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Hudsonville, Michigan ([email protected])

I was just thinking back to what got me first interested in giant pumpkin growing...(I grew up a city boy and had absolutely no knowledge of agricultural practices). I remember a t.v. show produced by Steven Spielberg (probably mid-late 80's) in which every week it was a different "amazing" story. One week it was about a crotchety old giant pumpkin grower who was bitter about continually losing at the weigh off. She was approached by a college grad student who had engineered a bigger variety, but the research to do so was costly. He wanted something like $10,000 for the seeds and the bitter old lady took the seeds and stiffed him...giving him half. Well, the next year rolls around and she's got this house-sized pumpkin that she can't get out of her yard because she's got no friends / no help. She shows up with a half destroyed pumpkin because she had to drag it, only to find that the student sold more seeds to all the other growers to get the other half of the research money. All the other pumpkins were still bigger than hers. Anyway, here we are almost 20 years later and I still remember that show. Anybody else ever see that?
Frank

10/11/2004 11:06:40 AM

Wichita, KS

Nope, but I want to, now! :-)

10/11/2004 12:44:21 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Google search is a wonderful thing.

It is from a series called "Amazing Stories" and the show is called "Pumpkin Competition"

http://www.geocities.com/TvPilotGuy/amazingstories.html

10/11/2004 2:17:09 PM

Durham CT.

The Movie you are talking about was added to a tape from one of the seminars about growing Giant Pumpkins, maybe you need to contact George Webster. I think he added it to the end of a tape he made. Let me know if you find it.

Alan R.

10/11/2004 7:25:12 PM

Phoenix, AZ

I remember that specific episode. Hehe she dragged it behind her car to the weighoff. Being of the mind I am, I was thinking: "Why would she be so stupid to drag her pumpkin?" I also thought: "there is no way you can drag a pumpkin like that with a car". Sometime I forget that TV is not reality...sorry.

The final thought I had when I saw it was: "why would she think to be the only special one to be approached by this guy"? As she was suprised to see all these other big pumpkins at the fair.

No idea why I remember asking myself these questions.

10/11/2004 11:50:36 PM

Www.extremepumpkinstore.com

Yep, saw that one recently!

10/12/2004 7:13:51 AM