Even though you have seen Forrest Gump once you probably figured out that life is like a box of chocolates, in that you never know what you’ll get. As it turns out, Forrest’s oft-quoted adage also applies to a former Gay Fish Company binder on the island of St. Helena, South Carolina, who recently produced a pair of thirty-year-old receipts. documenting the sale of shrimp to the Paramount Pictures production.
The discovery was prompted by a conversation between co-owner Charles Gay, now seventy-seven, and his daughter Cyndy Carr about the movie being filmed in nearby southern locations in 1993. (In this case , the island replaced South Louisiana. ) Seafood was needed for the crucial scene in which the shrimp boat’s novice captain Gump and fellow Vietnam War vet Lt. Dan carry a huge load of shellfish in the aftermath of Hurricane Carmen in 1974. When the swollen net spills its bounty on the deck of the boat, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company becomes an unlikely success.
Charles Gay and Cyndy Carr hold framed receipts and a photo of Gump actors Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise.
“We already knew they were filming because they took a lot of boats to Sam’s Point,” Gay recalled, adding that Gump’s squeaky boat Jenny was actually the old one Miss Sheri, purchased from a local shrimper. “They would bring Tom Hanks back to our dock and a limo would pick him up from the parking lot. He had to walk where we unload the boats, and he was as nice as he could be.
Even so, Gay didn’t expect the crew to walk around asking for shrimp for the upcoming scene, let alone a huge initial order of almost five thousand pounds. (Yes, yes, that’s more than enough “seafood” to broil, boil, broil, bake, sauté, and make all the other myriads of shrimp preparations memorably reeled off by Gump’s army buddy , Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue.)
To further explore these stained receipts, on September 7, 1993, the crew purchased 4,984 pounds of three different sizes of head-on shrimp at $2.95 a pound, forty-five baskets of ice, and a used shovel apparently taken of Miss Hilda, a boat named after Gay’s sister. Total cost: $15,125.30, paid locally. A week later, the crew returned for an additional 1,141 pounds of shrimp (seemingly undeterred by a nickel-per-pound cost increase) and, continuing their desire for random gear, a shrimp hook. The total, incorporating another bill that has yet to arrive, was $11,814.86. The goods were received by a “John Burns”, probably the John W. Burn listed as the Marine Coordinator in the film’s credits.
Gay recalls the crew discussing wanting enough shrimp to make Gump’s net too heavy to put weapons in and to cover the deck when cast. That goal was certainly exceeded, as after watching the scene, Gay estimates it to be just under six hundred pounds. (As for the few crabs mixed in with the catch, Gay figures were obtained from a local crabber.)
Once the scene was over, the crew even brought back a large amount of leftover shrimp. Anyone who has spent early September in southern South Carolina knows the likely condition of these shrimp after days of shooting in the sun. (This is where you’d be forgiven for quoting another famous line from Gump: “Stupid is as stupid do.”)
“I think they iced them at night, but it was still hot in here,” Gay recalled. “I got a guy to take all of this to a cat food factory, and they called to ask me what I was trying to send them.”
For fans who wish to view the film’s artifacts in person, receipts are now displayed in frames at Gay Fish Company, which, despite a decline in local commercial shrimp fishing, maintains a retail counter frequented by residents and tourists. “We’ve been a family business here for three generations,” says Carr, who joined his father at work last year. “It’s our seventy-fifth year, so we plan to get some hype at some point.”
No doubt this shuffle will feature a significant amount of shrimp.
