Uncle Tom's Cabin

Poster advertising the 1927 film Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the third most expensive film of the silent era, at a cost of $1.8 million. This film marks Hollywood’s first excursion to Arkansas. In the fall of 1926, Universal Pictures chartered a steamboat, which it anchored in the port of Helena (Phillips County), to shoot scenes for this big-budget version of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel. Even though the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy protested the shooting, about 200 locals participated in the production.

Courtesy of Ron Robinson