Making It Up As They Go Along

Saturday, June 25, 2011 — Since the plot of the new Tea Party-sponsored movie Courage, New Hampshire: The Travail of Sarah Pine, takes place in 1770 and involves British soldiers, and the only British soldiers in New Hampshire then were stationed at Fort William and Mary, we naturally assumed that the film was set right here in Portsmouth.

The reader may well imagine with what relish we anticipated dismantling a film purporting to represent this town in those days, when Daniel Fowle himself was running this, the Province’s only newspaper. But no, once again, we were outsmarted.

The makers of Courage cleverly dodged that musket ball by setting their film in “a shire town on the western border of New Hampshire.” After all, when setting out to rewrite history, why let yourself be constrained by inconvenient facts?

“World Renowned International Blogger” John Paulus gives us the inside scoop on this pending blockbuster: “[James Patrick] Riley, the wealthy owner of Riley’s American Heritage Farm, a 760-acre apple and pear farm in Oak Glen, Calif. financed the first episode of Courage for $120,000. His money and that of other backers will fund future episodes. The first episode was filmed on the farm, where Riley has dedicated 55 acres to ‘living-history’ educational tourism.”

Here for our readers enjoyment, if that’s the right word, is a promotional trailer for Courage. The premier is scheduled for tomorrow, in glamorous Monrovia, CA.

13 thoughts on “Making It Up As They Go Along”

  1. ok… let’s all get our history straight…. old fort #4, in what is now Charlestown, NH was established in 1735 and had 26 grants or plantations. Fort Drummer was about 40 miles south in what we know now as Vermont. You know, that liberal state just west of us.

    SO, Mr “Making it up as they go along” thank you for reaffirming my lack of faith in reporters as they always tend to be incorrect in a vast majority of the actual facts!

    Also, thanks in reaffirming my beliefs of Progressives are repulsed by the truths in this world.

    be well, seriously!

    Greg
    Wilmot, NH

  2. Regarding your offer to give James Patrick Riley a one-year subscription to your rag in return for a DVD of Courage New Hampshire.

    1. Why would Riley want a subscription to your mindless lib squib? You would certainly be getting the better end of that deal!

    2. Is the Gazette’s circulation so bad you can’t afford to buy a copy? Guess why?

  3. Typical lib smirky bashing of the tea party and other conservatives. Crawl back under you rock.

  4. you never even saw it and you are criticizing courage nh…your so typically prejudice while thinking your so progressive…if thats progressive i dont want it…frank (an x-progressive)

  5. So… let me get this straight. You are upset that a historical fiction drama set in New Hampshire is not set in Portsmouth, therefore you will glorious tear it apart.

    On the other hand, if they dared to set the film in Portsmouth, you would gloriously tear it apart.

    Perhaps you should read the back issues of your own paper.

    I guess I will never understand the vehemence with which people attack the honest works of others. Dismantle it with relish? Exactly why? Does the history of New Hampshire belong only to you?

    As a lover of history, I am dismayed by your level of unprofessionalism.

  6. Or is the shire near where the Baggins live? I mean if you are going to ignore facts and present fantasy at least bring in some people that weren’t there as well. Like the Hobbits who live in the Shire.

  7. Tea Party? HA!
    I think what the Obama/Biden Administration is doing is genius. The way I see it, President Obama is giving the Republican monkeys enough rope to hang themselves. Eventually Conservatives are going to wake up and realize Republicans aren’t representing the best interests of the American people.

    Like I always say: THIS AIN’T NO TEA PARTY… this is a full scale Class War! …and the silver spoon, trust fund baby, Aristocrats are beating American PEOPLE down WITH HELP from the Republican Party

    Start asking questions like Why are Republicans leading the charge to voter suppression, union busting, debtor’s prison, deregulation and repealing CHILD LABOR laws? Really?

  8. Heah, guys, chill. I’m on your side. This is a well researched, well documented drama. Samuel Adams wrote about British soldiers who searched for deserteres in New Hampshire in 1769 and you can look up the Londonderry incident on your own. I happen to have commited the sin, apparently, of believing in limited, Constitutional government and have attended tea party rallies. If you want to use that as an excuse to not watch the show, so be it, but you’re missing out. It’s a great show about the way colonial justices of the peace addressed bastardy cases, and get this: I’m a trained historian with a degree from Stanford. (So, maybe before you bash it, watch it!)

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