Hoppy ending

When "A Plumm Summer" premieres April 20 at the renowned Mann's Bruin Theatre in Los Angeles, "Happy Herb" McAllister and his marionette Froggy Doo will be in the audience.

Without them, there'd be no movie.

"We'll be on the red carpet, and Froggy Doo will be there, too," McAllister assured.

Froggy Doo was designed and built in the 1950s by McAllister, now of Kalispell, and rose to fame on the "Happy Herb" television show for children that was broadcast first in Great Falls and later in Billings until 1977. A real-life puppet-napping of Froggy Doo that occurred in the fall of 1966 is the focus of the family film.

The film revolves around two young brothers and their newfound friend who search for the puppet after it was stolen from a Billings TV station.

Henry Winkler, famous for playing Fonzie on the popular TV sitcom "Happy Days," portrays McAllister in "A Plumm Summer." Other noteworthy cast members of the independent film are William Baldwin, who plays the father of the two young sleuths, and narrator Jeff Daniels. Clint Howard is Binky the Clown.

McAllister, 72, has a cameo appearance

in the film - he's the carnival worker running the baseball toss. And Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer likewise has a small part; he's the sheriff.

"It's a good movie," McAllister said. "It's colorful; the acting is just great. It moves along nicely."

McAllister and his companion, Janet Bierrum, saw the movie for the first time at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival in October. Bierrum and McAllister graduated together from Gallatin County High School in Bozeman and reconnected at a class reunion four years ago.

They spent time on the set when filming was done in Gallatin and Park counties during the summer of 2006. In fact, Bierrum once lived across the street from the Story Mansion in Livingston where parts of the movie were filmed.

"We had wonderful visits with the film crew," Bierrum said. "They were very accomplished. And we had good visits with the cast, too."

It was former "Happy Herb" fan T.J. Lynch who's responsible for bringing Froggy Doo's story to life. He remembered the frog-napping, and when he grew up to be an award-winning Hollywood screenwriter, he got in touch with McAllister and sent him a script and a contract. The story of the two sleuthing brothers was created by Lynch.

THE PLOT of "A Plumm Summer," directed by Caroline Zelder, varies a little from what actually happened that summer of 1966, but McAllister is pleased with the movie.

"The Happy Herb and Froggy Doo Show" was at the height of popularity when the puppet went missing after a break-in at the KULR-TV studio in Billings. Froggy Doo, named after an old ballad, "The Foggy, Foggy Dew," was a regional celebrity. McAllister used his talents as a magician and ventriloquist to entertain his audiences, but it was always Froggy Doo who stole the show.

Who stole Froggy Doo, of course, is the focus of the film.

Two young men broke into the TV station and stole a sizable amount of electronic equipment. A couple of days later the sheriff got a ransom note, asking for $150 and $10 in quarters for the return of Froggy Doo.

Fans of the show were mortified and letters poured in from youngsters wanting to help in the search. Sending a ransom note through the mail was a federal offense, so the FBI even got involved in the investigation.

A tongue-in-cheek segment on the Huntley and Brinkley national TV news show catapulted the incident into the national limelight.

Not long after that, a young boy riding a horse through a pasture near Billings saw Froggy Doo's body hanging on a fence post. The frog's head was missing. About a month later, three youngsters cutting through an alley on their way home from school spotted Froggy Doo's head in the backseat of a car and told their parents to call the sheriff. The discovery led authorities to a garage full of stolen goods, including the TV station's equipment, and the two men were arrested.

In the movie, the story includes the dynamics of the Plumm family. A synopsis of the film on its Web site, www.aplummsummer.com, says that "what starts out as a lark" for Elliott Plumm, the older brother, "becomes increasingly essential as the stakes for him rise dramatically: If he can crack the case before the FBI does, he could win the heart of the girl he's falling for, bond with his little brother, give his mother the reward money and maybe, just maybe … earn his father's love."

"It's put together with a lot of thought," Bierrum said. "It has a nice rhythm. The children do such a fine job" of acting.

The movie has been shown at five film festivals throughout the U.S., and won Best Family Film honors at the Austin Film Festival. "A Plumm Summer" will be released in five states in late April. Billings and Bozeman theaters will begin showing it April 25, and McAllister hopes the movie will makes its way to Flathead Valley theaters.

In addition to the movie, Froggy Doo will live on in a new children's book, "The Toad West," written and illustrated by McAllister and edited by Bierrum. They're currently looking for a publisher.

McAllister never dreamed his frog puppet - handcrafted more than 50 years ago - would make the big screen. It makes him happy, he said, that Froggy Doo will live on for generations of children to come.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com