{"id":55293,"date":"2026-10-02T07:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=55293"},"modified":"2026-10-01T20:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T00:23:08","slug":"the-bootleg-files-happy-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/02\/the-bootleg-files-happy-money\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Happy Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 948:<\/strong> \u201cHappy Money\u201d (1969 Christian-themed short film starring Jerry Mathers). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> Deservedly obscure.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> None. <\/p>\n

In the course of my film reviewing work, I\u2019ve seen an awful lot of short films \u2013 as well as a lot of awful short films. But for sheer badness, I am hard pressed to recall a short film as boring and annoying as \u201cHappy Money,\u201d a 1969 offering that is mostly remembered today for the presence of an unlikely actor in its cast.
\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy Money\u201d was a production of Family Films, an independent operation launched in 1948 by Samuel Hersh, a one-time bookkeeper to several major Hollywood studios. Hersh\u2019s films focused on Biblical themes and were created and distributed in collaboration with The Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. These films were released on 16mm to churches and youth groups across the United States.<\/p>\n

I have nothing against Christian-themed films, but \u201cHappy Money\u201d is the type of Christian film where the viewer\u2019s only out-loud declaration of \u201cThank God\u201d will occur once the closing credits start to roll. The problem is not that \u201cHappy Money\u201d is unintentionally funny, but that it is unintentionally irritating.<\/p>\n

The film focuses on a teen group within an unspecified Protestant congregation that is putting on a play called \u201cHappy Money.\u201d According to Linda, the blonde leader of the teens, the play is supposed to encourage the faithful into viewing their stewardship responsibilities as joyful duty rather than a burdensome chore. Unfortunately, Linda is so strident in demanding that people be happy in giving money to the church that she becomes intolerable.<\/p>\n

Linda\u2019s father, however, is openly skeptical to his daughter\u2019s notion of stewardship, and he is equally doubting about her theatrical abilities. The poor man and the rest of his family are dragooned into making magic marker designs on scores of balloons that are supposed to drop during the show\u2019s finale. <\/p>\n

Linda also has to convince her fellow teen group members to (pardon the expression) practice what they preach when it comes to stewardship. In this setting, that means denying yourself mild luxuries (like a night at the movies or custom wheels for a car) and channeling the money into the church\u2019s collection plate \u2013 or, as Linda calls it, \u201chappy money.\u201d Incredibly, the other teens are so easy to manipulate that they follow her scheme.<\/p>\n

As for the play itself, let\u2019s just say that \u201cHappy Money\u201d does a strikingly realistic job in depicting very bad teen theater. At one point, there are giant mock-ups of the one- and five-dollar bills with actors playing Washington and Lincoln who comment on how wonderful it is not to be circulating in the free market. Lincoln remarks that he was nearly spent on a box of golf balls, while Washington laments that some disgruntled parishioners make parish donations like they were \u201cdealing us out to the church as if they are paying a debt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actor playing Lincoln might be the only reason \u201cHappy Money\u201d gets noticed. It\u2019s Jerry Mathers, the one-time Beaver Cleaver, in his first acting gig after concluding his three-year service in the California Air National Guard. The 21-year-old has a relatively small part in the film, which is dominated by Patricia Stich as Linda and Paul Sorensen as her father \u2013 and, oddly, that pair have their names misspelled in the credits.<\/p>\n

The one interesting aspect of \u201cHappy Money\u201d is how it depicted the young people of 1969. In this film, the girls all wear mini-skirts and the boys have mod hairstyles \u2013 not crazy long, but just enough length to fit in with the current youth culture. Having Linda as the agitator for the happy money concept could also be seen as a nod to the then-nascent women\u2019s movement that began to elbow men to share authority. But Linda is so pushy and unpleasant that she could be used as argument against women’s lib.<\/p>\n

There is no commercial DVD release of \u201cHappy Money,\u201d but you can watch a faded 16mm print for free on YouTube \u2013 which might be the happiest way possible to save your money.<\/p>\n