Growing up in Southern California, one of the things I liked to do in summer to while away the days was to watch Hollywood make movies in our town and to see the stars in person.
Seemed like there was always summer filming going on in Sunland, at the park or Lancaster Lake or somewhere. Many movies were made during my growing-up years, but my and my friends’ favorites were the Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller, who had won five Olympic gold medals as a U.S. swimmer. His second career as an actor began in 1932 when MGM decided to make a film based on the Tarzan books by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
My brother and I had a good friend who lived at Lancaster Lake, where his grandpa, “Pop” Lancaster, owned and operated the concessions. Since he worked for his grandpa all of his growing-up years, we had ready access to the goings-on at the lake. Whenever a movie was going to be filmed there we would know right away. This buddy, still a good friend 70 years later, describes us watching a scene being shot of Tarzan wrestling an alligator:
“I could not believe what I was witnessing! The alligator’s mouth was wired shut before he was put in the lake, then Tarzan took off his robe and gingerly stepped into the water. Somebody yelled ‘Action!’ The alligator just laid there and had to be prodded until he moved. After they got the shots they wanted, Tarzan stepped out of the lake, had a big beach towel put around him, someone gave him a cup of coffee, a rubber knife floated to the surface — and others wrestled the gator back into his cage!”
How disappointed we were to find out our hero Tarzan was not genuine, but just Hollywood hype.
We spent many a day watching the filming. As long as we were quiet and stayed out of the way, the film company did not seem to care or even to notice us. One particular scene really got our attention. A case of champagne was brought out to use in a dinner scene; we watched where they put the case and filed this important information away in our memory box. We had to have a bottle of that champagne to share at a later time (we were all around 14 years old)! We decided to sneak back to the lake after dark, after everyone from the film company had gone home — and it needed to be that night, because who knew what would happen next day?
Our plan all set, we went into action. We reasoned, “Why borrow just one bottle when there are four of us? How about one each?”
Nobody wanted to hide the bottles at their house, but we finally agreed to stash them all together under one buddy’s house. We would decide later on a special occasion to open one up and, hopefully, have enough for a glass each. Can’t drink warm champagne, so our plan was for each of us to bring one tray of ice from home and fill the old reliable wooden bucket to chill it.
When the big day arrived, we put two bottles on ice and waited what seemed like hours (probably 15 or 20 minutes) for it to chill! (We were now five — another friend had found out about our heist and wanted in on our celebration.)
The cork flew off, we passed the bottle around and everybody had a swig. The bottle went around twice and it was gone. We got loud and giggly and seemed to have trouble walking straight. Then it happened! As the second bottle was removed from the ice water, the label came off — revealing another label that said, “Hollywood sparkling soda, used as prop. For stage and screen.”
We all sobered up immediately — a great lesson of mind over matter and the power of suggestion!
One bottle remains today. One of “Pop” Lancaster’s grandsons has kept it all this time. The fourth one went missing. Maybe it’ll turn up on the “Antiques Roadshow” someday?
Everybody Has a Story welcomes nonfiction contributions, 1,000 words maximum, and relevant photographs. Email is the best way to send materials so we don’t have to retype your words or borrow original photos. Send to: neighbors@columbian.com or P.O. Box 180, Vancouver WA, 98666. Call “Everybody Has an Editor” Scott Hewitt, 360-735-4525, with questions.
