Our own personal civil war
IT happened, and I was there and deeply affected by it:

The Strike of 2000

        As an aside from my honest intention of keeping personal opinions to myself, rendering only solutions that will assist and encourage actors on their path towards success, I, nevertheless, feel duty-bound to offer my observations regarding both unions, SAG and AFTRA (which are now one), in general.



        As a casting director who has seen as many as twenty-one thousand actors in a single year—yes, you read correctly—I found myself deeply caught up in the longest strike in the history of either guild. In short, the commercial contract that covers the relationship between the guilds and the producers had come to an end, with the result being the aforementioned strike.

Image: Google

        For a period of six long months, most of the commercial industry was at a standstill. This shouldn't come as news to anyone. I mention the strike as a reference point because I have so often been asked by actors, as well as by the press during a variety of interviews, what it was like during this great debacle. I‘d like to point out that I am, today, and have been for many years, a member in good standing in both the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (both have now joined forces under one single banner).

        What follows is a man making an observation of his own family. Usually, in a war, you find one side against the other. Ours, however, was not only a war against the other guy; it was also an ongoing civil war conflict festering as an abnormal cyst from deep within an organization of separated whiners. We were union members that were not united. We were outmanned and outfought by a vastly superior army. The so-called enemy was similar to a country with unlimited resources. Our troops were forced to buy their own clothing and rifles, and ammunition.

Written by da harv in July 2003:

Today, the producers remain in the same condition as our economy; showing signs of renewed vitality, but not yet in a full recovery mode. What has been a noticeable change is that today we are doing castings with a very noticeable amount of commercial voiceover work in non-union assignments.

Today, Friday, 18th March 2022:

        It is important to note that while we solicit all the major advertising agencies for casting work, we have never specified a preference for either union or non-union casting assignments. What I’m taking the opportunity to document is a simple fact of life: There has always been non-union work for actors, and it has strenuously gained its lasting—and gathering—momentum. Contrary to what either union would like its actors to believe, many union actors have and continue to put bread on their tables with honest money earned on non-union jobs. Since many of these men and women remain friends of ours, I will not ever divulge their names, nor give witness to who did or did not take part in non-union work during the strike period.

Note:

        During the six months of the strike, Kalmenson & Kalmenson's two fully equipped recording booths stayed constantly at full casting capacity, with a constant flow of simultaneously conducted auditions of both union-approved and non-union assignments. The most well-known advertising companies availed themselves of our services. To this day, high-rolling sponsors of the past decades continue doing their commercials without flying the union flag. The attitude of the producers became universally solidified when the unions chose to stick with a rigid set of rules during the strike negotiations. It was at this time that the producers discovered they could continue to produce their commercials with non-union actors, without too much in the way of sacrifice. While the non-union actors definitely had fewer skills to put on display, they quickly improved by way of experience. Many actors, who couldn’t get work because they weren’t union members were now able to secure work.

        There has never been a shortage of actors. Union or not. Specifications, whether or not the work is union or non-union, are of little or no importance to what we have included in our workshop syllabus. We are in the business of training actors in a specific acting craft. Work is work; the actor must continually study his craft. Whether our work is union or non-union, it will not, and must not, deter our actors from focusing on the importance of good study habits. Union or not, the excellence required in order for the actor to succeed will always be determined by each individual actor.

Harvey Kalmenson

"Meanwhile, back at the ranch..."

What about you and the director?

Those were the days my friends,

you and me,

we thought they’d never end.

        Hello, here we go again– the voiceover industry has changed for the umpteenth time. Just a short couple of years ago, right before we all were hit with the atrocious happening called Covid-19, people like all of us, actors, actresses, agents, and the in-house folks known as directors, would report to work with actual human beings to share the space with.
        There was no such thing as wearing a mask to work unless it was a bank and you were planning a stick-up! (Even the terminology has changed, I doubt if anyone refers to it as a "stick-up" anymore.) When banks went back to allowing customers to come onto their premises to do business, everyone in the joint was required to be masked. Years before, I had personally on occasion worn a mask myself while serving in the army; it was called a gas mask, and really not very stylish.
        At Kalmenson & Kalmenson we’ve tried to catch our breath, figuring the mask-wearing would be over in a month or two at the most. Well, what do you know about that, we were wrong. During the course of what transpired during the ensuing painful two years, we found ourselves succumbing to the whim of this horrible business-halting disease. We were forced to close three locations and placed twenty classes per week on hold. From twenty-one Kalmenson & Kalmenson teammates, we went down to three.
        To say the least it has been a most sobering, as well as a most harrowing event. Good news is happening at this very minute. Along with the masks being off, Cathy and da harv have “removed the gloves” as well. In August of last year, our comeback took hold. Our maiden voyage for our “virtual method delivery” has become a living, breathing, ZOOMING step in the best direction possible. Our teaching with excellence continues, we ardently pray without further interruption!

"Meanwhile, back at the ranch…"

        First of all, let’s get to what used to be the norm for an actor who was about to be auditioned...

TODAY'S VO AUDITIONS:
        Voiceover auditions at your agent’s office, a casting service, or even at the advertising agency, are rarely conducted today. In general, the environment and procedures have drastically changed— the jury is still out.
        Your assignment remains the same: to make the very best from the direction you’ve been given, or not given for that matter. At this point, an actor needs all the help available.

Self-direction is here to stay.

Facts of life for the commercial VO actors to deal with:

1. Self-direction is an industry necessity. It has become an important emphasis in our Kalmenson & Kalmenson curriculum.
2. Each VO actor should plan on implementing a broadcast quality home studio.
3. The days of the agents conducting in-house voiceover auditions are almost entirely a thing of the past. When the restrictions were placed on us all caused by the covid-19 virus, most of the agents began working from home. Many of the talent agencies have remained home-based ever since, facilitating saving a great deal of money on office space rentals. Many of the advertising agencies have done the same.
4. Kalmenson & Kalmenson remains as one of the few casting companies providing directed auditions for the actors. (It is not unusual for da harv to conduct as many as forty-eight auditions in an eight-hour day).

Director's Personal Notes:
        Self-direction... Not to worry, there's always time to gain experience. The more experience you have, the smoother your trip will become. Just as there are no two actors that share complete similarities, I feel the separation in director-style is even greater.
        In my opinion, I think you’ll find that the fewer the number of words that a director uses, the better their direction becomes. The same credo definitely applies to the self-directing procedure. Keep your self demands as simple and uncomplicated as possible.

Please remember: voiceover is AN ACTING CRAFT!

Self-direction is an acting craft, as well!

Please allow us to help you…

Harvey Kalmenson

You and the director, perhaps it was me.

Then and now, what was, and what would it become!

Click, click; it’s 2022

Da harv is still here

Wait just a minute

What about you

Could it be

Whence you say

Forty-five years ago

Oh, I seem to recall

A very warm and sunny June day

A wife was about to have me leave

Not to worry, da harv wouldn’t grieve

Though it wasn’t at my behest

"Losing weight" can be a good thing

One hundred and eighteen pounds gone

Never to be regained

But it was then, you say

What about our life’s game today

Yours and mine

        The ongoing question actors are often heard to pose: “What kind of a director was he to work with?” The question I ask, not as a director, but more as the educator would be: “What would you do if there were no directors to work with?”
        Today, the ball is in your court. Aside from folks like Kalmenson & Kalmenson, actors must, by the nature of things, be a stand-alone entity. Without equivocation, I can say after all my years of experience, “most actors who have not studied the acting craft of voiceover will go up in a puff of smoke.” I’d like to take some time in order to explain what has become our actor's culprit.

        A needed reflection– 1977: There I stood, on Beverly Blvd in front of the very famous “Chasen's” restaurant, across the street from Abrams-Rubaloff, who at the time, was arguably the most dominant commercial talent agency in Los Angeles. This was to be my first day as a commercial voiceover talent agent. My early morning contemplation on this less than auspicious occasion was whether or not to even enter the building in pursuit of a new profession. Neither of the top two movies of the year, “Star Wars”, or “Rocky”, added credence to my decision-making process, although “Rocky” did garner the most number of Oscar nominations for the year.

        And in this sacred moment in time, our year of the lord 2022, I find myself in reflection for the sole purpose of comparing notes about then and now; what was then, and what is today. I grew up in a household where mom and dad were in general agreement about the history and how we as Americans oftentimes forget how fortunate we are to be living in the greatest country in the world. As my mother called it “THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”. Take note of the capitalization. Mom would usually stand up when delivering that quote.
        With my own environment in mind, I thought I might pass along some facts of how life was, dollar-wise, and how it's a little like what we're incurring today.

What happened in 1977 in the United States &
How much things cost in 1977

• Yearly Inflation Rate 6.5%
• Year-End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 831
• Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 7.75%
• Average Cost of new house $49,300.00
• Average Income per year $15,000.00
• Average Monthly Rent $240.00
• Cost of a gallon of gas 65 cents
• Bikini $9.00
• Renault Gordini $6998.00
• BMW 320i $7990.00
• Barbie Road Trip with Motor Home, Dune Buggy, and a Bicycle $72.95
• Wrist-Worn AM Radio $7.95
• 5 inch Portable TV $147.00
• New Stereo System $247.95
• Middletown, New York Ranch 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room family area, and double garage $33,000
• Star Wars opens in cinemas

• First Apple II computers go on sale
• TV Mini-Series “Roots” is aired
• First commercial flight Concord
• NASA space shuttle first test flight
• Alaskan Oil Pipeline completed
• New York City Blackout lasts for 25 hours
• Jimmy Carter is elected as the 39th President of the United States
• The precursor to the GPS system in use today is started by the US Department of defense.
• Singing sensation and pop culture phenom Elvis Presley appeared in Indianapolis and performed what would be his last concert.

A string of white vehicles follows the hearse carrying the body of rock and roll musician Elvis Presley along Elvis Presley Boulevard on the way to Forest Hills Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee, on August 19, 1977. Thousands of people lined the route for the city’s final tribute to Elvis. He died at home in Memphis on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42.

To be continued... (God willing)...

Harvey Kalmenson

VO Protocols

And now for the dreaded protocols...

        Hello, there are none—“protocols” that is. There are wonderful theories each and every week that actors in all career stages manage to pass around. (It’s kind of like being in the army, and being privy to the latest rumor.) But protocols, for what to do, when to do it, and whom to do it to or with, in order to make it big in our world of subjectivity are really non-existent.

    Back to James Cagney:

“I look the other actor right in the eye, and tell him the truth.”

        If there is a protocol for success, and that protocol happens to be telling the truth, it makes many out there begin to smile when the truth and Hollywood become synonymous. The facts, however, are really very simple. They never change. Those who make it as actors have talent. Those who make it are willing and have sacrificed in order to succeed. Those who make it do so because they have practiced their craft. Those who have made it manage some way, somehow, to convey the truth, either through their eyes or through the eyes of another.

        As a simple example: It happens to be a bright and sunshiney Monday morning. You are called in to read (very early in the morning) for pizza and Coke. You really can’t identify with either of those products, especially at such an early hour when you haven’t even had your first cup of coffee. You look at the script, and there it is… your direction. Right up at the top of the script, it calls for your read to convey a degree of wonderment. Yes…that’s correct. Wonderment over the enjoying of pizza and Coke the first thing on a Monday morning. How in the world are you going to convey that kind of truth?
        Years ago, it was one of my students that won the job. It was part of my continuing evolution. I remember it as if it were yesterday. She finished her read, and I immediately congratulated her. “Wow, what were you thinking about,” I asked. The answer, of course, became part of my Method's evolution. “I was remembering how my nephew looked and acted when I took him to Disneyland,” she replied. She proceeded to reenact the young boy's face and his exact words as what she used as her method for delivering the truthful degree of wonderment that was called for.

        The beat is continuous. Neverending. Those of us who devote our lives to not just talking, but more importantly listening, are light-years ahead of those who are in a state of constant vocalization and always at a greater than normal sound level. Listen to what you’re looking at. Look at what you’re listening to. Both activities bring a revelation of what life sounds like when a situation is foreign or one you may have never noticed before.
        If a brassy waitress has ever served you, you might want to take a few moments to figure out what was the cause of her delivery. It’s just a trick, but it could be helpful if you are ever called on to be brassy. But caution… your agent isn’t going to call you in to portray a brassy waitress when your natural signature is one of a demure or reserved librarian.
        Then there's the role of the anal-retentive headmaster at an Ivy League middle school. If you were born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and you have a distinct accent, don’t expect a miracle to occur, no matter whose eyes you're attempting to see things through.

    Here is the main gist for all that must be sacred when conveying an emotion:

“And for all those that have cried before or after the suffering of fact.

And for any who have felt pain without knowing its cause.

I say no matter.

For their tears were honest. And therefore, I, too, have suffered and wept along…

And equally as well I have laughed

Whether derived from a pratfall

Or gleaned from the gem of a man's word

What is truth, will be God”

        Now stack up the emotions. Create your own personal and confidential file to call on in time of need. You may begin with the simple. Happy, sad, beaming, glad, abrupt, rude, crude, alarmed, disarmed, betrayed, lost, found, discovered, uncovered, revered, relished, embellished, wasted, tasted, smiled, frowned, important, renowned. Your place, his, hers, theirs, inside or out, raining, thundering, lightning, wind, hot, cold, humid or dry, on a mountain, in the sand, shivering in the cold, lying in the sand seeking to be tanned.
        Take a breath. What’s in the air? What presents itself? What do you feel? In that one moment in time, you are the one in total control of whatever natural response nature dictates. And within your response, therein lies your signature. Without betraying any worldly confidence, your answers will be revealed.

        Recall a moment of your life when without warning a situation or happening caused your conditioned response. The joy of reward for a job well done. The tender sigh of a loved and cherished one. The anguish over the departing of someone who was near and dear to you. The smile revealed by a child receiving their first puppy. All that is public and, even more importantly, all that is in the realm of your privacy, are there to be recalled; to be remembered with any or all of the emotion that you choose to conjure. For within your recollections, you will find the truth.
        How vivid a recollection is, will usually be dependent on the broadness of the colors nature has provided for your individual palette. In short, some human beings are more flamboyant than others. Their revelations will be painted with broader strokes than the average person might use. If that is their natural way, then that is what will be the basis for their signature determination.
        Then there are those people who appear tight-lipped. They play it close to the vest when describing any of life’s dramatic moments. That’s not to say that their way is the wrong way to express an emotion. If it happens to be their honest signature, then that is what will rule their moment of reflection.

        Reflection is the key. Think back to any moment in time. Capture its essence in your mind’s eye. Then use that attitude, just recaptured by your reflection, as the driving force for your presentment. When our Method is applied, the desired results may be achieved by anyone, regardless of their reading skills. We maintain it is impossible for any individual to recapture or reflect upon a situation without portraying honesty, the true emotion of that particular passage in time.

        A couple of examples of the method in use: An actor is handed a script that calls for them to portray an individual who will express a degree of wonderment–or perhaps discovery–while exalting the benefits of eating particular breakfast food. Our actor only needs a moment or two to reflect upon their recent experience of visiting a friend in a foreign land by way of the Internet. Upon reflection, they recapture the wonderment at the ability to instantly say hello to a friend that happened to be thousands of miles away. That wonderment, by way of reflection, was responsible for the actor giving a winning performance during the audition.
        Then, we have one of my favorites: A talent is asked to display a degree of frustration and anxiety over being unable to figure out their checkbook balance. (We don't even have those anymore!) It happens that this particular actor has a business manager, and this talent hasn’t had to handle a checkbook for a prolonged period of time. Like the example given previously, they, too, were able to nail it. When I asked them what this actor had been reflecting on, they replied with, “That was an easy one for me. I was thinking about my terrible ride in this morning. The freeway was jammed, and I was both frustrated and concerned over whether or not I would make your audition on time!”
        Above, I have given you two examples of the Kalmenson Method at work. Both of the actors in question were graduates of our school. Both have reached the upper levels of success within our voiceover world. Both exemplify the extraordinary ability to bring their delivery into the present; both have got the meat, or the chops if you prefer.

Harvey Kalmenson

The Kalmenson Method as continued

        Our classes pay very little attention to the mechanical, while at the same time zeroing in on feelings. I choose to consider the voice as a mechanical instrument. It has no brain. What a person feels is hopefully what they are able to truthfully convey by the use of their voice.
        A person might ask for your help. Your reply is simple and to the point. “I’ll be delighted to help you” is your response. But my question is: Does your voice convey a convincing degree of genuineness? Does the listener get the idea that you really want to help, or are you merely going through the motions? What if the direction calls for you to show a little annoyance towards the guy who’s asking for the help? The words haven’t changed—just the direction. Your answer is still the same: “I’ll be delighted to help you.” Your genuine feeling of annoyance allows your voice to convey your attitude.
        Take a moment or two to come up with a wide variety of attitude directions to apply towards the individual asking for your help. Here are a few general directions that can be cultivated while responding with the same words: “I’ll be delighted to help you.”

1. As a serious helper in a friend's time of need
2. Sarcastic
3. Hero to the rescue
4. Guy attempting to pick up a girl

    Now a series of questions enter your mind:

The Five W’s And An H
Who am I? (The helper or the recipient?)
What will I use to provide the help?
Why do I want to help?
When will it take place? (Time of day, month, season?)
Where will it take place?
How will I, or can I, be the helper or recipient?

        Certainly what I say next, will smack of know-it-all pomposity. But it will exemplify the signature that has been mine for most of the last thirty years. Not just living life to its fullest, but also taking the time to listen to all it offers me. Understanding a variety of meanings may appear to be a trick.

        Much of what we learn could be deemed to be a trick. If, however, we learn it and it works for us, then, trick or not, we’ve found a way. And our experiences, regardless of what they are called, do help to provide some degree of meaning. Simplicity and meaning are what each and every accomplished actor has in common.

“No teacher alive can muster your skills for survival,

that will ever match those gleaned by way of life’s experiences.”

(Adapting the social graces)

        Character is a commodity that belongs to each of you. At Kalmenson & Kalmenson, we might point it out and attempt to help your cultivation, but usually, it’s a case of how a person was formed dictating their personality. Environment is the usual prompt for good or bad habits. So, too, it is the origin of speech patterns. Without becoming too fancy, or philosophical, social grace has to do with how a person conducts themselves within society's accepted boundaries.

        Whether the individual is white-collar, blue-collar, or no-collar, they can be polite or impolite; aware or unaware of what to do or say, whether they find themselves one-on-one, or out in public amongst a group of people. Their habits become part and parcel of who they are and how they portray themselves.

        You are about to enter a restaurant at just about the same time that another person enters your picture. What is your natural bent? Do you size up the situation and determine that you have the speed and dexterity required to ace the poor soul who plans on entering at the same time? Do you ignore the fact that the other party with designs on eating happens to be a woman well past retirement age? Do you jump in front of her and show no concern over the fact that you just slammed the old lady to the ground? Do you then enter the restaurant, throw both fists in the air, a la “Rocky”, celebrating what you’ve been able to accomplish?
        If you’re the person who is capable of being as natural a boor as the one who defeated the old lady in combat over who could enter a restaurant first, then perhaps your natural and most effective signature would be that of a tactless, ineffective, dolt. Is there a market for a voice that conveys your sort of social invective? The answer is "yes". There are folks out there who are as creature-like as I had described earlier.

        Now, what about the opposite end of the spectrum? You’re the person who enjoys being socially acceptable. You’re the polite considerate human being that doesn’t mind being last when it comes to entering an elevator, holding the door for an older person, or for any person at all for that matter. So maybe your signature is genteel and caring. And, of course, there is a market for that approach.
        All of the above have nothing to do with what you might know as an expert or have acquired from your life’s experiences. It has to do with whether or not you're willing to share your information, and what your attitude might be when you're disseminating it. The need to have a grasp on social grace is your need to have a grasp and total knowledge of your signature as a person, as well as an actor.

 
        If all of us could get an honest appraisal of what our signature truly is, we would all be well on the way toward discovering and developing meanings far greater than what we ever perceived possible. While truth is a treasure, it oftentimes becomes difficult to uncover. It is this fête of discovery, and revelation that embodies the Kalmenson Method.

        We don’t treat commercials as anything other than a slice of life. A story that must be told in as honest a fashion as possible. Honesty sells products. Your challenge will always be the same: Entering a person’s home as an uninvited guest, and then proceeding with your attempt at influencing that person’s life.
        How do you become enabled with the facility for recognizing and telling the truth while using another person’s words? At any given time, the content of the situation will be foreign to you. A place you have never been, a time of day that doesn’t suit you, talking to a person you have trouble identifying with—all while hailing the merits of a product that you may never have tried yourself.

        All these are our governing factors within the world of voiceover. These are the obstacles we have devoted our professional lives towards removing. The Method is an evolution that has no detractors. Thirty-plus years of applied resolution. 

        Ours cannot be called a secret when one considers the thousands that have studied with us through the years. Our evolution and that of our students have provided an unequaled joy for each of our teachers. As each of our students reports in, our evolution gains an even greater synergy to fuel our will to provide excellence within the confines of our continual discoveries.
        Does truth ever change? I don’t think so. Things change. People change. Places change. How the truth is told (may) change. But substance rules when subjectivity is our only guide. We are in the arts. We live with the subjective form. All we have is our truthful sight of what we deem to be the gospel.

“For within our light, and ours only, will there forever be the discerning factor of what position, stature, and cultivation any subjective form, would require for itself, in order for the truth to be conveyed, portrayed, or even uncovered.”

And the process continues...

Harvey Kalmenson

The Kalmenson Method continued

        The origin of the Kalmenson Method was much more than a single thought or a single time sit-down-and-write-it kind of a thing. My method was, and remains, an evolution. My words have evolved as have the time and presence we live with, by making use of our God-given skills and the ability to use every texture that our memory can and will provide when stimulated.
        While I can verbally convey many of the ingredients, the most important factor to be cognizant of is that ours is best served as an applied method. Each singular element must be used in order to ensure the final truthful performance by the purposeful application of each actor’s individual signature. In other, and simpler, terms… we stress the importance of each actor conveying the truth. I mean your truth conveyed within your personal signature.

        What do I mean by the word "signature"? Your signature?

        Begin by describing yourself, honestly, to yourself. What are you able to say? Are you sweet and soft-spoken? Are you a little edgy, and able to tell it like it is? Are you a touch on the sarcastic side? What about happy-go-lucky? Bizarre? Romantic? Playful? Droll? Dry? Drip? Pip? Flip? Clipped? Stipulate? Manipulate? Grandfatherly? Grandmotherly? All-American boy or girl next door?
        I can go on almost forever. The point is, that the above-mentioned types can also be referred to as your signature– providing that’s who you really are without "going for it". Who or what you honestly come across as is what we try to uncover, or discover, during the first few weeks of our applied method.
        Once we have your signature in place, and you are on the way to having the confidence of using it with the courage of your convictions, we encourage you to try its use during our duplication of the exact game conditions that an actor will be experiencing during auditions in the Los Angeles area market place.

        Our Kalmenson Method provides coaching to actors in the art of self-direction and copy interpretation. Self-direction is one of the most important tools an actor must have in their arsenal. Rarely, will an actor receive the kind of direction one might expect in a major league market like Los Angeles.
        Commercial voiceover auditions are amongst the more difficult assignments for even the more competent directors. The problem is that there is a shortage of professionally trained directors. I know I’ve never talked to any of my contemporaries and heard them expound on how they always dreamed of directing voiceover auditions.
        In Los Angeles, the vast majority of voiceover auditions, for decades, were being conducted at the agents' offices; rarely would that give an actor a chance to expand their horizons. The agent sees and hears you a certain way. When you’re in the agent’s booth, they, the agent, will ask you for what they feel you can do.
        Time is always a burden to an agent. In the agents' offices, it usually takes on a "get them in and get them out" mentality. A great many of the scripts that an actor will audition won’t call for that particular actor's signature. But, in what appears to be a pacification program conducted in order to satisfy the actor's desire to read on a wide variety of scripts, the actor finds themselves reading more and winning less.
        I’ve listened to some of the most insane directions being handed out by inexperienced agent directors. i.e.: The actor is handed a script and told they’re looking for a "big" voice. Does that mean they want a voice like James Earl Jones or what? It's a quandary.

        Ask an experienced voice actor about the quality of direction they receive– many will say it's lacking. Every commercial voiceover actor must have a solid track to run on. A track that the actor must practice on a daily basis, in order to establish a solid foundation; it is the solid foundation, which is the actor’s enabler.
        Great instincts become meager reactors without the benefit of a solid foundation. Daily reading (practicing the "scales") is an absolute necessity in order for success to be achieved. In short…it’s impossible for an actor to become a creative force if they're unable to read.
        There may be an actor out there, somewhere, who became successful in the field of voiceover without being a good reader. During the course of my career, and the thousands upon thousands of actors I have personally directed, I have never come in contact with an individual who made it without being a proficient reader.
        Our Kalmenson Method requires good reading skills. Any normal person has the capabilities of becoming a good reader; that is if that person is willing to practice on the Kalmenson track. We insist on our actors working hard on the basics in order for us to concentrate on helping each actor free up and enter the "skin peeling" process, wholeheartedly.

(to be continued)

Harvey Kalmenson

The Kalmenson Method

“From within our life’s reflections, the truth will emerge, and we will see it if we choose.”
Harvey Kalmenson

        I’ve often talked about my amusement over what I found when I first entered the world of commercial voiceover. Like so many before me, theater was my passion. The excitement of putting on a live display of talent often presents a lifetime of exhilaration. But along with the exhilaration of the audiences, the theater also brings feelings of desperation when the lights go dark.

        It was during one of these unfortunate dark moments that I found myself willing to take on whatever work might provide for my life’s salvation. I was willing to do almost anything—honestly—in order to support my family. The last thing on my mind was any thought of me becoming a commercial talent agent, especially an agent who would be specializing in voiceover.
        A very close actor friend of mine offered, one day, that his voiceover agent was looking for an assistant to direct voice auditions. Without the slightest idea of what I might be getting myself into, I agreed to have him set up an appointment to meet with the powers that be. That power was a man named Noel Rubaloff, the president of one of the foremost commercial talent agencies in the country at the time—Abrams Rubaloff & Associates.
        I found Noel to be a nice enough guy. Our meeting lasted a quick twenty-five minutes. I didn’t feel there was much chance of me being hired. For sure I had tons of industry work experience, but the facts were simple; he was looking for an entry-level person, and I certainly had the credentials of a man who far exceeded that rung on the ladder.

        Honestly, I thought my meeting with Noel Rubaloff would prove to be nothing more than a pleasant interview with an industry leader. To my surprise that evening, the phone rang and it was Noel on the line telling me that I was way overqualified for the job, and all he could offer me as a salary would be insultingly low for a man of my stature. He was correct. The money he offered was insulting.
        Well, guess what, I accepted the job figuring I’d just be passing through and before long I’d be back working again as a production stage manager. I reasoned it a safe assertion that I considered being out of work to be far more of an insult than the meager two hundred dollars a week that Noel was willing to pay.
        The next day was my very first day at Abrams Rubaloff & Associates. It was the beginning of a seven-year trip. Simultaneously, I was introduced to the head of the voiceover department and to my first commercial script. It was an almost instant depressive state of humiliation. What happened next is what I refer to as my “what is it,” syndrome. I had never seen a commercial script, let alone attempted to direct anyone on how to read it. Some of my colleagues, the actors, were constantly there helping me. Admittedly, I’m only referring to a small and confined group.

        The fact is the actors I chose as my role models also happened to be the top money earners in our industry. Each of them had scored in just about every area of the performing arts. Film, stage, radio, and in no uncertain terms, voiceover. Noel Rubaloff had promised that through his doors passed some of the great names in our industry. 

        He wasn’t exaggerating. His client list read like a Hollywood who’s who. In no time at all, I found myself totally enamored with his stable of players. As a matter of fact, every once in a while, I was even able to forget about how little money I was earning. Unfortunately, my then-wife managed to remind me on an almost daily basis. Within that first year, my divorce was pending.

        During the first few weeks in my new profession, I set a goal for myself. I wanted to understand how these experienced actors were able to make the transition from legitimacy into the world of commercial voiceover. At first, I found myself totally amused by the thought of a Burgess Meredith selling a breakfast food, or John Houseman advising people about what investment broker would be right for the head of a household to choose.
        But then, my amusement turned to revelation. An unforced light was beginning to shine. These celebrity stalwarts, without knowing it, were supplying me with answers to questions that I would never have posed, were it not for their stimulation. Who would have dreamed that telling people about an airline, or what food to feed their pets, at which hardware or furniture stores to shop, would be the forerunner for my life’s pursuits as an educator?

Variety Newspaper

Friday, June 5, 1981

        Although at the time I was already functioning on faculty as a lecturer at the University Of Southern California’s college of continuing education, it was my study of our stable of players at the talent agency that bore the true responsibility for the emergence of the Kalmenson Method, as it is known and taught today.
        I don’t want to create the impression that from day one everything was peaches and cream. I did have some problems in areas that I never could have anticipated. One of which was my inability to focus on the commercial script at hand. The same actors I was so thrilled to be in the mere presence of were the culprits responsible for my inability to focus on whatever innocuous diatribe that might be our current commercial message of the hour.

        For a moment, imagine my situation. At any given time, I would find myself directing an actor who, if not for our situation, I would be requesting their autograph. I mean, some of these people were my idols as far back as radio. There before me were the likes of Batman and Robin, Superman, The Lone Ranger, Sam Spade, The Shadow—heroes all! They came at me in waves. I was a kid in a candy store.
        This isn’t the scenario of a guy who wanted or dreamed of the very best in the world coming before him; this was a day-by-day, week in and week out happening. The best Hollywood and the world had to offer were being brought in to be directed by the little kid from Brooklyn, New York. As my buddies in the army would say, “I'm in hog heaven!”

        To this day, while I have cultivated the most proficient methods for focus, I, nevertheless, remain completely and totally enamored by the talent that endlessly treks before me on a regular basis. Each and every actor became a contributor to my cause: the development of standardization and translation of my formal theatrical background and training into a method that would benefit the journeyman actor, in their career pursuits in the field of commercial voiceover.
        As an aside, I was introduced to the term “journeyman actor” during a class I was participating in as a student. It was John Houseman who offered:

“Don’t worry about becoming a star. Be a journeyman actor. There is a fine line that exists between those making the big money and those who labor on a day-to-day basis.”

Orson Welles and John Houseman confer during a rehearsal of Horse Eats Hat, 1936

Horse Eats Hat, 1936

        Mr. Houseman’s offerings have stayed with me during my entire career. I had never reminisced by passing his scholarly assertions on to my own students. And along with his advice about acting methods came his very strident demands for punctuality. A late actor could forget about the class that day. 

        If what was going to be covered, was considered vital by John Houseman (and that was just about everything) the door to the class was firmly locked to outsiders before he began his instruction. In other words, “If you’re going to be late, you’re going to get screwed. An actors' responsibility is to be in house and in makeup long before the curtain is to rise.”
        I discovered early on that most of the actors who came to me without the advantage of theater background, took longer to master the craft of voiceover, if at all. Those actors who were experienced only in the area of on-camera commercials proved out as having little or no chance of making it in the acting craft of voiceover.

(to be continued)

Harvey Kalmenson