A groundbreaking film inspired by a racially-charged event put Keene on the map 70 years ago — and it will again this month with a free screening next Sunday, Jan. 27, at Keene’s Colonial Theatre.
The 1949 film, “Lost Boundaries,” is based on the true story Dr. Albert Johnston and his family, a black family who passed for white in order to work while living in Keene in the 1930s and 1940s. Johnston moved with his wife, Thyra, to 127 Washington St. in Keene in 1939. Both were black, but light-skinned enough to pass as white.
When the doctor took a job as a radiologist at Elliot Community Hospital, now Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, that’s exactly what they did. For many years they told very few people that Dr. Johnston was part black, and so was Thyra.
They kept the secret even from their children until 1941, when Johnston was refused a Navy commission when naval investigators found he belonged to a black fraternity in college and had “colored blood.” Although Johnston continued to practice at the hospital, he set up his radiology equipment at home in anticipation of losing his job.
He did lose his job in 1953 but he continued to see patients until he and his wife moved to Hawaii in the mid ‘60s. He didn’t leave because of his patients, who took no issue with his skin color.
One of Johnston’s main supporters was Dr. Philip Daniels, who fought the decision. Daniels was the father of well-known civil rights activist and Keene resident, Jonathan Daniels.
The story of the film about their lives began in 1947, when Albert Johnston Jr., attended the University of New Hampshire. He and some fellow students visited Louis de Rochemont, Academy Award-winning producer of “The March of Time” documentary films, at his Newington home to encourage fairer treatment of minorities in films.
On his way out, Albert Jr. mentioned his family’s recent revelation about their heritage and de Rochemont was enthralled. He sent author W. L. White to write the family’s story, which was printed in Reader’s Digest in 1947.
With their son’s help, de Rochemont convinced Thyra and Albert Sr. to let the filmmaker dramatize their story. De Rochemont was under contract to MGM at the time and the studio balked at the idea, so he scraped together the money, even mortgaging his house, to make the film independently.
When "Lost Boundaries" came out it was banned in some cities but was lauded by Life and Newsweek magazines and the New York Times — it played in Times Square for six months. The movie won the prize for best script at the Cannes Film Festival.
Filmmaker Lawrence Benaquist, professor emeritus and founder of Keene State College’s film studies program (he later chaired the department), was alerted of the existence of de Rochemont’s 1949 film in the early ‘80s. It was before VHS, so he had to view a 16-millimeter print of it.
A handful of years later, in 1988, Dr. Johnston, who had lived in Hawaii until his death that year, was to be brought back to Keene to be buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery. Benaquist received a phone call from Johnston’s granddaughter, Suzan Johnston Mitchell, seeking a copy of the film to watch with the family — most of whom had yet to see it.
Benaquist and his wife drove to Buzzard’s Bay in Massachusetts with the film, a projector and screen for a Johnston family cookout. They and about 20 people in the family crowded into the living room to watch it.
“Occasionally, Mrs. Johnston would pat me on the knee and say, ‘That really happened,’ ” said Benaquist. He referenced one such scene in film, where a black man named George Miller (who was manager of Keene’s Latchis Theater) donated a pint of blood. The nurse asked Dr. Johnston what to do with the blood, and when he told her to put it with the rest, she instead dropped it and it smashed on the floor.
Benaquist realized after watching the film with the family they would have a serious conversation about race, so he said goodbye.
“All the way home I thought about how brave the family was,” he said. “This film exposed racism in America in such a raw way.”
As a college professor, Benaquist said “Lost Boundaries” was an important teaching film because no such films had been made in the country in 1949.
“It was the first Hollywood-produced film that treated African-Americans as autonomous human beings, not as ancillary to whites,” he said. “It was about the world from their perspective.”
Mel Ferrer, who played Dr. Johnston in the film, said it was the most important film he’d ever made, which is why he decided to attend the 40th anniversary screening of the film Benaquist organized at Keene State College in 1989. Several other actors in the film were there as well as members of Dr. Johnston’s family.
More than 1,100 people turned up for the screening, which was covered by National Public Radio, The Washington Post and many other news outlets.
The following year, the New Hampshire Public Broadcasting System created an Emmy Award-winning short documentary about the Johnston family, which will be shown prior to the screening at The Colonial Theatre. Benaquist will introduce the film, and Dottie Morris, associate vice president for diversity and inclusion at Keene State College, will offer closing words after the screening.
Dr. Johnston’s only surviving granddaughter will also attend the screening.
The film showing precedes the opening of an exhibit at the Historical Society of Cheshire County, in partnership with the Mason Library, on the Johnston family on Tuesday, Jan. 29, that will run through Feb. 16. Benaquist will give a talk at the historical society about the 1989 reunion screening on Feb. 6.
The exhibit will feature mostly paper materials in the Johnston family archives, including family photos, magazine articles in Look and Ebony about the family, original correspondence with the U.S. government upon being denied service in all branches of the military and letters to Johnston from people who’d seen the film or saw him speak about it.
Curator Jenna Carroll scanned materials so viewers can pick them up and look at them rather than see them behind glass and ultimately create a packet that can be used to educate school children, encouraging conversation about race relations during World War II and in 1950s America.
Carroll sees this exhibit as especially pertinent.
“On display is a copy of one of the speeches he gave on his speaking tour,” she said. “His personal take on race in America at the time parallels discussions we’re having today.
“Our thought was that people will leave the film screening on the 27th with more questions. This exhibit may answer those questions.”
“Lost Boundaries: A 70th Anniversary Screening,” in partnership with the Historical Society of Cheshire County and the Mason Library at Keene State College, will be shown Sunday, Jan. 27, at 2 p.m. at The Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene. There is no admission charge. Visit thecolonial.org for more information.
