Carrow's art work will be part of movie starring Cable Guy
By KAREN CLARK

Photo by Jerry Sowden - Oil City resident Fred Carrow sold several prints to the art director for "Witless Protection."

A local artist's work will be part of an upcoming movie starring Larry the Cable Guy.

Fred Carrow of Oil City, well known in the area for his football banners that have hung at many Pittsburgh Steelers home games, sold several of his prints to the art director for the movie "Witless Protection."

The story centers on a small-town sheriff (Larry the Cable Guy) who witnesses what he believes is a kidnapping and rushes to rescue a woman. The kidnappers turn out to be FBI agents assigned to protect her and deliver her to a big Enron-type corruption trial in Chicago but are later found to be villains who are on the take and are bent on killing her.

The movie also stars Joe Mantegna and Jenny McCarthy and is scheduled for release early next year.

Four of Carrow's prints were acquired to decorate the set of the comedy. The prints include Restoring Victoria (a tribute to NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt), The Fly Lesson (fly fishing), Morning Mist (deer in Oil Creek), and Whitetail Cottage (depicting Osenider's Cottage near Bredinsburg Road).

Carrow said set decorator Lisa Wolff found his works on the Internet and contacted him for the purchase.

"At first I thought it was a joke. I got an e-mail from Chicago, where the filming was done, and I though my brother Eddie was just goofing around," Carrow said.

The inquiry turned out to be legitimate and Carrow sent the prints off in early summer.

"I really don't know how they are going to be used. Restoring Victoria fits the Larry the Cable Guy/redneck routine, so I guess that is the setting," Carrow said.

Restoring Victoria is a picture story of Earnhardt. A weeping willow depicts the sadness of the racing world after Earnhardt's death. Other features include a pink 1956 Ford Victoria that was Earnhardt's first car, an old truck representing the junk business Earnhardt worked in with his father, and a cameo of Earnhardt himself in the clouds.

The original painting is on display at Victorian City Art and Frame, 1273 Liberty St., Franklin.