The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 111: Can You Be There By Nine?

Episode Date: September 18, 2018

Sure, as soon as I'm done playing Cowboys and Indians.

The ocean delights us as playful otters restore coastal kelp forests. The ocean teaches us how our choices impact even the deepest places. The ocean connects us. Visit Monterey Bay Aquarium.org slash connects. This is the way I heard it. Al sat on the back of a horse that wasn't his, drew a pistol that wasn't loaded, and shot an Apache that wasn't an Indian.

The stuntman screamed and fell unconvincingly to the ground, and the director yelled cut. Back to one, everybody. Let's try it again. Al glanced nervously at his watch. 6.30 p.m., not good. His audition was at 9 a.m. the next morning, and St. George, Utah was seven hours from L.A. by car, and Al didn't have a car. All right, everybody, here we go. Once again, from the top. Ready? And action. Once again, the Indians whooped and charged, and the townspeople screamed and scattered, and Al, shot the same guy for the 10th time that day. But this time, when the Apache, who wasn't an Indian, fell to the ground, the director said, cut, that's a wrap, everyone. Check your call times for tomorrow.

Al knew his call time already, tight, but doable. So he turned his horse away from the set of bullet for a bad man and rode hard toward the nearest highway. It was rough terrain, but Al could handle a horse. You probably knew that if you saw him in Springfield rifle with Gary Cooper, or the big trees with Kirk Douglas, or the true story of Jesse James with Robert Wagner. For a big man, Al rode well. Five miles later, as the sun was about to set, Al reached the highway. He dismounted, turned his horse back in the direction of the stables, and gave it a slap on the rump. One thing about horses, they always know where the stable is, especially around dinner time. And when this one left in a cloud of dust, Al knew there would be no

turning back. So he stuck out his thumb, and two hours later, an 18-wheeler finally pulled over. Where are you headed, cowboy? Los Angeles, said Al. I can take you as far as Vegas, said the driver. I'll take it, said Al. Al jumped into the cab. The driver said he looked familiar. Al asked him if he liked the movies. Sure, said the truck driver. Who doesn't like him? Who doesn't the movies. Well, said Al, did you see dive bomber with Errol Flynn? I don't think so. Well, I was in that one. Oh yeah? What else you've been in? Well, I was in Up Periscope with James Garner. Didn't see it. Time out for rhythm with Rudy Valley? Nope. What about Rogue Cop with Rod Taylor? Sorry. To the shores of Tripoli with Harry Morgan? Negative. The sea chase with John

Wayne. Uh-uh. The West Point story with James Cagney. Doesn't ring any bells. By the time they arrived in Vegas, it was firmly established that Al's driver was not up to speed with his passenger's resume. But Al didn't mind. With a wife at home and four kids to feed, Al didn't care about being recognized. He just wanted to work. That's why he was busting his butt for a chance to audition for the role of Jonas Grumby, the final character to be cast on a new show for CBS. His agent said he looked like a Jonas Grumby. And Al couldn't disagree. The driver dropped him at McCarron just in time to watch the last flight to L.A. take off without him. So Al slept in the terminal.

The next morning, he boarded the first flight to Burbank, landed a half hour before his audition, and grabbed a cab to the studio. Al smiled when the cabby picked up where the truck driver left off. You got one of those faces, pal, said the cabby. Where have I seen you? I don't know, said Al. You like the movies? Sure, said the cabby. Who doesn't like the movies?

You ever see Monsieur Bocer with Bob Hope? Don't think so, said the cabby. Well, I was in that one, said Al. Oh, yeah? What else you've been in? Al sighed. Hometown Story with Marilyn Monroe. Didn't see it. How about the battle him with Rock Hudson?

Not yet. No time for love with Claudette Colbert and Fred McMurray. It's on my list. Young at heart with Doris Day and Frank Sinatra. Uh-uh. Al arrived at the audition, with two minutes to spare. He didn't look like a man who had ridden a horse, hitched a ride, and slept in an airport just for a chance to audition for a role he probably wouldn't get.

Nor did he look like a man who would be flying back to Utah in less than an hour to shoot some more Apaches who weren't really Indians in another movie that no one would ever remember. He looked like a Jonas Grumby. the smiling, bumbling, exasperated character he had come to read for. Al glanced again at the lines he'd already memorized and walked

into a room where a skinny kid with a funny hat was waiting in front of a camera. Al and the skinny kid shook hands and chatted briefly about the scene. Then somebody said action. And that was that. Magic. No one would ever look at Al again and wonder where they'd seen his face. thanks to that audition and five decades of subsequent syndication,

Al's face would be forever seared into America's retina, and Jonas Grumby would eventually accumulate more screen time than all of the stars he ever worked with combined. When he died in 1990, Al's ashes were sprinkled over the Pacific Ocean, a fitting send-off for the man who became synonymous, not with the cowboys he so often portrayed, or the Indians he so often shot, but with a man called Jonas Grumby, a sailor whose name was changed after the pilot episode to the one you know today, the ubiquitous title by which he was called every day for the rest of his life.

Such was the fateful trip of Alan Hale, a great character actor who just happened. to be an actor of great character. A man whose 12-hour odyssey from St. George, Utah to Los Angeles, California, earned him a three-hour tour to a deserted island that wasn't really deserted. An island where he was known as the skipper, even though the real boss was a skinny kid with a funny hat called Gilligan. Anyway, that's the way I heard it. The story you just heard is true, at least the way I heard it. Thank you, Chuck Klausmeyer, for producing this podcast. Matthew Zipkin, thank you for hitting the buttons over here at One Union Recording Studios.

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