Sixty-two years ago Harry Truman was president, the Korean War was starting, Goodnight Irene was a number one hit song, All About Eve was in theaters, and the Hylton family was making its mark in a small independent film.

This past Christmas I received an interesting gift from my parents — specifically my father. It was a DVD titled, The Basket of Blessing, by Evangel Films. I had quite the bewildered look on my face and asked what the DVD was all about. I was a bit shocked to learn that my father, uncle and grandparents were cast in a religious movie in 1950 — family trivia that never trickled down to the next generation!

Evangel Films was a professional company with a Portland area studio. My grandparents had a family friend who somehow got them connected with the film project. The Basket of Blessing was a telling of the Gospel story where Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. The movie also had a present day crossover. My dad didn’t remember a lot about the movie’s production except that it took months to film, and he got out of school when the family worked on it. He did recall that the grass he walked on in a scene was sharp and hurt his feet.

The director finished the project just before dying in a plane crash, so it was close to never being seen. The film was distributed to churches and missions around the country, and apparently my father became a bit famous in church circles when people realized he was the little boy in the movie. The film was also one of the first of its kind that was in color.

My grandmother died in 1995, and shortly thereafter my grandfather sold the family home in Portland’s Irvington neighborhood. My parents thought they had taken a copy of the film from the house before it was sold but realized later that wasn’t the case. My dad somehow found a link on the internet in 2012 and discovered the movie was for sale on DVD. So, he purchased a few copies for family members. Since Christmas, I happened upon the movie on YouTube. It was uploaded by the son of the former owner of Evangel Films.

For me, it was an emotional viewing of the DVD. I watched my grandparents as young people — probably in their mid-30s — with the same mannerisms I remember them having years later. I saw my father, who is now 70, at eight years old and noticed the strong resemblance I have to him — 21 years before I was born! I also got to see my uncle at a very young age. Plus, the studio used lots of props from the family home. I recognized furniture, curtains, toys and beds that were still around when I was a child. Talk about a nostalgia trip! I could practically smell my grandmother’s perfume again.

So, I now present the one time our family was in a professionally produced movie. While the performances were a bit stilted, Dad said it was much worse when they were rehearsing. It took a long time for them to get as natural looking and sounding as they were on film. Enjoy a bit of Hylton family history in this 10-minute film short…

By the way, Dad is the earnest little boy at my grandfather’s knee in the present day portion of the movie and the child with the basket of food later in the film. I’m happy to say the fame never went to his head.