Pam, The O'riginal Chainsaw Gal
March 1971 - when I was a free-spirited little hippie gal, all of 19. My boyfriend of 8 months, George, was taking my picture in front of the house he shared with Gunner Hansen. It was on Avenue G in Central Austin, near the UT campus. Gunner and I were sworn enemies. He was relentless in making sure I was left out while he and George went out to hunt chicks, drink beer, and smoke pot. George was an easy lure. By spring, I’d had my fill. I didn’t look in the rear view and happily lost track of both of them. I was done. I’d taken the cure. Ah, love. Good riddance, I said. I hoped.
Cut to 1.5 years later, July 18, 1973, Quick Hill, TX, the set of a low-budget 'scab' horror film set, working title, 'Headcheese". I was in for a big surprise that morning. Unbeknownst to either Gunner, or myself, we'd both been cast in this little non-union (aka ’scab’) local horror film, "HEADCHEESE”, a working title. I was standing outside the Sawyer house on that muggy, hot Texas morning, chit-chatting with my acting colleagues, ‘Sally’, ‘Kirk’, ‘Jerry’, and ‘Franklin’ (you know them). We were getting to know one another. We were all dressed in our costumes, all our own clothes that they’d picked out from different outfits we’d brought from home for them to choose from, for us to wear in the film, a strictly low-budget affair. Nearby, parked in the yard of the Sawyer house, was the Vortex RV/trailer/office, a no frills, no AC job, where we were soon to sign our first contracts. Everyone was pretty excited and a bit lost.
Producer-writer, Kim Henkel, stuck his head out the open RV door and excitedly called over to me, “Hey, Teri!! Come over here! I want to introduce you to 'Leatherface!” Kim was clearly thrilled, proud as punch for us to meet. As I stepped inside the tin oven, I made my way down the narrow aisle, walking toward a very large figure, a man with a head full of brown curly hair, who was sitting with his back to me. He took up one of the two banquette seats. Someone was seated across from him, but I can’t remember who. As I got even with him, I noted he was almost as tall sitting down as I was standing up. This guy was big. I was feeling an eery sense of deja vu. Kim said, “Leatherface, meet Pam!” Ta-da! He turned toward me and cocked his head to look at me, both of us prepared to say, “Hey, nice to meet ya!!” Instead, we both looked at one another in sheer horror. We each jerked back with our mouths wide open. Simultaneously, we both blurted out, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??!!!” They call them "excited utterances."
It would be grossly unfair to posterity not to list George’s many good qualities. Over the years, they managed to reconcile. In 2012 Gunner invited me to meet him at El Mercado in South Austin, to interview me for his book. At the end as we were walking to our cars, he asked if I ever talked to George, and I repied no. He had, and had a few choice tidbits to tell me… but that’s a whole other story!
George and I briefly moved back in together for the summer of '71. Yes, back in together (again!) to a cool house in Tarrytown in Austin, after he moved from Ave G. However, he never told me why he left Ave G and Gunner, or that they’d had a falling out. George was sneaky. All I knew was that I didn’t have to ever see my sworn mortal enemy, Gunner Dang Hansen, ever again. I'm pretty sure George moved out at the end of the spring semester of ’71, (after that picture above taken of me at their house). Then, we moved
George was charming, imaginative, smart, witty, spontaneous, creative, LOVED good music, laughing, good fabric, cashmere sweaters, had style, panache, exquisite taste, was thoughtful, kind, crazy/wild, sweet, positive, complimentary, expert at apologizing, remorseful, loving, adventurous, and a true dreamer. We had great chemistry and loads of fun times together, went everywhere together. We went to Willie’s first picnic together in ’71. I believe we broke up 13 times in 12 months, usually getting back together within 48 hours. He was talented, artistic, and he had an absolute genius for finding new places for us live.(~_*).
As for Gunner and I, we kicked heels, and we had a great time filming our scenes together. We buried the tired old proverbial hatchet, and the rest, my friends, is history.
**Thanks to my friend Eric Goode for the cleanup and colorization on these 50-year-old B&W photos
Saturday, 6 PM, January 22, 2022
