Let’s do lunch

by Doug Crowe
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 1:02 PM MST

Lots of folks are fascinated by the movie business: the glamour, the fame, the clamoring paparazzi, the adoring fans and the obscene amounts of money.

If this appeals to you, you should know I'm well connected in Hollywood and therefore in a position to assist in your quest for stardom.

Lest you feel this assertion bovine fecal material, I hereby offer evidence of my longstanding involvement in the business.

A 1952 a movie titled “The Big Sky,” starring Kirk Douglas was filmed in Jackson Hole. It had to do with the fur trapper era and the opening of the West.

Part of the movie depicted a journey up the Snake River on a keel boat. For years after, this boat sat at the base of the Snow King Mountain.

On one particularly cold January ski trip, several buddies and I found it necessary to ward off the chill with an occasional shot of peppermint schnapps.

When the lift closed, we decided to board the "Big Sky boat" and claim it under provisions of maritime law. The local constable, a man of limited vision and no sense of humor, disagreed.

Nonetheless, I was, for a time, actually on the boat that Kirk Douglas was on during the filming of “The Big Sky.”

A year after the filming of that one, the movie “Shane” was filmed in the Snake River Valley. It was a big production starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Jack Palance and Brandon de Wilde.

Fifteen years later while attending Casper College, I met Bin Graefe. Bin had lived in Jackson during the filming of “Shane,” and the production crew borrowed his dog to use in several scenes.

So, I know the guy whose dog ran around and barked in what may be the best western ever made! You can't be much more of a Hollywood insider than that.

Yet again in Jackson Hole, the forgettable movie “Spencer's Mountain” was filmed in 1963. It starred Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. I didn't actually meet either of them, but I did see Henry in the bar at the Wort Hotel.

He appeared to be engaged in a game of "slap and tickle" with one of the barmaids, so I did not intrude.

However, a fella named Doug Wilson was an extra on the set, and if you watch closely, you will see his hands in a scene that involves chopping down a tree!

Well, ol' Doug and I used to hunt elk together. So, once again, I have the inside track.

The comic western “Cat Ballou” was not filmed in Wyoming, but was about Wyoming. It starred Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin. Here again, I am well connected.

My friend Butch has a brother who is a stunt man in Hollywood. There is a scene in this film where Catherine Ballou, played by Fonda, is being walked to the gallows by a man with a rifle and a badge.

That man is my buddy Butch's little brother, Dick. Knowing Dick's politics, I think he would have preferred walking her to a real gallows, but that is neither here nor there.

Finally, “The Hellfighters” was filmed just outside Casper in 1969. It was about fighting oil well fires. John Wayne, Vera Miles and Katharine Ross starred in this stinker.

In one scene, Ms. Ross is shown deplaning at the Casper airport and in the background, you can see a guy carrying her bag. My cousin Shirley was married to that guy, so I am actually related to him (sort of).

How about that for impeccable insider credentials?

So, should you need someone to facilitate your entry into the Hollywood scene, I'm the man.

Call me; we'll do lunch.

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