Endorsement

A solidly engrossing and compelling motion picture concept possessing highly marketable ingredients, particularly in view of current trends. It is an outstandingly entertaining film property, laced with richly redeeming social significance and embracing thoroughly personable leads in the characters of 'CAMPBELL' and 'TADEMUS' - There is evoked a warmth, a sense of humanity--a brotherhood, if you will. There is comedy, humor and lightheartedness. There is tragedy and pathos--drama, conflict, suspense and action. All these elements embodied in this post-Civil War setting furnish a most propitious backdrop for the dramatization of themes bearing remarkable pertinence to the climate reflective of many issues and concerns of today.

There is an enormous audience primed and anxious to receive and to become acquainted with "PREACHER AND CO." We have an opportunity, if not indeed an obligation, to reach that audience with this acquaintance--one which holds every potential for proving to be an entertaining and inspirational enrichment.

Signed:

Ulysses S. Grant, General (FSA)

Robert E. Lee, General (CSA) 

Synopsis

At the Civil War's end, the horrors of war have taken their toll on Campbell McCool, a freshly-discharged young Confederate Army doctor.

Having accidentally shot a young Union Soldier after peace had been declared, Cam pledges to himself and to the dying lad to seek out the boy's parents in an effort somehow to help them reconcile their son's not returning after the war.

With his home and family destroyed by the war, Cam starts his journey northward, preaching along the way as his ordained minister father had done before him--this, in a vain attempt at self-healing and to gain some renewed purpose in life.

Campbell crosses paths with Tademus Co (pronounced Coe), a spirited young homeless black boy about nine years of age. Tad is also embarking on a mission of his own which is to find his father who had joined a black Union regiment.

Unable to discourage Tad’s following him, Cam soon succumbs to the boy’s charm. Such an unlikely duo, traveling in post-Civil War America, attracts trouble while facing a myriad of dangers along the way. Still, through such inherent adversities, their bond of friendship develops into a genuine love.

An encounter with a 'deranged' Union officer still fighting the war renders Cam beaten, bloody and unconscious. In such state, Campbell is inadvertently delivered by Tademus to the farm of the Mannings, the very family Cam had been seeking. These good folk nurture Campbell back to health and recovery with their affection for him growing, unaware he is the killer of their son and Cam, left in a state of amnesia, equally unaware.

By the time Campbell regains his memory, the Mannings have indeed 'adopted' him as their own and he them.

Thusly, is established one of the major dilemmas of our tale: Campbell’s disclosing to the Mannings his implication in their son’s death without losing their love.

Our Proposed "Preacher and Co" Trio of Cast Members

... as 'Campbell McCool' the "Preacher"

... as 'Tademus Co' the "Co"

... as the Union boy Cam kills then tries to become

"A TALE OF FAMILY"

Preacher and Co Alternate Titles

  "SUFFER THE CHILD"

 "SOUL SURVIVORS"

 "WILDFLOWERS"

"KINDRED SPIRITS"

 "HEARTS STRANGELY WARMED"

 

How Many Vivid Tales ...

How many vivid tales told in many a century have ended in a wedding!  And they have so ended precisely because they promised happy beginnings.  But there can come tragedy so complete that it brings to an utter end the stately and beautiful rhythm of family life.

Revelation 18:23

Interpreter's Bible

exposition by

Lynn Harold Hough

 

He Was A Man Of The Cloth ...

He was a man of the cloth

and knew his God --
 

He was a man of the flesh

and knew his women --

He was to be led by a child

whom he would come to know --

 

The Events Recorded ...

The events recorded of

Campbell's and Tademus' journey

are based on facts

drawn from unearthed journals

This story happened --

Back Dust Jacket Biography

Brendon Boone's entire life seems to be one lived-out on the world stage.  The son of a Navy Chaplain/'itinerate' Methodist minister, he was incessantly on the move with his family, always readapting to a new environment and new people.  His initial move was from his Meridian, Mississippi, birthplace to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where his father earned yet another sheepskin credential from the Candler School of Theology.  In his birthplace he had 'learned' by age three (not from his parents but from the general malaise of society) his developing friendship with his little black pal to be improper.  Then in Atlanta having already adjusted to this curious fuss over skin color now Brendon had to adjust to the alienation of a young Emory theology student from Japan, Shirakowa Tatsumasa, who bore a skin of yet another hue.  Shirakowa had befriended Brendon and graciously gifted him with a red toy truck for his fourth birthday.  Now, his young Japanese friend was compelled to say goodbye and return to his native land lest he shame his family, as the world prepared for war.

During World War II, the family settled in San Diego, California, while Brendon's father served as a Navy Chaplain on the USS Attu in the Pacific.  Then following the war it was back to Mississippi where the Boones remained entrenched just long enough for Brendon to win the State Championship in the Soap Box Derby.  'Nosed-out' in a photo-finish for the World Championship in Akron, Ohio, Brendon perceived himself, at age fourteen, to have let down his entire State and was reluctant to return home.  Encouraged at Derby Downs by guest celebrity James Stewart, "You go on back down to Mississippi, Brendon.  You're still a champion there!" -- he returned taking additional heed from the Jackson Daily News' account of his pet dog Penny's demise when editorializing that he could survive both losses (the World Championship and his pet) because to quote the newspaper, "Champions are made of sterner stuff than most people."

Within a brief few years Brendon was discovered on the Rollins College Annie Russell Theatre Stage in Winter Park, Florida, in a performance as 'Sakini' in "The Teahouse of the August Moon", and Hollywood beckoned.  With a return to the West Coast and the launch of a career in films, Brendon ultimately gained Golden Globe Award Recognition from the International Hollywood Foreign Press Association in the category: Most Popular TV Star - Male.
 

The single parent of his son, Norman Brendon Boone, III (now 37), he contends it's finally time gracefully to 'get off the stage', offering to the world as a novel and film -

"PREACHER AND CO" ... his 'Swan Song.'

Dedication

For my parents, Norman and Leola, for life ---

My friend, Campbell,

From the past to the present ---

My son, Norman Brendon, III,

From the present to the future ---

And for all eternity!!!

 

A Worldwide Audience Awaits

International Hollywood Foreign Press Association's
Golden Globe Recognition as
Most Popular TV Star -- Male

 

God's mission for us is to share our "Preacher and Co," novel and film, with the world.  For our loyal fans/friends from around the world we're eternally grateful. While there have been any number of opportunities to get our material out, in book and movie form, there's yet to be a sense of a true sharing of the vision.  Unashamedly, we would invite the participation of those who, indeed, might find the material to resonate with them.  Were my old co-star from Rawhide, Clint Eastwood, to be drawn-in and inspired, we could aspire to no finer lens or prism through which to see "Preacher and Co" emerge.  The Coen Brothers' view-finder is another we would enthusiastically invite; and to complete our dream triumvirate, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio represent other film 'luminaries and visionaries' whom we'd heartily and cordially invite on our team.  Suffice it to say, we're ready to make a movie...we're ready to publish a novel...and our ministry is one we would submit the world to be ready to receive.  We're on a mission from God, and may His light shine upon thee ALL.  We've scant little time in this earthly frame.

Blessings,

Brendon Boone

"SHARE THE VISION"

Putting On The Whole Armor of God