Hollywood reunites Corso, Loretta

By ROY CHURCH

John Corso and Loretta Lynn shared a “coincidence�?back in the late �?0s.

Corso, born and raised in Wabash, had been chosen as production designer for “Coal Miner's Daughter,�?based on Lynn's autobiographical book.

He was sitting in her kitchen in Hurricane Mills, Tn., asking for suggestions about the decor in her mother's home in Butcher Hollow, Ky.

“During the conversation I mentioned Wabash and Gackenheimer's (Pharmacy, the one across the street from the Courthouse),�?Corso told the Plain Dealer. “‘How do you know about Gackenheimer's?' she said.

“I told her I was from Wabash. Then I asked her if she remembered Chocolate Marshmallow Buffaloes, a Gackenheimer's specialty? She did.

“‘I think you served me a Chocolate Marshmallow Buffalo once',�?he said.

“Oh, my gosh, that's amazing,�?he recalled her saying.

A Chocolate Marshmallow Buffalo was a hot fudge sundae with a marshmallow, instead of the traditional whipped cream, and cherry on top.

Years later, Corso called home to tell his mother he had been named production designer for a movie “about this lady named Loretta Lynn,�?not remembering that chance meeting at Gackenheimer's.

“My mother said ‘You know who that is, don't you?' Then she reminded me.�?/P>

Corso, now 78, was 49 when he sat and talked with Loretta (Webb) Lynn in her Hurrican Mills kitchen. She was one of eight children born to Melvin “Ted�?(1906-1959) and Clara Marie (Ramey) Webb (1912-1982).

Her youngest sister is country singer Crystal Gayle, who was born Brenda Webb in Paintsville, Ky., and was given her stage name by Loretta. Brenda Webb, however, came to Wabash with her mother and father in 1955, grew up in Wabash and graduated from Wabash High School.

Two other siblings have pursued short-lived country music careers, Jay Lee Webb (now deceased) and Peggy Sue Wright.

Corso's recollection is that Loretta Lynn and her children at the time came to Wabash to live with her mother while her husband, Oliver Vanetta “Doolittle�?or “Mooney�?Lynn, went to Washington to escape the coal mines of Kentucky and find a logging job.

Married when she was 13, Loretta was 14 when the family moved to Custer, Wash. The Lynns had four children by the time she was 17, and later had twin girls, Peggy and Patsy (named in honor of Patsy Cline) Lynn. She eventually had 21 grandchildren.

When she was 18, “Mooney�?Lynn bought her a guitar and she taught herself how to play it. He died in 1996.

“Coal Miner's Daughter�?was shot in Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee, Corso said. He said they did two replicas of the Webb cabin - one in a Piggly Wiggly warehouse and one on the side of a mountain in Mayking, Ky. The one in the warehouse was used for interior scenes in the movie.

Corso recalls the only time Loretta came on the set.

“We were shooting in Mayking, and Loretta showed up. She had purposely not come around to avoid putting pressure on Sissy Spacek (who was playing Loretta in the movie).

“Loretta was walking across a bridge over a creek that ran past the cabin and, upon seeing the cabin for the first time, stopped dead in her tracks. Everyone began asking her what was wrong.

“‘That man sitting on the porch. He looks just like my dad,' she said.�?/P>

In fact, Corso said, it was the actor portraying her father sitting on the porch.

Loretta will be performing at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Ford Theater at the Honeywell Center. Pacific Coast Concerts is promoting the show.

Her last performance here was in 1999. She performed regularly here throughout the �?0s.