Leo Beuerman

Leo Beuerman is a 1969 American short documentary film directed by Gene Boomer. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Summary

It tells the story of Leo Beuerman, a diminutive, disabled man who sold pencils and became a fixture on the downtown sidewalks of Lawrence, Kansas in the 1950s and 1960s thanks to his determination.

Production

The film was produced by Russell A. Mosser and Arthur H. Wolf of Centron Corporation. The simple profile of a short handicapped man with his tractor in downtown Lawrence was produced on a budget of $12,000 and eventually became one of the most popular classroom films of all time, selling an impressive 2,300 prints.