It is always cool when knowledgeable living historians get to work with a film project and are able to help the producers ‘get it right.’Â The following is a conversation that Bill Donegan had with Reenactor par excellence, Jenna Onuska on the Wehrmacht forum regarding a film project in Maryland:
Jenna: My 15 minute claim to fame..I had lunch with Uncle Adolph aka Miles Bromilaw from Bath, England. He portrayed Hitler in our filming of “Secret Factories” now airing on Planes TV and Aerocinema in Canada. Directed by Drew Perkins / Rubicon productions. EMHS suplied all props for set, reenactors, uniforms etc. 4 year production.
Bill: Was that lunch in a public restaurant?  I know we get funny looks when I and my cronies go out to public places.  I can only imagine how Dolf is received.
Jenna: Yes, it was at a restaurant at the small airport near Baltimore. The entire fllm crew trailed in behind us. Adolph had me in tow, escorted me first on his arm through the front door. We had reservations of course, so the staff were expecting about 25 of us. It was funny, the reactions…like time stood still. 2 state troopers and a local cop were there eating when we all came in, they said at first they thought to “arrest him” haha! Every body enjoyed seeing the uniforms and came over to all of us…NO negativity AT ALL.. Everyone was curious about what we were doing. Drew Perkins, the director, he got a big kick out of it! He was producer for The Tuskeegee Airmen docudrama, and the Civil War series that ran on PBS. Our “secret Factories” is going to be on NatGeo Intl, and PBS, right now airing in canada. I’m looking forward to working with Drew again in future, maybe on a program about the women of WWII, DRK, Helferin units etc. What an experience. I have tons of fotos from filming. Larry Mihlon also helped me with coordinating the uniforms and he played a part in it too. I played Gen Udets secretary, a secretary RLM DLV, a DRK, and a British woman witness to the 1101 when brought to Britain. That is the scenario of it all. Messerschmidts prototypes that never were completed. I have 9 canisters of original films of the proto types and a projector, we used it in the filming. Drew went crazy when he found out I brought it with me. He re-wrote a whole segment that day to utilize it in the film. Was a lot of hard work, 12-14 hours a day..changing sets, props, making sure everyone was “period correct”. I cut a lot of hair those weekends of filming…major transformations haha! All in all though it was an honor to work so closely with such a great producer.
Used by permission of Jenna Onuska
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