Coming soon, to YouTube, Elmore: A Christmas Story

Frank Elmore portrays Marley in the upcoming YouTube video: 'Elmore: A Christmas Story’.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

A collaborative project that first came together on Hannibal’s Bluff City Theater stage in 2018 will soon return to life as “Elmore: A Christmas Story,” filling a slot for posterity on YouTube.

First presented at the Bluff City Theatre, the show featured Clark A. Cruikshank as Scrooge or Dickens. He interacted, via 3-D, with pre-recorded parts played by local talent. The play was co-produced by Cruikshank and veteran actor and Hannibal resident Frank Elmore.

Cruikshank wrote the script, and Elmore did most of the filming.

“When we took on this adaptation,” Cruikshank said during an interview with the Courier-Post in 2018, “we were inspired by Hannibal's Big River Steampunk Festival, so we added fantasy elements like time and trans-dimensional travel, and alternate Victorian history.”

And Cruikshank added that, “Since this is Hannibal, of course Mark Twain will make an appearance."

When Cruikshank and Elmore decided to recreate this production for film, they realized that most of the parts were pre-recorded, and those images remain intact for use in this YouTube production.

But the parts played live by Cruikshank on stage in 2018 had to be recorded.

Elmore set up a green screen in his apartment for the filming. “I was desperate to get this on camera,” Elmore said. Filming was postponed for a time while Cruikshank and his wife had various ailments, which delayed the process. “We all three hit a time when we were in good shape. ‘Let’s shoot this thing now,’ I said,” and that’s what happened.

The remainder of the production has involved editing the film itself, with a goal of having it ready for Christmas season 2024, or soon thereafter.

“There were 75 people involved in this production,” Elmore said, including 30 actors. “It is mostly a Hannibal production, and that shows the spirit and talent that this town has.”

In addition to the actors and production workers, there are two sets of musicians involved with the show.

“The whole idea, is not have it be a one-time screening; but to have it up on YouTube, where anyone can look at it. It will be accessible.”

Elmore, who holds a master's degree in speech communications, is no novice to YouTube. Currently, he has 88 items posted to YouTube under his name. “I get hits from all over the world. I got hits from Vietnam on a World War movie I did.

“I’m not worried about getting a million hits. All my videos (together) have about 35,000 hits. That’s nice. I love doing these projects.”

In the upcoming YouTube presentation, Deeketa Plenty is Christmas Past and Jim Dewey is Christmas Present. Christmas Future is anonymous. Rajah Maples plays Belle. Jim Waddell plays Mark Twain.

Other actors include Kirsten Hildahl-Dewey, Kristie and Maddie Bradshaw, Nadiya Planty, Patrick Hedges, Jordan Hosmer, Ken and Lisa Marks, Jules King, Adrienne Claudette Fisk, and Gretchen Dudley Wolfmeyer.

In putting the 45-minute video together, Elmore noted that one thing was missing. “I wanted Christmas carols in it, but I can’t use copyrighted music or performances.”

He explained this saga to Jim Dewey, who is a long-time member of the Mark Twain Chorale.

Dewey said that back in 2005, they made a DVD of the Chorale’s Christmas performance. He told Elmore that if he could find the copy, he was welcome to use it.

Dewey did find the DVD, and as it turns out, 19 of the songs are not copyrighted.

“It was a Christmas miracle that I happened to run into Jim Dewey at Java Jive. I needed uncopyrighted music. He had to dig around to find it, from 20 years ago.”

While Elmore is still working on the production, he has inserted one special song into the film.

“The music comes in and out, and makes it magical. I have a beautiful carol, ‘Mother Mary,’ playing underneath the scene where Belle is telling Scrooge that she can’t marry him. The first time, I got choked up watching it.”

He is also putting in voiceovers and using special effects, sound effects, crowd sounds, “to put it up to what I want it to be.”

“It won’t just be people standing there looking at a character; there are shots around town, and then the Mark Twain Chorale, “which sounds like a very, very good church choir.”

Production has been a challenge, he said, but he is making headway.

He started editing this film eight months ago, and his hopes are that it will be ready for viewing by Christmas.

“I’ve had my ups and downs with this thing. Every time something crashed, I just thought of it as a rehearsal. Every time it gets better. I’ve jumped through a lot of hurdles, but it’s worth it,” Elmore said.

Among Elmore’s collective works on YouTube:

Jet’s Palace Fish Tank in 3D

Twain on Main

The Bone Shop

Kayaking on the Mississippi

Alice Through the Windowglass in 3D

Zombies in 3D