He’s catching
the rising stars

Kids Stuff
By William Feldman

Welcome to Kids Stuff. Today’s column, Part 2, includes more information on The Disney Channel Games 2007 talent, which was held April 24 to 27. Now if you missed reading Part I of my column, seeing this event in person, or even voting via the online poll, do not worry; the games will be televised throughout the summer, starting with the opening ceremonies on Friday, June 15, on your Disney cable station.
This is an important event that has kids’ and tweens’ favorite Disney Channel actors and actresses from around the world competing in games and eight sport activities at The Ballpark of Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
The wonderful idea is that Disney stars’ hard achievements are benefiting four great children’s charities: Make-A-Wish, Starlight Starbright, UNICEF and various Boys & Girls Clubs.
The next Disney talent to sit with me was Kyle Massey, 15, one of the most energetic persons I have ever met. Kyle stars in Cory in the House, which is a spinoff from That’s So Raven. He portrays Cory Baxter, a budding entrepreneur, and a new kid in the White House.
We first started off speaking about the DC Games. The charity he is playing for is UNICEF. But, I noticed he wears a light blue band on his wrist to represent another charity he is very fond of, Brittiana’s Smile for Life. The band represents her life, because she passed away from cancer when she was 13. Kyle had done a commercial with her and she was like a sister to him.
"People are going to be surprised that I am captain," Kyle joked.
Also I must mention he is the Rock, Paper, Scissors champion two years in a row.
"I dominated and won that. Every time, you have the same thing during the rock, paper, scissors, you have to joust and knock each other off. The jousting thing is so tiring. It is like standing on those workout balls. You can’t stay still. I’ve never been so tired in my life," he said, adding, "Next year we need to have super-mini golf. On the course would be a tiger, a lion and a bear — live ones! We need to have an obstacle course floating on water, like in a pool."
He actually remembered his original audition with Disney in detail!
"I remember my whole audition with Disney. It was six years ago," Kyle said. "My original audition was called Absolutely Psychic. I auditioned at the Disney building. I waited four hours in the lobby. We were watching Lizzie McGuire. I remember I saw Raven walking out of the casting room and I was so starstruck, because I saw her in Dr. Doolittle. I was nervous, but I was just myself. They liked that, and before I got home they called me and told me they booked me for the job."
His cameraman, Vance Brandon, cracks him up the most on the set. He can make anything you talk to him about into a joke. Kyle asked me to please write about Vance so he can give him a copy of the Northeast Times.
When asked who he looks up to, Kyle said, "Will Smith. I really do look up to Will Smith." (Of course, another Philadelphian). "I used to love watching his show. I can still watch the reruns five or six times and I still laugh."
Personal info: Kyle’s three favorite episodes: Cory was president for a day; he wished upon a star and the wish came true — the one when Raven came to town and he dressed like Raven; and an upcoming episode that features Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who is an actor and former wrestler.
Kyle also loves working with Madison Pettis.
"She’s priceless. She’s very funny," he said. "They call her the Cory, of Cory in the House."
Because kid celebrities have influence, my last question had to do with trying to find answers to prevent the Virginia Tech massacre from happening again.
While other reporters asked their light, fun questions, I dove right in and asked a current-events question. After much thought, Kyle, appreciating the challenging question, responded: "Our generation, dude, we are messing up bad. Our generation is really screwing up the world bad. We can’t make the world a better place if no one is really going to take control and do something about it."
Then the answer took a political turn when Kyle added, "That’s why we should have had Al Gore for president. He really cares about the Earth and he is taking it seriously. Everyone else thinks just global warming can’t affect me. But he is telling everyone that it can affect them."
He is referring to Mr. Gore’s Academy Award-winning movie, An Inconvenient Truth, which we just finished watching in my Bio G class.
Madison Pettis stars in Cory in the House as Sophie Martinez. Madison received her lucky break in the entertainment field when she won a contest to appear on the cover of Fort Worth Child magazine. This led to modeling and print campaigns for: Neiman Marcus, Proctor and Gamble and General Mills.
She just celebrated her birthday during the DC Games and is just too cute for words. However she did not compete in the games because of her age.
She is a Disney Channel fan of all the shows. Why? "Because I am a kid," Madison replied. She feels the funniest person on the set is Kyle, because he jokes around all the time and he sometimes ad-libs lines that are not even in the script. How does she keep a straight face?
"I try not to pay attention to the funny stuff. Just focus, don’t laugh, don’t laugh," she said. In between tapes they joke around and talk.
She doesn’t hang out in her dressing room; however, they did decorate it pink and purple and she loves it. There is a TV in there, she added.
Madison’s favorite event to watch is the Extreme Obstacle course, because it is so big.
"There are many activities to do, like run through it, crawl through it, rock climb and slides," she said.
She said she never gets nervous, and her reasoning was that of a grown-up: "Don’t be nervous, because you are going to do the best you can no matter what. It will always be good if you just try."
Emily Osment is presently known for her role as Lilly Truscott in Hannah Montana, where she is Miley Cyrus’ best friend and Hannah Montana’s biggest fan. She was one of the athletes for the yellow team, double obstacle course. What did her training involve for the DC games?
"I am really an active person and I like to go out and play, so I really did not have to train. It is all fun and games," she said.
As she put it, no "Rocky" training moments. Asked if she could pick anyone else for her team, she responded, "Bill Cosby. I think he would bring a lot of fun energy to the team." And of course, being a proud ninth-grade student at Central High School, I had to mention to her that Cosby is an honorary member of my high school. She then added, she has had a really great high school experience too.
I read that Emily has worked with actor Christopher Walken and actress Glenn Close, and I was curious what that experience was like.
"Oh my God, it was amazing. I’ve had the chance to work with some really, really great actors like Christopher Walken and Glenn Close," she said. "I’ve had a chance to work with Dolly Parton and just a lot of really great actors and actresses. I was really little, but I remember how professional they were, and I did learn a lot from working with them."
She also appeared in Spy Kids 2 and Spy Kids 3-D. Emily describes herself as not being shy.
Next week’s column includes Corbin Bleu, The Cheetah Girls and Jonas Brothers. ••
Columnist William Feldman can be contacted by e-mail at wmkidscolumn@aol.com