Showtime

    The pirates in rolled up pants and kerchiefs around their necks skulked in the background of the playhouse.  Long John Silver practiced his limp.  One pirate with a  broken arm had a conspicuous 20th century cast.  The super eight movie camera zoomed in on the title decorated with colored crayons, Treasure Island produced by Cecil B. Reville.
    Since this movie was silent, we had no worries about learning script or rehearsing with the children in our Pasadena neighborhood.  We simply held up the next scene card which they had made, directed the twenty children to the location, gave a few tips as to what was suppose to happen, and rolled the camera.
    Land scenes seemed to be easy except when we entered the woods and the child with the broken arm did a flip over a fallen log.  But as a true pirate escaping capture, he jumped to his feet and ran. The confusing part to the children was filming the scenes out of sequence to make it easier on the adults, saving the pirate ship on the creek for last, knowing what would ensue.
    After tables and chairs were turned in the playhouse which served as the Admiral Benbow Inn, Jim Hawkins and the pirates walked to Bristol, the shoreline, and the good ship Hispaniola, a  sailboat anchored in the middle of the creek.  Arriving at Bristol with no pier available the pirates donned life jackets.  There were the expected groans from the young pirates who struggled to hide them under their pirate shirts.  The adults ruled that safety came first over reality.  We now had fat pirates who were eager for a fight.
    We rowed them to the waiting sailboat and they drew their swords, pistols, and knives to parry. The camera rolled on an adjacent boat.  Action!  Pirates raced around the deck, yelled, but this was a silent film, and dove off the boat after carefully laying aside their weapons. Then we hoisted sail and moved to the final scene for the buried treasure.
    When we neared the deserted beach and adjacent woods, the dinghy was lowered and pirates scampered over the side.  Some jumped ship and swam eager to hunt for the treasure.  Since the scenes were out of order and the hours progressed, tired pirates ran amuck.  Our last shot to splice together on the super 8 film was Long John Silver rowing away to escape capture.  There was a problem; he could not row.  So the climax of Treasure Island was Long John Silver frantically rowing in circles to the laughter of the film crew.
    The film captured a snapshot of Pasadena that is long gone.  The boys and girls are now men and women.  The deserted beach is an exclusive gated community and the creek is littered with piers and boat lifts.