"STOOLING"

Steve McQueen apparently sat on a stool smoking a cigarette while he was waiting for the 'jump' scene to be set up. The stool is hidden away in a hut just a few metres away from the field and it belongs to the farmer who owns the field. He is called Josef Kern (aka 'Seppy'). If you find the farmer tell him that you have come to sit on the 'stool'........he will be expecting you.

 Laughter and joy was had by all as photographs were taken of the stool in many positions and angles.... 

(On minor road from Rossmoos to Benken).

This is Josef's hut with the 'milking' stool hidden inside. The photographs and the video below locates the 'jump' field in front of the above hut where Steve McQueen would sit and smoke his cigarette whilst the film crew set up the scene for the 'jump' as he looked out over the fields, trees and the Alps.............

The farmer lives in Rossmoos, a small hamlet just below the field.

This is a photograph of Josef's father called Alex. He was a farmer who enjoyed hunting and other outdoor activities.

When the film crew arrived to film The Great Escape in his iconic field, Alex used his tractor to move the logs around his field to help construct the fencing for the jump.

Alex also allowed Steve McQueen to sit on his 'milking' stool and he demonstrated to McQueen how to roll up a German-style cigarette.

McQueen often rolled up a cigarette during the week as he waited for the 'jumping of the fence' scene to be set up once again........

(This photograph of Steve McQueen was presented to Josef by a group of fans from Switzerland.)

If you would like to join the new 'craze' known as 'stooling' then send your photograph of you sitting on the 'stool.' Please donate ONE Euro to Josef because we did say that his hut would become a 'world-famous-museum' and that he was going to become a Euro millionaire by the end of 2012.......fifty years after the filming of The Great Escape!!

1. Josef 'Seppy' Kern, the farmer who now owns The Great Escape field where the jump was filmed, interestingly stated that he could remember as a sixteen year old boy that they filmed for a week in his father's field and that there were approximately twenty attempts to jump the fence each day.

Steve McQueen would speed around the field with those children who were happy to take a ride with the Hollywood film star while they waited for the scene to be set up once again......

2. Mac......our guide we met last year and now a friend this year.

3. Chris.......the driver

4. ........

"Why don't we build a museum in Josef's famous hut and put up all our photographs so that the stool can feel at home?" suggested Mac.

So Josef stood in the door way of his hut.............it was the beginning of Josef's museum.

Hello Don,
I'm the son of Doris from Rossmoos. Josef (Seppi) Kerin is my stepfather. I like Geocaching and have made a few Caches in Füssen.
Have a quick look at these links.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=6a26e143-840f-4184-bee2-fb615697715a
 and
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=b3131baf-f6cd-4858-a901-ae4b87e7b5d2
 

Further caches are planned. They might be helpful for the one or other person.
BR
Chris

Josef and Doris explained how they saw things about The Great Escape through their teenager's eyes at their home in Rossmoos on Wednesday, 10th August 2011.

Doris was nineteen when she was walking through Old Fussen on her lunch break. She noticed Steve McQueen leaning against a wall just down from where the scene "Good Luck!" was being filmed. James Garner was also seen walking by with his girlfriend.

Josef was sixteen when he watched the filming in his father's field of the 'jump' scene.

Eighteen years later they married and have been together ever since. Their Great Escape stories were both vividly explained one late evening in August to two keen enthusiasts from England.