Description
PECK’S BAD BOY – 1934 – JACKIE COOPER – RARE DVD
Some things change as the years pass, and some things do not. When I was a youngster my father showed me a picture of his father standing next to another man. My grandfather was part of a huge farming family and he had 20 brothers and sisters. One night he watched his younger brother Moses carefully place his shoes outside the back door of the farm house before going to bed. The next morning, his brother and best friend Moses was gone, never to be seen again.
In the late 1800’s when a youngster ran away from home there was no general outcry for help to search for the youngster, and no one thought about organizing a search. Life much tougher then, and the cocoon of protection that we give to our children the first twenty or more years of their lives didn’t exist in most of rural America. Children became adults at a very young age and if they wanted to go out on their own, they did. Kids ran away from home more often than we might imagine in today’s world. It was just another part of life in early America.
My grandfather grew up, had his family, and as an old man in 1960 he read a newspaper article that mentioned a Moses Berkey in California. Pap contacted the man and then traveled from Ohio to California to meet his long lost brother from so many years ago, and I still have that picture of David and Moses, two brothers standing side by side in California, together again after so many years.
In this story Billy and his father are best of friends. They fish together, laugh together and live together in a fine home in the little town of Pleasanton. Life is ‘pleasant’ and wonderful for Billy and his father. At the annual Father and Son Association dinner Billy wins the 1934 award for writing the best essay about his father. Nothing could ever come between this father and this son. Nothing could destroy the love and friendship that this boy and his father enjoyed.
Unfortunately, when Aunt Lily’s husband died, Billy’s father invited Aunt Lily and her son Horace to come and live with them. Some things change as the years pass, and some things do not. The personality clash between family members in this movie from long ago could be happening right now. We’ve come a long way from the days when this movie was filmed, but people are still much the same. Aunt Lily lives today, waiting to pounce on a little Billy and destroy the love between a father and son. Pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show.
Director: Edward F. Cline
Stars: Jackie Cooper, Thomas Meighan, Jackie Searl
