You may have read about the Boy Scouts Tom Slade and Pee Wee Harris, but have you read any about their friend Roy Blakeley’s adventures? Roy was another character created by Percy Keese Fitzhugh as he wrote fictional novels about Boy Scouts in the early 1900’s. These books are now in the public domain and can be found on some epub book sites. Here are a couple of books about Roy to introduce you to his Scouting stories:
Okay, I admit that I am a bit of a geek. I admit I like the Doctor Who television series. And of course I admit that I like Scouting. So I had to smile when I was directed to this site about Doctor Who keychains and discovered Boy Scouts mentioned in the description of the products. It read:
Be prepared with these timey wimey keychains
The Boy Scouts aren’t the only ones out there being prepared. The Doctor is always prepared for anything that might come his way. And if there’s a problem he can’t fix with his sonic screwdriver, he goes all MacGyver with whatever’s around. We figure if we have any chance of saving the world like the Doctor (or at least our own butts), we’d better equip ourselves properly.
It is a new month so it is time for a new electronic (epub) book. In fact, this month, let’s make it two books. After all, these old Scouting novels from nearly 100 years ago do not take long to read. It is kinda fun to go back in time and see what things were like (at least in fiction) in the early part of the last century.
Everyone in Scouting knows Pee Wee Harris. He has been featured in a comic in Boy’s Life magazine for several decades. But did you know that Pee Wee got his start as a character in a series of fictional novels written by Percy Keese Fitzhugh in early 1900’s? Yep, Tom, Roy, Westy, and Pee Wee all got their start back then. Fitzhugh wrote quite a few novels about Scouting, introducing us to a wide range of characters.
I have collected a few hard bound books about these stories for my Scouting collection so I was pleased when I was able to find more of them available as electronic books (in the epub format). Most of these books are now found in the public domain. So…
How about two books to introduce you to the original Pee Wee? These were the first two books with Pee Wee as the lead character. Both were written in 1922. The first is simply titled Pee Wee Harris. The second is Pee Wee Harris on the Trail. I hope you enjoy them.
Our buddies at Three Coin Productions have posted a new video to their Youtube account. The new post is the music video to the theme song of Scout Camp: The Movie, “Born To Be A Scout”, and features many scenes from the movie. The video can be seen below or at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlIE9cF4j0s
If you have not seen the movie yet I would encourage you to get a copy and watch it with your family and troop.
There have not been many feature films about Scouting made during the decades. Most people involved with Scouting have heard of a little film by Walt Disney called Follow Me Boys, but I bet most people would be hard pressed to name another five movies that include Scouting as a major part of the plot. I own a few Scouting related movies so I thought that I might write a short review of each of them over the next couple of months.
My first review will be of a movie made many years ago, 1953 in fact. Mister Scoutmaster is a black and white film which stars Clifton Webb as a children’s television show writer for NBC Studios. When the sponsor decides they may not renew their option on the show unless ratings improve Webb’s character, Robert Jordan, decides to do some research on what boys currently enjoy. He begins by buying an arm full of comic books which does not help him very much. Later, as he and his wife talk to their minister about adoption, the scoutmaster of the troop sponsored by the church charges into the room and declares his resignation. Mr. Jordan sees an opportunity to do research for his show and jumps at the opportunity to become the scoutmaster. The movie follows him and the troop through a troop meeting, a camping trip, and an emergency search and rescue situation.
Mr. Jordan’s nemesis soon turns out to be a young Cub Scout names Mike who holds the rank of Wolf. He wants to become a Bear Scout and tells the Jordans, “Gotta be square, or I can’t become a Bear.” But Mr. Jordan becomes suspicious when he discovers Mike is lying about his life at home. This becomes a nice subplot of the movie.
I like the movie. I found it to be entertaining and a fair representation of Scouting. There is a touch of the “Hollywood” view of Scouting but I did not find it distracting. If I use the Boy Scout ranks as a rating system, with Tenderfoot being the low end and Eagle being the top, I would rate this as being a Star Rank. Have you seen this movie? What rating would you give it?
The Boy Scouts of America is nearly 100 years old. This is a video placed on Youtube that covers the reasons why Scouting is so important and why we should continue to support it during the next 100 years.
On Wednesday evening, Cubmaster Chris and I did a live recording of The Leaders Campfire podcast. We had never done that before but we had a special reason for doing it. It was time to give away the prizes for the “Scout Camp: The Movie” Twitter contest. Quite a few people joined us in the PTC Media chatroom for the event which made it even more fun. The winners are listed at ptcmedia.net, but I thought I would list them here also:
Scout Camp DVD Winners:
ScouterTom johneegeek Taxgeekkm mbeyke043 Brian Leslie
There is only a week left to register for the drawing to win dvd’s or posters for Scout Camp: The Movie. You do need a Twitter account to enter. Details are found at http://tinyurl.com/kksp3z
This is a Boy Scout leader's point of view and thoughts on over 36 years as a Boy Scout Leader and scoutmaster in central Minnesota.
This blog also serves as the home of the "Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast" which features Scouting related videos, and the "Around The Scouting Campfire" audio podcast.
You may have read about the Boy Scouts Tom Slade and Pee Wee Harris, but have you read any about their friend Roy Blakeley’s adventures? Roy was another character created by Percy Keese Fitzhugh as he wrote fictional novels about Boy Scouts in the early 1900’s. These books are now in the public domain and can be found on some epub book sites. Here are a couple of books about Roy to introduce you to his Scouting stories:
