LAST MINUTE MUSINGS: Graciously, gratefully on the cutting room floor

I finally did it. Made the big time. I went to the world premiere of a new film Wednesday evening, and my name was up there in the credits, twice in fact.

So that means I was in the movie, right?

Well ... kind of … halfway. Let me elaborate.

When production began to get under way for the documentary “A Generation at War,” Shelly McFadden, production manager for the film, reached out to me about writing a story.

I gladly obliged, as I had already written about the source material more than once. Nicole Etcheson’s book “A Generation at War: The Civil War Era in a Northern Community” was published back in 2011. That Northern Community happens to be Putnam County, and Etcheson happens to be cousin once removed to my wife, another Nicole who, like her namesake, grew up elsewhere but is the daughter of a Putnam County native.

Along the way, though, it was also mentioned that there might be a place for me in the film. They needed someone to play George Langsdale, editor of The Daily Banner in the postwar years as well as the driving force behind getting the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument constructed in downtown Indianapolis.

What a natural fit to have the current editor of the Banner Graphic play the part.

So I agreed, and some chilly afternoons at the Putnam County Playhouse Hazel Day Longden Theatre followed last winter. As McFadden put it Wednesday, “It is almost as cold outside was it was inside the Playhouse during filming.”

They filmed a scene in which I sat with Union veterans years after the war as they reminisced about their glory days in battle. In another session, I read a couple of Langsdale quotes for voiceovers for the film. I also played an unnamed extra in a scene in which townspeople stand outside the telegraph office awaiting word of the First Battle of Bull Run.

While I had fun along the way, I didn’t have any pretense about what might happen in the final cut. I’m no trained actor, and making a 387-page book into a 57-minute film is hard work. It means making tough choices.

So I wasn’t hurt in the least last week when Shelly sheepishly told me that my scene with the vets had been cut. For the film’s postwar “third act,” the producers instead chose to focus on the African American experience in Putnam County rather than the veterans.

Having seen the film, they made a good choice. I had no idea that in the postwar years, the African American population in Putnam County swelled to around 600 before dwindling away as Blacks found the conditions and prejudices in the North not that much better than the South.

Still, learning that during that time, Putnam County was a welcoming place for former slaves, at least by some residents, was informative and heart-warming.

As I sat there at Ashley Square Cinema, I spotted my face in the telegraph office scene. You can see me twice, briefly, only about half of my face on the right side of the screen.

Later, a Langsdale quote that I definitely read popped up on the screen. A voice saying the quote followed, and it was definitely not mine. All I could do was laugh. I hadn’t exactly left the Playhouse that day brimming with confidence about my performance.

I laughed again after the movie when talking to some family friends of ours. Four of them had taken part, but one, who had been part of the scene in which I appeared, didn’t make the final cut at all.

When one of the producers had said, “We couldn’t have done it without you,” her quip was something like, “Apparently you could have.”

None of this should come across as me being unhappy with the film. Filmmakers Larry Laswell, David Gudaitis, Elizabeth Mitchell and the late Alan Backler did an amazing job of putting together a documentary that was true to Etcheson’s book.

“Nicole’s book drove the whole project,” Gudaitis said.

Furthermore, it was true to Putnam County, which was an absolute necessity for Etcheson, who not only wrote the source material but also appears onscreen multiple times as a sort of guide. When the production team told her they wanted her to be happy with the film, Etcheson turned the focus to the community.

“I wanted the people of Putnam County to be happy with the final product,” Etcheson said.

So are the people of Putnam County happy? Well, everyone I talked to from a near-capacity crowd in one of Ashley Square’s two theaters seemed happy after the screening. It’s an unflinching look at the county, displaying how certain prominent citizens were on the wrong side of history while also highlighting accounts of individual sacrifice and heroism.

The rest of the county should have the opportunity to see it come March. Though a date and time have not been chosen, the film will air on WTIU, the Bloomington affiliate of PBS. Furthermore, it will be shared with other PBS stations in the state. For many local viewers, the hope is that will also mean broadcast on WFYI in Indianapolis.

According to the filmmakers, the residents of Putnam County should take some pride in ourselves and our institutions. There was high praise for Dean Gambill of the Putnam County Community Foundation, an organization whose funding helped make the film possible.

“The support of this community for what we did was amazing,” Laswell said.

Making note of both Shelly and husband Ric McFadden, who narrates the film, Laswell extended his praise to the Putnam County Playhouse, which provided not only a location but pretty much all the actors.

“I hope you know what kind of thing you have in the Playhouse,” Laswell said, noting that not every community of this size has a community theater quite as vibrant as PCPH. “It is marvelous. Don’t take it for granted.”

For the community as a whole, I’m not sure we could find higher praise than what came from Mitchell. As an African American woman, she said she can still encounter situations most of us would like to believe are a thing of the past. That did not happen here in Putnam County.

“When I travel around with these guys, I have to be careful. I don’t care if it’s 2025,” Mitchell said. “But up here, I felt safe, I felt welcomed.”

For that, more than anything, I’m proud of our community. I’m also proud of the film. It isn’t going to make any of us famous, but it’s an insightful and entertaining look at Putnam County in the second half of the 19th century.

Never mind that this wasn’t a star turn for me.

That’s just showbiz, baby.