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LMGI COMPASS
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Summer 2020
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LMGI
When I was about 5 years
old, fate found me in the
sleepy town of Carrolton,
Mississippi, in the form
of a basecamp in my
grandmother's backyard—
what followed was a lifelong
love for a roustabout life on
location, from hanging out in
CAREER
FOCUS
Mississippi Yearning:
The Luckiest Gal
in the World
RVs, to the working trucks,
to knowing obscure facts like
how the honey wagon got its
name. As an easily distracted
fi rst grader, I just never found
the time to read. I broke my
wrist running through the
woods in an adventurous
game of hide and seek,
so writing was out of the
question and my natural born
dyslexia prevented math from
ever being a strength. So my
learning really began with
my love for movies and the
excitement of on-location
fi lming.
To better understand, let
me explain my hometown. A
small-town Mississippi delta
town with a population of
less than 1,000 at that time,
Carrolton is nestled in the
bluffs of the river. Founded
in 1821, I am quite sure
there were few buildings built
after the Civil War. My own
home was completed around
1841 and wasn't considered
anything special in a town
where every house held some
historical pedigree.
It was 1969, and the
movie that was settled into
grandmother's backyard
was The Reivers, written by
Mississippi's son, William
Faulkner. Since our local
Main Street theatre, the
Carroll County picture show
(made famous in 1976's
Ode to Billie Joe), had shut
down before I was born, I
did not understand what
a movie was, which made
all the activity downright
mystifying. I'd hurry home
for school each day fi nding a
way to sneak onto the set to
watch "the play." Most days I
brought my pony, Polly, with
me and when I got bored,
we would take off to the
woods which usually meant
going directly through the
set. Eventually, director Mark
Rydell set me down in his
chair to watch the circus—I
later learned that he did so
to keep me and Polly from
blowing shots.
Mama and Daddy had bought
Polly for me when I was just
turning 3 to keep me out
of the barns with the other
horses. She was my best
friend and I looked forward to
riding her every day. Due to
our penchant for disrupting
fi lming, we were soon given a
new rule: no more bareback
riding. I could now only ride
her fully saddled and bridled
with an adult. Since I was too
small to saddle Polly myself,
our afternoon rides ended.
After a few days of not being
able to ride, I arrived at my
grandmother's one afternoon
to discover a man standing
by Polly in the barn. She was
saddled and bridled and he
had a big horse standing with
them. He said he had heard
of my new rule and would be
happy to be the adult to ride
This coming year marks my 30th year working professionally in the
film industry, but in reality it is my 50th.
Maida Morgan/LMGI. All photos courtesy of Maida Morgan/LMGI
