3.4.10 Thursday
Our old friend Stephen greeted us with hugs the next morning, and we all sat and enjoyed breakfast with a new friend, Michael Scheffe, who was the construction coordinator of the DeLorean Time Machine in the movie ‘Back to the Future.’ His reputation for being a really nice guy is an understatement, and his smile is contagious. Later, we’re joined by Bernd Kruyt, a Dutch television director, producer and filmmaker whose work we’ll see tomorrow; showcasing the flying taxicab from BTTF, part 2. (I know –a lot of Back to the Future talk here, but after all. . . ‘that’s how we roll hover.’)
Our first appearance was at the Kilby School, where the car actually enjoyed receiving hundreds of tiny fingerprints! It was fun to watch class after class file out of the school and circle around the car. They had been prepared by their teachers for our arrival, and many had little clear sandwich bags filled with coins to place into Mr. Compassion. I quickly saw a height issue, and grabbed a wooden step stool from inside. One by one they would climb up and drop their pennies into the slot, and react to the resulting recording. A row of teachers, coaches, principals, and staff formed, all taking pictures and enjoying the sight. A science instructor from a nearby technical came to be a part of it, in his own unique version of ‘Doc Brown’ character. He riddled the kids, and posed for photos. Further adding to the circus was an ingenious device presented by a local special effects company. The device, called ‘Flogos’ creates dense soap bubble foam, filled with helium rather than oxygen. The foam is extruded through a large template to form shapes, then released into the air to float away!
After Kilby school we had a nice lunch at a ‘Crocodile’ restaurant with our breakfast bunch plus Cynthia Burkhead with the film festival and a fellah who makes parts for Knight Rider cars. (He was a fan of Scheffe, and wanted to spend some time with him!) Stories were shared about building cars and travels along the highways. Since Oli has a fear of gators, he ordered gator bites, which were good.
Tom Silknitter, from PA is here to enjoy the 25th Anniversary and to take photos. In fact, many of the photos illustrating this portion of the blog are credited to Tom and his professional, skillful talents! (Thank you, Tom!)
Tom is also a BTTF encyclopedia. We spent hours pouring over his photo album and then visited the Library to see the BTTF display Stephen set up, very cool, but what was more fun was watching Oli, Stephen and Tom discuss which movie moment each piece was from. A call sheet with Eric Stoltz’s name listed was a subtle treasure. We are such geeks! A tour of the lion habitat (the schools mascots) and then off to the Zodiac Theatre for another appearance.
We were greeted by a crowd waiting to see our car. Peyton, a young man with autism made his donation and sat, or as I kept saying, ‘set’ in the car. My southern good ol’ gal was in high gear. Peyton was fascinated with the car, all the buttons and lights. Peyton’s father was just as fascinated watching his son enjoy the DeLorean Time Machine. The night was filled with great fun. We were at the Zodiac for two hours, took lots of pictures and enjoyed wonderful conversation with students, film buffs and folks who just stopped to see the DeLorean. As the sun set, the car really started to sparkle and our time finished with a flurry of, ‘Oh wait please one more picture!!!’
Then we blasted off for dinner with Bob Gale, James Tolken and his engaging wife Parmelee, and the whole gang from breakfast and lunch. Claudia Wells and her sister Jennifer joined us later.
Great food and even better company! Thank you UNA and Florence Chamber of Commerce.
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