Encounter with the movie stars

 

A few posts back we were talking about name dropping, and some of you mentioned famous people you had encountered.

 

Twenty-five years ago I was teaching at a summer day camp K-6th graders. I supervised four staff members and 50-75 kids per day. We had a lot of fun. Spontaniety was the name of the game. We had a daily routine, divided into four age groups, rotated every forty-five minutes, and attended scheduled field trips.

 

But the day we saw one tractor trailer after another roll through the neighborhood and park on a tree-lined residential street, I had to go investigate. The following day I told the children I had a surprise for them. I walked them two blocks. First we passed a semi-trailer with back and side door open. It looked like an overstuffed closet filled with old clothes. One of the men standing around, invited us up the steps and into the interior. My students were always well-behaved and had been warned to keep their hands to their sides and their mouths quiet. The movie set wardrobe woman almost had a hissy-fit. By the time she saw us traipsing through in single file, it was too late to turn back. "Don't touch the costumes!" she fretted. I assured her the children would not, and they did not.

 

We proceeded quietly on to an old home in the neighborhood which served as the movie set for A Will of Their Own. The children, school staff and I stood on the sidewalk. One of the film crew notified the actors that we were outside. Lea Thomson walked onto the porch briefly, waved and hurried back inside. We were disappointed that she wasn't more friendly.

 

Then, the door opened and out bounded Thomas Gibson (of Dharma and Greg fame....my favorite sit com). He greeted us jovially. He made his way down the front steps and as he walked into the crowd, his hand accidentally brushed my bottom. HE was unaware.

But oh my! For years I would tease Bill and say, "He touched my butt!"

 

Actually, not only was he gorgeous and very "Hollywood", he was also very friendly. He told one of the props guys to show us the bottle of whiskey, and then he proceeded to explain to the children that actors don't really drink booze on the set. He had the props guy demonstrate how they made it with watered down tea. He gave a brief comment about drinking being a no-no, and then he smiled that million dollar smile and waved good-bye. I was awe-struck, but the kids were not so much.

 

I filmed that made-for-TV period movie on two VCR tapes and lost one when we moved. I sure wish I had that movie again. It really was excellent, and so easy on the eyes :)  

 

Thomas Gibson

 

Lea Thomson