NH City in ‘Jumanji’ marks 30th birthday with animal costume race

Madeline Murphy remembers the instructions she received on the set of “Jumanji” when she was an extra 30 years ago: “Pretend you are scared and you scream because an elephant comes after you.”

So that’s what she did on the central square of Keene, New Hampshire, who always ran back and forth, on a long day in November 1994.

“I was pretty tired towards the end of the day, and it was cold,” said Murphy, 61. She received a check for $ 60.47 – and a few seconds of screen time.

Murphy was one of the approximately 125 extras that were cast in the classic Robin Williams film, which marks the 30 -year anniversary. It has produced several followers, including a planned for next year. The city of around 23,000 people in the southwestern corner of the state is celebrating its ties with “Jumanji” this weekend.

A recommended event is a “Rhino Rumble Road Race”, which greets the stamped scenes of the film of elephants, rhinos and zebras on Saturday. Runners in inflatable animal costumes sprint around a quarter of miles (less than half a kilometer) around the square.

There is also a cast party, a parade and a treasure hunt, in addition to other events.

Based on Chris van Allsburg’s 1981 children’s book about a mysterious jungle adventure board game, the film version of “Jumanji” takes place in the fictional small town of Brantford, New Hampshire.

Veteran Location Manager Dow Griffith crossed New England in search of the right place. A coffee lover who grew up in Seattle, he remembered that one day he felt desperate for a good brew. At the time, he was a bit east of Keene and someone suggested a store that was near the square.

“I took my cherished cup of double dry cappuccino to the porch, took a sip, looked at my left side – and through God – there was the place I was looking for!” He told The Associated Press. “So really, we thank coffee for the whole thing.”

Scenes were filmed on the square that autumn and the next spring. The autumn scenes show a current city that had been taken. Extras played homeless people and looters, in addition to panic clogers fleeing the jungle animals.

Joanne Hof, now 78, needed the help of her son to spot herself behind the elephants and ran up with her hands. Hof, a reading specialist, bought a video band from “Jumanji” and showed it to the children with whom she worked.

“They were very impressed that I was in the movie,” she said.

The spring scenes, which appeared early in the film, show the city in 1969. Extras drove classic cars around the unspoilt looking square and others walked around for that period.

“I told the makeup person:” Do you know how to take a French turn? “Kate Beetle, 74, from Alstead, who said she could be seen for” a micro-second “that crossed a street. “They have just found me the right lady’s suit and right flat shoes, and then the hair is a kind of what I suspect it has done.”

The “Jumanji” crews worked well with the city to get the permits to transform the Central Square into a decayed, neglected piece of public ownership, reminded Patty Little, who recently retired as Keene’s Clerk.

“They brought old, dead bushes and threw it around and let the paint peel on the arbor,” she said. Items such as parking meters and lila bushes were removed and a large statue from the civil war was brought in to cover a fountain. Graffiti was on the walls and crumpled vehicles in the Stampede scene were anchored.

Everything was restored and fresh flowers were brought in the next spring, she said.

In total, crews spent about a week in the city for both institutions.

Little, whose classic ambassador from 1961 is being caught on the camera, could see everything happen from her office window.

“Did I do a lot of work? I don’t know in those days,” she said.

A crowd turned out to see how a long -haired, bearded Williams ran through the street in a leaf decorated tunic. In the film he was just freed from the game that had been captured as a boy for years.

“He is shorter than I thought he was!” A viewer said, according to the book by the local chronicler Susan MacNeil: “When Jumanji came to Keene.” Others said, “He has big legs – muscular, isn’t it? But so hairy!” And “Doesn’t he freeze so dressed?”

The mayor honored him with a key to the city. Williams, who noticed that the mayor was a bit shorter, was suddenly announced at the presentation: “” I am the mayor of Munchkinland, “with a voice that fits together, city councilor Randy Filiault remembered.

He remained in character for 15 to 20 minutes, “just bouncing off the walls”, who approached people in the audience and pulled their hats over their eyes. He finally stopped and finished with a solemn “thank you,” Filiault said.

“I really see something cool here,” Filiault recalled. “How happy we were.”

When Williams died in 2014 by suicide, people left flowers and photos under a painted “Parrish Shoes” wall sign that advertised for a fictional company left of “Jumanji.”

Former Keene police officer Joe Collins, who was assigned to watch the then child actors Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce, also died last year due to suicide. Festival organizers planned a discussion about mental health and suicide prevention to pay tribute to Williams and Collins.

“I think Robin would be impressed by that,” said Murphy, who met Williams and shook his hand.

In the US, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat on 988lifeline.org