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