Help needed to finish 'Bronco Billy II'

If there’s one movie Idahoans can relate to through personal experience more than any other, it would almost have to be Clint Eastwood’s “Bronco Billy.”

The movie was filmed in 1979 at more than 20 locations in Southwest Idaho — Lake Lowell, the Nampa and Boise train depots, the Meridian Speedway and Fort Boise Park to name a few. Hundreds of Idahoans watched it being filmed, were hired as extras for crowd scenes and, in some cases, had speaking parts.

My wife and I and our then small daughters were among them. More on that later.

For those who weren’t here then or never saw the movie, “Bronco Billy” told the story of a stuntman-star of a rundown traveling circus. Eastwood played the title role and directed the movie. He was quoted as saying that “if, as a director I ever wanted to say something, you’ll find it in ‘Bronco Billy.’”

Caldwell resident Sandy Kershner wrote a book about the making of “Bronco Billy.” “On the Trail of Bronco Billy” has gone through three editions, the third of which was published in 2016.

It all started with a headstone. Kershner was doing some volunteer cleanup work in a cemetery when she came across a handmade headstone bearing the name “Art Yensen.” Yensen, who lived in Parma, was the Santa Claus at Nampa’s Karcher Mall for 22 Christmases.

“I decided that he would be a good person for me to research,” she said. “I found out that he was an extra in 'Paint Your Wagon' and 'Bronco Billy' and that 'Bronco Billy' had been filmed in a lot of places around here.

“When I learned that, I got sidetracked and went crazy on it. So many people were so enthusiastic about the movie because they’d been in it and told me about Clint Eastwood and the filming. That’s what made me want to do the book.”

Kershner is working on a new and expanded version of the book, titled “On the Trail of Bronco Billy II.”

But she can’t finish it. She’s 77, is losing her vision and is looking for someone to take over the project.

“My parents had the same problem, but not as bad as my sister and me,” she said. “We’re identical twins and are both losing our eyesight.

“I’m looking for one or more people to finish the new book. It will be bigger with a lot more stories. It wouldn’t have to be a writer or an editor, just someone who loves the project and wanted to finish it. Someone like me. I’m not a real writer.”

I was surprised to learn that the woman who has devoted so much time to doing books about “Bronco Billy” wasn’t there for the filming (her husband was in the Air Force and they were living in Japan at the time) when so many Idahoans watched it, were extras or had bit parts.

The Woodwards were in an indoor crowd scene, and at one point in the movie I can be seen running after one of my then small daughters in a carnival scene filmed at the Meridian Speedway.

One of my newspaper assignments while the movie was being filmed was to spend a day shadowing Candy Loving, Playboy Magazine’s “25th Anniversary Playmate.” We were at a party that evening at what’s now the Riverside Hotel when Eastwood dropped in, surveyed the crowd and made a beeline for Loving, who, as you’d expect, was a knockout. He introduced himself, as if he needed an introduction, and the three of us had a brief conversation. Brief because it was interrupted by a photographer.

“Hey, how about the three of you get in that bathtub and I’ll take your picture?” he said.

Three of us in a bathtub? He had to be kidding.

He wasn’t.

It was a large, heart-shaped bathtub in what, if memory serves, was the honeymoon suite. To my surprise, Eastwood and Loving obliged him by hopping into it (fully clothed). I joined them. If it was good enough for people as famous as they were, it was good enough for me.

The photographer wasn’t one I recognized; nor have I seen him since. But I’d really like to have a copy of that picture. It isn’t every day, after all, that you get your picture taken in a bathtub with Clint Eastwood and a famous model. If the photographer reads this, I’d love it if he emailed me at the address that follows the end of this column.

Loving, incidentally, could not have been nicer. She also was smart (she went on to earn a masters degree and work as an account executive in the health insurance industry), fun to talk to and didn’t suffer fools gladly.

“So you’re this year’s bunny?” a reporter at one of the television stations asked her.

“We’re not bunnies,” she said. “We’re people.”

She said that on television! I was in her corner from that moment on.

Between Loving’s visit and Eastwood’s movie, it was an interesting time to be in the Treasure Valley. Kirshner’s new book, if she finds someone to help her with it, should provide a fresh perspective on the filming of a movie in which countless Idahoans participated.

As mentioned above, you don’t have to be an editor or a writer to finish what could be an interesting and entertaining book. If you’re interested, she’d like you to write to her. Her address is: Sandy Kirshner, 18969 Upper Pleasant Ridge Road, Caldwell, ID 83607.