On The "PING" Set With Shirley

Shirley began work on this new motion picture, July 6th, 1999.


The Piru Mansion, Shirley's home in this new feature film.

This is a fun, family film in which Shirley Jones is cast as a very rich, rather offbeat
motorcycle riding grandmother. She is also the target of some screwball crooks.
Clint Howard is cast as one of the dastardly culprits.
Judge Reinholt is another. Judge spent some time hanging around in a stunt harness
on the July 20th shoot, but he was in the capable hands of a very friendly crew.
Judge plays Louie and Clint's character is Stu.
I took most of these photographs in gorgeous Piru, California, north-west of  Los Angeles.
I have Marty to thank for that wonderful photo of Shirley
in costume, on the motorbike, at the top of this page.
Another locale for filming was in San Pedro, California. It is a lovely town as well.
On a good day, you can purchase a ticket and go out on a tour boat for some whale watching.

Here are a few photos of Shirley as she prepares for a scene in the foyer of the Mansion.

Shirley said that this is the dog's movie.
That's PING, she's a little Chihuahua and the star of the film.
She is being rewarded for a job well done. Above and to the right is Zeus. He's one of two
very friendly Rottweilers. In a scene filmed on July 20th, Zeus was having a little
trouble with his direction. Literally. For about 10 takes he went toward the staircase, rather than
out of the front door. But he is so sweet and he got it right, after awhile. All the dogs were just great!
Ping and her Pals do talk in this new movie, and of course,
they save the day and Shirley's character Ethel from the would be burglars.

Shirley's character Ethel has a granddaughter named Haley.
Haley is played by this lovely young actress named Brooke. She is 10 years old.
To the left, standing with her set tutor and guardian.
Center photo, Shirley hugs Brooke as they listens intently to some direction.
To the right, Shirley speaks with Brooke's Mother, in a patio area, just off the main set.

Some of the other characters in this movie are Ethel's older granddaughter Lucretia.
She is into dressing extremely "Punk" with black hair, nails, etc.....
Lucretia also has a strange boyfriend named Drac (he's punked out too!)

And there were some interesting backyard scenes
with two Siamese cats named 
Nixon and Mao! - I believe this is a stand-in for one of them!

The Front of The Mansion. Filming was going on
in the entrance foyer where you can see all the bright lighting.

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