Nissin Cup Noodle- Oct. 1987

This is the very first commercial I was ever in. Shot in October 1987, I am the white scarecrow in the lower left corner of the screen. Such a crazy commercial!!!

This was filmed in a pineapple field on Oahu. I remember having to wake up at 3:00am and being bussed along with the other selected kids from my school (Mid Pacific Institute) to the film site. It was incredibly cold that morning. My costume consisted of not much clothing at all! The hat was ridiculous and it didn't want to stay on my head. It was basically styrofoam stacked like a tiered cake, with flowers inserted all over it. The Japanese crew was awesome and did everything they could to make sure we were happy. :)

Once dressed and placed in the field, I was given a pole to place on my shoulders. I had to hook my arms over it, keeping my elbows up. While doing this, I also had to have my right hand on the keyboard, pretending to play it. With my left hand, I held up a Cup Noodle cup that was filled with dry ice. They periodically filled it with water to make it look like it was steaming. I had to make sure it wouldn't spill. All this, and I had to dance in place and look happy at the camera on the huge crane in front of us. For hours. And hours.

We were there filming from sunrise until well past dark. I remember that at the end of the day my shoulders were aching from having to hold the weird position with the pole all day. As a background scarecrow, I earned $100 for the day, and I got to keep the keyboard. For a 16-year-old in 1987, this was big money- and it got me out of school for a day, so that was a bonus as well!