Columnist Susan Snyder: Beatty ready for fall season

Monday, June 13, 2005 | 8:15 a.m.

Beatty's next big tourism stunt may come as easily as falling off a building.

If all goes as planned, the tiny town 116 miles north of Las Vegas will be the new, and permanent, home of the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame and Museum.

"It's going to bring a lot of business to this area," said Sue Hackett, executive director of the Beatty Chamber of Commerce.

It's the same prediction Hackett made back in February, when she accepted the chamber job. She has known John Hagner, the stuntmen collection's owner, for 20 years. And she has been helping him look for a city in which to place his nonprofit venture for half that time.

"When I interviewed for this job, they said they wanted to be a destination town, rather than a pass-through town," Hackett said last week. "From the first day I mentioned (the hall of fame), we've had support."

More support came Wednesday night, when town council members approved purchase of signpost banners naming Beatty the "Future Home of the Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame." Organizers also have secured a $1-a-year lease on some land at the north end of town.

All that stands between a big idea and a groundbreaking is $100,000 and some moving expenses to get Hagner's extensive collection out of storage in Washington state.

Hagner, 77, is in the process of moving to Beatty from California. He has been searching for the perfect town to display his collection since 1997. That's when Moab, Utah, city officials didn't renew the agreement on the building in which he had shown the collection since 1988. But it wasn't a good fit.

"Tourism always came to Moab. The problem is they were not there for that kind of (entertainment)," Hagner said while in Beatty last week. "They were there for Jeeps, bikes and hikes. They couldn't care less about the movies."

Hagner worked as an artist and stuntman in the movie and television industry for some 50 years. He was stunt double for Walter Pigeon in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and also among those hurling pies in the famous bakery scene in the movie "The Great Race."

"We threw 3,500 pies in four days," he recalled, laughing.

He played a henchman for the Joker, Mr. Freeze and other villains in the 1960s' "Batman" television series.

"Every time they showed one of the words -- like 'bam!' -- it was to hide the fact that we really missed throwing the punch by a foot," Hagner said.

He used to own the Batman costume that belonged to title star Adam West's stunt double. It was patched at the elbows, knees and various other places that took hits. But the guy who donated it took it back a few years ago to sell it and help pay for his divorce. It is the only item ever to be taken back, Hagner said.

"I've never, ever sold any of it," he said.

The collection includes the Lone Ranger's mask, John Wayne's boots and dancing shoes Gene Kelly wore in "Singin' in the Rain."

There are thousands of pages of original scripts, hundreds of reels of film and 400 concrete tablets of hand- and footprints of the stars -- more than are displayed outside that famous Hollywood theater.

And there are stories, such as one about the stuntman who taught Charlton Heston to drive a chariot for the race in "Ben Hur," and another about how they made it look like a man died in the event.

No one was hurt or killed in the chariot scene, Hagner said. But it wasn't always that way. The collection includes the hobble device used to make horses fall before animal rights activists halted the practice in 1938. Horses injured by its use were often shot.

They used 100 rodeo riders and horses in the charge scene of the 1936 film "Charge of the Light Brigade." Hagner said it left 38 horses and eight riders dead.

In addition to displays, the Beatty museum is to have stunt demonstrations using audience volunteers and offer workshops to future stuntmen and stuntwomen, Hagner said.

"I feel just the way Walt Disney must have felt when he saw Anaheim," Hagner said of Beatty. "I've been looking for a place that didn't already have too much going on."

They have launched a donation drive for the building fund. For a donation of at least $50, patrons will receive a matted, limited-edition, signed and numbered print of one of Hagner's movie-star drawings.

For an order form, call the chamber, (866) 736-3716 or (775) 533-2424. Or e-mail beatty@beattynv.com.