Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:

From the film “Bloody Dawn.” Photo taken by Matt Walker at Satchel Creek Ranch, Butler County. Used here with permission of Lone Chimney Films.


TOUCHED BY FIRE’

I lingered at the Lone Chimney Films booth because of Amy Spurgeon’s enthusiasm.

Amy told me about Mrs. Fisher, a woman who had thrown a carpet around her husband, a Methodist minister, concealing him, then dragging him from their burning home wrapped in the rug. The raiders, who had set the fire to kill her husband, were not aware that she had saved his life.

True story. August 21, 1863, Lawrence, Kansas.

I visited with Ken Spurgeon and his wife, Amy, at their booth at the Kansas Sampler Festival in early May. History is a big part of the Spurgeons’ lives; Ken teaches the subject at Northfield School in Wichita, and the couple is involved in Civil War re-enacting and they help out at Wichita’s Old Cowtown Museum.

Lone Chimney Films was formed in 2003 by Ken Spurgeon and Jonathon Goering, and along with colleagues and friends, they began making docu-dramas to tell stories of our state’s past.

Ken Spurgeon

Ken decided to make films when he realized that his students didn’t seem to have the connection with our state’s early days that previous generations had.

“I would talk about the Lawrence raid or about Amelia Earhart and it didn’t register with the students,” Ken said. “At that time I was teaching college and the 19- and 20-year-olds hadn’t heard about these things, and that disturbed me.”

Their first docu-drama was “Touched by Fire: Bleeding Kansas.” It tells the story of how Kansas became a state, and covers the years 1854 to 1861.

Actors in their documentaries are volunteers, Amy said, with the exception of Buck Taylor, who played Newly in “Gunsmoke.” He had to be financially compensated as required by his acting guild.

Their second film, “Bloody Dawn: The Lawrence Massacre,” tells the story of Quantrill’s Raid. Ken Spurgeon and Jonathon Goering wrote the scripts for both of these films which have been shown on Kansas PBS stations.

“We built the town of Lawrence and then we burned it,” Amy said. The crew had constructed seven or eight building fronts near Rosalia, one of numerous locations around the state where they’ve filmed.

Their company is a not-for-profit organization and they are currently raising funds for their third documentary.

Soon they hope to begin shooting “Black Flag.” This film will tell of the hunt for Quantrill after he set Lawrence afire. The term black flag meant that there would be no mercy on Quantrill and his band of guerilla fighters, but hunting them down was not easy.

“You can’t find a guerilla. They blend in. You won’t know he’s there until he nails you,” Ken said.

“The Union swears there will never be another Lawrence,” he said, adding that “sometimes they went too far.”

“It’s very important that Kansans know the history of their state. It was not always perfect or peaceful,” Ken said, “And it’s unique. We’re like no other state.”

Watching events unfold on film helps his students and other Kansans connect with history.

“I’m a visual learner, even though I read like crazy,” Ken said, “I’ve tried to imagine these people as living, not just words on a page. If we show someone a moment visually, they’re more apt to go read about it.”

He has other films in mind. “There’s never been a shortage of ideas, just a shortage of funds.”

“And it doesn’t have to be (Lone Chimney) doing it, but I’d like these stories to be told by Kansans,” he said. “It can be done here and done well.”

While there seems to be little or no financial reward in making these docu-dramas, money isn’t the reason the Spurgeons and their associates make the films. They have been touched by the fire themselves and are eager to share their passion for Kansas history with the rest of us

*****

For more information, check out www.lonechimneyfilms.org.

The DVDs, “Touched by Fire” and “Bloody Dawn” are available here.

Copyright 2010 ~ Cheryl Unruh

1 Comment

  1. You are helping set the stage for our up-coming sesquicentennial with this column. If Kansas students have trouble grasping our state history which is central in US history. Other students in other states will have an even harder time grasping. Hope these films are positioned for classroom use in the coming year.

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