The production team for the film “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” which looks at the making of Bruce Springsteen's 1982 album "Nebraska," has been helping to ensure they are historically accurate by connecting with the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music. In their visits with the Archives, I assisted in giving the production members an idea of what a Springsteen concert consisted of during the early 1980s. One detail included in our research, for example, regarded backstage passes. Unlike most modern laminated backstage passes which are held with lanyards, many backstage passes from the 1970s and 1980s were made of fabric and were peel and stick to adhere to one's shirt.
In addition to helping with some behind the scenes research, I was fortunate enough to be accepted as an extra in the film. While on set, I was able to see my research come to fruition when I saw another extra playing a roadie wearing a recreation peel and stick backstage pass on his shirt. Another day on set had us filming inside the historic Stone Pony, which was altered to appear as it did in the early 1980s. This included changing the outdoor signage and using the original backdrop behind the stage, which the Springsteen Archives loaned for the day of filming. Period cars were brought into town, and a carousel was put back in the historic carousel house for the first time in many years. This whole experience showed the many benefits of archives and archival research not only in preserving history but also, in this sense, recreating history for a new generation of potential scholars.
Carlee Migliorisi is a graduate student at Monmouth University, and a student worker at the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music there.
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