Buzz always wanted to be a movie star and so from a real young age,
he got to practising. Not with anything sensible like acting, that would
have been too clever, no – he got practising with signing his
autograph.
“You got to start somewhere” was what he told me.
When
people on Main Street saw Buzz coming their way they used to cross over
just to avoid him. Buzz put it down to folks being overwhelmed with his
natural good looks.
If ya didn’t avoid him, before you knew it,
Buzz would be staring into your face and asking if you wanted his
autograph. Everyone and I mean everyone in town, had several copies of
Buzz’s signature.
I remember seeing the minister walking to church
one Sunday morning with Buzz’s writing on that white bit of the collar
they wear. How Buzz got it there, God only knows (and he probably does).
“I’m a good looking kid and if they don’t want me to act in their movies, then they don’t know what they’re missing.”
One
Saturday Buzz decided he’d do just that – show them what they were
missing, that is. That weekend the weather was real toasting and Buzz
got me to borrow (borrow without askin’) my granddaddy’s movie camera.
“I kinda see myself as a cowboy, don’t ya think?” I just nodded, hell it was best to just go along with anything Buzz said.
I
ain’t sure where Buzz got the gun from, but I do remember a story a
while back about Buzz’s uncle Joshua who was thrown in jail for holding
up a burger joint. Somehow the store owner convinced his uncle Joshua to
take some French fries and a soda rather than the contents of the money
drawer. Still, he went to jail all the same. I don’t remember any gun
being used but I guess that’s where Buzz got it.
Buzz wanted me to
be the baddy and the plan was for me to walk down Main Street and
pretend to call him out; cussing and saying he was a coward. Then Buzz
would come out of the saloon (it was really Mrs Bat’s Craft Shop) and
challenge me to a shoot out in the street.
I was the one that was to get shot; Buzz felt that a man about to make his mark in the movies shouldn’t take the bullet.
I guess you should really check if a gun is loaded or not.
I’m
just saying, as it would have saved a lot of trouble. I’ve never seen a
grown man being shot in the bee-hind before but Samuel Brooks hollered
and screamed like the world was coming to an end. It was only a bullet
in the butt, what was the big problem?
Mrs Brooks wanted to hang
Buzz right there and then, the way they did with her Daddy years back. I
guess two people don’t make a lynch mob, but it scared the hell out of
me all the same.
Buzz was hauled in front of Judge Pickering and
folks were telling me that Buzz would probably get the electric chair or
something. At the time (I was young then) I thought giving someone an
electric chair was a real strange thing to do. Where would ya keep it?
Anyway a lot of people were saying that Buzz came from a real bad family, didn’t he have an uncle who’d stolen diamonds?
Funny, how French fries get exaggerated like that.
Anyways,
I had filmed the whole thing and we were allowed to show it in court.
The judge said it was okay to show a movie. Some folks brought in
popcorn. From the movie, you could see that as Buzz was pulling the
trigger, he shut his eyes and didn’t really mean to hit anyone. At the
end of the movie some of Buzz’s family started clapping – so Buzz got up
and took a bow. Which I have to say was pretty cool. Buzz started
waving, movie star like, to the folks upstairs in the gallery.
As I left the courthouse that day, I saw Buzz up at the bench giving Judge Pickering his autograph.
bobby stevenson 2012
More Me and Buzz stories:
Me and Buzz
Me and Buzz and Growin'
Me and Buzz and Fishin'
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