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Hundreds of Philadelphians came to the "Rocky steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Friday hoping for maybe five seconds of fame. Sal Cavaliere, 23, of Upper Darby, ran the steps in his T-shirt with Rocky and the American flag on the front. "I've been trying to get in this movie," he said. "We went down to the set like eight times. This is my last chance. I love Rocky. He represents all of us. He followed his dream." Sylvester Stallone decided that as the final credits roll in his sixth Rocky movie, Rocky Balboa, he should show real Philadelphians - as many as 100, in rapid-fire fashion - dancing and punching thin air at the top of the museum steps. It's something Rocky fans have been doing on the steps now for 30 years, just as Stallone did in the original Rocky. Joy Cooper, 50, was one of the first to run. That's because she was up all night in her car, waiting. She's been in town from Bedford, in central Pennsylvania, most of the last month, with two sisters and a niece, going to almost every filming location. She even met Stallone one night in Kensington. "He makes you think you can make something of your life," Cooper said. "Besides, he looks just like my husband." Whitney White, 57, a cook from Wyncote, ran. "I want to be a star, like everybody else. It felt great. I thought I was Rocky, just for a minute." Amy DeVito, 30, of Mayfair, fell in love with Rocky at age 10. That year, her mother gave her boxing gloves for Christmas, and her brother stole an eight-foot cutout of Rocky - from Rocky IV - from a movie theater. DeVito kept that in her bedroom until she married. When it came time for DeVito to run Friday with her three children, Raymond, 5, wanted no part of it. He wouldn't even put on the boxing gloves his mother brought for him. "Come on, Ray, please," she begged. He stood off to the side with his grandmother, Elizabeth Kuropatwa. "Can you believe it?" Kuropatwa said. "Turkey. Turkey. Turkey." Runners ran only the top flight, and producer Charles Winkler, who was directing the scene, gave them instructions: 360! 360! Box. Box. Box. Nice. Nice. 360! Box. Box. Arms in the air! Arms in the air! Very good. Thank you. Joan Frankenstein, 74, of South Philadelphia, couldn't actually run the steps, because both of her hips have been replaced. She just danced, in slow motion, at the top. "I've always wanted to be an actress," she said. Winkler said the idea came to Stallone last November. They were at the steps scouting locations when "some guy started doing the Rocky dance." "I said, 'Sly, go down there.' He said, 'Yeah, yeah.' And he went down and he surprised this guy... . The guy turned and almost had a heart attack. He couldn't believe it. There was Sylvester Stallone while he was doing the Rocky dance." Stallone then decided to include Rocky runners in his movie, and decided that the ending credits were the place to do it. According to Winkler, Stallone said: "What better way to pay homage to the people of Philadelphia who are always up on the steps?" - Craig Zablo |