Director Eric Stange’s film Pony Boys, the season premiere of the Vermont Public series Made Here, tells the improbable story of Massachusetts brothers Tony and Jeff Whittemore, who at the age of 9 and 11 set off on a road trip in a pony cart with their family pet, a pony named King. Amazingly, they drove this cart from Boston through Vermont, all the way to the World’s Fair in Montreal — all on their own.
Filmmaker Eric Stange answered questions about the film via email with Vermont Public's Eric Ford. This interview has been lightly copy edited.
Eric Ford: How did you discover this story and decide to make a film?
Eric Stange: About 12 years ago, at a backyard barbecue, a neighbor told me a delightful story: when he was 9 years old, in the summer of 1967, he and his 11-year-old brother drove a pony cart from just outside Boston to Montreal so they could visit Expo ’67, the World’s Fair. Of course I assumed the two youngsters had company on their journey — a parent or older sibling must have been along. No, my neighbor Jeff said. He and brother Tony were very much on their own, along with their Shetland pony, King. The journey was about 325 miles. It took them 27 days traveling at 5 mph. And by the time they arrived at Expo, they had become celebrities!
I was full of questions: Where did they stay? Did anything bad happen? Were they ever scared? Why did they even have a pony and a pony cart? But mainly I was intrigued by the biggest question of all: how could the boys’ parents allow such a thing? I always thought of myself as a fairly laid-back parent, but I couldn’t imagine setting two young boys loose in the world for nearly a month. Jeff replied, “My mother was different from most other parents. She trusted us to get it done, and we did.”
Eric Ford: What was your research process for the film, and how did you locate the archival photos and film?
Eric Stange: In 2020, I was able to shoot an interview with Jeff and Tony. The “boys” also lent me the scrapbook of news clippings, letters, postcards and other materials their mother had compiled in the months after the trip. It was when I went through the scrapbook that I learned how deeply the story had resonated in the summer of 1967; how it had captured the imaginations of newspaper readers across the country and even internationally. Journalists followed the boys’ daily progress, reporting on weather delays, steep hill climbs, and veterinarian visits. TV news shows and weekly news magazines featured the story. Older brother Tony became the official spokesperson — at age 11.
As I researched the boys’ journey more thoroughly I expected to find archival footage along with all the newspaper coverage, but very little seems to have survived. With the help of intrepid archival researcher Heather Merrill we did find one batch of AP newsreel footage that as far as we can tell never aired. The grainy 16 mm color film brings King and the boys vividly to life more than half a century later.
Eric Ford: What has audience response been after seeing Pony Boys? It's such an incredible story!
Eric Stange: When Pony Boys premiered it immediately captured audiences just as the original news stories had. The story raises so many questions that are as urgent today as ever: What constitutes good parenting, and how can we teach children resilience, capability, imagination and resolve? Did Jeff and Tony’s parents do something hugely irresponsible and horribly dangerous? Or was it a brilliant move that gave their two boys deep reservoirs of self-reliance to draw on as they matured?
Equally intriguing, what does the pony boys’ story say about how our world has changed in 57 years? Would the trip be riskier for the boys today than it was back then, or safer? In 1967 there were no cellphones for instant communication, and no tracking devices to keep tabs on children. Jeff and Tony called home some evenings from pay phones or from the homes along the way where they stayed for a night. But other than that, they were essentially out of touch. Does all our high-tech communication these days make our children any more secure?
Eric Ford: What's next for you as a filmmaker?
Eric Stange: As a documentary filmmaker I feel extraordinarily lucky to have come across this story. My next projects will be in the genre I’ve worked in for many years — historical documentaries. But as I tell film students — when you’re searching for a story don’t always assume you have to look far and wide… Sometimes the best story is in your own backyard.
Pony Boys premieres on Vermont Public's main TV channel 8 p.m. on Thursday, September 5th and is available now on demand.
