From the Cradle . . . to the Set

Amid squeals of delight and several anxious glances from other adults, Adria Later gamely gets down on the dusty studio floor. Flat on her stomach, she crawls backward, keeping pace with the moving camera.

She holds her secret weapon in her left hand: a little car that sparks when it runs. With it, she lures nearly 3-year-old Blake and Dylan Wilhoite, toward her. They gleefully comply and race toward her--and the camera.

“Got it!” the director shouts. The cast and crew sigh with relief.

And those sighs could well be running round the dial this season as more and more series discover the supposed magic of babies. There’s no telling, though, how long--or short--their on-screen life might be.

At least seven shows will be bouncing bundles of joy this season: “Empty Nest,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Grace Under Fire,” “The Mommies,” “Northern Exposure,” “Nurses” and “Roc.” Add those little darlings to babies that arrived on series last year (“Sisters,” “The Commish,” “Evening Shade,” “Full House,” “L.A. Law,” “Murphy Brown”) and you’ve got a baker’s dozen, at the very least, vying for attention on prime time. And that doesn’t count the ABC series--”Roseanne,” “Coach,” “Home Improvement” and “Step by Step”--trying to decide whether bringing on a baby will be just the thing to spark the season.

For an established series, a pregnancy can mean an enhanced storyline. Dinah Manoff, who plays pregnant Carol on “Empty Nest,” says, laughing, “They are going to milk this pregnancy for all they can.”

But babies hired for TV shows don’t always stay long at center stage. While their impending arrival and birth can provide new plot points, keeping the little tykes around after their arrivals also can put a damper on things, just like in real life. Cases in point: little Lucy on “L.A. Law” (daughter of the attorney played by A Martinez) and even the most talked-about arrival of them all, Murphy Brown’s little Avery. Both are likely to be on the periphery this season, say spokespersons for those shows.

Nevertheless, business will be booming for the next little while for the babies and the entourages that must be brought on to watch over them and get them to perform. Usually producers seek out amiable, amenable, attractive twins or triplets to play the role of a single baby or toddler; state laws regulating how much time children can appear on camera are strict.

Babies, from 15 days old, may appear on camera only 20 minutes at a time, with a total on-set time of two hours. Until babies are 6 months old, a registered nurse as well as a studio teacher must be on the set with them. Even though the youngsters who play Avery are now close to 2, “Murphy” producers keep both a nurse and a teacher on the set. Tykes from six months to 2 are allowed up to four hours on the set, with two hours allotted for on-camera work and another two reserved for R&R.; From age 2 on, children may be on the set for up to six hours, with four hours of on-camera time. One teacher is required for every 10 children, except during holidays or what would be summer vacation, where one teacher is required for every 24 children.

Babies cast for TV roles may find they outgrow their parts, or their parts outgrow them. Rather quickly. Last season, Emily, the daughter of the characters played by Burt Reynolds and Marilu Henner on “Evening Shade,” was played by 2-year-old triplets Amanda, Samantha and Megan Braun. This fall, however, Emily--now 3--will be played by 5-year-old Alexa Vega.

“Evening Shade” producer Douglas Jackson says: “The kids (triplets) did a great job, but they were in only about eight episodes, and not really series regulars.” Jackon said the age change “was a creative decision made by Mr. (Burt) Reynolds, Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (executive producers).”

Age-jumping is common enough, since a precocious, articulate child can be drawn into a story more readily than a non-verbal one.

One baby who definitely won’t be age-jumped is Avery Brown. “Since we’ve kept up with things such as (former Vice President Dan) Quayle’s comments, it wouldn’t work for us to jump the baby’s age,” says “Murphy Brown” executive producer Steven Peterman. “We’re too topical for that.”

While the twins who play young Avery--two female toddlers named Chelsea and Amanda Elness--are on the set, cast and crew walk on eggshells. “A baby is such an uncontrollable element,” Peterman explains. “You can write a scene but you have no idea how the baby will perform.”

For “baby wrangler” Adria Later, who oversees the overflowing “Full House” crew, working with youngsters means that “I shoot from the hip.” Later, who usually sports a big apron, with pockets full of toys and tempting edibles, says, “I let it evolve and unfold.”

Later’s been in the baby-wrangling business for nearly two decades, working in films as well as television, but she’s spent the last seven years with “Full House,” where she also rounds up Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, the 7-year-olds who started the show when they were 9 months old. The Olsen twins are among the few youngsters to achieve TV longevity. In fact, they now headline their own ABC Halloween special, “Double Double, Toil and Trouble,” which airs Oct. 30. And Later has extended her duties: she’s the telefilm’s producer.

To keep the set fun, Later uses distraction. “I use the element of surprise,” she says. She’ll bring new toys on the set, but hide them from the boys until they get restless. “It helps them keep their focus.”

“Food is fun!” says “Full House” executive producer Marc Warren says. “They are really into fairness. We really have to divide the scenes with food, when Mary Kate gets a scene with cake, in the next show, Ashley gets the ice cream.”

Now that the Wilhoite boys are on the set, the Olsen girls often lend Later a hand. The boys “absolutely love Mary Kate and Ashley and will imitate whatever they do, so the girls are like my helpers on the set,” Later says.

Twin girls with the same name (Michelle) and two sets of parents can be confusing to babies and toddlers. “They call everyone by their cast name, they call John (Stamos) ‘Daddy’ and they call their father ‘Daddy,’ too,” says Karen Tuomy-Wilhoite. “They know two guys named Randy, too.”

“We’ve tried to explain to them about calling someone else Mom and Dad,” says Braun, whose triplets are continuing to work in commercials and other television projects. “We just tell them it’s pretending.”

Despite the difficulties encountered, babies and toddlers are often welcomed on the set. “Each baby takes turns being on the set and meanwhile, the cast and production people are great, always playing with one of the girls,” says Nancy Elness, mother of the “Murphy” twins. “It was surprising how friendly everyone was.”

Tuomy-Wilhoite isn’t interested in her twins becoming big TV stars.

“After ‘Full House’ is finished, we would like to move out of Los Angeles,” she says. “This is a tough business and demanding. Our cast and crew have been wonderful. They watch their language and are health freaks, so I don’t worry there, but from what I’ve heard, it’s not something I want to push them into.”

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Still waiting for the stork to arrive this season--quite likely during sweeps--are:

-- “Empty Nest”

-- “Northern Exposure”

-- “The Mommies”

-- “Nurses”

-- “Roc”