Film Production, Lenny and the Porsche

• Posted on 19th April 2018
• in Entertainment, entertainment books, Film Production, film production book
• by Ben

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My film production book, Circumstances Beyond My Control, is filled with extraordinary characters. One of my all time favorites is Lenny Cohen.

In 1977 I took a job as production manager on a very low (some would say no) budget movie, Kaibosh (made up title). The production involved several Indian movie stars who took the roles so they would get a free trip to NYC. Lenny was thirty-something and had been in the garment business all his adult life, and was looking for a change so he responded to an ad for (unpaid) apprentices and signed on to the Kaibosh crew. And it took less than three days for him to become my most treasured assistant. And less than three weeks for him to become one of my best friends.

A brief excerpt from Circumstances Beyond My Control:

NOTE: My wife, Elizabeth, was in those days, known as Betsy.

“Then there was the Porsche for the rental of which there was, of course, no money. Enter Lenny Cohen. He had a friend with a Porsche and Lenny arranged for us to borrow it for the three days it was needed. Fine and dandy. However, due to the staggering inability of Anil [director, also not his name] to stay on schedule (partly due to the recalcitrance of the Indian movie stars) the dates kept changing and by the time we got to those scenes Lenny’s friend had driven to Florida in ‘our’ picture car.

“Ever the can-do guy, Lenny told me not to worry, he’d get a Porsche. And he did. Through his unmitigated cunning he managed to talk the owner of Manhattan Porsche-Audi into loaning us his personal 911 Targa. No fee, just a promise of screen credit and a copy of our insurance papers. (I don’t think the promise was kept but that was not Lenny’s fault.)

“Betsy had heard a lot about Lenny but had yet to meet him. One night near the end of the shoot the wrap was after midnight and the call time was 5:30 or 6:00 AM so I took Lenny and [makeup man] Tom Brumberger home to sleep on my couch and floor. A few days earlier Betsy has experimented with baking pumpernickel bread. The experiment was less than successful and what remained of the effort were half-a-dozen stone-like muffins. They had to be cut with a hacksaw.

“In the morning I came out of the shower and made coffee. Lenny had a cup and asked if there was anything to eat. I told him to check the fridge while I got dressed. Betsy emerged from the bedroom to find a still slumbering Brumby, and Lenny walking out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee and a small, brown object (one of the pumpernickel muffins) in his hand. She asked, ‘What are you eating?’ Lenny replied, ‘A hockey puck.’ They introduced themselves and thus a new and lasting friendship was born.”

Lenny remained an intimate friend of Elizabeth and me until his untimely death after surgery in the 1990s. We speak of him often and with love.

For more stories of film production, click here and get Circumstances Beyond My Control.

Tags: entertainment book, film production, Lenny Cohen, New York City