Leo Beuerman is a 1969 American short documentary film directed by Gene Boomer. It tells the story of Leo Beuerman (1902–1974), a diminutive, disabled man who sold pencils and became a fixture on the downtown sidewalks of Lawrence, Kansas in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to his determination. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
Leo Beuerman
Himself
Leo Beuerman is a 1969 American short documentary film directed by Gene Boomer. It tells the story of Leo Beuerman (1902–1974), a diminutive, disabled man who sold pencils and became a fixture on the downtown sidewalks of Lawrence, Kansas in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to his determination. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
The eponymous street vendor can barely be three foot tall, but he has cleverly built and adapted an whole range of equipment to enable him to get about his small Kansas town - even building a pulley system to get aboard his tractor that gets him to and from his home. By day, he finds a space in the shade and sells pencils from a small cart to passing pedestrians eking out a living with his small pile of coins by his side. It's a curious documentary in that it makes no effort to actually speak to the man himself. The latter half of the documentary follows some of his day's activities - and his use of his intricately devised engineering, but I found myself wanting to hear from him to put some meat on the bones of this film I felt a little uncomfortable watching. The narration rather dryly gives us the facts and statistics, though, and it's an affecting observation of a way of life that shows a man of determination amidst a society that seems entirely, if politely, indifferent to him.
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A tribute to Chadwick Boseman, celebrating his life and legacy.