It was 1968 or 1969.  Pat and I and the kids, Russ, Doug, and Terri, had driven back to Kansas to visit Pat’s mom, Melba, and her step-dad, Eddie. That first day they all had some kid stuff they wanted to do, and I just wasn’t interested. Melba told me that there was a film crew in town shooting a picture called “Gypsy Moth” starring Burt Lancaster, Debra Kerr, and Gene Hackman. It was an airplane story. Melba told me where they were shooting that day, so I thought it would be fun to have a look. When I got to the address, there were cars lining both sides of the street, and I ended up parking a block from the location. The house was white and two stories, with a big front porch, and, if I remember correctly, there were columns.  Anyhow, it was pretty impressive looking. There were big lights shining on the front door and boom microphones above.

There was a crowd six or seven people deep, but loosely packed. As I walked up, a lady said, “I see you are wearing boots and jeans. If you had been here an hour ago, they would have hired you as an extra. They were looking for locals to use in the next shot.” I just said “Shucks,” and moved into the crowd. I moved up as close to the front as I could and heard another lady say that they were getting ready for Deborah Kerr to come out the front door. There was a big guy standing in front of me, and I moved so I could see over his shoulder. That’s when I realized the big dude was Burt Lancaster. He looked even bigger and tougher in person than he did in the movies. Burt had his eyes glued to that front door like he was really concentrating, and also to let us local folks know he didn’t want to be bothered. It was an interesting experience. I enjoyed watching the movie shot and seeing Burt Lancaster and Debra Kerr.

Dave Thomas

9/28/2023

It was a pleasant Sunday morning. The front door was open, and a nice breeze was coming through the screen door. It was 7:00 A.M. and we’d had breakfast and were drinking coffee and watching CBS Sunday Morning. Suddenly we heard the boss crow yelling for Pat.   She looked out and saw the boss crow on our driveway and his four companions in the tree across the street. She got some bread and scattered it on the driveway. As Pat came back in the house, the four crows left the tree and joined the boss for breakfast.

After a few minutes, we heard all the crows squawking and raising the devil. Pat jumped up to see what was going on. The boss was up on our roof, and the other 4 guys were back in their tree across the street. A coyote had frightened them away and was busily eating their breakfast. Pat picked up her cell phone and headed for the door to take a picture. Apparently, the coyote saw her moving around, got scared, and was running away. Pat barely got a picture before the coyote was out of sight. The coyote had eaten all the bread. Pat got more bread and put it out for the crows. They came back down, finished eating, and took off. Normalcy was restored.

Dave Thomas

9/17/23

It was the summer of 1991. My wife, Pat, and our son, Doug, and his friend, Penny, had driven up to Santa Monica to attend the Golden Boot Awards Dinner. That is an awards ceremony honoring the folks who made those movies we enjoyed so much. It was our second time attending. There was a dinner and a ceremony that honored several of the movie stars each year. Anyone can attend, and during the meet and greet session can introduce themselves to the movie stars and visit with them. The dinner cost $150 per plate, but we didn’t spend much on movies or concerts. We felt it was a good entertainment expense.

This event was a big deal, and had been created several years before by Pat Buttram, the old Gene Autry sidekick. Proceeds from the dinner went to the Old Actor’s Home. A few of the attendees were Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry, George Kennedy, Sam Elliott, Angie Dickinson, Denver Pyle, Dale Robertson, Marie Windsor, Maureen O’Hara, and many others.

The venue was a convention hall behind the Santa Monica Hotel. The mixer before dinner gave everyone plenty of time to navigate the room and visit with a lot of people. After dinner and the ceremony, there was still plenty of time to circulate. The big stars like Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Gene Autry, and Maureen O’Hara were always surrounded by a mob, so you couldn’t get near them. Ms. O’Hara, one of the evening’s honorees, was attending on her 70^th birthday.

From grade school on I enjoyed the Saturday matinees at the Isis Theater. You could see a western for 12 cents. Gene Autry was always one of my favorites. Being from Oklahoma made him a kind of neighbor to us Kansas kids. His beautiful horse, Champion, was special, too. Champion was all decked out in a silver mounted saddle and bridle, and the bit had shanks that had been cast as replicas of six guns.

At the proper time, we entered the convention hall and located the table with our names on place cards. Then we decided to split up and go searching for the celebrities we each wanted to meet. This was before cell phones were in use, and we only had one 35 mm camera with us, so we decided to take turns with it during the evening. We had a lot of fun with it as the other guests were good about using the camera and taking pictures of us. To mention a few of the pictures:  Pat had one taken with Burt Reynolds, Penny with Iron Eyes Cody, Doug with Denver Pyle, and me with Dale Robertson. That was really a lot of fun.

After a time, I headed for the men’s room. After doing my business and washing up, I headed for the door. Just as I got there, the door started to open, and I stepped to the side to avoid being hit. To my surprise, here comes Gene Autry with his bodyguard two steps behind. I said “hi” and Gene smiled and said “hi” and came on in. Figuring that nobody would want to shake hands with a guy just leaving the men’s room, I went on out and rejoined the party. After all these years, it was great to see a childhood hero in person.

Dave Thomas

09/14/2023