oliver springs historical society what's new march 2004

"Legacy".. official newsletter of the Oliver Springs Historical Society.... Check it out!!!!Click on an OS button below to download the desired .PDF file....

March 2002 August 2002 Fall 2002

April 3rd... mark it down, dearhearts.. that is the long-anticipated date of the Grand Premiere of the docudrama "In the Shadow of the Steeple- The Pine Hill Murders". I am pleased to announce that although tickets have been on sale less than a week, already the 7:00 showing is almost sold out, and ducats for the 1:00 Matinee are going out at a dizzying pace. Posters are going up all over town and beyond. The Roane County News had us on the front page last week, lead story, complete with the picture seen below, among others. The Knoxville News-Sentinel ran a story on our project, as well. Channel 12 has been giving us a lot of publicity, and invited me on awhile back to talk about the movie. All in all, it's been an exhiliarating few weeks around here in "The Gap", or Oliver Springs as some are wont to call us these days......

By the way, we have a pretty neat movie poster, in the style of a Hollywood release. Lots of color, action, etc. If you want one, let me know and I could probably manage to send you one for five bucks or so.... mainly to cover the cost of materials and printing.

I want to pass along a story while we're waiting for the Big Event. You will recall that I mentioned "Marshal Andy" Smalls of television renown, who was cast as Anderson County Sheriff Dick Kesterson in "The Pine Hill Murders". sheriff-n-msrice-lores.jpg (34757 bytes) I didn't tell you all about Marshal Andy's work on location. I'm here to tell you that he was a big hit, graciously signing autographs and copies of his new music cd that was recently released. I have a friend that is a phenomenal guitarist/mandolinist (won't tell you his name per request by his management) who watches Marshal Andy every Saturday morning. Well, it seems he heard through the grapevine that Marshal Andy was working with us on this movie. First thing you know, I get a call from him, offering his services on the soundtrack. And so it goes.....

I really feel compelled to reiterate just how totally smoked I have been by the level of artistry that some of our actors have brought to bear on this work. I chuckle to myself whenever I think about the way they all jumped at the chance to show off their chops again, so to speak. Many of them had worked in my plays over the years: a few had acted in college, but past that level it is frightfully difficult to be meaningfully involved in drama (so they all tell me).

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We knew that this project was going to be an ambitious one, for all the reasons I spelled out to you earlier; probably the biggie was costuming and wardrobe. Everything had to be 1890, no exceptions. We were pretty firm on most of our production standards, and I think it paid off. Also, we have had some of the most wonderful volunteers. Some were Historical Society folks and some were not, being talented people who bought into our vision of telling this story in a movie.

More on the Pine Hill Murders, but first a word or two about other stuff....

I am happy to report that the 2004 edition of the Oliver Springs Historical Society calendars is now a huge success, if we never sold another one. And to think, I almost didn't produce one.... Actually, I was somewhat uncertain about the prospects of doing another one for several reasons, one of which was that my medical condition yanks me around quite a bit. In addition, I was a little unsure as to the staying power of the pictorial calendars after three years. Mr. Sonny Harvey and others encouraged me with much kind words and assistance in selecting pictures. Speaking of pictures, this year's calendar has some more pictures taken from the original prints in high resolution and enlarged, with the result being that we can see details that were heretofore hidden from the light of observation.

Don't have your 2004 calendar yet? It's not too late.....

We thought we'd share a few more pix from the latest footage. This was shot last January in Aaron Russell's Tavern. Well, not really.. that's where the storyline begins. This is our version of Aaron Russell's Tavern.

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Oh, we have some more pix to share with you, just to show you how special we think you are.....

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Above is a shot of the Smith Academy, which was a finishing school for young ladies in the 1800's. Wait.. those people weren't there in the shot. They look like.. could they be??... NAH!

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Thanks to Barbara and Danny Palmer of Oliver Springs for letting us film at their exquisitely lovely home, which was at one time the Col. Wm. P. Smith Finishing School.

I pulled some stills from the footage to give you just a glimpse of what is going on. Thanks again to Mr. Clyde Plemmons, a videographer who also happens to be a close friend of mine. Clyde has bought into the whole project, as have a number of talented actors.

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The striking lady at left in the fetching hat is none other than Carolyn Kelly, our treasurer.

We have had the most amazing effort going on by some of our ladies regarding period costumes for this project. It was determined early on that we wanted to be as authentic to the era as possible, and so our ladies went to work. All the Goodwill, et al, store clerks know them by their first names now, after having been raided for weeks on end. Seamstresses, crafters, horse handlers; the list goes on of those to whom we are obliged.