Emmy-Winning Producer Speaks To JPS Pupils At Jackson Center
(article is from the news section of the Jamestown Post
Journal)
6/23/2004 - By JOHN WHITTAKER
While the Emmy Award looks beautiful sitting on his mantle, the prestigious
prize isn't the reason Aaron Beckwith decided to sign on to produce his film,
Follow the North Star.
Instead, Beckwith's first foray into feature films was aimed simply with making
a movie that would appeal to children ages 8 to 14. In the years following his
retirement from Hollywood, Beckwith has taken that original direction from ABC
to a completely new level as the film reaches a brand new audience.
That audience now includes about 200 Jamestown Public Schools pupils who viewed
the film during a special screening Tuesday at the Robert H. Jackson Center.
Beckwith also presented a copy of the film to the Jackson Center as a gift.
''Of all the places I have come, I've never been into a place where I've showed
the picture like Jamestown. Right here, in this place, were people that I talk
about in the picture,'' Beckwith said. ''Right here were kids just like you.
When ABC came to me with the idea of doing this as a children's picture, it's
because you're the ones that are going to save this world. You're the ones who
are going to tolerate people and make friendships.''
The movie takes place during the Civil War era and focuses on a white boy's
journey south to free an enslaved boy and reunite him with his mother, who had
previously fled north. The title was chosen because slaves on the run to escape
slavery often fled north, hiding in the woods during the day and following the
North Star at night.
While the film focuses on the relationship between two youth, Beckwith said
youth don't have to recreate the film's journey to realize the message it tries
to portray.
Solving problems is less about courage or a profound solution than about simply
being open to new things, Beckwith said.
''You've got to meet people, kids,'' Beckwith said. ''When a new boy comes to
your class, or an old woman needs help across the street, promise me that when
you can this week, you will help them some way or the other.''
Beckwith's career began in film production in New York City as vice president
of the Music Corporation of America, a media giant that owned Universal Studios.
His next move was to ABC as director of program sales, though it was as vice
president of a large New York advertising company that Beckwith represented
various advertisers to the popular television shows of Lucille Ball, Red Skelton
and Groucho Marx.
His career turned to films when he became head of Radio Keith Orpheum Pictures.
When RKO stopped producing films, Beckwith established his own production company,
Beckwith Presentations. Beckwith lives in Florida with his wife, Mildred, though
the pair spend each summer at Chautauqua Institution. Several of his friends
from the area were at the Jackson Center on Tuesday to see the film.
''He's here today for something that I think will relate to all the students,''
said Gregory L. Peterson, Jackson Center board president. ''It's what he calls
his most gratifying experience of his long career. ... We are thrilled that
not only you folks from the schools have been able to join us in your last week
and your busiest week, we also welcome some friends of Aaron's from Chautauqua
who have come to make this a little more special for him.''