“Ill get in, I said to my friend Tony as we stood outside Marblehead Town Hall where they were filming a scene for John Updike’s The Witches of Eastwick. I had my beautiful Chow-Chow Benny with me on a 28-foot retractable leash.  I walked briskly with an air of authority announcing: “Mr. Nicholson’s Chow, Mr. Nicholson’s Chow”. Click went the sounds of velvet ropes unclasping as I went up the stairs past Cher, past Susan Sarandon, past Michelle Pfeiffer.  Jack Nicholson was on the set rubbing the back of his head as if planning his next performance. 

       I tapped Benny on the ass with my foot and he trotted straight toward my target. Mr. Nicholson reached down to play with him and I reeled in the leash, inducing Jack to follow Benny over to where I was standing. He crouched while intently scratching my dog behind the ears.  A woman with a clipboard asked if Benny or I was in the scene. “Yes” I said buying time “we are”

     As she flipped through the pages of her clipboard, I confessed to merely wanting to see my idol and apologized for the intrusion. The director George Miller walked over in his big Aussie hat and looked into my eyes with his finger pointed at my face. I braced myself. His eyes reflected my mischief. “THAT” he said “WAS GOOD!”   Paul Moran