Must’ve Been a Beautiful Baby …

A fun fact nobody knows about me is that I used to be on television

It would be tough to come up with something that nobody else knows about me — I have brothers and a sister and I’ve been with the same guy since 1990 — between them and a couple of close girlfriends, nothing about me is a total secret!

However, something hardly anyone knows about me is that I used to be a model. Not a catwalk model, I’m not tall enough, but a baby model for television commercials.

My family lived in London when I was born. As my siblings are a little older than me, during the day when they were at school, my mother had time to focus on me. On our afternoon walks, people would constantly stop her to look in my pram and they admired my looks. I am aware that it could have been a platitude, but I guess my mother thought it had the ring of truth.

I was an even-tempered child, neither shy with strangers nor too quick to cry, this is important when working with a film production team. With white blonde hair and blue eyes, I must’ve had the look they wanted, so my mother signed me up with an agency. I modelled to advertise products such as baby food, soap and bubble bath. My ‘mother’ in the advertisements was not my own, they would use an actress. My real mother would stand just out of shot where I could see her; now I’ve pointed it out, you’ll start to notice that babies in commercials tend to look just past the person holding them.

My mother learned to bring her own spoon if they were filming a food commercial — apparently, I was used to finer things — and would turn my nose up at the plastic ones provided. I have never seen any of the advertisements which featured me, I was too young and wouldn’t have remembered if I did.

Last year, clearing my parents’ house, I was interested to find this typed schedule which my mother and the film company used as a guide.

6.30 Baby wakes up, is changed and goes back to the cot to play for a bit

7.00 Is dressed and goes into the playpen

7.45 Has breakfast with parents

8.15 Put down in pram for sleep, while Mother prepares food and kit for a modelling session

10.15 Is dressed to go out, is put in the pram and pushed to studios

10.45 Arrives at studios for the modelling session. Studio staff carry the pram up to a quiet room where Baby can rest later on. Baby is dressed in clothes provided by the studio, introduced to model mother and a trained nurse who is there to see baby is well looked after and not overtired. The director looks Baby over, approves and …

11.00 Modelling session begins. This is a baby food ad. for television and they want shots of Baby playing happily with mother. After a few takes, the lights are turned off and Baby is given a rest and cools off.

More pictures are taken and Director is satisfied. Then he wants shots of Baby eating. The complete range of baby food is there and we choose her favourite for her filmed meal. This goes well because the baby likes the food, it is her proper lunchtime and she is given every consideration.

12.30 The nurse and Mother decide she has had enough and tell the Director, who immediately says she should go and rest. He asks Mother what time she will be ready for a further session, she suggests 2.15. He says “Right, but if she sleeps on it doesn’t matter, don’t wake her up specially, we won't shoot anymore until she is ready.”

Baby is changed, put to rest in a quiet, well-ventilated room and Mother goes down to the studio to have her lunch, which is provided.

2.15 Baby wakes up completely refreshed and happy. Mother takes her back to studio where a few more scenes are taken. As soon as Director has enough film, Mother and Baby are told they can go. Again the studio staff are very helpful in carrying down the pram.

The commercials in which I featured probably don’t exist anymore, but it’s a fun fact which I can occasionally throw into conversation.

Try this spooky fiction serial from Jacinta:

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