Barefoot Boy

Rural teenager Jackie Moran (as Billy Whittaker) likes to play with his dog and climb trees with no shoes on, as suggested in John Greenleaf Whittier's poem "Barefoot Boy". Mr. Moran also likes cute neighbor Marilyn Knowlden (as Julia Blaine) and writes her a love note. The potential for puppy love is threatened however, by the arrival of spoiled military schoolboy Bradley Metcalfe (as Kenneth Hale). He teases Moran about going barefoot, wrestles with him, and pledges to steal his girlfriend. Their parents have Mr. Metcalfe staying with Moran when the former's father Ralph Morgan (as John Hale) gets out of prison...

Meanwhile, Matty Fain (as Blake) and Frank Puglia (as Hank), two crooks who committed the crime for which Mr. Morgan served time, hide out in the local haunted house. After Metcalfe is declared a hero for saving her sister from drowning, jealous Marcia Mae Jones (as Pige Blaine), who has a crush on Moran, takes the teenagers to the haunted house, hoping to expose Metcalfe as a coward. Mixing it up with criminals puts the youngsters and Moran's dog ("Toto" from "The Wizard of Oz") in grave danger… Director Karl Brown moves this teen fare well, but it looks like some omissions or edits have garbled parts of the story.

***** Barefoot Boy (8/3/38) Karl Brown ~ Jackie Moran, Bradley Metcalfe, Marcia Mae Jones, Ralph Morgan