{"id":1550,"date":"2025-06-21T05:57:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T05:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1550\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T05:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T05:57:08","slug":"keene-new-hampshire-marks-30th-anniversary-of-being-in-jumanji","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1550\/","title":{"rendered":"Keene, New Hampshire, marks 30th anniversary of being in ‘Jumanji’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madeline Murphy remembers the instructions she was given on the set of \u201cJumanji\u201d<\/a> when she was an extra some 30 years ago: \u201cPretend you\u2019re frightened and you\u2019re screaming because an elephant\u2019s coming after you.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s what she did in the Central Square of Keene, New Hampshire, running back and forth, over and over, on a long day in November 1994.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty tired by the end of the day, and it was cold,\u201d said Murphy, 61. She got a check for $60.47 \u2014 and several seconds of screen time. <\/p>\n

Murphy was one of about 125 extras cast in the classic Robin Williams film, which is marking its 30th anniversary. It\u2019s spawned several sequels<\/a>, including one planned for next year. The city of about 23,000 people in the southwestern corner of the state is celebrating its ties to \u201cJumanji\u201d this weekend.<\/p>\n

A featured event is a \u201cRhino Rumble Road Race\u201d saluting the film\u2019s stampede scenes of elephants, rhinos and zebras on Saturday. Runners in inflatable animal costumes are sprinting about a quarter mile (less than half a kilometer) around the square. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a cast party, a parade, and a scavenger hunt, among other events.<\/p>\n

Keene gets picked thanks to coffee craving<\/p>\n

Based on the 1981 children\u2019s book by Chris Van Allsburg<\/a> about a mysterious jungle adventure board game, the movie version of \u201cJumanji\u201d is set in the fictional small town of Brantford, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

Veteran location manager Dow Griffith was crisscrossing New England in search of the right spot. A coffee lover who grew up in Seattle, he recalled feeling desperate one day for a good brew. He was a bit east of Keene at the time, and someone suggested a shop that was near the square. <\/p>\n

\u201cI took my cherished cup of double dry cappuccino out to the front porch, took a sip, looked to my left \u2014 and by God \u2014 there was the place I had been looking for!\u201d he told The Associated Press. \u201cSo really, we have coffee to thank for the whole thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Scenes were filmed at the square that fall and the following spring. The fall scenes show a present-day town that had declined. Extras played homeless people and looters, in addition to panicked runners fleeing from the jungle animals.<\/p>\n

Joanne Hof, now 78, had needed her son\u2019s help to spot herself behind the elephants, running with her hands up. Hof, a reading specialist, bought a videotape of \u201cJumanji\u201d and showed it to the kids she worked with. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were very impressed that I was in the movie,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The spring scenes, appearing early in the film, depict the town in 1969. Extras drove classic cars around the pristine-looking square and others walked around, dressed for that time period. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told the makeup person, \u2018Do you know how to do a French twist?\u2019\u201d recalled Kate Beetle, 74, of Alstead, who said she can be seen for \u201ca micro-second\u201d crossing a street. \u201cThey just found me the right lady\u2019s suit and right flat shoes, and then the hair is kind of what I suspect did it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The city helped transform itself<\/p>\n

The \u201cJumanji\u201d crews worked well with the city in getting the permits to transform Central Square into a dilapidated, neglected piece of public property, recalled Patty Little, who recently retired as Keene\u2019s clerk. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey brought in old, dead shrubbery and threw it around and made the paint peel on the gazebo,\u201d she said. Items such as parking meters and lilac bushes were removed and a large Civil War-era statue was brought in to cover a fountain. Graffiti was on the walls and crumpled vehicles in the stampede scene were anchored in place. <\/p>\n

Everything was restored, and fresh flowers were brought in the following spring, she said. <\/p>\n

Crews spent a total of about a week in the city for both settings. <\/p>\n

Little, whose classic 1961 Ambassador is caught on camera, could see everything happening from her office window.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid I get a lot of work done? I don\u2019t know during those days,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Locals watch and meet Robin Williams<\/p>\n

A crowd turned out to watch a long-haired, bearded Williams run down the street in a leaf-adorned tunic. In the movie, he had just been freed from the game that had trapped him as a boy for years. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s shorter than I thought he was!\u201d one viewer said, according to local chronicler Susan MacNeil\u2019s book, \u201cWhen Jumanji Came to Keene.\u201d Others said, \u201cHe has great legs \u2014 muscular, isn\u2019t he? But so hairy!\u201d and \u201cIsn\u2019t he freezing dressed like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor honored him with a key to the city. Williams, noticing the mayor was a bit shorter, suddenly announced at the presentation, \u201c\u2018I am the mayor of Munchkinland,\u2019\u201d with a voice to match, City Councilor Randy Filiault recalled. <\/p>\n

He stayed in character for 15 to 20 minutes, \u201cjust bouncing off the walls,\u201d approaching people in the audience and pulling their hats over their eyes. Eventually, he stopped, ending with a solemn \u201cThank you,\u201d Filiault said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really seeing something cool here,\u201d Filiault remembered thinking. \u201cHow fortunate we were.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Williams died by suicide in 2014<\/a>, people left flowers and photos beneath a painted \u201cParrish Shoes\u201d wall sign advertising a fictional business left over from \u201cJumanji.\u201d <\/p>\n

Former Keene police officer Joe Collins, who was assigned to watch over then-child actors Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce, also died by suicide, last year. Festival organizers planned a discussion about mental health and suicide prevention to pay tribute to Williams<\/a> and Collins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Robin would have been impressed with that,\u201d said Murphy, who met Williams and shook his hand.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madeline Murphy remembers the instructions she was given on the set of \u201cJumanji\u201d when she was an extra…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2122,2123,2116,171,57,2119,2114,2117,2120,2111,2121,2124,53,991,2112,2115,2113,2118,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-1550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","9":"tag-bradley-pierce","10":"tag-chris-van-allsburg","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-hilary-schneider","14":"tag-joanne-hof","15":"tag-joe-collins","16":"tag-kate-beetle","17":"tag-keene","18":"tag-kirsten-dunst","19":"tag-madeline-murphy","20":"tag-movies","21":"tag-new-hampshire","22":"tag-nh-state-wire","23":"tag-patty-little","24":"tag-randy-filiault","25":"tag-susan-macneil","26":"tag-u-s-news","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-unitedstates","29":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114719820617486800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}