All Forums  LAST OF THE MOHICANS  The Last of the Mohicans ...  Twenty Years Ago This Month: May, 1991

Note: You must be registered in order to post a reply.
To register, click here. Registration is FREE!

Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Videos: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message Icon:                             Message: Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by James N.[/i] [br]May,2011, marks the TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY of the beginning of filming for our favorite historical romance! For me personally the month of May, 1991, was one of many conflicting situations and emotions: I endured the second bout of cataract surgery and its aftermath; quit a good job in the housewares department of [i]Macy's[/i] in Dallas; packed up and put virtually all my belongings, accumulated over a lifetime, in storage; moved out of the apartment complex where I'd spent the past 16 years; and on May, 17 headed off to the East and the great unknown. I only got as far as the small East Texas town where I now live, where I spent the night at my Mother's and swapped cars for the rest of the trip. Driving across Arkansas and half of Tennessee, I stopped somewhere outside Nashville for the night. Next day, Sunday, I arrived sometime in the late afternoon in Asheville after driving steadily all day. My only "misadventure" occurred when I accidentally locked my keys inside the car in a rest area somewhere in the Smoky Mountains and had to wait for AAA to send someone to save me! In Asheville I settled into the local [i]Econo Lodge[/i]; knowing no one there and never having been there before, I opted to go to the one place I'd heard of for dinner, [i]The Grove Park Inn[/i], which turned out to be fabulous and put me in a much better and more relaxed mood! The next day I met with Dale Fetzer at production headquarters located in a high-rise office building in downtown Asheville where I was introduced to the other members of our "reenactor core" group and was appraised of the schedule. This was about the time filming began for the principals at the Joyce Kilmer National Forest area across the state line in Tennessee, but we discovered we were not to be used for nearly a MONTH! Instead, on May 21, we had the dubious honor of beginning "training" under the LEGENDARY ( [i]"...in his own MIND"[/i] ) [b]CAPTAIN[/b] Dale Dye of [i]Platoon[/i] fame! Our training camp was out in the woods from town in a volunteer firefighters' training site not far from the French Broad River. I have previously described that the sole benefit of this exercise was the not-inconsiderable [i]per diem[/i] we recieved as compensation. It was about this time that we first met and worked with Stephen Waddington and Maurice Roeves there at the Firefighter's Camp. [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/2011524153059_French Broad River 1991.jpg[/img][br][size=1] 78.09KB[/size=1] I continued the first week at the [i]Econo Lodge[/i], but Dale Fetzer had other ideas for us. He'd arranged to rent for us a couple of UNFURNISHED townhouses in a new addition at Swannanoa, an Asheville suburb. The others happily moved in, "furnishing" them as well as possible using mainly camp furniture and bedrolls; however at the advanced age of 44 and being the oldest member of our group, I opted to pass on this opportunity at "dorm" living! Instead I secured a small room at a weekly rate at the nearby and somewhat shabby [i]Thunderbird Motel[/i], not far from the Swannanoa entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway. [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/2011524184744_Blue Ridge Parkway, 1991.jpg[/img][br][size=1] 84.69 KB[/size=1] Since there was no filming going on for us, I interested myself in visiting nearby historical sites. Unlike previous productions I'd worked on, we actually had most weekends off thanks to Michael Mann's shooting schedule, even after our filming began. The first weekend, I went to South Carolina and King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Ninety-Six National Historical Sites, and Chimney Rock, N. C., later to be an important filming site. Our second week of mainly physical training was exhausting, however, and I could so far wonder just what I'd gotten myself in for as the month of May drew to a close. [b][i]To be continued...[/i][/b] [/quote]    Upload an Image File From Your PC For Insertion in Your Post    -  HTML is OFF | Forum Code is ON   Check here to include your profile signature. Check here to subscribe to this topic.