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WHEN HOLLYWOOD CAME TO WHARTON by
Robert G. Cowser |  |
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do not regret sending the photographs my brother R. L. took of Lee Remick and
Steve McQueen to the college library in Wharton.
Nor do I regret sending photos my brother took of Horton Foote to Mr. Foote in
New York. But perhaps I should have taken copies of the photos before I sent them
away. After my brother died in 1987, I took the photos from one of his albums
and kept them until a few years ago. |
One
clear day in 1964, R. L., who was a member of the faculty at the junior college
in Wharton, took his camera with him
to a rice field outside town. There the crew of "Baby, the Rain Must Fall"
was busy filming the movie. The script was based on Horton Foote’s play "The
Traveling Lady", which Foote adapted himself. A native of Wharton,
he came home to oversee the production.
R. L. took photos of Lee Remick
striding across the field in tandem with her co-star, Steve McQueen. Remick is
wearing a straw hat with a bow under her chin. McQueen’s expression reminds us
of the strong-willed characters he often played in such films as "Bullitt".
R. L. also took two photos of Horton Foote, who squints his eyes in the bright
Texas sunlight. |
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It
is not surprising that R. L. would visit the set more than once that fall. When
he and I were growing up on a farm near Saltillo,
we went to the movies whenever there was an opportunity. These opportunities were
rare, but they came more often during the summer than during the school year.
If our father had business in Sulphur
Springs, fifteen miles away, R. L. and I had a chance to ride to town with
him and take in a matinee at one of the three theaters. Although I did not keep
copies of the photographs R. L. took that day near Wharton,
I remember them vividly, and I take pleasure in reflecting on what pleasure it
must have given him, the consummate movie fan, to visit a movie set.
It
gives me pleasure to know that patrons of the Wharton County Junior College Library can look at photographs taken on the set of one of Horton Foote’s films.
©
Robert G. Cowser
"They
shoe horses, don't they?"
Guest Column, December 13, 2009
More Columns by Robert
G. Cowser |
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