Vol. IV, Issue #6 - August 2016

** Field of Dreams - the Movie & Baseball Field
Part II of the Report by Wolfman Shapiro
Interview with Betty (Lansing) Boeckenstedt **

(The "Field of Dreams" movie was shot on the Lansing Farm located in Dryserville, IA.
Betty {Lansing} Boeckenstedt works for the new owners and helps to maintain the
farm and the baseball field. She grew up on this farm and was around for the filming
of the movie, we are lucky to be able to speak to her and hear hear stories ........)

Field of Dreams Movie Site Logo shown on their website

(Notes from the Wolfman:  When I was speaking to the new owner's secretary, Margie Kolle about interviewing Denise Stillman, the CEO of Go the Distance Baseball, LCC who bought the farm from Betty's brother Don; she told me that Betty was still working at the farm and helping out. That Denise kept her on staff and according to Denise's interview, Betty is a treasure. So since we were going to visit the Baseball Field during our vacation in July, I asked if I could talk to Betty and was told it would be no problem.  For you see Betty is going to have some special insights related to the farm, the baseball field and the filming of the movie that no one else will have.

I did share last time (in July) a few interesting parts of Betty's interview but now you have the full transcription of all the good stuff she shared as we spoke for about 40 minutes, the interview was done while sitting on the baseball field at the wooden bleachers (added to the field) on the 3rd base side.  You will also hear a few questions and comments from the love of my life, Katrina, who if she didn't make sure I ate and helped me with her loving attention, there might be no Wolfman to do the newsletter and tell you his stories.

Betty was the most friendly person you would ever want to meet, with a very happy nature and she shared some really cool stuff and insights about this whole story only she and her brother would know. Since, as she stated, her brother, getting on in years although Betty is in her 70's too, he wanted to step back and just watch the games, we have Betty representing the Lansing Family which used to be the Lansing Farm for many years. You are going to get a kick out of this interview I am sure ...... enjoy ...)
 

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Interview with Betty (Lansing) Boeckenstedt
Friday, July 15th at the "Field of Dreams Baseball Field"
With Wolfman Shapiro
(and his life partner, Katrina Head)

Wolfman:  Ok, we are here with Betty, who works for Go the Distance Baseball, which oversees the care and maintenance of the Field of Dreams Movie Site.  She is a member of the Lansing Family who previously had owned the farm where the Baseball Field was created for the movie, “Field of Dreams” that still exists today. So she grew up here on this farm. Thank you Betty for allowing us your time for this interview. Betty can you tell me what is your last name now?

Betty:  My last name is Betty Boeckenstedt, I was a Lansing.

Wolfman:  So that was the last name of your brother right? (Betty: Yes that’s right.) So your brother and his wife were the individuals who agreed to have the movie filmed on the farm here, is this what I read on the internet?

Betty:  Yes, actually it was just my brother, he was not married at the time.  He was a bachelor and he lived here by himself.

Wolfman:  So you had moved out by the time the movie people came here then I guess and started you own life outside of the farm?

Betty:  Yes I was married and I lived west of Dryersville, so I was not here for quite some time.

Wolfman: But were your present when they started to make the Baseball Field and do the shooting of the movie?

Betty:  Yes I was here pretty much during the summer when they were doing all the filming and stuff.

Wolfman:  Do you know how long did it take them to build the Baseball Field?

Betty:  Ah it didn’t take too long. They actually had the corn growing before they cut it down. Over a weekend I think.

Wolfman:  So only in a few days they had the whole baseball field built (Betty nods yes) ok … and then how soon after they finished the field did they start to do the filming?

Betty:  Pretty quick … Let’s see, by the end of June (1988) they said they had to have the baseball field in and the corn had to be grown because that’s when they had allocated the time for Kevin Kostner to be here to do the filming … and we were having a drought (this) year so they were having a hard time getting the corn to grow.  There was a creek that runs through here, so they had to setup an irrigation system out of there so that the corn could grow. And then it ended up that when the date came that they were going to start filming, the corn had gotten taller than Kevin Kostner so they had to build a platform in the corn (for him to stand on) so that his head would be above the corn.

Wolfman:  Oh yeah, that’s right, his head was higher than the corn when they showed the early scenes in the movie, so how high does the corn naturally grow here? Is that like what six or seven feet? (Betty:  yes it’s like seven feet I’d say) because it was over my head when I walked out there on the field yesterday (Note: I am 5’ 10”).  (Betty:  Now, we are near the end of the growing season so the corn won’t get much higher.) 

Was your brother Don a baseball fan?  

Betty:  Yes he liked baseball but never really played.  You know back in those days he didn’t get to play much baseball because he had to stay (spending so much time) farming the land.

Wolfman:  I see. Did you brother tell you why he decided to allow the Movie Production Company to build the baseball field and use his farm in the film?

Betty:  Well he was really surprised when they picked him because they did look over 200 different farms. (Wolfman: Oh I can imagine because when we were driving up and were approaching the Baseball Field, we saw farm after farm around this area.)  They were looking in all different states and even in Canada they had looked at places to do the filming. There was a lady from Dubuque or Cambridge, Iowa who was on the Iowa Film Board that heard that Universal was looking for  corn fields to make a movie and so she kind of jumped on it and you know ran around in the area visiting I don’t how many different farms. And of course some farmers said that they didn’t want a movie made on their farm, that they are true farmers and didn’t want it (Note: to interfere with their normal farm operations).

And my brother was a crop farmer and he worked at John Deere and so he was kind of excited about it but he didn’t really think that it was going happen. About three months later they called and asked him how serious he was about making this movie on his farm and he said, “Oh you must be dreaming!” (Betty is laughing here …) And so then he agreed and he signed the contract.  Then it turned out after they had the contract signed, then they came out here looking at where they really wanted to put this ball field. Then one day my brother came home from work and they said, “We finally know how we are going to lay out this ball field, the only problem is there is a fence over here, we have to take this fence down.”  My brother saw that there were some stakes on the other side of the fence and he said, “Well that is not my property, that’s the neighbor’s property.” So they had to negotiate with his neighbor too.

Wolfman:  So now is that property (Betty: Yes now it’s all ours) but at the time of the movie it wasn’t part of your property? 

Betty:  No, it wasn’t until some years afterwards.  It was kind of a controversy between the two properties because the other owner wanted to … well we had all kind of people coming in (who said), “Now you got do this, you got to do that and they (these other people) wanted to commercialize it – you know you got to have more baseball fields here and some batting cages and you got to have more. But my brother and myself, we did not, we wanted to keep like it was in the movie. (Wolfman: right). So that was a little controversy there …

Wolfman: So after the movie happened, they (the other neighbor/owner) wanted to expand the field and everything … is that what you are trying to say?

Betty:  They just wanted to have more stuff around here. They wanted the batting cages so that this small baseball field would have new batting cages. Actually, you know they did have someone from I think it from Wisconsin who came in and wanted to really really do big things here.   We just didn’t want to do this, we just thought that you know we wanted to keep it simple like it was in the movie. You know, we been thanked so much by people for keeping it simple. Rather than … that it could have been like a Disneyworld or Disneyland and kept it growing and growing. But, we just wanted to keep it simple.

And I know that when my brother sold it (the farm) to Denise, he pretty much said that (Wolfman: You have to keep it this way and she agreed to do this?)  Yes – yes she has plans to do a …( Wolfman: I know that she wants to make other baseball fields) – they will probably be way in the back and they will come off a different road and so it won’t change anything here. And that was I think a lot of the tourist when they saw it in the paper (about the sale) that they were a little worried about that were going to tear this down and but something else in its place but that is not the way it is. 

Wolfman: Were you and your brother surprised how popular the movie was?

Betty:  Yes we were.  It really kind of … well my brother was talking with me one time and said, “No, I really thought nothing would happen from the movie.” .. but then he was really surprised that different people were coming. But one morning, this was the first part of May right, after the movie had (just) been released, he got up to go to work and he seen a man sitting on his bleachers. He went down to talk to him and it was a gentleman from New York, he had a New York Yankee cap on. So my brother asked him, “Why did you come here?”. He said, “Well I’ve seen the movie was made here so I wanted to come and see it.”  Then he gave my brother his New York cap.   And so then, after that, they (the people) slowly started coming  …

Wolfman:  So it didn’t bother you and your brother that so many people wanted to come visit the baseball field?

Betty:  Not really … because they all were so … After we really watched the movie and got the feeling of the movie. --the first time we watched the movie, you know we were all in it and our neighbors were in it, and people we knew were in it – so we were looking for everyone not really getting the whole story of the movie – and then people started coming so then we kind of realized this is what it was going to be. (Betty laughs)

And at that time, my brother came home one day, our neighbor had plowed down his part of the field here and – you know he didn’t even say anything to us, he just went ahead and did it. And actually it was in the contract too, for the movie people to put the field (the farm) back to the original state (Wolfman: Oh it was?).  Yes – but when they left here from the filming, I think .. they did a winter scene which they were going to do, oh my brother said, “We get snow in November.”  So they were ok to come back and do the winter scene then. But that year we didn’t have a snow until February (Betty laughs). They called one day and told my brother, “Well, we want this movie to be out in April, so we have to come and so we will make snow and do whatever.” So whatever set of days they were going to be coming, but when they got here, it was all white with snow.  (Betty laughs). That’s when we got some snow. (Wolfman: That’s good.)

So that’s when, my brother had told them that -- just leave everything as is, you know the house, they were going to put it back too and whatever, just leave it as he said, “I’d like to have my neighbors and my family come and play on the field rather than take it down so when people start coming – it’s here forever (Betty laughs).

This is the bleachers added on the 3rd base side where Betty and I are standing in front of
and this building to your right also was added, I forgot to ask what it is used for.

Wolfman:  So you never charged people when they came to visit the baseball field?  (Betty: No, No)  So this house over there where they are selling souvenirs that is next to the field now, was it this something Denise added recently when she bought the farm? (Betty: No, no. We had that, that was here before.) So that was here so people could buy the souvenirs.

Betty:  We started out just with a little trailer type house thing because we didn’t have anything else but when people kept coming, coming so we thought we better build a little stand and then we added on to it later on as we started to live here.

Wolfman:  Now when they were filming the movie, were you able to have any interaction, you or your brother with the actors?

Betty:  Yes, yes we got to meet them all. We were allowed to come, it was stated no one but the local family could come down.

Wolfman:  So all the local people that we see in the movie were all actors then, or did they hire some local people from here?

Betty:  There is a few local people that were actually in the movie. Well, we were in the movie ..  (Wolfman: oh wow were you(?) … we will have go back and look but probably you were a bit younger?)  Yes, you probably wouldn’t really see us because we not in anything close up.  My whole family was with the neighbors along the field when he was cutting his corn you know, we were all standing by our cars and watching him, “that crazy man cutting down his corn”. (Wolfman: OK, I remember that scene.) And that was not filmed down here actually (on the baseball field), it was filmed up in that corn field there because they were already working on the ball field here so.

Wolfman:  Which actor or actors did you like the most?

Betty:  Oh you know James Earl Jones was (Wolfman: I can imagine he was unbelievable) … he used to sit with us after, you know they filmed from 7 in the morning till 7 at the night … and he would sit there and talk with us.  He was just really nice. Of course they were all nice, you know we had no problem with Kevin Kostner.

Wolfman:  Well Kevin Kostner wasn’t really a known actor yet (Betty: No, no)  -- this movie made him  (Betty: yes it did) – this movie made him (Betty: absolutely, then the next year he was making another one …) Right, it was like after I watched him in this film, I knew he was going to be a star because he did such a great job!

Betty:  Yes he did … you know Amy Madigan, she was very nice too – we had no problem with the crew or anybody … everybody (involved with the film) was really very nice …

Wolfman:  Ok now I am going to ask you a strange question … (Betty: sure) and the reason I am asking you this question is because what I really do is I am involved in these things even though I love baseball and I am the editor of this fantasy baseball newsletter. Now, I study the paranormal and this movie is about Baseball Ghosts  and so I am curious since you have lived on this farm when you younger did you ever had any indication at all in your life that something magical or special was going to happen on your farm at some point in your future?

Betty:  Oh you know I … (pause) … I think maybe my Dad did. (Wolfman: Did he?) Yes … He loved baseball and whatever and I just remember one night when I was sitting at the supper table he said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a big baseball field out here?” (Wolfman: oh wow, then it really was a “Field of Dreams” for him then!) (Betty laughs) – when we used to live here as kids, we used to play baseball right there in that back – when it was all lawn right from there and this other part is all corn field.  And we didn’t have a field with all walls like they do in this day and age, we had one or two walls, and if someone hit the ball into the corn field, then we would the rest of the night looking for our ball. (Betty laughs)

Wolfman:  Well that would be a problem I would imagine. Ok, and what about after the movie was finished, besides all the people who were coming, did you notice anything magical or special happening around or within the baseball field?

Betty:  You know, people were just so happy when they came here because they were like they were really seeing something that I don’t know what they were seeing but they were just happy to be here.  And you know when I would be on my way out here and still even today, you see people leaving here and they all got have smiles on their faces and its just like – you know its like they were really were stepping into heaven or something.

Wolfman:  Well this is what the movie was all about, it was about heaven, so this is really cool.

Katrina:  I think another good thing about the baseball field is that you haven’t commercialized this place.

Betty:  And that was not easy because we were bombarded with – “well you need this and you need that … you need to setup a hotel and you need to get some fast food thing out … (Betty laughs)   

Wolfman:  If you could summarize like all your experiences around the farm and the field, what you would say in a couple sentences is what this has meant to you or what was the most special aspect of sharing this baseball field with others?

Betty:  Just watching all the happy people coming here and seeing their faces and we also see a lot of tears. So this really lets us know that we do have something special/sacred here that people are whatever – there are a lot of father-son relations built here from those who come.  And we don’t know how many ashes are out there in the corn field because people have asked us to do this.   

Wolfman:  Wow very interesting … now another thing that seems to be a bit different, you know how at the end of the movie we see all the cars coming to the field – I can’t see from this perspective how it could be the same road out there that we came on. (Betty: No, it was the same as it was in the film.) It was the same, because I thought the building over there wasn’t there (Note – there is a new building that was added to the field next to left field and Betty thinks I am speaking about this building) (Betty: Oh no, this building wasn’t there.) No I mean the house across the road over there. (Betty: No, that was built afterwards too.) Ok, because it appeared in the movie all these cars were coming down the road and there weren’t any buildings there.

Betty:  It was dark at night – my brother was the first car and me and my mom are the second car (Betty laughs) and my sisters are the third car, yes.

Wolfman:  Well it’s nice that the movie production company honored your family in this way. You are working here now but is your brother no longer connected to the field then?

Betty:  He sold it and he still worked for Denise the first couple of years. But then he decided to give it up – he wanted to hang up his spikes and sit in the bleachers and watch the game.  (Wolfman: Yes I can understand this after doing this for so many years). After he turned seventy, he was ready to …

Wolfman:  So did he have any special reason why he wanted to sell the farm recently?

Betty:  Well, he has no family and as far as anybody else really wanting to buy into it … (Wolfman: So I guess he wanted to sell it to someone who could maintain the field as he didn’t want to do it any more?)  Yes, that right. Well you know, he had a lot of different people who approached him about it but a lot of them had different versions for it so they had to be careful to make sure that it didn’t turn into something other than what they really wanted it be like.

Wolfman:  So it seems you have been happy with what Denise wants to do (Betty: Yes, yes) – she seems like a good person from the interviews I seen of her on the internet.

Betty:  Yes, she is very much into it and she is a good business person. (Wolfman: I feel fortunate too, that she has time to do an interview with me too). I know, they are trying to get the funding (Note: for Allstar Ballpark Heaven) – they really want to get this funding, it’s a lot of work to get all that together and she is working hard on this.

Wolfman:  Yesterday, I had a chance to speak to a young man who was working in a local connivance store and he told me his grandfather has a field next to yours here. Then I asked him about this controversy that came up when Denise made her announcement to add more baseball fields on the farm and some people here were totally against it and some people were totally for it.  Has this controversy cooled down or is it still going on?

Betty:  You know it is not settled yet, it was taken to the higher courts and it takes forever for it be decided .. I don’t forsee it being a problem because it passed here the local court, so I don’t forsee or think it will be a problem.  Really, if the farmers would just think about what this would do for the state and for the community to have something like this in the Midwest because baseball is big here. And you know, it’s not here in Chicago, it’s out here like this. (Wolfman: yes I know there are several minor league teams in Iowa.)  And I know they talk about oh all the farms lands (around here are) getting so built up now and are becoming higher in value – well it is this way now, if you look from around this area over to Dubuque, since the movie came out, all the building that has gone out, all the farming land that has gone into sub-divisions and whatever, and the commercial stuff.  (Wolfman: No one had ever heard about Dryersville before.) Yes I know (Betty laughs). (Wolfman:  now all of a sudden everyone wants to come to Dryersville, so it’s nice.)

Wolfman:  Now I also saw on the internet, something that was mentioned about a possibility of a professional team playing here at the “Field of Dreams Movie site, is there any updates about this?

Betty:  Ah, you know they are working on it, it won’t be here (on this field) it will be over on one of the other fields (they want to build) … I think it is a AAA team or something, I don’t even recall.

Wolfman:  Oh an AAA team, because when I walked in the outfield yesterday, I am not an expert on this, but the field seemed to be uneven so … (Betty: oh, they will level it out.) – ok so I was right, they just haven’t worked on it yet, but when they are ready to play some games they will level the field, so the players spikes won’t catch then … ok …

So is there anything else you think is important about the field or something special linked to this site that you would like to share with our readers?

Betty:  Well there are so many stories and I can’t even begin to tell you – but you know my brother could probably tell you more and he is the one that really needs all the credit because if he would have said “NO”, it would have never happened in this area. (Wolfman: I agree).  And so he is the one that really should be up on the pedestal but since he has retired he … (Wolfman: he just wants to be in the background). Yes that’s right.

Yeh, there are so many special experiences that have happened here, I remember one Saturday I came and was here and there were two brothers that came to visit the field and they hadn’t seen each other for 30 years and they happened to meet here at the field. (Wolfman: And they didn’t know the other brother was going to be here?) Yes. (Wolfman: That is a real miracle!)

Wolfman:  So you are seeing these kind of synchronistic events happen linked to the field all the time?  (Betty: Yes, yes, some of those things are unbelievable to watch). Were there any people who met here and got married? (Betty: Yes, we have had a few marriages happen, yes.)

Betty:  And there are some religious groups who come out here and do their thing here too, so it’s not just all baseball.

Wolfman:  Some things are more social type of events then? (Betty: Yes.) Have you met any of the well known investors who are part of Denise’s group, I think there is an ex-major league baseball player and an actor?

Betty:  Yes they have been here.  (Wolfman: Might it be possible to speak with Wayne Boggs … I will ask Denise too – I have tried to interview ex-major leaguers – its not easy, just a few have agreed to be interviewed.) In September, there will be some ex-major leaguer baseball players who will come here.

Wolfman:  I know that last month that the commissioner of baseball came for a visit with hall of famer John Smoltz, a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves and now all a baseball announcer – this was part of a tour they were doing around the country to talk about MLB. I saw on the internet that quite a few people came here to meet them for their visit as I watched some video.

Betty:  Yes, I don’t know – it’s just plain simple, whatever, people just come and do their thing. Sometimes you can see some pretty good ball games out here (Wolfman: Yes, I would imagine so.) … families get together with another family and they are all into it.

Katrina: Did you father past away before all of this happened?

Betty:  Yes, yes … he would have been happy, he would have thought well you probably seen some good games! (Wolfman: I think so, I think so – you never know, he could have been whispering in your brother’s ear from spirit, “Do it – Do it! Go for it! Go for it!) (Betty laughs) I know when they approached my brother, he didn’t say anything to anybody but he did tell my mom, he said “Mom, they want to make a movie, a baseball movie out of my farm, what do you think?” Well probably, you know, she didn’t want to commit and say go do it because she didn’t know what it was all about and whatever. However, she did enjoy coming out here too, she would come out just to meet people.

Katrina:  Well, that’s what baseball is all about too. (Betty: Yep) It brings a lot of people together.

Wolfman:  You see I can’t play anymore, so I play a fantasy game where I can manage professional players.  And I still root for the Chicago Cubs, being brought up in Chicago. (Betty: Yes.)

Katrina:  So you live in house here?  (Betty: No.)

Wolfman:  The house is just used as Denise’s office for the investing group, Go the Distance Baseball, LLC.

Betty:  My office is up there.

Katrina:  And they did film for the movie in the house and in the kitchen? (Betty: Yes) 

Wolfman:  I am assuming they re-arranged everything in the house for the movie? (Betty: Yes, yes.) So how did your brother survive during that time?

Betty:  He moved out, he was up with the neighbors in a motor home. They asked him if he wanted to stay in a motel but he wanted to be closer to the farm for the film. So he was ok with everything, I mean he was kind of happy after it was all done because it had been a very quiet farm before. You know to have this whole city out here, that whole back field out there was just filled with motor homes because each (actor/actress) had their motor home, in between shots they would go in there to relax in there and so forth.

And they had big trailers with all their equipment and back then, it was so much different than as things have really changed since then because of all the new technologies today.  They would film all day and then they would have to send that film up to California to have it, and then some days they would have to call everyone to back and retake it. But in this day and age, they can film it and then look at it . (Wolfman: Yes they can, as they can digitally make the film and then fix it on the computer.)  

Wolfman:  I have always been curious how they made the players disappear in the corn field. Because it is obvious that when they filmed them they weren’t disappearing, they were just walking in. (Betty: laughs, just walking in, yes I know).  Because I went in there and I wondered, am I going to go where they went and nothing happened so! (Betty laughs). (Katrina: Well he was saying it was in center field and I asked him, how do you know they filmed this in center field, maybe they took different shots in other parts of the field?)

Betty: I know one night when they were filming here, there was kind of like a, and this is in the movie, a fog came onto the field -- that just happened naturally, they weren’t expecting this. And then we had, oh was that last year or the year before, we had some little leaguers playing under the lights one day and that same thing happened. All of a sudden we couldn’t see the little ball because the fog just came in.

Wolfman:  Betty would you mind if Katrina took a photograph of us? (Katrina: I already did by the bleachers.) Ok, but how about by home plate?  (Betty: Sure).

Here I am posing with Betty in front of home plate - so you can see the backstop with two
benches behind, and directly behind us you see a part of the souvenir store (a red building)
with two red barns next to it on your left. Then to your right is the parking areas for cars.

Anyway Betty I wanted to thank you on behalf of the members of our newsletter for this amazing interview and giving us time to chat – thank you so much!