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Soap Box Derby on Film
Soap Box Derby on Film
Children have been racing cars for almost as long as adults. Not just any cars, though; kid-sized, gravity-powered contraptions. Charlie Chaplin's famous character “The Little Tramp” debuted in the 1914 film Kid Auto Races at Venice. Set in California, the film features the Tramp as a spectator at the local “baby-cart” races. He gets in the way of other race attendees, and generally causes the comic mayhem which made him so famous.
The first All-American Soap Box Derby Race was held in August, 1934. Two short years later, in 1936, the event was already popular enough nationwide for General Motors to produce a 10-minute documentary on the “young daredevils” competing that year.
In 2011, the Derby was the focus of the movie 25 Hill. Corbin Bernsen, known for his roles on the T.V. shows L.A. Law, and Psych, directs and stars in this family-friendly movie. 25 Hill tells the story of a California boy whose dreams of racing in the derby are threatened when his father, an Army reservist, is killed while serving in Afghanistan, and once again when the derby faces financial problems. The boy then meets Bernsen’s character and they work to enter the derby in Akron. The Sullivan County Soap Box Derby has DVDs of this movie available for purchase.
For more information about how to participate in this year’s Soap Box Derby, to be held in Liberty on Memorial Day weekend of 2012, please call (845) 292-9797.
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