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Roughing it with Tommy MacDonald
~ Behind the scenes of the
Canton resident’s upcoming PBS series:
Rough Cut
– Woodworking with Tommy Mac ~
By Jeffrey
Pickette
Citizen Staff
Tall and
brawny, Tommy MacDonald is about the last guy one would expect
to be wearing makeup, but now more than halfway through taping
the first season of his upcoming Public Television woodworking
series, the Canton native is getting used to it.
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Tommy
MacDonald, center, chats with Eli Cleveland of the production
crew between takes.
Photo courtesy of
WGBH Educational Foundation |
While he said
it was uncomfortable the first couple of times he had it put on,
he now uses the few minutes it takes to apply the makeup before
filming begins to clear his mind and “get into the mindset of
doing the job,” as he puts it. MacDonald, host and producer, is
putting his game-face on, in both a literal and figurative
sense.
After making a
name for himself in local woodworking circles for crafting his
antique-style custom furniture pieces, MacDonald is taking his
talents to a television set near you when
Rough Cut – Woodworking
with Tommy Mac premieres nationally in October.
“It’s like a
dream come true,” MacDonald said. “I set my sights on it so long
ago and just to have it bear fruit, it’s been really
astonishing. It’s like an out-of-body experience. I see it
happening, but I don’t believe it’s me.”
Much of the
series, produced by WGBH and distributed by American Public
Television, is filmed right here in Canton at MacDonald’s Draper
Lane woodworking studio.
The first
season includes 13 half-hour-long episodes. Each show will take
a field trip to a different Boston area landmark, like the USS
Constitution, the Old North Church, or the historic John Adams
house in Quincy for design inspiration. Then MacDonald returns
to his Canton studio with the information he gathered from the
trip and applies it to a smaller, more approachable woodworking
project, like a blanket chest, wall cabinet, or flag box.
The flag box
episode, which coincides with a field trip to the USS
Constitution, is slated to air around Veterans’ Day and will
have a special treat for Canton viewers. After MacDonald is
finished showing how to build the triangular flag box, he is
joined in the studio by five members of the Canton Veterans
Honor Guard — Robert DeYeso (Army), Gerald Gallagher (Marines),
Frank LaBollita (Army), Edward Lehan (Air Force), and Jack
O’Neill (Navy) — who demonstrate how to properly fold an
American flag and place it within a flag box. Interestingly,
LaBollita was MacDonald’s sixth grade shop teacher.
Air
conditioning is going to be installed soon at MacDonald’s
woodworking studio, but there was no relief from the heat the
afternoon of July 8 when he was taping the segment with the
Canton veterans. It was 90 degrees outside that day and maybe
twice that inside — or so it felt — but the stuffy and humid
conditions inside the studio-turned television set didn’t phase
the laid-back, cool, calm and collected MacDonald, or the
veterans for that matter.
“It doesn’t
bother me,” MacDonald said. “I’ve worked outside my entire life
doing construction work. It’s inside, so at least we’re out of
the sunlight.”
Executive
producer Laurie Donnelly said even the nationally syndicated
shows produced by WGBH have local roots, helping to add a
personal touch to the program, which is definitely the case for
MacDonald’s Rough Cut;
Canton is well-represented in this series.
Canton
resident Al D’Attanasio appears in three episodes in the
upcoming season, playing
Home Improvement’s
Al Borland to MacDonald’s Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor. D’Attanasio,
a longtime woodworker in his own right, facilitates conversation
during the studio portion of the show, asking MacDonald
questions about the techniques he is using to complete the
episode’s project.
The two met
about six years ago after D’Attanasio retired following more
than 30 years as the assistant principal at the Luce school.
MacDonald calls his friend his “ultimate sidekick.”
“Having been a
woodworker for a long time, to be a part of this is truly
exciting,” D’Attanasio said. “It’s a very unique experience. I
never thought I’d end up being a part of a TV show.”
In addition to
D’Attanasio, Canton resident Mark Libby will also make an
appearance on the show this season, as will local guests Steve
Brown and Eli Cleveland (who also serves as a production
assistant on set).
While only a
half-hour show, a considerable amount of time is spent filming
each episode. Donnelly said it takes about one full work day to
film each project in the workshop and about a half day to film
each field trip. Just the flag folding segment itself, which
will only take a small portion of the 30 minute show, took more
than an hour to finish.
It can take up
to a week to edit each individual episode. MacDonald said taping
began in May and he is hoping to have it finished by August, so
the show is on schedule for its October premiere.
There is a
small staff, with only about eight behind-the-scenes people
making sure everything runs smoothly, including only one
cameraman. A small make-shift production room is located in the
room adjacent to MacDonald’s studio with three members of the
crew set up with a small television monitor and laptop
computers.
Donnelly, who
is present for each filming, sits in the background of
MacDonald’s studio, just a few feet from the action, but instead
watches what is being filmed on a five-inch hand-held remote
monitor. It allows Donnelly to view each shot as the viewer will
see it on television.
“For me to be
able to direct the show and for me to be able to see what the
cameraman is seeing, I literally need to be there with him and
that helps me to shape the show visually,” Donnelly said.
MacDonald said
the show has a broad appeal so its target audience is
“everybody,” even the non-woodworker. “I don’t cook ever, but I
enjoy watching cooking shows,” he points out.
He grew up
watching Norm Abram on shows like
This Old House
and The New
Yankee Workshop and now follows in his footsteps in a
sense, hosting his own do-it-yourself program. Abram, a native
of Milford, was known for his flannel shirt, but MacDonald will
opt for the more basic t-shirt and jeans look for his show. On
the flag box episode, for instance, he wears a chocolate-colored
brown t-shirt, light blue jeans and brown shoes.
“I feel
dressed up, to be honest with you,” said MacDonald, laughing.
“That’s how I work. We don’t work with collared shirts and
khakis. I’m in a shop doing woodworking and that’s the
atmosphere that we want to create — it’s a real woodworker doing
real work in a real shop in a real work environment.”
It is this
sort of authenticity that drew Donnelly to MacDonald. She liked
his humor, energy and his ability to be “one of the regular
guys,” and as a result, saw someone who could bring a “unique
and fresh perspective” as a host on a woodworking show.
“One of the
things that is emerging is that you just kind of see Tommy be
Tommy on television, which is always what you want,” Donnelly
said. “You can never make somebody on television be what they’re
not. You just want them to be the best they can be, and that’s
what I saw in him, which was that he is a very unique and
wonderful and talented personality and really like nobody else.”
“I’m only good
at being me,” MacDonald said. “I strongly believe in what I’m
doing and I believe that I can do this for a long, long time.
“Norm Abram
really did inspire me to woodwork 25, 30 years ago,” he
continued, “and I hope to be able to do the same for this new
generation of woodworkers coming up.”
Frank LaBollita poses with Tommy MacDonald after filming a
segment for Rough
Cut — Woodworking with Tommy Mac. LaBollita was
MacDonald’s 6th grade shop teacher and is holding a picture of
MacDonald from when he was in the 6th grade.
Jeffrey
Pickette photo
Tommy MacDonald and special guest Al D’Attanasio
pose with members of the Canton Veterans Honor Guard after
filming a segment for
Rough Cut —
Woodworking with Tommy Mac. MacDonald is holding a
flag box he built on his show. The flag placed within the box
was folded during an on-air demonstration by the Honor Guard.
(L-R) Master Sgt. Edward J. Lehan USAF (Air Force), 1st Petty
Officer Jack O’Neill USN (Navy), Tommy MacDonald, Al D’Attanasio,
Sgt. Gerald B. Gallagher USMC (Marines), Sgt. Robert DeYeso AUS
(Army), and Col. Frank LaBollita AUS (Army).
Jeffrey
Pickette photo
Al D’Attanasio has his makeup
applied before the taping gets underway.
Courtesy photo
July 22, 2010
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