St. Tammany News

Slidell Subway drew crowd for Bush's commercial

Where was Reggie? The crowd of Saints football fans lined up at the Subway sandwich shop on Gause Boulevard Tuesday standing in the hot afternoon sun, looking worried. People glanced at watches while they watched a crew from Available Lighting Productions set up lights and cameras.

But the excitement of a commercial production in Slidell wasn't what brought them to the store.

They all wanted to see the star of the commercial, Saints running back and local hero, Reggie Bush. They had brought footballs and pictures of Reggie hoping to get the football star's autograph. Children tossed a football around in the parking lot, while parents tried to find some shade against the building.

Getting Subway to shoot a commercial locally was a huge coup for storeowner Gene Kleinschmidt. He stood in his store looking a bit nervous and awed by all the chaos around him.

"This is such an honor for us," Kleinschmidt said.

He said he was one of five Subway locations in the area being used by Subway to shoot commercials with Bush and the company's spokesman, Jerrod. You know Jerrod. He's the guy who lost a gazillion pounds eating nothing but Subway sandwiches.

Kleinschmidt said his store was the last one to be used and would be the climax of the 30-second commercial.

He said the local Subway office recommended his store, and location scouts from the production company visited his store a few weeks ago.

"Then the called me on Sunday and said we were chosen. It was really great," Kleinschmidt said.

He credits the choice to his six-person work crew.

"My Subway staff is a big reason they picked us," Kleinschmidt said.

He owns two other Subway shops in Slidell and will soon open another store in Covington. He used to own a Subway in New Orleans East, but Hurricane Katrina destroyed it.

The Gause Boulevard store was out of commission for seven months after Katrina dumped 4 feet of water into the store. Now the store was going to be featured on national television with star football player Reggie Bush.

But where was Reggie?

Kleinschmidt heard that Bush would be there by 2:30 p.m. The crew was shooting part of the commercial near Fort Pike in the Rigolets, but Kleinschmidt heard that bad weather had delayed filming and it would be awhile before they showed up.

The children in the parking lot got bored with playing football and opened their backpacks and started doing their homework while they waited. Parents and other adults looked for cold drinks and fanned themselves with pictures of Reggie.

The only proof that a commercial was in the works was the presence of the food stylists in the store's kitchen. Food stylists had been flown in from California to make the Subway sandwiches look appetizing and fresh for the cameras. Nobody was allowed in the kitchen to protect the food stylists' secrets.

Outside, one of the young boys saw a poster advertising pit bull puppies for sale tacked to the wall of the store.

"Look, Dad, " the boy pointed at the poster. "Michael Vick is going to be here, too."

The crowd roared with laughter, and the boy looked puzzled.

At 3:35 p.m. the production truck arrived, and the grips began unloading equipment. The excitement started to grow. It wouldn't be long now.

An elderly man drove up and was stopped by the production crew. He demanded to know what was going on. When told, he glared at the crew.

"I want to get a sandwich," the gentleman said.

"Well there's another Subway down the street, sir," one of the film crew answered.

"But this is my favorite Subway. I don't want to go anywhere else," the man said. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders, backed up and left.

Across the street, the employees of the 5-Minute Oil change franchise had set up a sign that read, "Reggie- Trade an oil change for your autograph." Employees there were standing outside looking down Gause for a glimpse of Reggie's motorcade.

At 3:45 p.m. someone in the crowd yelled, "Here he comes."

A big gold Hummer approached the store. Everybody agreed that a gold Hummer would be just Reggie's style.

But there was a collective groan of disappointment as four men climb out of the vehicle.

None of them was Reggie.

Kleinschmidt's wife, Elaine, showed up with a camera and tried to go into the store, but she was denied entry by a film crew worker.

"I just don't understand this," Elaine said. "This is big for us. It's national exposure, and I want to see Reggie."

Finally, Kleinschmidt came outside and motioned for Elaine to follow him in.

"It was chaotic in there," Kleinschmidt said later. "There was a ton of people in there, and all that equipment."

Somebody in the crowd thought Reggie was already in the store and was somehow brought in through the back door.

While the crowd argued over this theory, two gigantic recreation vehicles drove into the parking lot. One RV parked in front of the store, and the other kept moving to the rear. It was 4:38 p.m.

Several fans and an intrepid newspaper reporter followed the RV that went to the back of the store.

A lady with a walkie-talkie and carrying clothes on hangers climbed out of the RV. She paid no attention to the fans and walked into the store through the back door. Nobody else came out.

The back door to the store opened, and a fan stepped outside clutching a bag filled to overflowing. He looked at the crowd at the door and smiled.

"Yeah, he's been in there for the last 15 minutes." the fan said. "He signed a whole bunch of stuff before they kicked me out."

The fans groaned and rushed back to the front of the store.

Just as they rounded the corner, Jarrod climbed out of the other RV. The reporter lifted his camera for a shot, but his elbow was jostled by a fan with a cell phone camera trying to get a shot. Just as the reporter repositioned his camera, Jerrod walked into the store. He looked at the picture he managed to take.

Only Jerrod's nose was in the frame.

The reporter turned off his camera and put his notebook in his back pocket.

"I've got more exciting things to do," he told the fan who had ruined the shot of Jerrod. "I've got to go to the Slidell City Council meeting."

Kleinschmidt called the reporter the next day.

"You should have stayed," Kleinschmidt said. "Reggie came out and signed some autographs after they finished filming around 6 p.m."