Скачать или смотреть Kidnappers Foil, Chapter 8: Sing-along with Earlene Brown

In February 1937 Melton Barker came to Northwest Arkansas to film three separate movie "shorts" styled after the popular "Our Gang" comedies (a.k.a. "Little Rascals") of the 1930s. Barker was an itinerant filmmaker from Dallas who shot the same movie, Kidnappers Foil, dozens of times from the 1930s into the early 1970s, primarily in towns throughout the Southeast and Midwest. The plot was simple. A young girl is kidnapped after her birthday party. Her father offers a reward for her return. A group of children search for her, eventually rescuing her from her captors. Then a small talent show is staged, featuring the kids singing and dancing. To make the movies, Melton Barker Juvenile Productions teamed up with local theater mogul William Sonneman. After casting calls were placed in area newspapers, would-be actors auditioned for various roles. Those who made the cut received training for a "small fee." It took about a week to shoot all three movies in Fayetteville, Springdale, and Bentonville plus the talent shows, which were filmed in Rogers. A few weeks later, Barker delivered the completed movies to Sonneman who showed them at his Palace (Fayetteville), Concord (Springdale), and Plaza (Bentonville) theaters.

Once they were shown, the movie reels were placed inside a film carrier box and forgotten for decades. In 2016 they were found in Springdale and placed on eBay where Todd Terpening spotted them. He bought the films and donated them to the Library of Congress, where he volunteers. Then he contacted the Shiloh Museum for help with identifying the people and places in the films.

In November 2017, we hosted a "premiere" of the three Kidnappers Foil movies filmed in Northwest Arkansas. Several of the child actors (now in their eighties and nineties) attended, as well as Todd Terpening, who discussed the work of filmmaker Melton Barker and present-day efforts to find and preserve the Kidnappers Foil movies.

Chapter 8 features a sing-along with Springdale child actor Earlene Brown, who grew up to be Earlene Henry. Mrs. Henry attended the 2017 "premiere."