Ken Burns: “Disney Stole ‘Sons of Liberty’ Melody From The Iroquois!”

To the best of my recollection Walt Disney and Robert Stevenson‘s Johnny Tremain (6.19.57) is the only mainstream film that ever depicted the Boston Tea Party. Am I wrong? Oh, and the Sons of Liberty were violent rowdies.

Despite the purported semblance of historical realism, Tremain fulfilled a paramount Disney law of the 1950s…the one about always featuring a happy sing-along scene.

Titular player Hal Stalmaster is now 85 years old. Luana Patten was definitely a looker, but she sadly passed at age 58. 19 year-old Richard Beymer (West Side Story) played Johnny’s best friend, Rab Silsbee.