Moses Yale Beach Revealed “Doing History” Community Project
Adele Houston Productions is thrilled to announce the upcoming film production of Fit To Print, a compelling historical teleplay written by Josiah Houston. This project represents a landmark collaboration between community talent and emerging professional leadership, directed by Adam Benzinane, a recent Cinematography and Film graduate from Boston University.
Production is set to begin in mid-June and will continue through the summer, with a scheduled release during USA250.
At a time when the impact of media and journalism sits at the heart of our democracy, Fit To Print offers a timely, provocative look at the origins of how the news began to control the daily narrative. Wallingford native son, Moses Yale Beach, was at the forefront of this historic journalism pivot.
Our community partner is a CT250 Affiliate @CTHumanities
The Vision: A “Doing History” Initiative
Fit To Print isn’t just a period piece; it’s a high-stakes “chamber drama” designed to function like a machine on screen. Set during the explosive rise of the Penny Press, the film tracks six pivotal moments where the pursuit of news changed American history forever.
The Fit To Print narrative dramatizes six pivotal historical decisions made by The Sun publisher, Moses Yale Beach, between 1839 and 1849. The story of journalism follows Beach’s encounters with a revolving door of historical titans:
- 1839: Roger Sherman Baldwin & Joseph Cinqué (The Amistad Case)
- 1842: P.T. Barnum – American Museum Opens
- 1844: Edgar Allan Poe (The Balloon Hoax)
- 1844: Jane Storm (Manifest Destiny)
- 1846: Willis A. Hodges (Anti-slavery activism)
- 1849: Daniel Webster – Court on Trial
This is not a story of moral collapse, but of procedural adaptation. It illustrates how pragmatic decisions—made one logged line at a time—constructed the governing logic of modern media. The film’s arc is not the corruption of a man, but the expansion of a system through him.
Production Status & Resource Needs
While WPAA-TV and the Community Media Center is providing significant technical resources, and the cast is nearly finalized with talented local performers, we are seeking community partners and journalism scholars to help bring this “Doing History” project to life. We appreciate the contributions of Kathleen Maher, Barnum-Museum and Campbell Harmon, Poe Actor, during the validation phase of script development.
While WPAA-TV and the Community Media Center is providing significant technical resources, and the cast is nearly finalized with talented local performers, we are seeking community partners and journalism scholars to help bring this “Doing History” project to life. We appreciate the contributions of Kathleen Maher, Barnum-Museum , and Campbell Harmon, Poe Actor, during the validation phase of script development. We are seeking history scholars and journalists to join the film release and education tour to prep schools, colleges, and universities.
As A contributor
By contributing, you are part of a community media milestone: the production of a high-caliber historical narrative that challenges audiences to recognize how public reality is manufactured. We invite you to be part of the “machine” that builds this story. Help us document the moment ‘American journalism’ began to not just report the world, but shape it.
Susan Huizenga, WPAA-TV Executive Director, calls this a ‘signature’ local contribution to the ‘Doing History‘ motif embraced by the CT Humanities Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial (USA250). This film interprets the past as shaped by the interests, attitudes, and contexts still present in our evolutionary history. It helps us critically question and understand the role of journalism and newspapers through the lens of Moses Yale Beach, native son of Wallingford, and his impact on his time and ours.
For more information or to offer support, please visit: Filming Fit To Print – WPAA-TV Event Page