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By Dan Kelly | dkelly@kcstar.com
Video by Randy Mason | tvdrmason@gmail.com

If Helen Ostenberg’s life is turned into a movie script — and her story line does read a bit like a Lifetime channel classic — the opening scene would be in the streets of Kansas City.

Our heroine is maneuvering her tan Ford Taurus station wagon through downtown traffic with a man in the passenger seat.

At 10th and Baltimore, a van in the adjoining lane angles sharply in front of her, causing her to slam on the brakes. Her passenger yells something at the van’s driver, who cranes his neck to see where the ruckus is coming from.

Boy, does he get a surprise.

“I’ll always remember the look on the driver’s face when he turned around and came face to face with Paul Newman,” Ostenberg said.

Yes, that Paul Newman.

The year was 1989, and Newman was in Kansas City filming the movie “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.” Ostenberg had volunteered to help with the production. At the time, she was a corporate lawyer in her late 30s, but she put her legal career on the back burner for 10 weeks.

She wound up driving for the film’s two stars, Newman and wife Joanne Woodward, which led to a plot twist that 30 years later still has her shaking her head.

By the time “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” premiered in Kansas City in 1990, Ostenberg had given up the law and taken off for Hollywood.

“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?” she said. “But I had no qualms, no doubts about it at all.”

Within three years, she not only was succeeding as a production assistant, but she also was married to Robert Elswit, an Academy Award-winning cinematographer. Ostenberg would become visual effects producer on the blockbusters “The Perfect Storm” and “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.”

“I could never have imagined it,” she said.

Although her story likely is the most dramatic, area residents can tell hundreds of others from the time Hollywood came to Kansas City.

John Haug queried “What’s Your KCQ?” with this:

In the film “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,” I was astounded to see my grandfather’s portrait in a scene at the Jackson County Courthouse. At its 30-year anniversary of release, what other Kansas City connections are included?

KCQ is an ongoing series in which The Star and the Kansas City Public Library partner to answer readers’ queries about our region. Haug told KCQ he had watched the movie in the late 1990s and saw the portrait of his grandfather, Hopkins B. Shain of the Kansas City Court of Appeals. Newman portrayed a lawyer who argued a case in the courtroom.

Well, John, the film’s Kansas City connections are almost endless. But 30 years after “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” debuted, we’ll take a stab at rounding up some of the most intriguing ones, including a TV personality who played a starlet, the mayor who would be mayor and the house that became a landmark.

In the end, the movie was largely well received, although it was hardly a blockbuster. One criticism is the lack of a traditional story line.

“It’s the hardest film I’ve ever done,” said director James Ivory, who, as usual, teamed with producer Ismail Merchant. “There’s no plot as such, just the river of life flowing along.”

Local boy makes good

All Kansas City connections to “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” lead directly to author Evan S. Connell.

Born and raised here, Connell turned to his hometown as the setting for the best-selling “Mrs. Bridge,” published in 1959, and its sequel “Mr. Bridge,” published 10 years later. The movie about an emotionally stifled upper-middle-class family is an amalgamation of the two.

By the time the movie was shot here, Connell had long since left Kansas City for parts West. The University of Kansas graduate lived in San Francisco for some 35 years before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, just four months before filming started here. He had written another best-seller, “Son of the Morning Star,” which ABC made into a TV movie.

Before spending several weeks as a consultant on the script, he hadn’t been here since the death of his father 15 years earlier, even though his sister, Barbara Zimmerman, lived in Mission Hills.

Steve Paul, who was arts editor for The Star during the making of “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,” is writing a book about Connell. “A ‘Quaint Mania’: The Writing Life of Evan S. Connell” from the University of Missouri Press will be out next fall if all goes well.

“He never forgot that he was from Kansas City,” Paul said. “He didn’t love Kansas City by any means, but he couldn’t escape the fact he was a Midwesterner.”

As for The Star’s coverage, which included dozens of stories over the 10-week shoot, Paul said, “We obviously thought this was a major deal for Kansas City. There was just a great interest. Even now, I know so many people who had something to do with it.”

Kansas City Starlet

After playing the memorable role of Paquita, the girlfriend of the main characters’ son, Kathy Quinn-Byrne never chased the Hollywood dream. Why would she?

She was already living her dream.

Quinn-Byrne, an Emmy award-winning journalist, has been a familiar face on local television for decades, currently reporting on the Fox 4 morning show. Born and raised in Kansas City, she is the mother of three and married to Ian Byrne of the local Celtic band The Elders.

As Douglas Bridge’s sweetheart apparently from the wrong side of the tracks, Quinn-Byrne had a steamy scene with Robert Sean Leonard, who had become something of a heartthrob after his role in the 1989 movie “Dead Poets Society.”

She might or might not have been a bit older than Leonard at the time, already married, a mother and working on local radio and as a fill-in on Channel 41’s “AM Live.”

“I played a 19-year-old,” Quinn-Byrne said. “I remember James Ivory asking how old I was, and I said, ‘How old do you want me to be?’”

Spoken like a true Hollywood starlet.

Quinn-Byrne took another step in that direction by appearing in the 1992 Ray Liotta-Kiefer Sutherland movie “Article 99,” which also filmed in Kansas City. But that was as far as her movie career progressed.

“I always like to perform,” she said, “but I wasn’t going to run off to New York or anywhere. I was just lucky those films came to Kansas City.

“I had a family. If I was single, it might have been different. But family comes first.”

Newman's Own Empire

In a town where TV weather casters qualify as major celebrities, the presence of Paul Newman was tantamount to a visit from royalty.

Sure, The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson had performed in Kansas City, but they arrived, sang and left. No way were you going to see any of them at the neighborhood wine store.

But that’s exactly where regular folks saw Newman — more than once.

From early September to late November, Paul Newman sightings were all the rage in Kansas City — a locksmith and a cleaners in Westport, the President Hotel downtown, even a go-kart track in Overland Park.

Radio stations promoted “Newman Watches” urging listeners to call in if they spotted him.

Rod Anderson, owner of the Hereford House, told The Star in 1997 that Newman ate a memorable meal there: “When he left, everybody started taking ketchup bottles, salt and pepper shakers, the knives he touched, the forks. Somebody took the plate. I wish my bus staff was that efficient.”

(For the record, Anderson was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2013 for his part in a 2008 arson that destroyed the downtown landmark.)

Murray Nixon told The Star in 2014 that Newman visited her now-closed Murray’s Ice Cream & Cookies in Westport. He ordered Ultimint Mint.

“I was pretty impressed,” Nixon said.

A dozen Bishop Miege High School students planted themselves outside the house used for much of the film’s shooting and raised a banner reading, “We love Paul Newman.” They were surprised when the 64-year-old actor emerged from the house to chat with them, answer questions and pose for pictures. “He was very nice,” Miege senior Tricia Marsee said.

Jackson County employee Sue Romine was at the courthouse when Newman filmed a courtroom scene: “He’s old and very small — he’s just little. But it was pretty neat. He’s pretty cute, still. I was thrilled. Now he’s just old and sexy instead of young and sexy.”

Extras, Extras

Hundreds of regular folks responded when producers put out the call for extras. Each one came away with $25 for up to 14 hours of work, plus a story to tell.

Richard L. Berkley, then the mayor of Kansas City, challenged his acting chops by playing the mayor of Kansas City handing out medals at an Eagle Scout ceremony. His one day of shooting started at 7 a.m. and ended at 9 p.m., though he took a morning break to give an address at the opening session of the Future Farmers of America Convention in Municipal Auditorium. He skipped an evening City Council meeting.

His only line: “Congratulations.”

Unfortunately, neither he nor his line made it into the movie.

“It was devastating,” the former mayor joked 20 years later. “The whole process was fun. And it was great for Kansas City to have the movie made here.”

Tough to Topper

John “Topper” Johntz made quite an impression on Newman.

Johntz, a local lawyer and art collector, opened his Prairie Village house to the filmmakers, who borrowed a bevy of art and vintage collectibles to use on the movie’s sets. Among them was a Tiffany lamp seen in Mr. Bridge’s office.

But the lamp likely isn’t what Newman remembered about Johntz.

He also served as an extra for a jazz-night party scene, and as such shared the makeup room with the movie legend. Unfortunately, Johntz wanted to record his brush with celebrity for posterity.

“I thought I ought to start taking pictures,” he said, “but I didn’t want to be obvious about it. So, I had a little camera that I could almost palm in my hand, and I would hold it down straight this way … then take pictures.”

He got away with “a completely successful surreptitious endeavor” until Newman lodged a complaint with an assistant director.

“And he was nice about it, but he told them, go over and tell that guy to quit taking pictures.”

Johntz’s dancing scenes at the party fared no better. They landed on the cutting-room floor.

Weather or not

The film spans many years and all four seasons, so our variable climate was on full display — rain, wind, snow and even a tornado.

The men largely responsible for creating the on-demand weather were Jeff Owens and Steve Goldblatt, who met when both worked as puppeteers on a Worlds of Fun TV commercial. Owens, who studied mechanical engineering in college, and Goldblatt, who graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute, partnered on this and other local TV and movie productions.

A flick in time

Saundra McClain can boast that she came between a legendary Hollywood couple.

Check out the credits at the end of “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,” as well as the movie’s listing on the IMBD website. There, right after “Paul Newman” and just before “Joanne Woodward” is “Saundra McClain.”

Those credits are based on the order of appearance, but still, it’s something.

Playing the family maid Harriet Rogers, McClain had several scenes with both title characters. But the one that made the biggest impression was when Harriet and Walter Bridge (Newman) are riding together in a car, returning home after she was hauled off to a Kansas City police station because her male companion had run afoul of the law.

It was an emotional scene, especially for McClain.

“Something happened,” she said in a recent Zoom call. “I wasn’t upset, but I was having trouble with something, and Paul just touched me and he said, ‘Hey, it’s just a flick.’

“And I said, ‘Maybe it’s just a flick to you.’

“‘Don’t worry about it, it’s just a flick.’’’

After filming, McClain got plenty of TV and movie work, including earning the distinction of playing six characters on the “Law & Order” shows.

Gwyneth’s mom

Before she became known as Gwyneth Paltrow’s mother, Blythe Danner was a big TV and movie star. Not Gwyneth Paltrow big, but pretty big.

Danner, who played Mrs. Bridge’s best friend, made more of an impression on the locals than any actor aside from the titular couple themselves. While Kyra Sedgwick, who played one of the Bridges’ daughters, shuttled between Kansas City and Chicago on days off to be with her husband of barely a year, Kevin Bacon, Danner was seen enjoying what Kansas City had to offer.

Jerry Harrington, owner of Tivoli Cinemas, said Danner and other cast and crew members spent a lot of time in Westport establishments, including the record store Classical Westport.

“Blythe Danner was a lot of fun,” Harrington said. “One day she was in Westport, she was in Classical Westport, and she was late to go to this shoot because the people picking her up, their car broke down. So someone who worked at Classical Westport said, ‘Well, if you want to go in my pickup truck, I’ll take you.’ She thought that was so wonderful. She had a grand time, and everyone really liked her.”

Also impressed was jazz musician Milt Abel, who performed with Allen Monroe, Charles Perkins and Richard Ross in the aforementioned party scene. During a break, Danner joined the group to entertain those on the set with her rendition of “Doodling.”

“She sang it with us,” Abel said. “She’s darned good.”

Musical mastery

The local quartet of Abel on bass, Monroe on piano, Perkins on saxophone and Ross on vocals and drums played original music by film composer Richard Robbins.

“They taped our music, so we had to lip-sync songs and get our fingers to go the same twice,” Abel said. “It was hard. We’re used to doing the real thing.”

Robbins also wrote “Take Me, I’m Yours,” which Alison Sneegas, who had recently graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School and was a freshman at Northwestern University, sang at a high school prom scene.

Now Alison Sneegas Borberg, she has since become a regular at Quality Hill Playhouse and MTH Theater at Crown Center. MTH Theater presented “An Evening With Alison Sneegas Borberg” last year.

Hey, that looks familiar

Shooting on the film, which had a relatively paltry budget of $7 million, began on Sept. 9, 1989. The primary location was a three-story Colonial at 1025 W. 54th St., between Loose Park and Ward Parkway. The six-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot house was built in 1912.

Owners Cassie and Ronald LeMay, along with their teenage children Lance and Tiffany, moved out and stayed in a rented house in Prairie Village. Ronald LeMay was president and chief operating officer for US Sprint.

During the shoot, crowds gathered outside hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars, and at the movie’s local premiere, the audience applauded each time it appeared.

Also used was the 42-room mansion on the southwest corner of Ward Parkway and 55th Street, although its imposing exterior never appeared onscreen. Its kitchen became the Bridges’ kitchen, where several important scenes took place.

Wade Williams, a movie producer and theater owner, saved the house from being razed when he bought it for $85,000 in 1968, according to a 1985 article in The Star. He still owned it in 1989.

Williams became a popular guy during the filming, with people begging for an introduction to the stars.

“A woman from Mission Hills offered me $500 if I could let her meet Paul Newman,” Williams, who no longer owns the house, said at the time. “She said she’d been in love with him since 1958. I had to say no.”

Among other local landmarks used for shooting were Drexel Hall, the Country Club Plaza, Longview Farm, the Jackson County Courthouse, the Midland Theatre, the Kansas City Art Institute, the Savoy Grill, Kansas City Country Club and the

First National Bank building at 10th and Baltimore (now the Kansas City Public Library’s central branch).

Midland premiere

The film had its world premiere in September 1990 at the Venice Film Festival.

The local premiere, Nov. 15, 1990, at the Midland Theatre, was a benefit for the Variety Club of Greater Kansas City. More than 900 guests paid $125 each to attend.

Newman was not on hand, but Woodward was. So was Connell.

The Kansas City native didn’t exactly lavish praise on the movie version, saying it was “photographically very good, and Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman did a very good job.”

Back to our heroine

Ostenberg not only chauffeured Newman and Woodward around town but also socialized with them. She even joined Newman, a well-known car-racing enthusiast, on a trip to Toronto for a race. They and two movie crew members flew on his private jet from the downtown airport.

“They were just always wonderful to me,” Ostenberg said. “We had a nice friendship until Paul passed. They’re just the loveliest people.

“They really tried to talk me out of giving up the law and going into the movie business. But they saw how excited I was and how serious I was. They were a really big help.”

She still lives in the Los Angeles area, although she is largely retired. ​ And she owes it all to “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.”

“That movie was wonderful,” Ostenberg said. “It’s like your first love. I’ll never forget it.

“The town of Kansas City just opened their doors for that movie. There was just a real love affair going on between the city and the movie.”

Epilogue

“Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” is currently unavailable for streaming. But DVDs are still being sold.

Author Evan S. Connell, who never married and had no children, died in 2013 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the age of 88.

Producer Ismail Merchant died in 2005 at 68.

Director James Ivory is 92 and living in California. His most recent movie was “The City of Your Final Destination” (2009) about a University of Kansas doctoral student writing a biography about a Latin American author.

Paul Newman (Walter Bridge) died in 2008 at 83.

Joanne Woodward (India Bridge) was nominated for a best actress Oscar for her role. She is 90 and battling Alzheimer’s disease. She hasn’t appeared on screen since 2005.

Saundra McClain (Harriet) is in graduate school and teaching and directing in Los Angeles. She returned to Kansas City in 2012 to present her one-woman play, “Barbara Jordan: A Rendezvous With Destiny,” at the Gem Theater.

Blythe Danner (Grace Barron) has more than 100 acting credits, including a recurring role on TV’s “Will & Grace” as recently as earlier this year.

Kyra Sedgwick (Ruth Bridge) has appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably as the lead character in the long-running “The Closer.”

Robert Sean Leonard (Douglas Bridge) remains active in the theater, TV and movies, having made his biggest impression as Dr. James Wilson on the Fox show “House.”

Freelance writer Randy Mason contributed reporting

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