Daniel Greene

Blog

  • Meeting the Life Cereal kid– my childhood stint in commercial auditions

    When I was eight, I went on about 25 commercial auditions with my maternal grandmother in NYC. I once went up for a peanut butter commercial against the boy who played Mikey in the famous Life Cereal commercial— you know, they one where the brother says, “He likes it! Hey, Mikey!” Well, “Mikey” was about 9 or 10 by that time. Of course, he booked the gig and I saw him on TV a few weeks later. There’s nothing like auditioning in NYC as a child to make your life surreal. I would see the competition in the waiting room and then see them on TV a few weeks later. It was strange and disappointing to audition and never get anything. Eventually, I stopped getting calls from my agent.

    Apparently, none of the exhuberance I had on the train to the city translated to the studio once I got there. I would be an excited little ham on the train, telling anyone around that I was going to an audition, but I would clam up in the audition itself. Of course, I never had any acting training or preparation for commercial television. Oh well.

    Thank God I went to the School of Creative and Performing Arts when I was 11 and got a great performing arts education for 7 years. I’m happy to say that I’ve had many rewarding performance experiences in my life since then. I even finally got to do a local television commercial.

  • Look for the love in their eyes.

    When I took this photo of my husband Andy at a party we went to, he obligingly posed for me. I was trying to get in some practice with indoor flash photography.

    Then I got home and saw the image on the computer, and I saw the love.

    If I ever need a reminder of how much he loves me, all I have to do is look at this photo, and there’s the love. And when I look at a photo of my husband, it reminds me just how much I love him, too. There is something about a photograph that captures a moment and allows you to gaze at it long enough to see things or feel things that maybe we don’t take the time to see or feel when we’re going about our daily lives. Don’t get me wrong; I’m constantly reminded of how much we love each other. It’s just that a photograph is like undeniable evidence of that love and lovability, frozen in time… do you know what I mean?

    I don’t have a photograph of my late grandmother looking at me like this, but I have a vivid memory of her looking deep into my eyes, penetratingly, holding my hand firmly in hers, and saying to me, serious-as-cancer, "You know I love you very much." I will never forget that. As long as I live, I will never forget how much she loved me. I saw the love in her eyes.

    If you don’t have a photograph of someone who loves you, look for the love in their eyes. And don’t you forget it!

  • Super Bowl Broadcast Proves Sign Language Underestimated

    I was excited to hear that Marlee Matlin would be signing the American National Anthem (“The Star-Spangled Banner”) at Super Bowl XLI, but was disappointed to see her on television only during the phrase “the bombs bursting in air.” Whatever happened to the “signer in the bubble”? I would think they could put an Academy Award-winning deaf actress in a picture-in-picture “bubble” so that her performance of our National Anthem could be enjoyed throughout the duration of the song. Apparently, the director of the televised broadcast underestimated ASL and its many users.

    I would like to believe that in the year 2007, accessibility for deaf people and the beauty of ASL would be esteemed by American society. Sadly, the Super Bowl XLI broadcast reminds me that American Sign Language and Deaf Culture are still relegated to a momentary side show.

  • Meeting Liza Minelli

    I met Liza when I worked at J.W. Robinson in Beverly Hills in 1987. I walked up to her and gushed! She smiled, shook my hand, and said, “Thank you.”

    I worked at Fred Segal on Melrose for about a week and waited on Liza Minelli. She was looking for a scoop-necked t-shirt. At one point, she was said something silly and then chided herself, saying, “Oh, Liza!” I was able to find her the shirt she wanted.

    I just thought of something very interesting. Liza Minelli: Three Weeks at Carnegie Hall was the first CD I ever bought. And I met Liza only weeks after buying that CD. I sang with ABBA when I was 11, and “Dancing Queen” was the first 45 RPM single I ever bought. I met Toni Tenille at Robinson’s, too, and Love Will Keep Us Together was the first LP vinyl record I ever bought. Basically, I have met all the artists I admired so much that theirs were the first recordings I rushed out to buy. How many people can say that?

  • Our Crazy, Noisy Dogs

    I was awakened this afternoon (staying at home with the flu) to these crazy noises of our dog Buxley playing with Andy. I got up and shot this to capture the hard-to-believe noise he makes.