New Feature Documentary Nears Completion

“The Inge Meyring Smith Story", a new feature-length documentary by Clay Stafford, is nearly edited. Tested at the Utopia Film Festival in Greenbelt, Maryland, the film received rave reviews and an enthusiastic audience welcome. The story is simple and straightforward and told through a series of studio interviews with Smith and those who personally knew (or know) her: A young German Jew is nearly killed by the forces of Adolf Hitler. She escapes (with the help of Americans) with her mother and father from Dresden, Germany to the United States. Her extended family left behind in Germany is annihilated. She finishes school in the U.S., works on Wall Street, but finds her real love is education. She moves south with her husband, an American soldier she met during the War. In the midst of the Civil Rights movement, the voice against the prejudice she endured in Germany is ignited. She is chosen to help develop Presidents Kennedy and Johnson’s Head Start program in the Appalachians and Deep South and goes on to become a respected international voice for early childhood education and independent institutions of learning.

Stafford’s Children’s Classics Adaptations a
Million-Plus Bestseller

Stafford goes beyond the million mark. Stafford’s retelling of “Huckleberry Finn,” “The Wind in the Willows,” “White Fang,” and “Swiss Family Robinson” have collectively sold over 1.2 million copies, have themselves appeared onscreen in the feature film “Must Love Dogs,” and have been translated into at least two foreign languages (Polish and Russian). Released in everything from traditional hardcover to faux leather to paperback, each book has illustrations (many color) on every page opening. The books are available from Big Box retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Sam’s Club, and Costco.