ExclusiveThe Boy Scouts Influence in Classic Films You Didn't Know

The BSA has always been rather strict about which groups can depict it in actual name and uniform. Because of that, many movies throughout the years have had similar groups, but not with the actual name. You can tell it's supposed to be the Boy Scouts, but it isn't really the Boy Scouts. Like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington from 1939. They are the Boy Rangers, and it certainly seems like the Boy Scouts, but they don't use the actual name. Mr. Scoutmaster from 1953, a movie starring Clifton Webb about a man who finds a great purpose in his life by helping a group of rowdy boys. They seem to be scouts, and they call him Mr. Scoutmaster, but they're not actually the Boy Scouts of America. One of the few exceptions to this rule is Follow Me Boys, a 1966 Disney live-action film starring Craig McMurray. For whatever reason, maybe because Boy Scouts of America thought Disney would do things right, there actually is a depiction of the Boy Scouts in this film. Craig McMurray's character is a scoutmaster in the official Boy Scouts. This film had a great influence on making more people want to join the Boy Scouts. It was extremely popular when it was first released, and when it was later re-released in the 70s, it had a charming theme song, a title, Follow Me Boys, written by the Sherman Brothers. And it was so popular that for a while, the Boy Scouts of America considered replacing their theme song with that song as sort of an anthem. It never really caught on, but many people were considering it for a while.