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The Making of "Buckeye Bank Robbery"
Planes, trains, automobiles, gangsters, car chases, humor, and thrills are all captured in this action packed 8mm film presentation.
This bit of history about the creation the “Buckeye Bank Robbery” film comes from Ken Smith (aka “Silver Smith”, the Gang Leader in the film) and Joe Ayres (one of the cinematographers and editors of the film), who are both members of the Dayton Buckeye Model A Ford Club (DBMAFC).
In the year 2000, late club member Roger Kaufman had the idea of the club producing a film which could be shown at the 2004 Indianapolis MARC National Meet in Indiana. Ken states, “We had members with technical skills and “know how”, including some “would be actors.” We became infatuated with the idea that we could showcase many of our Model “A”s while recreating the “Gangster Era” and the times of the Model A Ford”.
Joe Ayres remembers how he was volunteered to be the cameraman during a club meeting. “I had gone away for a week or so, and when I came back, at the first meeting afterwards, someone came to me and said, "Oh Good, you're here”. “We're going to vote on the movie tonight and you're going to be the cameraman!" During the meeting, the club voted to buy an 8mm camera. Joe said, “After the first shoot, "Going Down Maple Street", shot in Brookville, I realized that we were going to need two cameras, so I bought another one”. Jesse Huber became the second cameraman for the film.
The film was released under HAK Productions (Huber, Ayres, and Kaufman), and directed by Roger, who apparently never really shared the whole script to the group. Joe stated, “We did know that there was a bank robbery, and the robbers were chased by land, air, and sea”. Jack Tims and Joe Ayres dedicated many hours of cinematography and editing for the film.
The film was shot mostly during the weekends, being produced between 2000 and 2004 mainly during the summer and fall seasons. While the bank was a real bank in Phillipsburg, Ohio, the inside bank scene was a bank displayed at the Garst Museum in Greenville, Ohio. The phone operator scene was also filmed at the museum. The scene “Going Down Maple Street” was shot on Maple Street in Brookville, Ohio. The neighbors agreed to move all their modern cars to be replaced by the club member’s Model “A”s. Jesse Huber recorded these scenes from the bed of a commercial AA (owned by Joe Ayres) with a camera mounted on a tri-pod. Though there was a lot of planning, Joe said, “Some scenes were accidental, they just happened during filming.”
A memorable scene is the appearance of a Model A engine powered, single wing aircraft which joins the Model A Posse who is chasing after the “S” Gang”. In Ken’s own words, “Planes, trains, and automobiles were the central features of the show. There were very memorable moments in our movie. An example was a “real life flight” by a Pietenpol single wing airplane (actually flown in 1928) powered by a Model A Ford engine. This airplane chased the gangsters in the air with a pose following close behind as they tried to escape the law. It all started with a bank robbery shot in a replica bank at the Garst Museum in Greenville, Ohio. The story line was of the lawless escapades of the “S” Gang with characters like “Silver Smith” (Gang Leader), “Shar”, “Stretch”, “Slim”, “Smiley” and “Spike.” Hot on the trail of these gangsters was “Police Chief Ketchum Kauffman.” These named Gangsters told a story of a famous, but fictitious “Bank Robbery”, using many local and historical countryside locations and buildings.”
The first, or at least partial, viewing of the film was during the DBMAFC Christmas dinner about 1 year after they started filming. Per Roger’s request, Joe put together a sample of the movie which was shown at the event. The premier showing was in the Host Hotel Ball Room at the 2004 Indianapolis MARC National Meet in Indiana. Ken recalls, “The actors in the movie wore clothes used in their individual character roles in the movie. As MARC members came in for the show, they were given popcorn in “Era” like popcorn boxes and given “cartoon like” trading cards depicting actual scene clips of the story of the Dayton Buckeye Bank Robbery”. All the time and work put into the film by ALL THE MEMEBERS was a huge success. In Ken’s words, “(the film) had the packed audience hooting and hollering as the story unfolded. Those in the audience had never experienced anything like this- EVER!”
Sadly, the driver of the Model T (Dale Anderson) that is passing the school bus in the film, the couple on the train platform (Bob & Mary Alice Rickert), and the man fishing (Bob Detling) all passed away before the movie was completed.
A special thank you to Ken Smith and Joe Ayres for sharing their memories of the making of the “Buckeye Bank Robbery”.
This bit of history about the creation the “Buckeye Bank Robbery” film comes from Ken Smith (aka “Silver Smith”, the Gang Leader in the film) and Joe Ayres (one of the cinematographers and editors of the film), who are both members of the Dayton Buckeye Model A Ford Club (DBMAFC).
In the year 2000, late club member Roger Kaufman had the idea of the club producing a film which could be shown at the 2004 Indianapolis MARC National Meet in Indiana. Ken states, “We had members with technical skills and “know how”, including some “would be actors.” We became infatuated with the idea that we could showcase many of our Model “A”s while recreating the “Gangster Era” and the times of the Model A Ford”.
Joe Ayres remembers how he was volunteered to be the cameraman during a club meeting. “I had gone away for a week or so, and when I came back, at the first meeting afterwards, someone came to me and said, "Oh Good, you're here”. “We're going to vote on the movie tonight and you're going to be the cameraman!" During the meeting, the club voted to buy an 8mm camera. Joe said, “After the first shoot, "Going Down Maple Street", shot in Brookville, I realized that we were going to need two cameras, so I bought another one”. Jesse Huber became the second cameraman for the film.
The film was released under HAK Productions (Huber, Ayres, and Kaufman), and directed by Roger, who apparently never really shared the whole script to the group. Joe stated, “We did know that there was a bank robbery, and the robbers were chased by land, air, and sea”. Jack Tims and Joe Ayres dedicated many hours of cinematography and editing for the film.
The film was shot mostly during the weekends, being produced between 2000 and 2004 mainly during the summer and fall seasons. While the bank was a real bank in Phillipsburg, Ohio, the inside bank scene was a bank displayed at the Garst Museum in Greenville, Ohio. The phone operator scene was also filmed at the museum. The scene “Going Down Maple Street” was shot on Maple Street in Brookville, Ohio. The neighbors agreed to move all their modern cars to be replaced by the club member’s Model “A”s. Jesse Huber recorded these scenes from the bed of a commercial AA (owned by Joe Ayres) with a camera mounted on a tri-pod. Though there was a lot of planning, Joe said, “Some scenes were accidental, they just happened during filming.”
A memorable scene is the appearance of a Model A engine powered, single wing aircraft which joins the Model A Posse who is chasing after the “S” Gang”. In Ken’s own words, “Planes, trains, and automobiles were the central features of the show. There were very memorable moments in our movie. An example was a “real life flight” by a Pietenpol single wing airplane (actually flown in 1928) powered by a Model A Ford engine. This airplane chased the gangsters in the air with a pose following close behind as they tried to escape the law. It all started with a bank robbery shot in a replica bank at the Garst Museum in Greenville, Ohio. The story line was of the lawless escapades of the “S” Gang with characters like “Silver Smith” (Gang Leader), “Shar”, “Stretch”, “Slim”, “Smiley” and “Spike.” Hot on the trail of these gangsters was “Police Chief Ketchum Kauffman.” These named Gangsters told a story of a famous, but fictitious “Bank Robbery”, using many local and historical countryside locations and buildings.”
The first, or at least partial, viewing of the film was during the DBMAFC Christmas dinner about 1 year after they started filming. Per Roger’s request, Joe put together a sample of the movie which was shown at the event. The premier showing was in the Host Hotel Ball Room at the 2004 Indianapolis MARC National Meet in Indiana. Ken recalls, “The actors in the movie wore clothes used in their individual character roles in the movie. As MARC members came in for the show, they were given popcorn in “Era” like popcorn boxes and given “cartoon like” trading cards depicting actual scene clips of the story of the Dayton Buckeye Bank Robbery”. All the time and work put into the film by ALL THE MEMEBERS was a huge success. In Ken’s words, “(the film) had the packed audience hooting and hollering as the story unfolded. Those in the audience had never experienced anything like this- EVER!”
Sadly, the driver of the Model T (Dale Anderson) that is passing the school bus in the film, the couple on the train platform (Bob & Mary Alice Rickert), and the man fishing (Bob Detling) all passed away before the movie was completed.
A special thank you to Ken Smith and Joe Ayres for sharing their memories of the making of the “Buckeye Bank Robbery”.