![\"Jeff](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/IMG_0295t-wm.jpg\")
<\/a>In the opening scenes of the 1971 motion picture Fools\u2019 Parade<\/i><\/a> (based on the Davis Grubb<\/a> novel of the same name), as the stars of the film leave Moundsville prison and climb into a car with the credits still rolling, a young man dressed in overalls can be seen peering at the coming attractions in front of the Strand Theatre<\/a>. He turns around and looks at the car as it stops at a stop sign.<\/p>\n That young man is 18-year-old Jeff Kirk of Martins Ferry, Ohio. His family once owned and operated Kirk\u2019s Art Studio on Market Street in Wheeling. How did young Jeff end up appearing, even briefly, in a major Hollywood motion picture? It was all about a vintage car.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At age 16, Jeff joined the Northern Regional Panhandle Antique Car Club<\/a>, a division of the Antique Automobile Club of America<\/a> (AACA). A producer from Columbia Pictures contacted the club about a new motion picture to be filmed in Moundsville, and to star the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Ann Baxter, Strother Martin, George Kennedy, and Kurt Russell.<\/p>\n \u201cThe producers asked people to bring in period cars as the film was set in the early part of the Great Depression in the 1930s,\u201d Jeff explained. \u201cAnd my car\u2019s a 1927 Willys-Knight<\/a>, which I purchased with my Grit<\/i><\/a> newspaper route, for $350, when I was 15. So I had a car when I was 15. And I remember driving it in the driveway, which isn\u2019t even 100 feet long. But that\u2019s how I learned to drive a standard.\u201d<\/p>\n Willys-Knights were manufactured between 1914 and 1933 by the Willys-Overland Company <\/a>of Toledo, Ohio, an automobile manufacturer owned by bicycle maker John North Willys.<\/span><\/p>\n Jeff had just graduated high school. When he heard about the casting call for vintage cars for the movie, he went to sign up. The car got a part, and so did its owner. \u201cWhile I was there, the stand-in for Kurt Russell quit. And they were saying, \u2018Hey we need a stand-in for Kurt Russell. Hey! You look like him. You be it! And that\u2019s how I became Kurt Russell\u2019s stand-in. The funny thing was, my car got $35 a day for the use of it, and I, as a stand-in, got $15 a day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It was the fall of 1970 and Jeff was on the set for about six to eight weeks. \u201cI got to sit and talk with all the actors. There\u2019s not much going on when they\u2019re making a movie, I found. Being a stand-in is a little bit slow. You stand in the section where the director tells you to stand. Then all the grips and staff set all the lights and get all the cameras and everything just right, which takes sometimes, 45 minutes. Then the actor steps in and says, \u2018I don\u2019t know Mattie, do you think we should go across the river now?\u2019 \u2018Cut! Stand-in!\u2019 You stand back in, and then you wait until they change the camera direction and start all over again. But then I had to do a couple stunts, actually. I had to jump in front of the train at nighttime while it was raining. That was exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Thus, Jeff\u2019s second appearance in the film is as Kurt Russell\u2019s stunt double, running and dodging a train, the same train \u2013Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum\u2019s<\/a> Southern 4501 locomotive<\/a> \u2013 used in another West Virginia movie called October Sky<\/em><\/a>, some 30 years later.<\/p>\n As the actor\u2019s stand-in, Jeff spent a lot of time on set with Kurt Russell. They chatted. Jeff learned a few things about Kurt. \u201cKurt Russell is a year older than me. I was 18, he was 19. And he told me that this was going to be his last movie. He felt that he had done all of those many movies for Disney and all the many movies he\u2019d made as a child star. So he wanted to try another profession which he loved, which was baseball. I said well Kurt, you already know how to do this. He said, \u2018Well, I\u2019m tired of it. I want to do something else.\u2019 So I think he did play in the minor leagues for a little bit, but then, of course, he came back into making movies, those great movies like Escape From New York<\/i>, and Overboard<\/i>. He\u2019s been in a lot of great movies. I wish he\u2019d make some more. We would talk every day, and I did take him for a ride in my Willys-Knight.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to Russell, Jeff interacted with many of the actors on set, such as venerable character actor Strother Martin. \u201cHe was in Cool Hand Luke<\/i>. He was the warden. He said, \u2018What we\u2019ve got here is\u2026 failure to communicate<\/a>.\u2019 But he told very humorous stories and had a lot of Limericks on Nursery Rhymes that aren\u2019t quite correct. I remember them, but I can\u2019t repeat them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, Jimmy Stewart<\/a> was quite the gentleman. Jimmy Stewart, for the movie had to wear a glass eye. And this was a contact that covered his entire eye. It wasn\u2019t like the contacts you wear today that maybe change your brown eyes to blue. It was a full contact. And I think it was made in California by some optical person, but when it got here and he was wearing it, it would get dirt and stuff under it from the dusty conditions down at Moundsville on the set. And he came to the Wheeling Clinic here several times. As I recall, I thought it was Dr. Nugent [see comments section below] that worked on it. But they would polish the inside of the glass eye. And there\u2019s a real important part of the movie where he pulls the glass eye out and touches it on the face of one of the henchmen sent to kill him (played by Wheeling\u2019s Morgan Paull<\/a>). And it was really great. I got to see him pull the eye out. He wore it several hours every day. I don\u2019t think I could have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJimmy Stewart and I talked a lot. He was a very down to Earth person. You would never have known that he was a huge star. And he was at that time. He told me about flying in the war. World War II. He was a pilot for the bombers. And he was lucky to get out of the war without being killed. Some of the B-17s went down. I remember him saying that he didn\u2019t like flying today because of them serving meals on the airplane. He said, \u2018There should not be any meals on commercial flights!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI also got to speak with Bob [character actor Robert] Donner<\/a>. He was the conductor on the train. And they took a liking to me. I was just a young kid at the time. And he would call me \u2018Kid Kirk.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He also interacted with familiar faces like\u00a0William Windom<\/a>, who played the dynamite\u00a0salesman, and David Huddleston<\/a>, a big guy who was \u201cas jovial as he was on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeff had lunch with the actors on set on a daily basis. \u201cI remember the food was fantastic. They brought their commissary from Los Angeles. Columbia Pictures was who made the movie, and I had never eaten food like that. They had lobster and filet mignon for lunch. It was quite amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe only person I didn\u2019t talk to at length was Anne Baxter<\/a>. I just said hi to her. And she said \u201cHi!\u201d [haughty tone]. \u201cShe didn\u2019t like any of the accommodations here in Wheeling. They had her put up at the McLure Hotel, which, at that time wasn\u2019t restored. And it was old.\u201d<\/p>\n Most of the actors were more than willing to be photographed. Many of them did poses for Jeff\u2019s camera, including young Kathy Cannon<\/a>, who went on to appear in Battlestar Galactica<\/i>.<\/p>\n Another of the young actors was Morgan Paull, who was from Wheeling. He had previously appeared in Patton<\/i> as one of Patton\u2019s aides. Jeff saw a photographer following Morgan Paull around as he went from actor to actor on the set one day. Reasoning that the photographer must be from a major newspaper or magazine, Jeff decided to get in on the shot when Paull stopped by Kurt Russell. \u201cI photobombed them,\u201d he joked. \u201cOne of the first photobombs. So I walked over to the photographer after that, because I\u2019d heard him say, \u2018And now we need somebody local to give some local interest to the movie.\u2019\u201d Jeff explained that he was Kurt Russell\u2019s stand-in and that he was from Martins Ferry, Ohio. The photo ended up in Parade Magazine<\/i> the following Sunday.<\/p>\n Jeff was on set for the river houseboat explosion. Bob Bond of Bond Hardware in Shadyside, Ohio used his own boat to pull the prop houseboat from shore. \u201cWhen Ann Baxter pushed the boat out from shore with a stick, he was back there with the engines pulling it away.\u201d Jeff has an 8 mm film of the explosion. The footage also includes Jimmy Stewart showing Jeff his glass eye and posing for the young filmmaker.<\/p>\n Jeff\u2019s third and final appearance in the film was a memorable one. \u201cWe had 300 people on set for the end of the movie when they were coming out of the courthouse. And I\u2019m at the top of the stairs, at the top of the landing, when Jimmy Stewart comes out. And [director] Andrew McLaglen says [on his bullhorn], \u2018Now remember, don\u2019t look into the camera! Action! And we start walking down the steps and Jimmy Stewart pushes me aside. You can see me in the movie. And then I looked at the camera and he [McLaglen] saw me. Out of 300 people. \u2018Cut! Kirk! Don\u2019t look at the camera!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The camera faux pas was followed by a minor continuity error that only Jeff could identify. \u201cImmediately after that \u2026I get in my Willys-Knight and drive past everybody. So I\u2019m on the steps and I\u2019m driving within two seconds. So that\u2019s pretty cool. You can\u2019t see me in the car but it\u2019s me driving it. \u201d<\/p>\n 44 years later, and he is still driving it. Jeff still has the 1927 Willys-Knight\u2014the first car he ever bought, but not the last. He now owns 25 additional vintage automobiles.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI got to go to the premiere, and I sat with Kathy Cannon, at the Court Theater. It was a big deal. Jimmy Stewart came back. And there were thousands of people outside cheering everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n And they will be cheering again when Moundsville\u2019s restored Strand Theatre \u2013 the same theater where 18 year old Jeff Kirk stood reading the coming attractions while Hollywood cameras rolled back in the fall of 1970 \u2013 presents screening of Fools\u2019 Parade<\/i> again tomorrow, September 4 at 2 PM<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kid Kirk will be there with his movie star car.<\/p>\n [- Based on a July 9, 2015 interview of Jeff Kirk. All set photos are copyright Jeff Kirk.]<\/em><\/p>\n Coming Down the Pike Soon:<\/strong><\/p>\n Part 2 of our insider look at the production and premiere of Fools\u2019 Parade<\/em> will feature some of the amazing images from the Thomas Burns Collection, just acquired by the Ohio County Public Library Archives. Mr. Burns (1919-1989) was the manager of the Court Theatre when Fools\u2019 Parade premiered in Wheeling on June 17, 1971. Jimmy Stewart, Governor Arch Moore and other luminaries were in town for the big event. Don\u2019t miss part 2! In the meantime, enjoy the gallery below which features more photos taken\u00a0by the young Jeff Kirk on the set of Fool\u2019s Parade.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nFools\u2019 Premiere<\/h2>\n
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