Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409060008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
After all, more than 10,000 letters had come in from young people across the country and only 20 to 25 would be selected for use on ``U to U'' next season. She sent off her entry three months ago and forgot about it.
So when someone from Nickelodeon telephoned Ashley's father, Calvin, he thought it was a joke.
Ashley had not even bothered to put her phone number on her entry. The folks at Nickelodeon had to track it down through telephone information.
Ashley has not been composing poems for long. ``I started writing them last year in computer class,'' she said.
But her poem, called "Vegetables," caught the network's eye.
And when a production crew descended on the Damron home last month, producer Jay Schmalholz knew exactly what he wanted.
He gave Calvin Damron some money to go to the local Food Lion and buy squash, peppers, lettuce and ``really red tomatoes...so they'll really smush.''
Schmalholz had the crew, borrowed from Richmond's Jim Porter Video Productions, include a sheet of Plexiglas among its equipment, so that Ashley could throw vegetables toward the camera while reading her poem.
Birdie Sienko had not been advised of that plan. The Plexiglas would stop the vegetable barrage ``so it won't hit the camera. It'll probably hit the P.A. [production assistant],'' she said. Sienko was the production assistant.
Schmalholz also asked about any nearby vegetable stands. ``We're trying to find something that just has tons of vegetables for you,'' he told Ashley. ``And you know you have to eat `em.''
Ashley made a face. She was much happier when she learned all she really had to do was throw them, after they had been softened up for the occasion in a microwave.
The shoot became an occasion for a party. Ashley's aunt, Holly Farmer, made a heart-shaped cake with ``congratulations'' on it. Ham biscuits and other snacks filled the kitchen. Four mugs from the Volvo GM Heavy Truck plant where Ashley's father works had been donated as gifts to the TV production people. Ashley and other members of her family gave out tissue flowers to all the visitors.
A paper sign stretched across the front of the home, proclaiming ``Welcome Nickelodeon U to U.'' Ashley made that on a computer, too.
The Nickelodeon series titled ``U to U'' will start in November. Schmalholz said Ashley's segment is the sixth of the 20 or so to be filmed for it. He and the crew had just filmed one other Virginia winner in Richmond.
by CNB