Local man was “Lights!” behind “Lights — Camera — Action!”

For about 40 years, Paul worked as a lighting technician in film and television, doing everything from hauling cable and operating a dimmer board to hiring and firing crew members.

He’s been part of memorable movies that won academy awards, like As Good As It Gets, and a few klunkers he’d just as soon forget.

"I don’t write them, I just light them," he says with a smile.

He’s worked on so many films and TV shows that he has trouble remembering them all and recently made up a list, which he has been adding to ever since.

"About every show has a story to tell," Paul said. "Some which can’t be printed."

Paul sort of grew into the job. He was born in Scotland but was raised in Burbank, Calif. His father was an accountant for the lighting department at Warner Brothers. He got Paul into a training program for lighting technicians. Paul was just out of high school and mostly learned on the job. He had a stint in the Army and when he got out he took college courses in lighting and electrical work at Los Angeles Trade Tech.

At Warner Brothers he was hooked up with Rich L. "Aggie" Aguilar and would continue to work with him for 26 years."That’s the way it works," Paul said. "They call you, if they like what you’re doing."

Paul was a "Best Boy," which is the number two man on the crew. He got his start on television — Bonanza; Streets of San Francisco; FBI; and The Partridge Family.

His tenure in the movies includes those early years when he was the youngest member of the crew. He got no sympathy as the new kid and on occasion it gave new meaning to the term "cliff hanger."

Paul remembers working on Deliverance with Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight. In one of the scenes a man was supposed to hang off the edge of a cliff. It was filmed on location, so it was a real gorge over a real river, not computer graphics. Great care was taken to see that the man was rigged properly with cables for safety. But when they got ready to film, they realized they needed more light on the actor.

"They said, ‘Hey, kid,’ and threw a rope around my waist and held me dangling over the edge of the cliff to put the light on him," Paul recalls.

Paul said he’s had the opportunity to work with many actors considered "stars" by their fans, including Jack Nicholson in the Postman Always Rings Twice.

One day Paul was talking to Jack about the basketball playoffs. Jack is an avid Lakers fan. Paul told him he had tickets but wouldn’t be able to go since he was stuck in Santa Barbara where they were shooting the film.

"Jack said he would give me a lift," Paul recalls. It turned out to be some lift. "We took a Lear jet, then a limousine. When we got to the stadium, he went to his seat and I went to mine. After the game, I came out and there was a crowd gathered around Jack’s limousine. I’m sure all those people wondered who poor Jack was waiting for."

There were some minor disasters that Paul can laugh at now. During Shampoo with Warren Beatty, one love scene was supposed to be lit by the bulb of a refrigerator door. The lighting crew had their own thousand watt bulb hidden inside the refrigerator. They called lunch and nobody remembered to turn the light off. When they got back, it had melted the plastic.

"It looked like those stalactites you see in caves," said Paul’s wife, Denise. "It was a rented refrigerator, so the art director wasn’t very happy."

Another time, while making Harry and Walter Go to New York with Elliott Gould and Jimmy Caan, Paul lost his leather work glove. It was only after the set was torn down months later that it was found on top of a stage light, complete with burn holes. The cast gave him a golden glove for that, literally bronzing his glove and putting it on a plaque.

Paul can offer some engaging peeks at the camaraderie and humor that sometimes goes on behind the set. During another scene for Shampoo, the lighting crew was outside on a patio. There were different light switches for different areas. Paul was sitting with a switch box. He was fiddling with it, scraping off some old tape, when he accidently turned it off in the middle of Warren’s big scene.

"He came running out, shouting, ‘What’s going on?’" said Paul. "I told him the switch was bad and I’d take care of it."

He says movie stars interact with a film crew differently than with the fans, but as far as he could tell they are regular people.

"The older actors, the old pros, especially, realized the importance of keeping the camera and lighting crew happy" he said.

"If they want to look good," laughs Denise.

Paul has a room in the basement of his home specially set aside for memorabilia from his career. The walls are covered with autographed photographs. They are all major and high profile celebrities, Robert Redford to Mickey Rooney.

The photos are even more rare and special as the nature of celebrity has changed with time. Paul notes actors are more standoffish these days.

"They’re wary of exploitation," he said. "They’re afraid any pictures people take will end up on e-bay."

Besides lighting technology, there have been other changes in film making through the years.

"It used to be family," Paul said. "But the studios aren’t run by movie people anymore. They’re run by lawyers and insurance companies."

Still, he has no regrets and continues to compile his work history. The list keeps getting longer as he remembers the ones he may have only worked a few days on, like Indiana Jones. He spent one night on that movie. (The concrete slab above the snake pit – that’s Paul’s work.)

Paul has no problem remembering his favorite movie and the one he was the most proud of — On Golden Pond — with Henry Fonda and Kathryn Hepburn.

"Working with Fonda and Hepburn was just an incredible experience," he said.

Among his favorite moments was during filming The Entertainer. Ray Bolger did a spontaneous tap dance in the streets. "It was just like the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz," Paul remembers.

Paul retired three years ago to Jameson. His brother-in-law moved his business from LA to St. Louis about 30 years ago. They bought property around Jameson and moved to the area about seven years ago. Paul and his wife visited them and liked the area and the people.

"It’s nice and quite, a small town, away from the traffic and congestion of LA," said Paul. "Why not move here? When some property came up for sale, we bought the farm and built the house."

His last movie was Because I Said So with Diane Keaton; his last TV show was Raines with Jeff Goldblum. Every day was different, different locations, different challenges, and Paul said he loved doing it.

"It was a fun job," he said. "But it can be a tough job and a lot of hard work. We’d average 14 hour days, all night, in the rain, sleet and snow."

Paul’s picture isn’t complete without his family. He and his wife Denise have been married for 40 years. They have one daughter, Danielle, 27, who has cerebral palsy.

"The movie world is a world of fantasy," Paul said. "Danielle’s disability was the world of reality."

Danielle’s struggle with cerebral palsy has been a big part of their lives, inspiring Paul and Denise to advocate for their daughter, support one another, and give back to the community by volunteering. They have worked behind the scenes for disability rights in school and life. Denise worked in the disability field at the children’s hospital in LA. Paul served on the local school’s PTA and was Danielle’s room mom. He was the first PTA dad. They had to change the name from room mother to room rep.

"Danielle loves the farm and the Gallatin Theater," said Paul. "The theatre league has taken her in and are wonderful with her."

The Cavens say they were surprised and delighted to find a viable theater in the small town of Gallatin.

"We fell in love with the theater," said Paul. "I can still play at lighting and be a part of the performing arts."

He and Denise read about auditions for Kiss Me Kate in the paper. Paul called, then went and looked over the theater’s lighting system, which was just regular household dimmers and inadequate for the job. Paul talked with members of the league, and soon he was doing their lighting for them.

He was able to get the local union back in Los Angeles to donate $1,250 for lighting equipment and a dimmer board, which set the theater up with a professional lighting system.

"We’re very impressed with the theater league," said Paul. "They’re just as good if not better than some professional actors I’ve worked with."

Denise is also impressed with how they manage to work on a shoestring, building sets by using what they have. "They do it for the love of it," she said. "It’s hard to find that kind of dedication, where the only award is the applause. "

And what did the theater members think when they realized their new lighting tech was a seasoned professional who’d worked with some of the biggest names in the business?

"My introduction to the theater was a slow evolution," smiles Paul.

Next time the credits at the end of one of your favorite movies goes rolling by, look for a familiar name, Paul Caven. There’s a good chance he was the "Lights!" in "Lights, Camera, Action!"