Posted by Susan Fischer on 4/28/07 2:58am
Msg #187662
Sometimes, a Great Notion:
‘Evening, NotaryWorld:
Just kicking back, listening to John Prine on Austin City Limits.
Remember the movie, “Sometimes a Great Notion?” Great ‘70s flick, and essential reading by Ken Kesey. Set and filmed on location in the Central Oregon Coast, on the Siletz River, about a half mile from the Siletz Bay where it finally empties into the sea.
The story’s homestead is a two story, substantial home, with a huge covered veranda that ends in a glass filled room overlooking the deceptively slow flowing, dark green Siletz.
The afternoon is warmly Spring, the sun slipps over the mountain, and there is iced tea, poured familiarly into jelly glasses. The dogs and cats take turns getting pets from the visiting lady's free hand. The smiling, perfectly comfortable young couple tell the story.
Turns out, the Stamper place is finally home to a family again. Built as a movie set, it was essentially a moveable shell, constructed just stoutly enough to support the roof; the kitchen counters, like the front ‘bay’ windows, on casters to rolled out of the way for the camera and sound crews to capture the lives of the Stampers during the trials of a lumber strike. The stone fireplace, cupboards, gleaming wood floors, light fixtures, hanging porch swing - all of it - was built to be believed on the silver screen.
And, as was the practice of structures built on location, the magnificent house was to be burned when the cast and crew finished filming and returned to Hollywood so many years ago. But, as fortune would have it, the conditions were way too dry, and the Forest Service wouldn’t issue a permit, so it was sold pretty cheap to the old guy up-river a few miles. Nobody really lived there all these years, and it changed hands seven times, until these folks discovered it just as it came out of contract and snagged it up about four years ago. They’ve worked methodically to ‘finish’ the house, and the next project is to put in the foundation, the major job of rebuilding of the sunroom’s floor system having just been finished.
The HELOC modification, which is the visiting lady’s business there, becomes the foundation. What a fitting, satisfying thing: the house, with its intrinsic integrity and ‘property’ value, pays for the very structure that most homes begin upon.
Which just goes to show, that sometimes, a great notion is just so.
Cheers!
Susie
| Reply by Charles_Ca on 4/28/07 10:49am
Msg #187688
Re: Sometimes, a Great Notion: and a great story,
Thanks for sharing that Susan. We also have our fair share of sets and had just such a house built on the Mendocino Headlands, for a movie I no longer remember. I d as the thought it was unfortunate I used to ride my bike by and watched as they disassembled the house and trucked it away. I think it is wonderful that someone took advantage of a situation to be able to salvage the labor that was already put into the construction of such a beautiful place. Sounds like you had one of the "good" signings: its really nice to hear.
| Reply by Susan Fischer on 4/28/07 2:51pm
Msg #187760
Why, thank you Charles. And I do apologize for the
rotten grammar... 
There's another great save...a B & B in McCall, Idaho. The hotel from "Northwest Passage." It was moved several times around the town, finally coming to rest on Chicken Dinner Road (isn't that a great name?) The small rooms were beautifully appointed with period antiques, hand made quilts on brass beds, and sepia photographs on the plain wooden walls. The downstairs living room had a huge stone fireplace, big, comfy couches, old lanterns, and lots of books. The bunkroom was down a narrow hallway - a favorite for the ski teams. If you ever get to Idaho, check it out. McCall is a wonderful little town, and is famous for its Winter Carnival's ice sculptures.
Don't know if the same folks own it, but boy, could she bake! 'Lectric Larry and I got there late one night, and the Mrs. got up and fed us a big bowl of hardy stew, warm cornbread, and a huige slice of spicy apple pie. The next morning, we had a breakfast that couldn't be beat, and spent the day at the hot springs.
Hooray for Hollywood!
Susie
| Reply by Kenneth Henrich on 4/29/07 1:48am
Msg #187838
My grandmother, who was a seamstress and lived in Newport,Oregon at the time, actually did sewing and alterations for the actors in that movie. I believe Paul Newman and or Henry Fonda was in the film. For anyone who sees the movie, if you notice the cover over the bird cage, she made that also and it now hangs on the wall in my office.
Ken.
| Reply by Susan Fischer on 4/29/07 12:17pm
Msg #187874
Wow, Ken - how cool is that? I'll watch for it. Thanks! n/m
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