The year was 1970. My wife and I had just recently married. We were
both working at a Summer Stock outdoor theatre in Danville,Ky named
Pioneer Playhouse. One of the actors with us that Summer was a young
unheard of actor named Jim Varney. Jim was the life of every party.
He made that Summer real special to us. He would try to move objects
with his fingers, and we would try right along with him. He told us
that if we would stare at his face in the full moon that his face
would turn into a ghastly looking creature. We lined up and each
took our turn staring at Jim's face. We each thought his face
changed and one actor after staring at Jim's face left screaming.
One night Jim took me up to an empty room over a store. He told me
that there was the presence of a ghost and that if I took one step
forward I could feel the pressure of the ghost pushing me backwards.
I took one step and sure enough I felt a pressure pushing me
backwards. One night at theatre in Tenn. Jim held a seance with the
cast of the show. We were trying to raise up the spirit of an actor
that had been murdered in the theatre years before. As we all held
hands and Jim called up the spirit of the dead a a loud noise was
heard in the otherwise empty theatre. We all got scared and decided
the end the seance immediately. My most memorable moment was playing
opposite Jim Varney in a musical that was written by Billy Ed Wheeler
named "Fire on the Mountain". Jim and I had one song together
called "It's all in your point of view". I never saw Jim in person
after the show but I never forgot him. Sometimes I find myself
singing the song we sang together and remembering the fun times we
had. The most memorable quote from Jim came in 1970 when no one in
the world knew who he was. He said: "I'm gonna bust into the movies
and I'm gonna do it this year." It took you a little longer than a
year, but you did it Jim.

From an old friend of Pioneer Playhouse
Mike