Today's Los Angeles Times contains an article about casting director Leslie Aqua Viva Shulman (I love that name!). The job isn't glamorous but it's important. BTW, what, from Gambit, is she holding above her head?

Was that what the card backs looked like, maybe? You never did see the backs of the cards much.

The secret: "I will tell you who makes a great contestant — someone you want to root for. You want them to win. I can tell within 30 seconds if somebody is worth investing in. First of all, you want somebody who is a warm character and a lovable person and then, of course, if there is a format like on 'Pyramid,' they have to be able to play the game really well."

if there is a format like on 'Pyramid,' they have to be able to play the game really well."

Sadly, the 'Pyramid' she's talking about is Osmond's.

(A lot of them didn't, of course. But then, a lot of them weren't great contestants, which was the original category that Ms. Shulman was listing items for.)

And as someone who tried out for that show, only missed one on the entry test, personally interviewed by Ms. Shulman and did everything in her list of 'dos', I would still like to know why I didn't get on.