AboutDavid Menefee Expertise Silent films made from 1900-1929
Experience I am the author of Sarah Bernhardt in the Theater of Films and Sound Recordings (McFarland 2003), The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era (Greenwood/Praeger 2004), and The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era (Bear Manor Media March 2007). I have spent many years researching silent films, and have a large collection of rare resource books from which I can draw information that may be helpful.
Education/Credentials Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts
Question so about a year and a half ago i was watching a black and white movie on tv and i can't remember the name of it. there was a con-artist who teams up with a little girl to help him. One thing i remember is the little girl had her hair cut shorter and wore boys clothes, and everyone kept mistaking her for a boy which upset her. At first they were simply just like business parteners, but by the end of the movie they had developed a close conection. I thought the movie was called 'goodnight moon' but i couldn't find anything on the internet.....hopefully you can help me out
Answer Dear Matt,
Thank you for asking such an interesting question. The movie you are recalling is probably the 1973 Academy Award winning film, PAPER MOON, starring Ryan O'Neal and his daughter, Tatum, in her first film appearance.
Adapted from the novel, "Addie Pray" (1971) by Joe David Brown, PAPER MOON is the story of Moses Pray and Addie Loggins. With scenery reminiscent of "The Grapes of Wrath," the film is set in the depression-era Midwestern region of the United States. As the movie opens, we see a small group of mourners clustered at a graveside. Among the mourners is Addie, the dead woman's small daughter. Moses Pray -- ostensibly of the "Kansas Bible Company" -- approaches the group, as the service concludes, and two of the elderly women remark that the child bears some resemblance to him and asks if he might be related.
"If ever a child needed kin, it's now," one lady says.
With no knowledge of who her father is, Addie's only haven is her Aunt's home in St. Joseph, Missouri. Having identified himself as a "traveling man spreading the Lord's gospel in these troubled times," "Mose" is prevailed upon to deliver the helpless child to her Aunt since he's going that way, anyway. Addie, wise beyond her years, soon discovers that Mose is little more than a scam artist traveling from town to town delivering unordered Bibles and charging exorbitant prices to recently widowed women whom he identifies through the obituary columns of local papers. Soon, Addie and Mose become a team, traveling from town to town, making money in every dishonest way imaginable, and looking for the ultimate score. The colorful characters they meet along the way make the film all the more interesting. Paramount among these is "Miss Trixie Delight," an exotic dancer who Mose rescues from a traveling carnival and her minion, Imogene.
The film is peppered with "regional" dialog. Perhaps one of the most memorable lines of the movie is uttered when Mose is forced to wrestle a backwoodsman in order to trade his new car for the hillbilly's battered old truck.
"Make him say calf-rope, Leroy!" one of the observers calls out.
PAPER MOON is available on VHS and DVD from a variety of distributors.
PAPER MOON is also available for viewing free in a compilation of film clips on www.youtube.com.
Please feel free to communicate with me at my e-mail address if I can be of further assistance.
Happy viewing!
Sincerely,
David W. Menefee
E-mail: davemenefee@aol.com
Web site: www.thegreatstars.com
Author
Sarah Bernhardt in the Theater of Films and Sound Recordings
The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era
The First Male Stars: Men of the Silent Era
Richard Barthelmess: A Life in Pictures
George O'Brien: A Man's Man in Hollywood
