''The Barefoot Mailman'' is a comedy-adventure film starring

Robert Cummings Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as '' The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) and ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943), and in ...

and distributed by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

in 1951. The film was based on the 1943 novel ''The Barefoot Mailman'' by

Theodore Pratt Theodore Pratt (1901–1969) was an American writer who is best known for his novels set in Florida. He wrote more than 30 novels, which were adapted into films five times. Biography Pratt was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1901 to Thomas A. ...

. Filmed in Super Cinecolor on location in Florida where the events take place, it features many elements of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Plot

Set in 1895, Robert Cummings plays a con man, Sylvanus Hurley, who is trying to raise the selling price of land he owns by convincing the residents of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

that a railroad is coming to town.

Jerome Courtland Jerome Courtland (December 27, 1926 – March 1, 2012) was an American actor, director and producer. He acted in films in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and in television in the 1950s and 1960s. Courtland also appeared on Broadway in the musical '' ...

plays the

barefoot mailman The barefoot mailman is an iconic Florida symbol. It refers to the carriers on the first United States Postal Service, U.S. Mail route (1885–1892) between Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach and the settlements around Lake Worth Lagoon, Lake Worth o ...

, Steven Pierton, who leads Sylvanus along the beach from Palm Beach to Miami, and who is skeptical of Sylvanus's scheme. Terry Moore is a run-away teenager, Adie Titus, who joins Sylvanus and Steven on their walk by impersonating a child. John Russell plays Theron, a swamp gang leader who tries to carry Adie away.

Cast

as Sylvanus Hurley * Terry Moore as Adie Titus *

as Steven Pierton * John Russell as Theron *

Will Geer Will Geer (born William Aughe Ghere; March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor, musician, and social activist, who was active in labor organizing and other movements in New York and Southern California in the 1930s and 1940s. In C ...

as Dan Paget *

Arthur Shields Arthur Shields (15 February 1896 – 27 April 1970) was an Irish actor on television, stage and film. Early years Born into an Irish Protestant family in Portobello, Dublin, Shields started acting in the Abbey Theatre when he was 17 years old ...

as Ben Titus *

Trevor Bardette Trevor Bardette (born Terva Gaston Hubbard; November 19, 1902 – November 28, 1977) was an American film and television actor. Among many other roles in his long and prolific career, Bardette appeared in several episodes of '' Adventures of S ...

as Oat McCarty *

Arthur Space Charles Arthur Space (October 12, 1908 – January 13, 1983) was an American film, television and stage actor. He was best known as Doc Weaver, the veterinarian, in thirty-nine episodes of the CBS television series '' Lassie''. Early years Bor ...

as Piggott *

Frank Ferguson Frank S. Ferguson (December 25, 1906 – September 12, 1978) was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Background Ferguson was the younger of two children of W. Thomas Ferguson, a native Scottish ...

as Doc Bethune *

Percy Helton Percy Alfred Helton (January 31, 1894 – September 11, 1971) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was one of the most familiar faces and voices in Hollywood of the 1950s. Career A Manhattan native, Helton began acting ...

as Dewey Durgan *

Ellen Corby Ellen Hansen Corby (June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999) was an American actress and screenwriter. She played the role of Esther "Grandma" Walton on the CBS television series '' The Waltons'', for which she won three Emmy Awards. She was also ...

as Miss Della *

Renie Riano Renie Isabel Riano (August 7, 1899 – July 3, 1971) was an English-born American actress who, with the exception of the Jiggs and Maggie comedies, had minor roles in 1940s and 1950s films. She was sometimes credited as Reine Riano, Renee R ...

as Miss Emily

Production

The film was based on a novel by Theodore Pratt published in 1943. The ''New York Times'' called it "salty and colorful." In April 1950 Columbia reported that Alfred Lewis Levitt was writing a screenplay based on the book for the studio. In September Columbia said they would film the bulk of the movie in Florida starting October 3. Cummings was cast in November 1950.U.I. STUDIOS LIST TWO NEW MOVIES New York Times 9 Nov 1950: 43.

References

External links

*
The Barefoot Mailman
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

1951 films 1950s adventure comedy films American adventure comedy films Cinecolor films Columbia Pictures films 1950s English-language films Films scored by George Duning Films based on American novels Films set in 1895 Films set in Florida Films shot in Florida American historical comedy films 1950s historical comedy films 1951 comedy films Films directed by Earl McEvoy 1950s American films {{1950s-comedy-film-stub