True story about secretly rich widow to be filmed in Milford

By Anya Tikka
MILFORD — When Sidney Krawitz, a prominent Milford attorney, showed kindness to an older woman down on her luck, he never imagined that his own daughter would make a film about his gesture.
Olive Gallagher, who attended Delaware Valley High School, is the director and author of the indie feature movie "Journeys," which is about to start production in Milford. She has spent much of her life in Los Angeles, where she’s had a successful career as an actor, writer, musician, and producer.
Now, back to her roots, she plans to film the movie entirely on location, where the events depicted actually took place.
Gallagher explained the story is about family, love, trust, money, betrayal, and forgiveness — but not in the way you might expect.
“Women want to be included," she said, referring to her subject, Olive Hardwell. "It caused a lot of heartbreak.”
After the sudden death of Hardwell's husband, Adalbert, she was barely surviving, even though he had secretly made her a very wealthy woman. She felt betrayed.
The idea of bringing this true story, told to her by her father, to the movie screen had been brewing since 1980. Gallagher started writing the screenplay in 1997, and has since edited it 52 times.
“My father never talked about work," Gallagher. "He had strong ethics. In 1980, he finally told the story at Thanksgiving dinner. My film takes it and fleshes it out."
The events in the film took place in 1949. Hardwell had spent a vagabond life with her husband despite having been born to wealth and privilege. When she suddenly found herself a widow, she didn't have enough money to give Adalbert a decent burial. She settled down in a little cabin on the Delaware River without indoor plumbing.
A man at the local gas station told her that Krawitz was a "soft touch." And sure enough, after giving Hardwell $25 for her husband's burial, he insisted on helping our more. Hardwell had next to nothing to live on.
She said she knew of a "bank account" that supposedly contained $600. Krawitz set out to find it by writing to all of the banks on the East Coast. That search eventually led to the discovery that Hardwell was actually very rich. Her husband had, without her knowledge, secretly been depositing large sums all throughout their life together.
The story takes a twist: instead of feeling blessed for her husband’s foresight, Hardwell felt a deep sense of betrayal. Her beloved husband, with whom she’d shared everything over the years, never told her what he was doing.
A $2 million budgetGallagher brings with her a large-scale movie production, with employment opportunities that offer the possibility of nationwide exposure, a five-week boost to the local economy, and a $2 million budget. Sixty-five percent of the hires will be local, she said.
Gallagher said local support for the movie has been great. Realtor Davis Chant, Fauchere owner and Milford Mayor Sean Strub, Pocono Film Commission’s Troy Bystrom, Black Bear Film Festival’s Artistic Director Bob Keiber, and David Madison from Hollywood on the Delaware all turned out to the press conference where she made her announcement.
Many noted that Milford is actually where the very first silent films in this country were shot."
"So many films come here, and we don't know about them," Bystrom said. "But we want to present the area as viable for the industry, trying to market the area as a film region.”
Strub said, “I’m excited to see this mixture in Milford,” and Chant added he’s looking forward “to the fun.”
Gallagher thanked the people of Milford for their generosity.
“I'm a very lucky girl,” she said.
Gallagher was not, by the way, named after Olive Hardwell. It was just a coincidence.
“I was already born," she said.
All the scenery will be filmed within 59 miles of Milford, and as much staff as possible will be hired locally. Gallagher said that, if all goes well, the filming will start in late September 2017 finish up around the first week of November.
Gallagher described how the movie took shape.
“I was given the task of finding the way to tell the story respectfully," she said. "It’s been challenging. I worked harder than at any script.”
On the website journeysthefilm.com, she says that “the appeal of 'Journeys' isn’t surprising. It’s a universal story. A story about love and trust and family, and the secrets and insecurities we all struggle with in our lives about money and relationships. It is my hope that everyone involved in the production will find their lives enriched by the experience and that together, we will create a film that honors the people who lived it."
Editor's note: This article has been updated from the original to correct the start-date of film production and the spelling of Olive Hardwell's last name.