March 28, 2024

A town of extras

Jay Howe goes from one role to another

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Jay Howe of Greenfield recollects that Norman Lear, the director of the movie “Cold Turkey,” which was filmed here 50 years ago, was someone who was astute in terms of finding individuals who fit the bill for available roles in his productions. He was also good at finding iconic landmarks to use in his productions.

“Cold Turkey” was a movie filmed in Greenfield, Orient, and other surrounding areas about a fictional town called Eagle Rock based on an unpublished novel “I’m Giving Them Up for Good” by Margaret and Neil Rau.

The movie was filmed in 1969 but was shelved for two years before it was released in 1971 as developers finally decided to overcome fears of its box office potential and let it fly.

The movie follows the story of advertising executive Merwin Wren attempting to compare the empathy of Big Tobacco to the nobility of winning the Nobel Peace Prize by offering $25,000, with the help of Valiant Tobacco Company, to any city or town in America that would stop smoking, going cold turkey for 30 days.

As mentioned, Howe remembers Lear’s ability to spot landmarks that were iconic and should be used in his productions. Here, a couple of those iconic landmarks were the Adair County Courthouse and the facade of the E.E. Warren Opera House, now known as the Warren Cultural Center.

Howe sees the more recent renovations and historical preservation of these two structures as ways Greenfield still hasn’t shrunk from the community pride that it showed so loudly during and after the filming of that movie.

Howe was in “Cold Turkey” as a newsman seen questioning the Reverend Clayton Brooks, a character in the movie played by Dick Van Dyke. Howe held a brief case in one hand that likely would have held the tape for recording an interview and a microphone in the other hand.

A town of extras

Howe, 79, who has practiced law in Greenfield for many decades, had a very close proximity to most of the filming for “Cold Turkey” that happened on the square.

He's now in close proximity to the movie again because he's playing Lear in the production of "A Town of Extras: The Filming of Cold Turkey," a play that is written and directed by former Adair County Free Press editor Tammy Pearson.

This play, Pearson’s first, began with an idea of the Friends of the Sidey Collection to do something to commemorate the 50th “Cold Turkey” anniversary. First, two game shows called “What’s the Line in ’69?” were performed this fall to help raise money. The shows utilized photos taken from the pages of the 1969 Free Press editions.

Being a writer, Pearson offered her talent, using Ed Sidey’s “Cold Turkey” coverage and photos, along with her interviewing of locals. Events were assembled by Pearson in an insightful “look back” at 1969 as our local communities interacted with Hollywood. “A Town of Extras” will be presented the weekend of Thanksgiving (7 p.m. Nov. 29 and 30 and 2 p.m. Dec. 1) by the Cumberland Rose Players in the Warren Cultural Center.

Howe remembers from reading Lear’s autobiography that he had a troubled childhood with a father who was in and out of trouble with the law at times.

A generational war was on in the 1960s between the younger generation and the older generation. Also, the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War were both top news headline producers.

All these themes were ones Lear played off of for “Cold Turkey,” but maybe more so in his sitcoms such as “All in the Family,” one he developed with Bud Yorkin.

There was usually a message somewhere in Lear’s work, Howe recalls.

Lear, now 97, lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

In the movies

Howe picked up his newsman role in “Cold Turkey” because his then wife, Anita, was the secretary to the casting director, Jerry Best. Extras in the movie received $15 per day but Howe received $120 for two appearances and was on a different payment schedule because of his specific speaking line.

Howe’s part was filmed in front of what locals knew as Fry’s Drug Store. It was located where the Warren Cultural Center lobby is now and was Howe’s preferred stop for a cup of coffee each day at that time.

Other than a few school plays in the late 1950s, Howe had never acted before.

His part in the movie was simple and to the point.

“I uttered a few words. I said, ‘Reverend Brooks, tell me about what’s going on today,’ or something simple like that,” Howe said. “Because I uttered something, that made me fall under the union rules that required I be paid $120.”

When he was selected for his role in the movie, Howe had returned to his hometown from serving in the Army one year prior and had began practicing law. His practice was located where The Annex is located now, on the north side of the square near where he and Willard Olesen now house their practice.

Howe remembers being able to peer out of his office window and see much of the filming of the movie as it happened. He says Greenfield was at the peak of its population at that time — he estimates there were around 2,200 residents then — and many extras were from right here in Adair County, though others came from as far as Des Moines or near Council Bluffs.

“We had people from all over southwest Iowa involved in these crowd scenes. I’m a native of Greenfield, so it was a big deal because a lot of us thought that was going to put our hometown on the map, which it did. Towns like this, even back then, they were wondering about their future and they wanted to portray the community in a positive way,” he said. “Even though there were a number of negative themes in the movie about the stress of the community and what we were doing, Greenfield has always had a lot of pride and optimism about its future.”

Looking back

Looking back a half century, as he readies himself to portray Lear in “A Town of Extras,” Howe still thinks “Cold Turkey” was a good thing for Greenfield. The pride and optimism the community showed then is still intact today. Themes that were in the movie are also still relevant.

“I think the themes of the movie about smoking, human nature, hypocrisy — all of the things that showed up in that movie — they’re still just as relevant today as they were then. I think you could say the movie’s still relevant in today’s world,” Howe said. “Part of it is just to keep the recollection of the movie alive as a matter of community pride.”