Oh, Davey!DeKalb man pens screenplay for latest clay adventure

Matt Swan of DeKalb grew up watching the clay animation program "Davey and Goliath." He wrote the screenplay for the characters' latest adventure, "Davey and Goliath's Snowboard Christmas," which will air Sunday on the Hallmark Channel. Chronicle photo HOLLY LUNDH

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

DeKALB - When Matt Swan was a child, he watched the televised adventures of Davey and Goliath, a boy and his talking dog. Now the DeKalb resident has a different appreciation for the clay animation characters, who in a series of TV episodes produced beginning in the late 1950s sought to reinforce Christian values. Swan wrote the screenplay for their latest adventure, "Davey and Goliath's Snowboard Christmas." "When I was growing up, I watched 'Davey and Goliath' often," he said. "I liked it very much." The one-hour program will air this Sunday on the Hallmark Channel. It also ran last weekend. Through it, Swan tells the story of Davey, who while out snowboarding meets two friends of different religions. "(Producers) wanted to make a piece that's a statement on religious tolerance," he said. "I introduced characters of different religions, such as an Islamic girl and a Jewish boy who become friends with Davey." The trio get into trouble when they snowboard where they aren't supposed to. As in the older episodes, Goliath, Davey's trusty companion, acts as the boy's conscience or voice of reason, Swan said. And, as in other episodes, Davey learns lessons while finding a way out of a bad situation. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America produced the episode and first released the "Davey and Goliath" program in the 1950s. The latest episode was produced to help the organization see if children still want to watch the clay boy and his dog, Swan said. If children are interested, the organization might release another episode. But he isn't sure whether he will be given the chance to work on the next one, he said. For this one, he "just happened to know the right person" - his sister-in-law. While she was having lunch with a friend who worked for the Evangelical Lutheran Church, she heard that the organization was looking for a scriptwriter. She let Swan - who has written for a Rockford TV program and teaches communications at Northern Illinois University and theater at Kishwaukee College - know about the project. He submitted a few sample pages to the production company and got the job. The company already had a basic idea of the episode's plot, with Davey going snowboarding, so Swan was brought on to flush out the details and create dialogue. With the basic plot points already outlined, he was restricted in what he could write, but he still enjoyed it, he said. The company chose to have Davey snowboard because it is a contemporary activity and adds action to the story, he said. As the scriptwriter, Swan was able to add new characters and enhance older ones, such as Davey's sister, Sally, who became a stronger figure in this episode. He completed the script in about a month at the beginning of 2003. The production company has worked since to make and animate the characters. It finished production in late August or early September, he said. Swan, who is finishing writing a play, watched "Davey and Goliath" over the weekend with his wife, Judy. "I felt very proud," he said. "I was very pleased with it. Davey and Goliath really still have some meaning for kids." Renee Messacar can be reached at rmessacar@pulitzer.net.