lewis
Band Manager - Bernard Correia
Airport Clerk - Robert Feagan
Man in Airport - David Davis
News Personality - Chris Correia
William Baker - Loren Pruit
Speech Event Security
Jeff Correia
Troy Correia
SWAT Team
Joey Capelli
Troy Correia
Greg Garro
William Robertson
|
KISS and the Mad Scientist Movie Card
Designed by Troy |
|
Once the movie was complete, no one talked
about dressing up for Halloween. It seemed that the four months
of almost constant work on the film sort of burnt the group
out. During the last week of August, Troy and Joey's families
were on vacation together in Tahoe. It was at that point that
Troy talked to Joey about dressing up on Halloween and decided
it was a go.
When they got home from Tahoe, they talked
to Greg who decided he would be leaving the group. Troy went
back to Jack to see if he wanted to rejoin the group. Jack
was in, so that left them with one place to fill. A few days
later the group landed a new Peter Criss. His name was Charles
Duck. Time was now a factor since they were in to September
and Troy had decided that the group would make KISS' new Dynasty
costumes which were even more complex then the Love Gun costumes
they had in 1978. Work started immediately on costumes and
continued through Halloween day.
On Halloween morning Troy arrived at Jacks house about 12:30
p.m. and they continued to work on the costumes finishing
touches. Charles arrived around 2:30 p.m. and Joey arrived
shortly after. All the costumes but Troy's were completed
by the afternoon. Work continued on Troy's boots until about
6:00 p.m. This put the group way behind schedule. Rather then
getting ready to head out for the night, they were just beginning
the make-up process. They were not ready to head out for the
night until after 8:00 p.m.
This year there was no cool van to ride around in. Charles
happened to have connections to a hearse the group could have
rented with a driver for only $10 for the whole night. Troy
really wanted to have the group driven around in it, feeling
it would have been the icing on the cake for the group. Unfortunately
Jack said he would not go in it because dead people had been
in it, so the idea of a very cool ride for the night was shot
down. The group ended up being taken around town in Jack's
parents van.
Once dressed, the group took a few photos then headed right
over to Patterson Elementary for a quick stop then on to Chadbourne
Elementary to see Mr. Lewis, who had been transferred to that
school. They got out so late that most people had already
gone home so not many people got to see them. On the way back
home they made a stop at the Candlelighters Ghost house at
the Fremont Hub (Mall), then a quick stop at Record Factory
across the street, where they went in and checked out the
KISS albums. When they arrived back at Jack's house, they
took a few more pictures then called it a night. The group
felt this year was a big disappointment since they had worked
so hard on the costumes. They were only seen by a small amount
of people and didn't receive the recognition they had just
one year earlier. Before heading home for the night, the group
tossed around the idea of another concert so they could show
off their costumes and take the spotlight once again.
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The members this year were Joey Capelli as Ace Frehley, Troy
Correia as Gene Simmons,
Charles Duck as Peter Criss and Jack Standish as Paul Stanley.
As 1979 came to a close, there was no talk
about another concert or any sort of plans for the group.
The year was a busy one with the completion of their movie
and some great new costumes, but their future was uncertain.
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