DAILY BREEZE (Torrance, California) 27 March 06 Reggie not ready for close-up - New York University film major from Torrance is making a documentary on the elusive alligator. (Donna Littlejohn)
Sitting on the shore of a very quiet Machado Lake, film student Andrea Tabor huffed and she puffed, watchin the inflatable alligator slowly take shape.
Finally, Reggie's stand-in was ready for its close-up.
Tabor, a 20-year-old Torrance native and film major at New York University, came to town this month with her film equipment and a couple of assistants to put together a 20- to 30-minute documentary -- part spoof, part serious interviews -- on the strange saga of Reggie the alligator for her senior thesis.
As for Reggie, he wasn't working that day, apparently oversleeping.
So, enter the plastic, blow-up version.
Tabor and her NYU student assistants -- Olivia Kuan, 20, of Houston and Erin Somers, 21, of South Carolina -- had extended their spring break to shoot footage for the project in California. On this day, they were filming musician Jim Holmquist, 19, of Long Beach performing his tribute song to Reggie by the lake.
Later, Tabor directed scenes using the inflatable gator lounging on a picnic blanket near the lake where flocks of ducks glided across the still water.
The saga of the elusive, so far impossible-to-catch alligator in Harbor City has launched all kinds of creative endeavors since floating onto the local scene last August, from songs to books to merchandise. And now, a student-made documentary.
"It seemed like a fun local story that I really got into when I was here," said Tabor, who was in town last August when the story broke about Reggie the abandoned alligator. "When I took it back to New York, people just really jumped on it. They thought it was crazy and weird. It has a great narrative."
Tabor has interviewed city workers, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, as well as some of the gator wranglers and journalists covering the story for her documentary so far. Also appearing will be the author of a children's book on Reggie.
"It's such a wacky story, but everyone involved is very levelheaded and sensible," Tabor said.
Because the alligator has been hibernating since October, she has yet to catch any original footage of the famous 6-foot gator himself.
And acquiring existing film footage from television stations could prove too costly for the student's budget.
So, Tabor may have to employ a clever film device in which the alligator is talked about, sung about, but never actually seen -- except, that is, in his plastic, inflatable, alter-ego form.
Reggie not ready for close-up