Published Thursday, Oct. 28, 1999 "Extra, extra! Movie Queen returns to her Sharpsville home," the videotaped news flash reports.
Footage taken by Pittsburgh filmmakers in 1940 captured the headline news, when "starlet" Helen Bolton and her beau, Paul Bartlett, arrived at Sharpsville's railroad station.
There Miss Bolton was greeted by adoring hometown fans and given a key to the city.
No, she wasn't really Sharpsville's favorite daughter, but the local winner of a Pittsburgh beauty contest who played the part. Despite its zany storyline, the movie she made has become a historical record of what the town was like almost 60 years ago. Narrator and Sharpsville resident Dean Alexander explains at the beginning of the 37-minute production that the film is about "the quiet and friendly lifestyle that we miss so much today."
Sharpsville resident Norma Findley labored over much of the decades-old 16 mm footage.
Mrs. Findley said she heard of the footage when she worked at D'Onofrio's supermarket in Hermitage.
After watching the silent film, she said she "didn't want to leave it go."
With the help of 84 people who identified the faces and places of 1940 Sharpsville, she spearheaded efforts to get the footage on videocassette. The tape uses subtitles to identify the "stars" and scenes as they appear throughout the black-and-white film.
The compilation of memories is accompanied by a jazz and big band soundtrack, which in itself is worth seeing the movie for.
Mrs. Findley said she believes Bill Snyder -- owner of the former Snyder and Freeman Chevrolet dealership in Sharpsville -- had the film made to draw attention to Sharpsville and, in turn, help business.
When Bruce Hofius took over Snyder's business, which today is Hofius and Black Chevrolet on the corner of Main and Walnut streets, he inherited the footage.
The committee that aided Mrs. Findley includes Sharpsville residents Pete Joyce, Sally Haugher, Alexander, Carole and Tabby Ellison and Tucker Findley.
The videotape is being sold for $15 a copy with all profits going to the Sharpsville Area Historical Society.
