In the summer of 1976, Hollywood descended on Mobile, Alabama, to tell the story of a small child who aliens had abducted. 

The Mobile economy had been suffering since the close of Brookley Field seven years earlier. But Hollywood needed what no other location had, huge, empty airplane hangers. Director Steven Spielberg and actors Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Francois Truffaut, and Bob Balaban and their crew descended on the town, making a small contribution to Mobile’s economy. 

This short story is about the making of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in Mobile, Alabama.

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