BrianRxm Coins in Movies 281/387
The Rocket Man (1954)
Space boy passes collection plate in church with coins
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The 1954 film "Rocket Man" is a comedy about Timmy, a little boy from a "broken home" who is temporarily invited into the home of Amelia Brown, a middle-aged town Justice of the Peace.
 
Timmy and the other little boys in the town have lost interest in cowboys and westerns to the flying saucer and space travel crazes of the early 1950's.
 
At a promotion for a television program for a fictional spaceman, Captain Talray, a real spaceman (also named Captain Talray) gives Timmy a "special" space gun.
 
Amelia Brown and her family are campaigning in an election against the crooked local political boss, Big Bill Watkins. Timmy assists the campaign with his space gun.
 
At one point Amelia and her family bring Timmy to a church service where a collection plate is passed. The plate shows a Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Company Motion Picture prop coin and some real American, Mexican, and other coins.
 
Rocket Man
1. Title
The film opens with the little boy Billy talking:
 
I'll bet when your mom and pop were little like us, they used to dream about cowboys and Indians. Only now the cowboys and Indians have turned into men from outer space and the horses into flying saucers. Here I'm only seven years old and I'm a spaceman. Just like most of you kids. Stick around and I'll show you what I mean. I've got to blast off now.
 
Timmy and some boys from a boy's orphanage are brought to see a promotion for a television program, "Captain Talray", but there are two Captains, one the television actor, and the other, a real spaceman.
 
Rocket Man
2. Television program
The promoters hand out space and rocket toys to the boys and Captain TalRay, a real spaceman, suddenly appears and materializes a toy gun which the promoter gives to Timmy.
 
Rocket Man
3. Man gives Timmy a space gun
Local politician Big Bill Williams is drinking and driving and almost runs over a child. A local policeman arrests him and takes him to Amelia Brown, the local Justice of the Peace.
 
Rocket Man
4. Policeman deposts Big Bill at justice's house
Judge Amelia sentences Big Bill to ten days in jail and Big Bill swears revenge.
 
The orphanage is crowded and Amelia takes Timmy into her home. Amelia is a widow and lives with June, her grown daughter. Mayor Ed Johnson is a frequent visitor as he has been courting Amelia for a long time.
 
Amelia and June take Timmy to church.
 
Rocket Man
5. Amelia gives Timmy a quarter for church
The church deacon passes the plate.
 
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6. Passing the plate
A variety of coins are in the plate.
 
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7. Collection plate coins
The coins include a Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Company 50 cent prop coin on the left, a US Franklin half-dollar to it's right, Mexican five and ten cent coins of the period, and some other small non-US coins. Timmy supplied the button.
 
Los Angeles Rubber Stamp prop Coin
8. Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Company 50 cent prop coin
Copper-nickel, 31 mm, 10.38 gm
 
Obverse:
LOS ANGELES RUBBER STAMP CO.
MFR'S OF / MOVING / PICTURE / MONEY / AND / BADGES
Reverse:
RETURNABLE / FOR CREDIT AT LB. RATE / 50¢
 
For more information on these prop coins please visit: Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Coins
 
Amelia is also a parole officer and she sends June to the bus station to pick up a state prison parolee. A man named Tom Baxter gets off the bus.
 
Rocket Man
9. June meets Tom
June falsely assumes that Tom is the parolee and he plays along with her mistake as he wants to keep seeing her.
 
The real parolee Bob and his fiancee Ludine get off the bus and head for Amelia's house. The couple assume that Amelia knows who they are, produce a marriage license, and ask Amelia to perform a wedding.
 
Rocket Man
10. Amelia marries Bob and Ludine
Bob holds up the wedding license.
 
Tom finally admits to June that he is an attorney working for Big Bill but that he became disgusted with the man's activities and resigned his position.
 
The spaceman visits Timmy and tells him that anyone he points the space gun at will be forced to speak truthfully.
 
Big Bill Watkins is attempting to buy the orphanage in order to demolish it. Amelia and Ed need money to keep the orphanage open. Armed with the space gun, Timmy follows Ed to a poker game.
 
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11. Ed plays poker with some assistance
Ed wins enough money and visits Amelia.
 
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12. Ed hands over the cash
At a town meeting Big Bill gives a speech. Timmy points the "truth" gun at him.
 
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13. Big Bill freaks out
Big Bill starts bragging about his plans to loot the city and sell the orphanage to an oil company. He is run out of town and a later scene shows the orphanage with an oil derrick in front.
 
Someone asks Amelia where Timmy is and she says that he has gone to the moon but will return soon. Timmy climbs down from the oil derrick.
 
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14. Ed, Amelia, Ludine, Bob, June, and Tom welcome Timmy back from the moon
Timmy tells the family that he had a cheese sandwich on the moon as the moon is made of "green cheese."
 
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15. Captain Talray and his lunar sandwich
Cast, Directors, Writers:
 
George Winslow as Timmy
Charles Coburn as Mayor Ed Johnson
Spring Byington as Amelia Brown (Justice of the Peace)
Anne Francis as June Brown
John Agar as Tom Baxter
Emory Parnell as Big Bill Watkins
Lawrence Ryle as Captain Talray
 
Director: Oscar Rudolph
Writers: Lenny Bruce, George W. George, Jack Henley, George F. Slavin
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