The 1957 film "A Face in the Crowd" shows a wheelbarrow full of silver US fifty cent pieces. The film stars Andy Griffith as Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes, a country music star, and Patricia Neal as his promoter and manager Marcia Jeffries. Marcia goes to the county jail in Pickett, Arkansas, to interview prisoners. She finds Larry Rhodes with a guitar, records him, and plays the tape on her father's radio station. The station offers Rhodes a one-hour radio show, later he gets a Memphis television show, followed by a New York based national television program. When Rhodes becomes a national television star he develops a corresponding inflated ego. When he continues into national politics things get worse. During his time in Memphis, Rhodes appears on a television station and asks viewers to send half dollars to the station to rebuild a poor mother's house which was destroyed in a fire. At the television station studio, a wheelbarrow full of fifty cent coins is shown. The coins are real and not prop coins or tokens. It was unusual at the time to show real US coins in a film, especially in this amount, as it was technically illegal to show real money (coins or bills) in films until 1960, when the US Treasury Department rescinded the regulation. The songs in the film were written by Tom Glazer and Budd Schulberg and were performed by Andy Griffith.

In the small town of Pickett located in northeast Arkansas, J. B. Jeffries owns the town's radio station. His niece Marcia Jeffries has a program entitled "A Face in the Crowd" where she interviews local residents. This time she visits Sheriff Big Jeff Bess's jail with a tape recorder and tries to get the inmates to say something. Most ignore her but Larry Rhodes, who was arrested for "drunk and disorderly", managed to keep his guitar (and a bottle of liquor), agrees to perform if the sheriff releases him in the morning. Sheriff Bess is running for mayor and likes Marcia so he agrees. She tapes the performance and calls Larry Rhodes "Lonesome Rhodes", a name he keeps for the rest of the film.

Lonesome sings an appropriate song, "Free Man in the Morning." Back at the radio station office Marcia plays the tape of Lonesome's performance.

The station manager wants to put Lonesome on the station and she heads first to the jail and finds him released, then finds him hitchhiking, after some discussion and his obvious interest in her, he accompanies her to the station and begins performing. The program is a success and after a few weeks Lonesome receives an offer from a Memphis television station to perform. Marcia accompanies him as his manager. On one program, Lonsesome talks about wandering the streets of a big city late at night and brings on a guest, a black woman whose house has burned down leaving her and her children destitute.

Lonesome tells the audience that they are good people and will send half dollars to the station to help her out. On the next program he announces that they have collected over 18,000 half dollars and a station employee Mel Miller, wheels out a wheelbarrow full of half dollars.

The wheelbarrow is given a closer look:

The half dollars are real and some are of the "Walking Liberty" design.

Silver, 30.6 mm, 12.50 gm
Walking Liberty half dollars were minted from 1916 to 1947.

Lonesome picks up some of the half dollars.

While Mel watches, Lonesome holds them up to the camera.

One of Lonesome's television program sponsors is a mattress store and there he meets Joey DePalma, one of the stores employees.

Joey is a hustler and has been funnelling payments to Lonesome to work other company names into Lonesome's program, a sort of "product placement." Joeh then attaches himself to Lonesome as an assistant.

Lonesome's Memphis television career is short-lived as he receives an offer from a national television network based in New York. His new program is sponsored in part by "Vitajex", a vitamin pill company.

Vitajex is not selling too well and Lonesome suggests changing the color of the pills from "pale" white to "sunshine" yellow. The company takes Lonesome's advice and he performs advertising commercials for the pill, which is now marketed as a "male enhancement" pill.

One of Lonesome's advertisements.

Lonesome becomes a national celebrity, somewhat like the real 1950's television celebrities Arthur Godfrey and Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Proof of Lonesome Rhodes celebrity follows:

Lonesome Rhodes also gets his own slogan: "There's nothing as trustworthy .... as the ordinary mind - of the ordinary man"

Lonesome is given the two top floors of a luxury hotel.

Looking out the window one can see the symbol of television.

Lonesome now has a crew of writers including Mel Miller who gets to know Marcia.

The office is decorated with humorous slogans and...

Lonesome heads back to Pickett Arkansas to appear at and judge a baton twirling contest. One of the girls participating is 17-year old Betty Lou Fleckum.

While the girls are twirling their batons, Lonesome Rhodes performs his latest hit, "Mama Guitar", which sums up his attitude towards women.

Lonesome returns to New York after a stop in Juarez, Mexico where he and Betty Lou were married. Lonesome and Betty Lou recreate their wedding for his television program.

The wedding imitates a military wedding with batons replacing swords.

Lonesome is introduced to a senator who is described as the "last isolationist" and is running for president. The owner of Vitajex is supporting the senator and Lonesome adds a feature to his program where he gives his political opinions.

Lonesome comes home one afternoon and finds Betty Lou and Joey together. He tries to fire Joey but Joey informs him that he now owns Lonesome's account. But he can fire Betty Lou.

Lonesome Rhodes has become increasingly difficult to work with and insulting to his writers and television crew. Marcia, who is now seeing Mel, also dislikes Lonesome's political power and opinions and decides to do something about it.

Lonesome finishes a program and then begins insulting his audience, calling them dummies and that he can get them to do whatever he wants.

Marcia moves the studio controls to put Lonesome back on the air. The performance causes his program to be cancelled and he wanders around his apartment screaming and yelling for Marcia, who has left him for Mel.

Mel and Marcia leave in a taxi and Marcia cries: "If I'd only left him in that jail in Pickett." Mel tells Marcia: "You were taken in, just like we were all taken in. But we get wise to them, and that's our strength." "We get wise to them."

Andy Griffith as Larry 'Lonesome' Rhodes
Patricia Neal as Marcia Jeffries
Anthony Franciosa as Joey DePalma
Walter Matthau as Mel Miller
Lee Remick as Betty Lou Fleckum
Director: Elia Kazan
Writers: Budd Schulberg