Last week I told you I went to ROCKFORD50FEST! It was a really kewl time. I really enjoyed myself. I should add that I had a nice time with my brother as well. We have not spent time like that together as adults – ever. I got to meet a lot of of really nice down to earth people. This included some actors and crew and their families who are still left from the show. It also included SUPER FANS and total of about 150 attendees in all. There was an unplanned theme that came from the Testimony. This Testimony was not only about the star of the show James Garner, but also about the set and atmosphere of Rockford Files.
The Key Note Speaker was the author of The Garner Files – John Winokur. The next speaker was Rob Howe who had just walked onto the set in in 1976 just to get Garner’s autograph. He would go onto become a friend to Jim Garner and work on the set as a stand-in, and crew member. I would be remiss to not mention Chester Grimes, who was a stand-in cast member on many episodes, but was also closest to Jim Garner up until his death.
I had a great time meeting everyone and learning more about the goodness of people that is found in all kinds of places – some of these places are not easily accessible by most of us. That is places like Universal Studios and the Rockford Files Set. My favorite statements from Rockford50Fest! came from Chester Grimes. He made statements that were relatable to us like “I went to work.” My favorite statement he made was how when we watch things on television it takes us away from our daily grind and gives us a space to find some peace. In the case of Rockford Files, peace was not just in the script and programing, It was being lived out on the Set. Powerful impact. Great stories were told by all.
The Testimony was quite humbling. As the day went on, each of the speakers spoke of kindness, peace, humility and of course funny stories about Jim Garner as well the atmosphere of the Set. It really was a nice story. I do have a favorite moment that took place.
Milt Kogan who was in the very first episode and two more earlier episodes spoke later in the day. He spoke about Jim Garner’s kindness and was in my opinion, most humble of all the folks who were present. After Milt spoke, there was a break for lunch. A SUPER FAN who is a Rockford File script collector came over to Milt’s table to give him something special. The Fan had an actual script from the very first episode of the series which featured Milt Kogan as the bad guy. I was able to capture this happen: After the thanks you’s subsided, Milt asked the Fan to autograph the script he was giving to him. I caught this on camera. Here is Milt Kogan getting a fan’s autograph. Ain’t that somethin?
