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From Carol Ann Chwal,
On one of our vacations in 1990 we visited Universal Studios in Florida. It opened that June and were there when it opened, but
they were experiencing so many technical problems with their attractions, we decided to wait until our October trip to visit.
Since the park had just opened 4 months earlier, it was fairly empty. And we
also went on a weekday. At that time, they had tours of the actual sound stages and Sound stage 22 was one of them. The tour guide saw us walking towards her and said that there was no one else for the tour at
that time, but she would be glad to take us a "special" tour. We saw her tour sheet was empty and decided to help her out and go. She took us all over, including several sound stages that were being
used at the time, but were empty that day. Superboy was one of the series being filmed at the time and we saw that set. It was really great. That was on sound stage 20.
Then she took us to the other side
of the building and to sound stage 22. She told us this was the sound stage where "Swamp Thing" was being filmed, but the cast was out by the "swamp house" and "swamp" sets right
now. I remembered the Swamp Thing movies and asked if Dick Durock was still doing the lead. She said "yes, and Dr. Arcane is now played by an English actor, Mark Lindsay Chapman." I didn't think
twice about it and we went on with the tour. It was interesting to see the living room, kitchen and stairs that ended at the top and then see Jim's bedroom and the other upstairs rooms next to it. We also
saw the "caves" and the "swamp" set with Swamp Thing's throne. The whole thing was quite exciting. She showed us how they got the "mist" in the swamp (by dry ice and water
combo), the lighiting in the cave, how they lit the house for daylight and evening and how they used different backgrounds so Tressa could look out the window and see the swamp.
When the tour ended it
was about 10:00 a.m. and she got a call on her portable radio that the cast and crew were coming in and needed to use the sound stage for another shot. Since we were through with the tour, she asked us if we
would like to stay and meet Carryl Myers and Mark Lindsay Chapman. She said they would be there in about 10 minutes. We said "thanks, but we want to see the rest of the park before it gets too
crowded." We thanked the young lady and left for Ghostbusters which was next door.
When we got outside I said to Mike - "who is this Mark Chapman guy? I don't want to meet him. I wanted to
meet Dick Durock - he's the REAL star." Oh if I had only known! I am now kicking myself daily.
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