Having been captured recently by Big George, I knew it would just be a matter of time before this day would happen… Today is that day.
As Jimmy and I ride our bikes around MGM today after school, we head down Overland. It is the street that separates the front lot from the backlot. We are on the Lot 2 side and naturally we check to see who is working the guard shack over on the Lot 1 side of the street.
If it’s friend we will cross the street to visit. If it’s a foe, as it appears it is, we will just mostly ride on the backlot side, just looking inside the fence.
We see Les Green across the street, we consider him dangerous since he would love to catch me. Frankly, he is too old. So we ignore him and really don’t consider him a threat.
Lester…pictured below… in the West Gate shack.
Doing just that, staying focused on our side, I hear him shout over top of the few cars going down Overland. We turn our heads, Jimmy and I, as we stop pedaling. Les is as animated as I have ever seen him. He is standing outside the gate and is on of the dirt sidewalk beyond the guard shack. His arms are waving as he continues to shout, he has something clenched is his hand…some papers.
Les looks like he’s trying to get a star’s autograph with his paper in hand …jumping in the air… waving. It’s like I’m Elvis Presley or Gene Kelly…I quickly process this strange image…
I can hear now and as the traffic stops for a moment, he is shouting at me- particlarly me, not Jimmy. “We gotcha, we got everything,… your house… your phone number, and your name!”
We sit and stare but quickly we jaywalk over to him, we all meet at the West Gate guard shack. He proudly hands it to me, “Read it and weep” he says. “This is fresh from the press, it just got dropped off by my Captain”
It is 5 pages and quickly realize I know almost everyone on it, I sit myself down inside his shack while taking this all in… Jimmy crams in next to me and my spinning stool seat. We read slowly, we may never see this paper again. I’m flattered I mean so much to them. I was just caught a month ago so they revised this whole thing…. just because I’m on it.
Les stands outside his own shack as we box him out. We go over each and every name and who captured each trespasser. We see who is worth their salt in security…naturally Big George seems to be MGM’s Top Dog!
Al Black and Bob Trigger Happy Coleman are next in line. Bob takes them… dead or alive…we chuckle. We have been here awhile and are barely through page 3. I look up to see Les bent over and leaning into a car window that wants to enter the lot…I quickly roll this captured list up and stick it under my sweatshirt, as I push Jimmy towards our bicycles. We silently ride off without saying… good-bye.
So now I have me this fancy list fresh off the MGM printing press. It can double as my rolodex, If I need a friend’s number, well it’s probably on this list.
Here it is Culver City…find yourself…Enjoy!
Phantom of the Backlots 