The Terrible Catsafterme

I spent my last full day of my California “Dreams Come True” trip in chilly Lone Pine, California, enjoying our final day at the 19th annual Lone Pine Film Festival on Saturday, October 11, 2008. We got up bright and early and left our motel in Independence at about 7:30am. A return visit to the Alabama Hills restaurant kicked off the day, where this time I went for the generic bacon and eggs while Bob stuck with the Eggs Benedict.

Bob enjoys his favorite Eggs Benedict

My friend Dick Bann and I had considered taking a trip among the actual Alabama hills to go on a climbing expedition to find the spot where Humphrey Bogart hung out at the end of High Sierra. This would have been fun, had it not been so blasted cold and windy. Instead we headed over to Statham Hall, where the first of a slew of celebrity panels began. The first one of the day was with Richard Anderson. I’ll cover more about many of the celebrity encounters in future postings…but I’ll give you a couple to whet your appetite.

Although I did not see his question and answer session, nor purchase an autograph from him, I did get my photo taken with Denny Miller. He had portrayed the first blonde Tarzan in the 1959 film Tarzan, the Ape Man, and went on to reprise the role most famously in an episode of Gilligan’s Island. He was also a regular on the TV series Wagon Train, and starred in an episode of The Brady Bunch as Tank Gates, Carol’s loutish former beau.

With Denny Miller

After our small dose of celebrities (and our run-in with fellow Sons member Steve Wichrowski), Bob and I headed back to the museum for about a half-hour to browse for a bit. I picked up a souvenir film festival t-shirt. At about 10:30, Bob and I decided to drive up into the hills to see some of the rock structure movie sites that we didn’t see the day before. It was too chilly to take the organized tour, but I figured we could take the cold in small doses. It was about 38 degrees. Bob called me a ‘candy ass’.

Bob happily poses with his very good friend Steve Wichrowski

This 20th Century Fox stagecoach prop at the museum was used often in westerns filmed in Lone Pine

The photo above this 1941 Buick Eight Roadmaster shows Gene Autry’s horse Champion jumping this very car in the 1941 film Trail to San Antone

Outside the museum, the horse was now back on his feet after the wind storm

We started off at the entrance to an area that was called the “Movie Flats.” The rock structure and plaque (seen above, next to the cowboy-hatted wildman), which had been placed in 1990 indicated that the area had served as a western location in countless films including High Sierra, Gunga Din, How the West Was Won, Yellow Sky, and episodes of The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy. We surveyed the area for a bit and went out of our way to pose with the cool Alabama Hills sign, then headed back into town.

Behind the rock monument at the entrance to the ‘Movie Flats’ area – this time without the cowboy hat

In the gorgeous Alabama Hills

Bob roams around the area seen in this photo from Yellow Sky

There were plenty of photo ops in the rock hills

 With the sign at the entrance of the Alabama Hills

We stopped at the drug store and I picked up a couple of magnets (for the price of a postcard – which was undoubtedly a mistake) and some Chapstick. The cold wind was making my lips a little dry (‘candy ass’). We then caught the 11:30 film screen in the Lone Pine High School Auditorium. We caught a double feature: Tim Holt in Rider From Tucson and the feature version of the Lone Ranger serial entitled Hi-Yo Silver!, which I particularly enjoyed. Naturally, both films included scenes that had been filmed in Lone Pine.

At 2pm we made our way back to Statham Hall for the celebrity question and answer session for Michael Chapin (more on him later). Incidentally, the interviewer for the duration of the panels was none-other than Cheryl Rogers, better known as the adopted daughter of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. She added nearly as many fascinating insights about her parents as the celebrities did about their own careers! There were several other celebs whose panels we did not catch, but I met them nonetheless including Jacqueline Scott.

With Cheryl Rogers, daughter of Roy and Dale

Jacqueline Scott appeared in roughly 100 television roles over the years in such shows as Bonanza, The Fugitive, Lassie, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Gunsmoke, Riptide, and most importantly in the episode The Parallel of The Twilight Zone. She even starred in two of my favorite 70’s TV movies Duel and Outrage.

With Jacqueline Scott

There was a bit of a flea market/arts and crafts show going on in the town’s park, so Bob and I headed over there to snoop around. The only thing we found of interest was Dick Bann. Bob grabbed some Chinese food and I waited in the car to avoid the cold (‘candy ass’), and then we went back to the museum to kick back for an hour and a half or so. Bob, Dick, and I plopped down in some comfortable chairs in the middle of the museum and just chatted for a while. We also met some other festival-goers including a gal from the east who seemed particularly fascinated with the three of us and our fountain of useless knowledge.

Dinnertime came at 6pm and we went to the Mt. Whitney Restaurant for a bacon cheeseburger. It was good, but it took several attempts to get extra mayonnaise, hence the smug pose below. After dinner, we went back to the high school one more time to catch a silent film double feature that included The Rider of the Pass (1925) and The Back Trail (1924). Presented with live piano accompaniment, it was particularly interesting to see this very early example of the use of our Lone Pine surroundings on film. These films ended at 9pm and we decided to not stay for any more, but to head back to our motel and call it a night.

McDonalds is for everyone – as evidenced by these horsemen going through the drive thru in Lone Pine

After much ado, Bob and I finally get our requested mayo

Bob assumes the film viewing position…only with his eyes open

Although the convention was going on for another day, my flight out of LAX dictated that we had to rise with the sun at the crack of dawn and head out by 6am on Sunday, October 12. We packed up and headed south for a couple of hours before stopping for our last breakfast in Mojave at a small diner called Mike’s Roadhouse Cafe. The giant ‘sunrise breakfast’ special hit the spot.

Final hearty breakfast of the trip

We drove about another 90 minutes to get me to LAX. I said my goodbyes to Bob and flew off into the sunset. My flight departed at 12:40pm. It was a rather long one, during which I slept and stared at the video map on the seat in front of me. Some four hours later, I arrived in Atlanta, Georgia at 8pm eastern time to make my connection to Dayton at 9:40. The flight was only about 90 minutes, so I didn’t arrive in Dayton until 11:10. It had been my 11th and final flight of the year. Dad picked me up at the airport, took me to his house where I met my car, made one quickie stop, and arrived home sweet home. As you may have guessed, I was just dying to get back to work the next day.

This California trip was certainly ranks as one of the most fun and most memorable of any that I have ever taken. Looking back on it now, it is hard to believe all of the different and amazing things that took place during the course of the week. So until the next one proves otherwise, this one certainly shines at the top…

Click here to follow the trail of celebrity guests at Lone Pine…

Click here to return to the beginning of the trip…

Click here to continue with 2008…

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 6:15 am and is filed under 2000's - Late, Celebrity Encounters, Film Locations, Vacations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.