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Day in the Life of J Sloans
There was a scene for a film shot inside Sloan’s in the early days
when I was the only bartender, and many times the only person, in
the place. This would
have been May, 1971. It
was a low-budget scene with a skeleton crew and two players: a foxy
chick and a male actor who was picking her up.
I didn’t get to talk to the female, but I did serve the actor
a drink while he was on break and chatted with him for a minute.
The dialogue was cheesy and not very realistic, so I assumed
it was to be part of an adult movie of some sort, though nobody was
talking about it…. They were just doing their jobs.
A couple of years later I saw the guy on a TV commercial and
thought, “Now there’s an interesting transition…. He
does adult films and also gets legitimate work.”
When I saw him again in Boogie Nights I was amused at the
idea that he did indeed have an earlier career in adult
movies. And maybe he
did, or maybe not.
Turns out I didn’t know squat.
His name was Robert Ridgely, and actor who had quite a full career
playing characters in lots and lots of films, starting way before
whatever scene they were shooting in Sloan’s.
He was in a film released in October, 1971, called Chrome and Hot
Leather, but the synopsis of the film doesn’t sound like it would
tie in with the scene from Sloan’s.
I’ve noticed in many of his films his parts were so small he is not
credited.
He
passed away in 1997.
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