TV stars too young to know

Press, 26 March 1981, Page 15

TV stars too young to know

By

JUDITH REGAN,

Features International

The television star, Charlotte Davis, turned awav from the cameras at the end of a hard day's filming and sobbed her heart out for her mother.

This was hardly professional behaviour for a top female television personalitv but perhaps Charlotte could be forgiven. After all, she is only 15 months old.

Appearing in a national television commercial for a laily newspaper. Charlotte is iow one of a group of babies nd small children who can ask” as much as adults for vorking in front of the cameras.

A child starring in a television commercial can now be paid $l4O a day, plus a chaperone fee for its mother. And as most 30-second advertisements require at least two days filming, some of the child-stars have become big money earners. Indeed,’ it's reckoned that with “spin-off” work from newspapers and magazines, some of the tiny television tots are now bringing home far more than their parents. One baby much in demand is Karen Easy. Although she is only 20 months old she is a veteran of two widely-shown television commercials.

Her mother, Melanie, savs: “Both the commercials were great fun to do. The camera crews and directors knew exactly how to get the best out of Karen and she loved being the centre of attention. “The only slight problem came when we were making a scene in which she was supposed to cry, and she just happened to be in a particularly happy mood at that moment.

“We did not know what to do until the director suggested that it might do the trick if I left the room. Sure enough, Karen screamed the place down as soon as she saw me going.”

With her television appearances. Karen has stolen a march on her five-year-old brother James, who is still trying for his first appearance. despite having modelled hundreds of items of clothing for children'swear catalogues. Tiny tots, it seems, are certainly the television stars of the moment. Another of those enjoying success is Lauren Mole, aged 18 months, who recently appeared in a commercial for nappies. Her mother Jane says: “It was thoroughly enjoyable, and we really get a kick every time we'see Lauren on television. The only person who is not impressed is Lauren herself — she is too young to know what's going on."

With the growing popularity of children in advertising, pressure is mounting for fees to be raised still higher.

An Association of Child Artist Agents has been formed to press for more cash, and one of its founders. Elizabeth Smith, says: "We think children should get a much better deal. "An adult who stars in a television commercial will get a basic fee, plus repeat fees every time the ad is shown. But children who are the main feature of a commercial get one flat fee and no money for repeats. “We think that is wrong and are fighting hard to get it changed."

But a spokesman for one of the big advertising agencies told me: "If a child produces an effective advertisement, he could be adding many thousands of pounds to’ the advertisers turnover.

"As far as we’re concerned, children are good business."