The film opens with a close-up of a naked backside of young blond boy, who swings from a rope swing away from the camera jumping into a river. The boy is played by William Betz, who was 7 at the time of filming, who today (2009) recalls that at the time of filming, people weren't really allowed to swim in that river, White Sulfer Springs. He said his mother also had a very brief background extra role as one of the ladies at the train station where Pollyanna is picked up. Neither of them were actors but just locals where the movie was filmed. He is amused that the small Vermont town depicted in the movie was actually a mix of various locales miles apart in Napa Valley and Sonoma County, California.
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