Documentaries

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Please be patient as some of these video clips are quite long, and they may take a few minutes to download depending upon the speed of your connection and traffic on the Internet at that time. With a little patience, you will be truly rewarded.......Stuart Namm

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April 2009- Return from Oklahoma

Nancy and I just returned from a 2800 mile automobile trip to and from Sulphur, Oklahoma. Nancy had lived in this very small town in the late 1950's when her Dad, then in the USAF, was stationed at the now closed air base in Ardmore, OK. Nancy was then in Junior High School, and it was just prior to his transfer to Germany where she lived in Rhine-Main and Wiesbaden, where her classmate was Priscilla Presley, with whom she did hair styles "...and talked about guys..." in the girls' washroom, after Priscilla had dated Elvis, and just prior to her leaving school in her senior year to become Mrs. Presley.

The purpose of our return to Sulphur was to honor the late Lt. Col. Raymond Harvey, 17th Infantry Regiment Korean War Medal of Honor recipient, who as the son of a Chickasaw mother likewise resided in Sulphur during his elementary and junior high school years, but where no one presently knew that such a great hero had ever resided in this small town in southeastern Oklahoma. Nancy and I had a beautiful plaque made in Wilmington, North Carolina, which was to be hung in the Arbuckle Historical Society Museum after a ceremony in his honor featuring an Honor Guard from the Chickasaw nation, several Korean War and WW II veterans from the Sulphur Veterans Center, and local dignataries.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/Raymond Harvey (short).wmv

Nancy had lived just two blocks from the very beautiful and interesting Chickasaw National Recreation Area, then known as Platt National Park, so we chose to stay at a restored bathouse-the park featured natural sulphur springs-at the entrance to the park which is now a very quaint bed and breakfast operated by two wonderful characters, Charlie and Cheri, he now a free soul, but previously employed by the federal government, and she who doubles as a social worker for nursing homes www.sulphurspringsinn.com . We thoroughly enjoyed The Sulphur Springs Inn for three nights, and we were truly made to feel at home, with Nancy reveling in the fact that she had lived only 1 1/2 blocks away, with the old house still standing! It was special to have Nancy's sister Dot and husband, Houston Polasek, also there from their home in Abilene, Texas, staying in their huge motor home. There were also lots of old school friends who had come from far and wide to join in the celebration, and just visit, despite a late season blizzard which had blown into Oklahoma.

On Thursday night, the night before the Harvey ceremony, in the main room of the house, with a bright fire burning, six of Charlie and Cheri's friends from another town were sipping wine, looking at old pictures, and chewing the fat in general, while the four talented men entertained us with their special brand of country music. They were Larry Lyon, folksinger and guitar player, Jack Jones on twelve string guitar, Ron Parker on guitar, and Ken Ruhnke on the fiddle. Larry has a very powerful and unusual folksey voice, and it was a great to treat to have him perform a song which he had written about the crash of United Airlines Flight 232 several years ago in Sioux City, Iowa, where 112 souls had died, but more than 180 had survived. This is a video of that wonderful Thursday night, which we're told is repeated periodically throughout the year at the Inn. If ever traveling through Oklahoma, the Sulphur Springs Inn would be a great choice, and please send our love to Cherie and Charlie!

Nancy back home in Sulphur OK

This video clip will give you a good idea of the kind of evening we enjoyed at The Sulphur Springs Inn: (Players: Larry Lyon, composer, lead singer, Guitar; Jack Jones, Guitar; Ron Parker, Guitar and Ken Rhuhnke, Fiddle; Innkeeper Charlie Wright, Percussion)

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/Flight232.wmv (AOL Media Player-small screen)

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/Flight232.avi (Windows Media Player-full screen)

Note: Please be patient, as the .avi clip is almost 10 minutes long, and full screen, so it will take several minutes to download, especially if the Internet is busy when you're attempting to view. But I can assure you, it will be worth the wait!

Judge Stuart Namm (Ret)

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Lion, Leopard & Cheetah:

"The Great Feline Predators of East Africa"

March 2009: We just completed editing our latest documentary, the result of our 2006 and 2008 photo safaris to East Africa. In 2006, we spent two weeks in Kenya and Tanzania, and in 2008, we spent almost four weeks in Tanzania, exclusively. It was Nancy and I, alone with our two different guides in the Selous Game Reserve in Southern Tanzania, where we stayed at the beautiful and well run, Selous Impala Camp, under th guidance of Dennis and Mara. From there we flew to Arusha where we hooked up with our good friend, and guide, Baraza Salaho of Bushbuck Safaris, for three weeks moving from Tarangire National Park north to the Masai River, on the border of Kenya, to view the semi-annual great migration south across the Masai River of the 1 1/2 million Wildebeast and Zebra-the world's greatest migration of mammals. With Nancy manning our Nikon coupled with a 500 mm lens, and with yours truly manning both the Nikon and our hi definition SONY, we accumulted many hours of tape, and over 1200 photos to supplement our 2006 photos and video.

The result is the first of a series of documentaries, a one hour and 37 minute feature entitled: "The Great Feline Predators of East Africa," a study of the habits of the Lion, Leopard and Cheetah. The documentary will have its first public screening in North Carolina in April, upon our return from the Sulphur, Oklahoma ceremony on March 27, 2008, honoring Korean War Medal of Honor recipient, Chickasaw-American native, the late Lt. Col. Raymond Harvey, in whose honor we will contribute a plaque to the Arbuckle Historical Museum.

Note: The first free public screening will take place on the evening of April 29, 2009 at the Pender County Public Library in Burgaw, North Carolina. The second screening will take place at the Pender County Public Library in Hampstead, North Carolina on US Highway 17, "the coastal highway," on April 30, 2009 at 7:00 PM. Both screenings will be preceded by a short explanatory talk by Stuart. Please contact the libraries for more information.

Cheetah

Leopard

Lion (male of mating pair in Serengetti N. P.)

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November 2008: We just returned from our second visit to East Africa-almost four full weeks traveling to many parts of Tanzania, some for the first time. We happened to be in Dar es Salaam on the United States election day, November 4, 2008, so I took to the street with my trusty SONY HVR Z1U in hand to get African reaction to what would certainly be the election of the first African American President of the United States. The polls had not yet opened in the United States. Their reaction may surprise you, especially since Dar es Salaam is a predominantly Muslim city.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/Dar es Salaam.wmv

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A Question of Guilt?

The Martin Tankleff Story

Virtually on Christmas Eve 2007, the Appellate Division, Second Department, of New York State, unanimously reversed the two first degree Murder convictions of Martin Tankleff, of Belle Terre, Suffolk County. Tankleff had already served 17 years in a maximum security prison for the murder of his adoptive parents, Arlene and Seymour Tankleff. He is presenly released on $1,000,000 bail by the same Suffolk County Court Judge who had previously refused to set aside the convictions. Marty has professed his innocence from the very day that he gave the Suffolk County Homicide Detective JamesMcCready a purported unsigned confession which was based on a ruse or trick which McCready played upon this young 17 year old.

In 1998, Nancy and I, together with our friend and associate, Frazer Ashford, of the United Kingdom, produced a 56 minute documentary which was conceived by me about the Tankleff case entitled: A Question of Guilt.. The documentary has only been seen publicly once at the 2000 Cucalorus film festival which takes place each year in Wilmingon, NC. It has also been seen at numerous private screenings.

While the current District Attorney of Suffolk County, Thomas Spota, had originally stated that it was his intention to retry the Tankleff case, he has since reversed himsilf, stating that on January 18, 2008, he will move to dismiss the charges against Tankleff. Marty will, once again, be a free man. Spota has also asked the Governor of New York to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the murders of Marty's adoptive parents. At the same time, it has been reported the New York State Investigations Commission has commenced an investigation into the arrest and convictions of Martin Tankleff, as a supplement to the investigation which I caused of the Suffolk County District Attorney's office and the SCPD Homicide Squad with my October 1985 letter requesting the appointment of a special prosecutor to the then Gov. Mario Cuomo (see Biography page in this website).

Since the premise of our documentary was the innocence of Martin Tankleff, we have decided to have 1,000 copies commercially printed of A Question of Guilt, and they will be available for purchase some time in February of this year. Please check back periodically for the date and price when they become available. The documentary features many of the characters of the Tankleff case including Marty, sister Shari, Det. McCready who is interviewed by me in the witness box of a NC courtroom, Robert Gottlieb, the various members of the Tankleff family etc. It even includes a reenactment filmed with professional actors in Wilmington, NC, which closely resembles the way these murders probably actually took place, by more than one perpetrator! Please stay tuned for release date and price. You won't want to miss this piece of justice , or injustice history.

January 14, 2008

Much has changed since the news first broke that Tom Spota was going to move to dismiss the charges against Marty on January 18-this coming Friday. In the interim period, pursuant to a request by the District Attorney, Governor Spitzer has turned the prosecution over to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. What many fear now is that Cuomo is not bound by Spota's to dismiss the charges on January 18, and will do nothing until his office has had sufficient time to study the original investigation, the charges against Marty, his trial, etc. This could mean that after January 18, Marty may still have a cloud over his head, and will probably remain released on the present $1,000,000 bail which has been posted by him. How could this all have happened, and how is it that the criminal justice system continues to haunt an innocent man who has been deprived of over 17 years of his life? Simply put, it all rests upon the original decision by Detectives McCready and Rhine to charge Marty with the murders without doing another ounce of real investigation, despite all of the other apparent evidence swirling about the case, like the disappearance of Jerry Steuerman; and the lack of spleen on the part of the Suffolk County Judge who could not bring himself to set aside the verdicts, despite the wealth of evidence presented to him by the defendant, including admissions by other persons; and finally, the early appellate courts which never considered so many important issues raised by Marty's defense team, like what was taking place in the jury room during closed deliberations.

One day, this nightmare will end, and Marty will truly be a free man, with no cloud over his head. He will be free to pursue a life which has been cut short by grievous injustice. How could this all happen, you may ask? Our documentary, which is now ten years old, reveals the ugly truths from that unforgettable morning in Belle Terre overlooking the beautiful waters of Port Jefferson harbor. You will have an opportunity to see Det. McCready, as he probably appeared to the jury, answering questions of an experienced trial lawyer and jurist, while seated in a witness box, albeit without having taken an oath. You will see former Asst. District Attorney Ed Jablonski attempt to explain why no further investigation was done of Seymour's erstwhile business partner despite all that they knew about his activities immediately after the murder. You will get to hear Shari Rother Mistretta attempt to explain her relationship with-or without-the retired James McCready in a Riverhead bar. You will have the opportunity to hear a Suffolk County Police Officer's take on the reputation of Det. McCready and the Suffolk County Homicide Squad in the 1980's.

Our supply of DVD's is in a very limited edition, so if you want to ensure getting at least one copy, it is important to act now, as the orders have started to come in, despite the fact that the one hour DVD will not be available until some time early February. I can assure you that you will become more angry than ever once you see the incredible interviews of the most important characters in the plot of this very disturbing case. You will want to watch it over and over again with family and friends, because each time you watch it, you will learn something more about this case.

You can reserve your copy or copies by sending a check or money order payable to Stuart Namm at 101 Marshview Road, Hampstead, NC 28443 in the amount of $33.95 for each copy ordered, which amount includes a $4.00 charge for shipping and handling. If you desire to pay by credit card, you can pay through PayPal on the Internet to RetJudgeS1@aol.com. As soon as the copies are received by us, they will be in the mail to you. If you really believe in Marty, and his cause, you will not want to miss this opportunity. Just this past weekend, we had another private screening before a small group at our home, and once again there was great praise for the production, snickering and a shaking of heads and anger that Marty has been put through this! It wasn't enough that he had lost his parents to an outrageous murder plot at age 17.

You can view two different short trailers for this very compelling documentary at any one of the links listed below.

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January 12, 2008

The one hour documentary is presenly being created by a commercial publishing company. We expect that a limited number will be available for mailing by the second week in February, if not sooner. We were proud of the documentary in 1998 when it was first created, and we are even more proud of our work now that Marty will be a completely free man as of January 18, the day that the Suffolk County DA has announced he will dismiss the charges against Marty. You will not want to miss this documentary, if only for its content, despite the fact that it does not have the latest revelations in Marty's case. You can ensure your copy or copies by paying by credit card through PayPal to RetJudgeS1@aol.com in the amount of $33.95, which includes $4.00 for shipping, for each DVD ordered. You can pay by cash by sending a check or money order in the amount of $33.95 for each copy ordered, payable to Stuart Namm at 101 Marshview Road, Hampstead, NC 28443. You will then be certain that when the DVD's are in our hand, one or more will be immediately sent to you. It's worth the price just to see Det. McCready in a North Carolina courtroom state that he never arrested an innocent person; or to hear sister Shari explain the relationship between herself, McCready and her first husband, in the Suffolk County business deal; or to see the two reenactments of the crime by professional actors, the second of which, based upon Robert Gottlieb's then theory, is probably the way the crime was actually committed! You will want to watch it over and over again, and share it with your friends and family. Please do not hesitate because we don't have any idea how much interest there is out there, although we expect that there will be huge interest.

While you are browsing this site, please take a moment to puruse my bio page. You will come away with a better understanding why I have always been so passionate about Marty's arrest and conviction.

Meanwhile, we have produced two short trailers to whet your appetite, and to give you a small taste of this documentary which was the first to reveal the weaknesses and improbabilities in Marty's case. Just double click any of the links below.

Stuart Namm

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/A Question of Guilt(2).wmv

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/A Question of Guilt(3).wmv

http://www.YouTube.com/RetJudgeS2

The Crew outside the walls of Clinton Correctional Facility, Dannemora, New York October 1998

The cameraman is on the left, and sound engineer on right. In center, Charles Marriott, Director (l); Nancy Ann Namm, Executive Producer (center); Judge Stuart Namm (right). The Producer, Frazer Ashford, was the photographer.

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Along About Sundown

Asheville North Carolina's

Shindig on the Green

The late, great Joe L. Wilson performs The McKinley Song with the group calling themselves The College of Musical Knowledge under the huge Magnolia tree on a balmy summer Saturday night at Asheville, North Carolina's Shindig on the Green.

Along About Sundown, Asheville's Shindig on the Green

Along About Sundown is a 56 minute documentary about Asheville, North Carolina's 35 year old free music festival which takes place every Saturday night from Independence Day to Labor Day, except for a timeout for the weekend of the annual Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, on the two outdoor stages of the Asheville City/County Plaza, under the shadows of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of the Southern Appalachians and Asheville's City Hall. It was created from 13 years of videotaping and many hours of tape in 8 mm, High Band 8 mm, and digital format, of this unique festival by the Judge whenever he visited (at least twice each year) the outdoor festival which draws an audience of thousands and performers by the hundreds, come rain or come shine. Many of these performers, some of whom had made a lasting mark on the history of traditional mountain music and dance, are featured on both tape and DVD. Unfortunately, with the passage of so much time, some, like Joe Wilson pictured above, have now passed on, and they now must surely be singing and playing for the Lord. The Documentary honors these wonderful folk whose life and music will long be remembered in the hearts and minds of those fortunate thousands privileged to have known them or seen them perform. It is they and those who follow them who have assured that traditional Appalachian Mountain music will go on forever!

Note: Anyone interested in obtaining a VHS or DVD copy of "Along About Sundown," or any other completed documentary, can make that request by e-mail to RetJudgeS1@aol.com

Learn more about Asheville's Shindig on the Green.

› http://www.folkheritage.org/shindigonthegreen.htm

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Brownsville, Brooklyn

A Visual Trip Down Memory Lane

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/Brownsville Video.wmv

This is 7 1/2 minutes of a 53 minute documentary about growing up on Legion Street and Sutter Avenue in the tenements of Brownsville, Brooklyn in the 1940's and 1950's in a predominantly working class Jewish neighborhood. (Because of the length of the clip, the music, the size of the video, time of day and web traffic, it may take several minutes to load, even with High Speed Internet service. Please be patient, and your patience will be rewarded with a poignant trip down memory lane.......Stuart Namm)

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The Musical Treasures of

the Southern Appalachi'ns

of the Carolinas

While videotaping Asheville, North Carolina's Shindig on the Green weekly music festival for the past fifteen years, and especially during the production of Along About Sundown, we came to know many of the musicians, singers and dancers on a personal level. They are a special breed of people! With each one of them, aside from being very talented and friendly, what you see is what you get. However, the music scene in the Southern Appalachians has begun to be taken over by the younger talent. The older musicians, singers and dancers are beginning to fade away, and there is a certain sadness to that, as they are the folks who have passed the music and the traditions to this new generation of talent. Inspired by our good friend, Eva Clontz, from Asheville, one of the three Willis Sisters, we decided to get this oldest generation on videotape while they were still able to tell us some of their interesting stories, which are an integral part of the culture of the Southern Appalachians. It has taken two years to complete this project, but we feel that we have captured a part of Carolina mountain culture which will soon be a memory. We have dedicated this project to Joe L. Wilson, "mountain musician," who is featured in Along About Sundown, and who had been rendered totally blind from several strokes by the time we interviewed him at his home in 2003. We wondered why we hadn't seen him for some time. Sightless, Joe might have been, yet he never lost that inner spirit and unforgettable the twinkle in his eyes. Unfortunately, our good friend Joe Wilson passed away in November 2004. He is sorely missed by all who knew him, but surely he is most missed under the big Magnolia tree where "the college of musical knowledge" meets every summer Saturday night in the Asheville City-County Plaza.

This two hour long documentary is entitled: The Musical Treasures of the Southern Appalachi'ns of the Carolinas, and here may I introduce you to some of the Treasures whom we have come to treasure as very special human beings and entertainers.......Stuart Namm

This is the late, great Joe Wilson.......

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/JoeWilsonMountainMusician.wmv

Octegenerian, 6' 8", Harold garrison has been a legend around Southern Appalachian music festivals for several decades. A bachelor, who has never married, he lives alone on the top of a mountain from where he can view the top of Mt. Pisgah and three counties, on property which has been in the Garrison family for generations. A talented carver, whose work is displayed in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., he claims to play no instruments, nor does he sing, but he continues the mountain tradition of the wooden dancing doll which is of his own handiwork.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/HaroldGarrison.wmv

Anna Mae Shores is another octegenarian who continues to dazzle audiences in the Southern Appalachians with her yodeling style of singing, and her well known rendition of The Mule Song which she picked up from the radio as a teenager. Despite a sometimes serious cardiac condition, she continues to bounce back like the Energizer Bunny whenever she's called upon to perform before a very appreciative audience. She is always accompanied by her husband of six decades, William Shores, on the accordian, and their long time friend and neighbor, Max, on the accoustic guitar.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/AnnaMaeShores(websiteclip).wmv

The ubiquitous octegenerian, Elmer Chandler, continues to be a very popular figure in the Southern Appalach'ans of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, as he dances his way from one music and dance festival to another some four times each week. The self proclaimed inventor of a popular country dance step, he taught dance to many award winning dance groups.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/ElmerChandler.wmv

Mrs. Cornelia "Neeley" Hyatt of Asheville is neither a musician, a dancer nor a singer, but this sweet, lovely and very special lady is responsible for the enhancement and development of much local musical talent for the past several decades. It is at "Mrs. Hyatt's Opera House" in Asheville, North Carolina where traditional mountain musicians, both old and young alike, have gathered every Thursday night, on hot summer evenings and the cold mountain winter nights, to make music together. A legend in her own time, in her own special way, she is Asheville's mountain music impresario.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/MrsCorneliaHyatt.wmv

Carrol Ray, until suffering from the ravages of advanced Alzheimer's Disease, was a staple at all of the western North Carolina music festivals and a well known recording artist in his youth.. This one time tall, strapping, handsome mountain troubador, recording artist, song writer and local labor leader, still had a twinkle in his eye and a lilt in his voice when we interviewed him at his home in the Fall of 2003.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/CarrolRayMountainTroubador.wmv

At age 74, he is still tall, strikingly robust and handsome, with his sharply carved face and ruddy complexion, perfectly coiffed silver gray hair, and sparkling blue eyes. In short, he has the looks of a movie matinee idol, but Ed Netherton who at first blush seems like a shy country boy who lives on a mountaintop, which he does, and from whom words have to be extracted, is actually a very gregarious and talented singer and dancer who will rise out of a crowd to entertain any audience at the drop of a hat. A long time Gospel singer and buck dancer, he is well known throughout Western North Carolina as an entertainment force to be reckoned with.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/EdNetherton.wmv

The "Pickin' Partners," Ruth and Vernon Riddle of Spartanburg, South Carolina, bring their style of traditional music to nursing homes, hospitals and schools where these two soft spoken septegenerians are welcomed with open arms and smiling faces. Vernon, a prize winning fiddler, was born in the Texas panhandle, and Ruth, who grew up on on a small South Carolina farm in the Appalachian foothills, had been weekly regulars at the local music festivals until Vernon became ill about one year ago. This may have slowed them down, but their zest for their life together and their music has not diminished one iota.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/RuthandVernonRiddle.wmv

Leonard Hollifield and Arvil Freeman, along with Boyd Black on Bass Fiddle and George Banks on Banjo, are the reknowned Stoney Creek Boys, the perennial house band at Asheville's famed weekly music festival, Shindig on the Green. Both have been professional musicians all their lives, and have played with many different bands and groups over the years. Leonard's rich voice still wows the large Shindig audiences with traditional mountain songs, and Arvil is reputed to be one of the most talented fiddlers in the Southern Appalachians. Arvil is also a mentor to many of the young and very talented prize winning fiddlers in Southwestern North Carolina, the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

http://www.legaleagleproductions.com/movies/LeonardHollifieldandArvilFreeman.wmv

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