Star's silver screen star David Smith featured at Friends of the Peabody Public Library's season-ender tonight
(Talk of the Town file photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) David Smith, shown below in one of his re-enactor costumes, will be the featured speaker at this evening's Friends of the Peabody Public Library's final movie night of the season.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
Silver screen stars with a local connection such as Carol Lombard or Dean Jagger are often among the movies enjoyed by the library’s philanthropic group, Friends of the Peabody Library, during their monthly movie nights.
Tonight, they’ll be watching a movie starring a Star employee – Star Financial Bank president David Smith.
Smith, when he’s not hard at work behind the desk of a bank in downtown Columbia City, has been moonlighting as a historical re-enactor for more than 25 years. His interests are primarily in the areas of war-related re-enacting. 
“I started doing Civil War, but most recently have done more Revolutionary War,” Smith said. “I have also done a little War of 1812 and WWII.”
Awhile back, he saw an advertisement in a magazine and the end result was an opportunity to appear in a Mel Gibson movie, “The Patriot.”
“They requested that re-enactors send in an application and a photo,” Smith said. “Then we just waited for a phone call to let us know if they wanted us and when.”
According to member Jon Pontzius, the Friends of the Peabody Public Library will be showing “The Patriot” as the last movie of the season tonight, May 30, at 7 p.m. at the Peabody Public Library.
“The theme for the Friends’ movies this year has been to feature local area actors, including Dean Jagger and Carol Lombard from Fort Wayne,” Pontzius said.
Pontzius also feels this selection is appropriate after this week’s Memorial Day holiday.
Smith said the process of shooting the film was fascinating – from the process of how a movie is made to the attention to detail.
“So much goes into the movie that you don’t think would make any difference,” Smith said. “For example, they sprinkled dust on our shoes to make certain we weren’t too clean. However, if you add up a 100 different elements like that, people notice.”
Smith said that 8-10 local residents participated in the film, including fellow Columbia City resident Mark Parker.
The Friends of the Peabody Public Library movie series is free and open to the public. Popcorn and soft drinks will be available.
Officers of the Friends of the Peabody Public Library this year included president Sandy Sloan, vice president Linda Loy, secretary Laurie Steill and treasurer Betty Terman.
The Friends of the Peabody Public Library present a variety of programs throughout the year and initiate fundraising activities for the library, including book sales. The next book sales will be held Friday, June 26, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Saturday, June 27, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.