I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Tinsley earlier today, when he attended the Somervell County Commissioners Court meeting, and have a very favorable first impression. Besides looking forward to the direction he takes the Glen Rose Reporter, he also has other talents such as singing and movie-making.
One of the movies he has created is a heart-warming look not merely behind the scenes but into the stories and appreciation for the Walsh family for "The Littlest Wiseman", a Christmas pageant show put on yearly in December. I don't know the Walsh family, but the way this story is told is of interest to anyone who enjoys seeing dedication and care spent on creating a lovely musical gift for the community. And the Walshes affected so many lives. The play incorporates 2 singing choirs, as well as renowned bell choir. Very worth watching. Here's another review.
Hence Ben Tinsley’s “Heart of Christmas,” a touching but not at all treacly history of “The Littlest Wiseman” and its larger meaning to Fort Worth. It helps that Tinsley, whose family-tradition journalistic roots run deep in Fort Worth, is not only an alumnus of “The Littlest Wiseman” but also a recent rejoiner of the production as a member of the Texas State Men’s & Boys’ Choir. Struck by the realization that many mainstays of the production were fading from the scene, Tinsley determined that he must crystallize the history into a coherent and efficient job of documentary filmmaking.
The finished result is a pageant in itself, a spoken-word scrapbook of reminiscences and observations from such tenured participants as Quentin McGown, Scott Meneely, Nick Abdo, and Joy Hatcher. A wealth of well-preserved photographs — collected in a larger context for the first time — provides cinematic momentum and illustrates impressively the subjects’ observations. Clocking in an just under an hour, the film serves as an appetite-whetter for the annual stage production, and as a self-contained time capsule that, by looking backward, can only gaze forward.
and a video preview. Mr Tinsley's movie is called "Heart of Christmas"
The play is yearly at the Scott Theatre in Fort Worth