52W Mark II – Week 16: Should Be A Movie

My grandfather was in a movie – sort of.

Every week, participants in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks are invited to post on the hebdomadal theme at her Facebook group, Generations Cafe. In my post there for last week, I noted that it’s been quite the struggle participating in the challenge this year. For every week’s theme this year, it felt like I had already written about the current topic – sometimes more than once. It’s getting hard – challenging even! – to think of something new that fit, which I also found interesting enough to me to write about.

This week, I’m not going to fight it, I’m just going to go along with it. So you’re not experiencing deja vu when reading about my grandfather, Leo Burgess, and his brush with Hollywood. 

My grandfather worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway for over 30 years, first as a brakeman and later as a conductor. During his time with the CPR, he worked on the train crews for movies like Silver Streak and Superman: The Movie.

Working on Superman was one of the highlights of my grandfather’s life. He was always proud to talk about meeting one of his favourite actors during filming, Glenn Ford.

During the eulogy at my grandfather’s memorial service, one of his friends told an anecdote that suggests my grandfather felt that he had gotten familiar with the cast and crew. The scene took six days to shoot. Apparently during a break in filming, Ford was talking to a group of railway workers when my grandfather sauntering up, put his arm around the actor, and said, “How’s it going, Glenn?”

Today my parents live about a 30 minute drive from where this was filmed. The tracks are gone, but the memories live on.