This shot, and one more.
March 13, 2014 1:09 PM   Subscribe

The legendary TV production manager and inspiration for the film set term "Abby Singer Shot" has passed away at 96.

He was the production manager of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Gunsmoke. He was a film legend. But his most famous role in Hollywood was as the progenitor of the slang term for the penultimate shot of the day, The Abby Singer.
posted by Sara C. (21 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
He finally found his Martini Shot.
posted by Sticherbeast at 1:13 PM on March 13, 2014 [5 favorites]


Crud! I just used that term on Sunday!

. and then one more .
posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 1:20 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


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posted by Smart Dalek at 1:23 PM on March 13, 2014


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posted by trip and a half at 1:29 PM on March 13, 2014


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posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:34 PM on March 13, 2014


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posted by Navelgazer at 1:36 PM on March 13, 2014


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and then one more.
posted by Spatch at 1:51 PM on March 13, 2014 [2 favorites]


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sets up shot across town

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posted by Sphinx at 2:13 PM on March 13, 2014


Y
posted by the Real Dan at 2:22 PM on March 13, 2014


A familiar name if you watched TV credits where he served as "Executive in Charge of Production" for MTM Productions in the late 70s and early '80s, giving him the last credit before the kitten logo for "WKRP", "Hill Street Blues", "St. Elsewhere" and "Remington Steele", among others. For a while, I used to refer to the MTM Kitten as "Abby"...

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posted by oneswellfoop at 2:42 PM on March 13, 2014 [3 favorites]


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posted by rock swoon has no past at 3:29 PM on March 13, 2014 [3 favorites]


Some more trivia I looked up -- If someone says, "This is the Abby Singer shot," it means it's the next-to-the-last shot in a particular day's filming. The name came about when Abby went up to a director one time and asked him how many shots the director had left, and the director said, "This and one more." So as an assistant director, near the end of a day of shooting, Abby Singer would say “this and one more” so the crew could begin their teardown to avoid having to stay late on the set.
posted by crapmatic at 4:14 PM on March 13, 2014


. for all the times "This is the Abby Singer" were the happiest words I heard all day.
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:28 PM on March 13, 2014


If someone says, "This is the Abby Singer shot," it means it's the next-to-the-last shot in a particular day's filming.

Yeah, that's this guy's entire claim to fame.
posted by Sara C. at 4:30 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


Aw, man.

He mentored one of my former bosses.




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posted by droplet at 5:04 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


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96! Not a bad run at all.

This is weird, but I never knew Abby Singer was a man. In film school (okay, I was in the screenwriting department...), some teacher told us that the shot was named after some PM's wife who insisted she phone him before the next-to-last shot so she would know when he'd be coming home for dinner.
posted by queensissy at 6:33 PM on March 13, 2014


Yeah, that's this guy's entire claim to fame.

Nominated (well, co-nominated) for five Emmys for St. Elsewhere. Also exec in charge of production for shows including Remington Steele, Hill Street Blues, Newhart, and Lou Grant, and as unit production manager for The White Shadow, Rhoda, the Bob Newhart Show, Mary Tyler Moore, and Phyllis. That's quite a streak of highly-respected television.
posted by dhartung at 7:32 PM on March 13, 2014


Some more trivia I looked up -- If someone says, "This is the Abby Singer shot,"

Sometimes people don't RTFA. Sometimes they don't even RTFP.
posted by crossoverman at 8:27 PM on March 13, 2014 [3 favorites]


That's quite a streak of highly-respected television.

Yes, and also every single day on every single TV/film/student film shoot, somebody calls out some variation on:

"ABBY'S UP!"

And you know the day is just that little bit closer to being over.

My "TIL" moment in building this post is that the reason Singer always outlined this particular shot was so that non-essential crew could start setting up for the next day's work. This guy was a production manager. Figures.
posted by Sara C. at 8:59 PM on March 13, 2014


Also, my favorite was the AD I worked with who used to say, "This shot has a name," over the walkie instead of officially calling out "ABBY!"

I think it started as a way to equivocate on whether it was the Abby or the Martini, but I liked the subtly of that announcement.
posted by Sara C. at 9:01 PM on March 13, 2014 [1 favorite]


Abby Singer Shot. . .

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so did they find out who shot 'im?
posted by Herodios at 9:44 AM on March 14, 2014 [2 favorites]


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