In the 1980s, local resident Sarah Bowden worked as a production assistant on “Inside the Labyrinth” which is a behind-the-scenes documentary of the Jim Henson film Labyrinth (1986), starring David Bowie. We set up a special screening of the documentary at The Village Hub, where Sarah shared her stories of working on set, hanging out with stars, crew and puppeteers in the lunchroom at Elstree Studios, and memories of meeting the Goblin King himself.
Here’s some of Sarah’s photos and memories of the time…
This picture is me in Elstree Studios – I was in the office a lot! Typing and doing the rushes, which involved watching daily unedited film footage and typing up descriptions of what happened on screen and edit points. Des Saunders (director of “Inside the Labyrinth”) was the one who taught me how to use the Steenbeck (a massive flatbed film editor with lots of reels for film to go through). It’s just out of shot in this photo – a huge machine on the table nearby
This was in the early 1980s – we were filming in 1984 or 1985. I trained in touch typing at school, because women in those days were expected to become secretaries and PAs and not really much more. I had just come from Brazil where I went to the carnival and stayed for 6 weeks! I was hanging out with the president’s daughter on Ipanema Beach in her Volkswagen – but that is a whole other story…
At the time, I was living in Marble Arch in London and my boyfriend’s father had a film production company that Des Saunders worked at. He introduced me to Des, who was just starting a new project. Des had worked on the TV show “Thunderbirds” as an editor, and was going to be making a behind-the-scenes documentary about a new film called Labyrinth. I said “I know nothing about film!”, but he reassured me “I’ll teach you everything. I’ll take you under my wing”. Des was a lovely man. “I’ll give it a shot!” I thought, and I was in! He was very talented – and as camp as christmas, which was hysterical. I knew I could trust him to teach me the way to do things on the job. He trusted me – I had to step up!
I love that you can see in the photo (of me in the office) all the ways you can tell that this was long before the internet. I’m there with my top-of-the-range typewriter, landline phone, stack of paper and so many bulldog clips. I never had so many bulldog clips in my life – holding copies of what will be happening next in the shoot. I’m typing up someone else’s notes here.
Everything was handwritten, I didn’t have a dictaphone of any type. Then it would have to be typed up, so other people could read it. Then stuff would get sent off somewhere – usually with a dispatch rider. Hence the landline. You’d have to have a phonebook to get numbers for everything you needed, or if something went wrong – making calls to a dispatch company, xerox repair or whatever. Back then, this phone book and landline was my version of “I’ll google it”!
I would do the shot list so that it was ready for the editors in the cutting room. With our film we’d shot – when it was in the can – I’d have to arrange for the dispatch rider to rush it somewhere else in Elstree or across town. My friends were all dispatch riders – no internet meant that people speeding around London on motorbikes with files, film and other stuff – it was the cool thing to do at the time. It was all men and boys doing this. The job paid well, cash in hand. And we had heavy deadlines – so we needed to get things to other places FAST.
I had to work until my work was done, which meant regular late nights. I lived in London, so I’d have to get a lift back from Elstree with one of the sparkies (electricians) on set.
As part of my job, I’d also have to be walking around on sets – go to reccy what was getting filmed that day, so that I could get the rest of the team to be in the right place at the right time. Des would be the one to work out who would be interviewed and when. I remember there being a lot of security around Jennifer Connelly (the female lead in Labyrinth) because she was 14 – we weren’t allowed to bother her.
The technical parts of the film were also fantastic – no CGI or greenscreen back in those days – all of the special effects happened right there in front of the camera. Shari Weiser (in the body suit of Hoggle) couldn’t see out of the head. I think, if I remember correctly, there were two tiny video cameras and a monitor inside the head. With the puppeteering, you can see how many people work to make those small movements like a smile – one on the head, more on the eyes, other doing this or that – so many people working together to create the effect. And Humongous (the gate monster in Labyrinth) really was huge – I didn’t even know what the word meant! You can really see the influence of Terry Jones in the film – Monty Python always had me in stitches.
I loved walking around the whole of Elstree. It was gated off, so it felt really special to be there. I don’t really remember having any breaks – it was work work work, although it didn’t feel like that. There wasn’t one day I was off sick in 18 months. It was the excitement – every minute of the day was slightly different. I might be typing, talking to new people, working out how to do different things – I always looked forward to the next day. Even after we had finished in the studios, and I was working from home from my flat in Marble Arch – typing day-in-day-out. You can imagine, for a 20-something year old, that took hard discipline working from 9-5pm at home!
David Bowie used to come down to the production staff bar – rather than go to the VIP bar. That’s where he smoked all my Red Marlboros – I used to smoke 20 a day back then. Everyone would smoke on set. And in the office. After work drinks in the bar were always quite nice.
I also remember the wrap party – on set somewhere. I can picture Cheryl McFadden (who went on to play Dr. Beverley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation) and I have a huge bouquet of flowers that I gave to her to say thank you for all of her encouragement and hard work.
The two years while I worked on “Inside the Labyrinth” was my own process of coming out. My sexuality was beginning to show itself. I had a massive crush on Cheryl McFadden. I was wondering “Why am I with these guys, when these women are so gorgeous!?”. 1986 – the year the film Labyrinth came out, and the year I came out!!
Contributors:
- Sarah Bowden
- Rachel Dobbs