The Butter Rum Cartoon: BALDKNOBBER

Because my friend David Franciskato and his wife Lisa were extras in this film, Micki and I were invited to the premier showing of "Baldknobber" here in Branson. The large theater was packed.

The movie was filmed on location, right here in our Taney County, Missouri. It was very well done, and it's a true story of the Ozark vigilantes, the Baldknobbers, just after the Civil War, when "real" law enforcement was non-existent or, at best, inadequate.

I had learned about them by reading Lucile Morris Upton's book, Bald Knobbers, which had been highly recommended by Douglas Mahnkey as the truest account. (Less accurate books about the Baldknobbers have been published and are unfortunately more popular.) Mr. Mahnkey (now deceased) brought about my love for the Ozarks through his wonderful books, Bright Glowed My Hills and Hill and Holler Stories. When he was in his nineties and still working as a Taney County lawyer, Micki and I visited him in his office and he autographed his books for us. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey, was the poet laureate of the Ozarks, and we have her book, Marigold Gold, as well as a biography by Ellen Gray Massey, A Candle Within Her Soul: Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey and Her Ozarks.

Back to the movie, my friend David didn't appear in the film, doggone it, but Lisa did, in a courtroom scene. My favorite character in the movie, Ben Johnson, who stood against the Baldknobbers, was played by Eddie "Rattlesnake" Wood, a skilled leatherworker in Branson. Here are some shots of him in the movie, and one of him and me afterwards. He passed away three years after the picture with me was taken.