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Various teen idols in "Children's Feet in Cinema" list

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Nov 28, 2003, 4:13:14 PM11/28/03

Various current and former teen idols, such as American actors Haley
Joel Osment, Liam Aiken and Lukas Haas, as well as former British
child actor Heydon Prowse, appear in the following list, which has
been posted to various newsgroups:

CHILDREN'S FEET IN CINEMA, 1931 - present
(revised November 23, 2003)

***************

THIS REVISION REPLACES THE LIST OF: November 20, 2003

NEW ADDITIONS: A fuller description of "The Secret Garden," plus a
TV-movie, "Eloise at Christmastime."

***************

Barefoot children appear in many films, and some of the movies show
the bottoms of boys' or girls' feet in close-up for long, lingering
times. Here are some films with scenes where girls or boys appear
barefoot and usually show the bottoms of their feet. They are listed
from the earliest movies to movies of today. The age of the child
noted for each film is the actual age they were when the movie was
shot, not when it was finally released to theaters. (For example,
"Misunderstood" was filmed in 1982, when Henry Thomas was 10 years old
and Huckleberry Fox was 7 years old, but it was not released until
1984 when they were 12 and 9, respectively.) In some cases, the age
of the child is estimated if research fails to find a verifiable
biography but if other material, such as interviews, helps to
establish the age as closely as possible.

"Children's Feet in Cinema" was first published in 1996 on several
newsgroups and listed boyfeet and girlfeet together in a mixed, single
column. It was later adapted for use by The Young Foot Lovers
Adoration Society (TYFLAS), a now-defunct website which edited the
list to show only girlfeet. This new list is presented here in a
revised format of its original, in which boyfeet are once again listed
with girlfeet. Unlike the original posting, however, the list has
been separated for convenience into a boyfeet grouping and a girlfeet
grouping. In films where boys and girls appear barefoot in the same
film, the same film is listed in each category. An entirely new
addition is "Cartoon Girlfeet and Boyfeet," in which feature-length
cartoons show well-drawn little girls' and boys' feet, and it follows
the "Boyfeet" section. After "Cartoon Girlfeet and Boyfeet" is an
even newer addition, "Special Section: Barefoot Children on
Television," which lists certain episodes from past and current series
which feature boy and girl cast members in bare feet.

Suggestions and additions to this list are welcome.

GIRLFEET:

* "Little Miss Marker" 1934. Shirley Temple, 5 years old, puts on
her pajamas and jumps into Adolphe Menjou's bed, "commandeering" it
from him and forcing him to sleep in a chair. She shows her feet as
she does so, and reveals the bottoms of her feet quickly from a medium
distance.

* "Curly Top" 1935. Shirley Temple, 7 years old, lies on her stomach
on the beach with her feet in the air. Earlier she also appears
barefoot while dancing as a hula girl in lei and grass skirt.

* "The Blue Bird" 1940. Shirley Temple, 11 years old, does not
appear barefoot at any time in this film; however, when she and her
brother visit a heavenly place where children wait to be born on
Earth, they encounter dozens of boys and girls ranging in age from
about 4 to 10 years old, all of whom are barefoot.

* "Kathleen" 1941. Shirley Temple, 13 years old, hurts her big toe
and her maid puts a bandage on it. The film also features a close-up
of the sole of her foot.

* "Meet Me in St. Louis" 1944. Margaret O'Brien, 7 years old, lies
on her stomach on a bed with her feet in the air as she talks with her
older sisters.

* "National Velvet" 1944. Elizabeth Taylor, 12 years old, lies on
her back with her feet out in front of her on her bed, and then lies
on her stomach on her mother's bed with her feet in the air.

* "Sister Kenny" 1946. Doreen McCann, about 6 years old, lies on a
gurney barefoot as she is given a medical exam for polio.

* "So Dear to my Heart" 1949. Luana Patten, 10 years old, and Bobby
Driscoll, 11 years old, walk about barefoot numerous times in this
film set in a rural area.

* "Houseboat" 1958. Paul Petersen, 12 years old, Charles Herbert, 9
years old, and Mimi Gibson, 9 years old, live aboard a houseboat with
their widowed father and walk about barefoot on deck in numerous
scenes, sometimes dangling their feet in the water.

* "Pollyanna" 1960. Hayley Mills, 13 years old, is lifted out of bed
in her nightgown and carried to the upper staircase, where she sees a
crowd gathered below in her honor. The camera provides a medium shot
of her bare feet as she is picked up and then carried across the
balcony.

* "Papa's Delicate Condition" 1962. Linda Bruhl, 8 years old, wears
pajamas while being carried barefoot up the stairs by her father, who
pauses at the top of the stairs to talk with her mother. While they
talk, Linda's soles show directly to the camera in medium close-up.
Her father then carries Linda into her bedroom where her feet continue
to be visible in medium distance throughout the scene .

* "Cape Fear" 1962. Lori Martin, 14 years old, shows the bottoms of
her feet in medium close-up as she scrubs the upper deck of a boat in
a marina. She continues to show her feet as she stands and greets
friends passing by in another boat.

* "To Kill a Mockingbird" 1962. Mary Badham, 9 years old, walks home
barefoot from school while wearing a costume and showing the bottoms
of her feet as she walks.

* "The Sound of Music" 1965. Angela Cartwright, 12 years old, Debbie
Turner, 8 years old, and Kym Karath, 6 years old, appear barefoot with
two on-screen older sisters, also barefoot, during the famous "My
Favorite Things" song montage. For the purposes of this list, one
older sister played by Charmian Carr, 22 years old, cannot be
considered a child, and the other older sister Heather Menzies, 15
years old, may be considered a child only by some moviegoers.

* "A High Wind in Jamaica" 1965. Deborah Baxter, about 10 years old,
climbs a rope ladder aboard ship and shows the bottoms of her feet as
she ascends. Lots of other children, boys and girls both, slide on a
wet ship deck with their feet out in front of them.

* "This Property is Condemned" 1966. Mary Badham, 13 years old,
walks about barefoot in this tale of rural poverty.

* "Pippi Longstocking" 1969. Inger Nilsson, 10 years old, appears
barefoot in one scene when she soaks her feet in a large bucket of
water, pours the rest on the floor, puts on foot scrubbers and
proceeds to skate around the house cleaning the floor.

* "Alice in the Cities" 1970. Yella Rottländer, about 9 years old,
wears a swimsuit and lounges on a blanket on her stomach with her bare
soles in the air and moves them back and forth.

* "The Beguiled" 1971. Pamelyn Ferdin, 12 years old, displays her
bare feet from beginning to end, finally showing the bottom of one of
her feet as she kneels to grieve over a slain pet. Her entire sole is
viewable in letterbox format, but only partially otherwise.

* "Napoleon and Samantha" 1972. Jodie Foster, 9 years old, is shown
at a distance barefoot as she dangles her feet from a pier into the
water.

* "The Exorcist" 1973. Linda Blair, 13 years old, comes downstairs
in her nightgown and wets the carpet in her "possessed" state, and a
brief shot of her bare feet in medium close-up is shown. Later her
feet are visible in various bedroom scenes, particularly as her body
is levitating during the exorcism.

* "Malachi's Cove" 1973. Veronica Quilligan, about 12 years old,
lives with her grandfather by the sea and earns her living by
collecting seaweed, and she runs about barefoot during the whole
movie.

* "Here Comes Pippi Longstocking" 1973. Inger Nilsson, 13 years old,
appears barefoot in a foot and feather scene in a film also known as
"Pippi Goes on Board."

* "The Car" 1977. Kim Richards, 12 years old, and her real-life
sister Kyle Richards, about 9 years old, lie on their backs top of the
covers in their bedroom as their on-screen father comes to check on
them, and both girls show their soles of their feet toward the camera.

* "Candleshoe" 1977. Jodie Foster, 14 years old, lies barefoot on a
bed showing her soles, then sits cross-legged, showing her toes.

* "The Goodbye Girl" 1977. Quinn Cummings, 9 years old, shows her
feet from a distance as she walks about the house.

* "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" 1977. Adrienne Campbell, 6
years old, and her brothers are awakened by their father, and she is
barefoot and dangles her foot clearly over the side of the bed.

* "Pretty Baby" 1978. Brooke Shields, 12 years old, shows the
bottoms of her feet when she slides down a banister, gets her legs
painted, and gets picked up for a spanking.

* "Piranha" 1978. Numerous children (identities and ages not
available here) splash about in a lagoon and show their feet.

* "The Blue Lagoon" 1980. Elva Josephson, 10 years old, sits on the
beach with her feet out in front of her and later swims in the ocean,
and Glenn Kohan, 10 years old, shows his feet as he swims in the
ocean.

* "Poltergeist" 1982. Heather O'Rourke, 6 years old, has a number of
barefoot scenes as she walks about in her pajamas in her bedroom and
in front of the television, often showing her soles behind her as she
sits on her folded legs.

* "Annie" 1982. Aileen Quinn, 10 years old, stars in this famous
story of little girl orphans in New York City. She and her numerous
"sister" orphans, including Toni Ann Gisondi, 6 years old, who plays
the youngest orphan Molly, display their feet many times during the
opening bedroom scene as they sing the first number.

* "Anna to the Infinite Power" 1983. Martha Byrne, 11 years old,
shows the bottoms of her feet as she climbs into hiding places away
from her captors.

* "Supergirl - DVD Director's Cut" 1984. In the original release
this scene was removed (and so names and ages are not available here),
but in the DVD edition it is restored and features numerous little
girls ranging from 5 to 10 years old who appear barefoot throughout
the scene. It takes place just after the opening credits when
Supergirl is walking through the city in which you see the barefoot
extras.

* "Cat's Eye" 1985. Drew Barrymore, 10 years old, lies in bed asleep
with her foot out from under the covers as a tiny gremlin crawls up
the side of her bed. The camera shows an extreme close-up of the
bottom of her foot.

* "Surviving: A Family in Crisis" 1985. Heather O'Rourke, 8 years
old, appears in this TV-movie while lying on her bed talking to her
brother and dangling her feet behind her. A few minutes later she is
sitting up, legs crossed, and playing with her toes.

* "The Coca-Cola Kid" 1985. Rebecca Smart, 8 years old, shows her
feet in close-up as she washes them while taking a shower. She also
appears barefoot in other scenes throughout the movie.

* "My Life as a Dog" 1985. Johanna Udéhn, about 10 years old,
extends her bare feet to the outside grass as she lies inside a large
section of water pipeline while talking with her young boyfriend. Her
feet clearly show while the rest of her is hidden from view inside the
pipeline as the young boy reads from a newspaper on the grass. This
is a Swedish-language film available with subtitles.

* "Parent Trap II" 1986. Carrie Kei Heim, 12 years old, lies on her
stomach on her bed with her feet in the air keeping time to music from
the radio. The opening shot is a tight close-up of her feet as they
rhythmically move, then the camera dollies back to reveal Carrie's
entire self.

* "'Round Midnight" 1986. Gabrielle Haker, 11 years old, dances on
the beach and shows the bottoms of her feet as she twirls.

* "Clan of the Cave Bear" 1986. Emma Floria, about 10 years old,
appears barefoot in all her scenes as a young cave girl in prehistoric
times. Her feet are often shown in medium close-up shots.

* "Poltergeist II: The Other Side" 1986. Heather O'Rourke, 10 years
old, offers a very brief glimpse of her feet in this sequel. It
occurs when she stands up and walks towards the toy telephone near the
beginning of the film.

* "The Fig Tree" 1987. Karron Graves, about 10 years old, shows the
bottoms of her feet in medium close-up in this TV-movie when she lies
down on her side on her bed and pulls her legs up to her.

* "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" 1988. Sarah Polley, 9 years
old, plunges into the ocean while wearing a nightgown and is barefoot
when she emerges from the water on the beach. She later runs after
the baron and a quick glimpse is seen of her soles as she runs in
medium distance shots.

* "The Shiralee" 1988. Rebecca Smart, 11 years old, stars in this
nostalgic Australian film as the newly discovered daughter of a
wandering swagman and appears barefoot through most of the film.
Although this film was originally a mini-series, it is sometimes
broadcast as a single feature.

* "Critters 2" 1988. Lindsay Parker, 7 years old, is shown sleeping
on top of her bed as the camera slowly pans over her bare soles up to
her face. In another scene, there is also an extreme close-up of her
sole as it dangles off the bed.

* "The Good Mother" 1988. Asia Vieira, 6 years old, displays a few
brief glimpses of her feet as she plays about the residence she shares
with her single mother.

* "Zelly and Me" 1988. Alexandra Johnes, about 10 years old, has a
lingering close-up shot of her bare foot as she dangles it while
sitting on the edge of her bed.

* "Three Fugitives" 1989. Sarah Rowland Doroff, 7 years old, shows
the bottoms of her feet as she is being carried up the stairs to the
bedroom and later when being lifted from a tub after her bath.

* "Troop Beverly Hills" 1989. Jenny Lewis, 11 years old, Kellie
Martin, 13 years old, Ami Foster, 13 years old, and many other
pre-teen and barely-teen actresses are seen barefoot as they sit
around in their pajamas telling ghost stories in a hotel. Later, some
members of the troop show their soles during a pedicure at a salon
when they have cotton between their toes.

* "Field of Dreams" 1989. Gaby Hoffman, 6 years old, is shown
barefoot when she is carried to bed in her pajamas as she sleeps in
the arms of her father.

* "Uncle Buck" 1989. Gaby Hoffmann, 7 years old, appears barefoot in
this movie several times, but especially clearly when she refuses to
sleep in her own bed and ends up sleeping with her Uncle Buck on top
of the covers.

* "Arachnophobia" 1990. Marlene Katz, 10 years old, sits on her
knees in her pajamas with the camera behind her as a small spider
approaches her bare feet, shown bottoms-up as she is sitting.

* "Three Men and a Little Lady" 1990. Robin Weisman, about 7 years
old, shows her feet while being tickled by her on-screen adopted dad
Tom Selleck.

* "Mermaids" 1990. Christina Ricci, 10 years old, tries out in
competition for a swimming match and shows the bottoms of her feet as
they break from the water's surface while she kicks her legs.

* "My Girl" 1991. Anna Chlumsky, 10 years old, gets into bed and
shows the bottoms of her feet as she pulls the covers over her after
getting her hair brushed by Jamie Lee Curtis.

* "Return to the Blue Lagoon" 1991. Courtney Phillips, about 10
years old, who most often is listed in film credits as Courtney
Barilla, appears barefoot during a very brief appearance.

* "Switched at Birth" 1991. Ariana Richards, 11 years old, shows her
feet in this TV-movie of a child who discovers she belongs
biologically to another family. In one scene, she is wearing slippers
while lying on her stomach on her bed with her legs in the air, and
her father comes in and removes the slippers to reveal her bare soles
to the camera.

* "Curly Sue" 1991. Alisan Porter, 9 years old, is sitting in a
rubber ring in the bathtub when she lifts her legs out of the water
and shows her bare feet.

* "The Prince of Tides" 1991. Brandlyn Whitaker, about 5 years old,
lives by the ocean with her family and frequently displays her bare
feet while in her swimsuit or nightgown. At one point she crawls onto
her father's lap and shows the bottoms of her feet to the camera in
medium close-up. Her two sisters are played by Lindsay Wray, 14 years
old, and Maggie Collier, about 12 years old, who are also barefoot in
some scenes, but Brandlyn's feet provide the best views.

* "Honey, I Blew up the Kid" 1992. Various little girls (names and
ages not available here) show their feet while watching a magic show.

* "Betrayal of the Dove" 1992. Heather Lind, about 7 years old,
appears barefoot in a couple of scenes.

* "Sidekicks" 1992. Jonathan Brandis, 16 years old, is unlikely to
be considered a child in this karate film in which he appears
barefoot. However, many boys and girls 12 and under who compete in
the karate tournament toward the end of the film show their feet, and
often their soles.

* "The Secret Garden" 1993. Kate Maberly, 10 years old, wears her
nightgown and shows the bottoms of her feet as she rests on her knees
and looks out a window with the camera behind her. She also shows her
soles in muted light when she crawls from underneath a bed in her
nightgown. In another scene, her on-screen cousin, Heydon Prowse, 10
years old, lies on his back on a gurney in his nightshirt as he is
being given physical therapy, and the bottoms of his feet show to the
camera in medium close-up. In still another scene, both Kate and
Heydon are asleep together on top of the bed, each in their
nightclothes, and the camera pans slowly from the end of the bed to
the head of it and shows the bare feet of both children, their soles
at angle to the camera. This latter scene is best viewed in letterbox
edition. Throughout the film both Kate and Heydon appear barefoot in
many scenes, although some views are relatively distant.

* "Addams Family Values" 1993. Christina Ricci, 13 years old, is
sent to a summer camp where she participates in a skit as a barefoot
American Indian princess. Her feet are shown in medium distance.
Other children, boys and girls both, are shown barefoot in these
scenes as well.

* "Heidi" 1993. Noley Thornton, 9 years old, is lying in bed with
her friend Klara and has her bare feet against the end rail of the bed
in this TV mini-series (also available as a single feature). In this
scene, Noley shows the top half of her soles to the camera in medium
close up. Admirers of girlfeet may find the incomplete shot of her
soles to be unsatisfying but others may find even a half-view to be
worthwhile.

* "They" 1993. Brandlyn Whitaker, about 7 years old, in this
TV-movie also known as "They Watch," shows her feet side-on when she
sits on her dad's lap. In another scene she falls asleep on the stairs
and displays her soles as her dad takes her to bed.

* "Miracle on 34th Street" 1994. Mara Wilson, 7 years old, shows the
bottoms of her feet as she gets out of bed, walks over to a trunk and
kneels down, with the camera at an angle behind her.

* "No Dessert Dad, Til You Mow the Lawn" 1994. Allison Mack, 11 years
old, is singing in the bathtub with her foot resting against the tap.
The scene includes a close-up of her toes, which are painted purple.

* "Nell" 1994. Heather and Marianne Bomba, 7-year-old twins, jump
off a bank in the woods with the camera below them and show the
bottoms of their feet as they descend.

* "Deep Red" 1994. Lindsey Haun, 9 years old, shows the sole of her
foot in order to prove a point she is making to a grown-up. Later she
is strapped to a bed as the camera pans along, capturing both of her
soles this time.

* "Corrina, Corrina" 1994. Tina Majorino, 9 years old, has numerous
barefoot scenes in the film, including those in which she floats on a
rubber raft in a backyard pool and sits on a step with her
grandmother. Perhaps the best scene of all, however, is when she is
jumping on her bed with her legs straight out in front of her,
trampoline-style, her soles toward the camera as she descends in
slow-motion to the bed.

* "Burnt by the Sun" 1994. Nadia Mikhalkov, 6 years old, shows the
bottom of her right foot in close-up as her father lifts her ankle as
they float downstream in a rowboat.

* "Children of the Dark" 1994. Lindsey Haun, 9 years old, and
Annalise Ashdown, about 6 years old, appear barefoot in this TV-movie
in a scene where they are lying on sun beds at night, their soles
clearly visible.

* "The Flintstones" 1994. Elaine and Melanie Silver, about 4 years
old, twins who alternate in the role of Pebbles, are barefoot
throughout the film and show their feet in a variety of scenes and
angles.

* "Monkey Trouble" 1994. Thora Birch is barefoot while looking for
her clothes early in the morning.

* "It Takes Two" 1995. Mary-Kate Olsen, 9 years old, slips off the
shoe and sock of her left foot and shows the bottom of it, in extreme
close-up, to her butler to display a pinpoint scar on her heel.

* "Angela" 1995. Miranda Stuart Rhyne, about 10 years old, and
Charlotte Eve Blythe, about 6 years old, star in this film about the
world of childhood and have numerous scenes which display their feet.

* "Freaky Friday" 1995. Gaby Hoffman, 13 years old, shows the soles
of her feet in medium close-up several times when she ascends the
ladder of a diving board in her swimsuit and in medium distance shots
when she walks about the swimming pool area.

* "The Secret of Roan Inish" 1995. Jeni Courtney, about 10 years
old, goes barefoot a number of times for the first hour of the film,
which takes place near the Irish seashore.

* "Four Rooms" 1995. Lana McKissack, 10 years old, and Danny
Verduzco, about 8 years old, remove their shoes and socks in a hotel
room, and their feet are shown in medium distance in most of the
scene. However, at one point Lana lies on a hotel bed and extends the
bottom of her foot toward her on-screen younger brother, where her
sole appears in close-up.

* "Magic In The Water" 1995. Sarah Wayne, about 10 years old,
displays her sandy bare feet in close-up. She also appears in open
sandals while sitting cross-legged on a pier, and later is shown
barefoot on the same pier with a medium distance shot of her soles.

* "City of Lost Children" 1995. Judith Vittet, 9 years old, receives
a foot massage from Ron Perlman as they pause to rest on a city
street. The bottom of her foot is shown medium close-up in this
French-language film.

* "The Little Princess" 1995. Liesel Matthews, 10 years old, is seen
barefoot as she sits atop a rock at the beginning of the movie.

* "Waterworld" 1995. Tina Majorino, 10 years old, appears barefoot
in many scenes, but the moments when she can be seen with bare feet
are quick and require freeze-frame to be observed effectively.

* "Race Against Time: The Search for Sarah" 1996. Caitlin Wachs, 6
years old, lies on her bed in this TV-movie while reading a book with
her aunt. Caitlin then pushes her socks off using her feet and
eventually puts her soles in full view of the camera.

* "Pinocchio's Revenge" 1996. Brittany Alyse Smith, about 10 years
old, has a scene in which we see a three-second look at her right
foot.

* "Manny and Lo" 1996. Scarlett Johansson, 11 years old, lies on the
couch with her older sister and shows her soles in medium close-up.
In another part of the movie, she walks around barefoot right after
taking a shower.

* "Fly Away Home" 1996. Anna Paquin, 13 years old, briefly shows her
feet when she shares a shower with some feathered friends.

* "La Mońos" 1996. Claudia Molina, about 10 years old, dances a
flamenco barefoot atop a barrel to entertain the men of the village in
this Spanish-language film. Her feet are shown close-up as she
dances. Afterward her father places her shoes back on and handles her
feet as he does in medium close-up.

* "Striptease" 1996. Rumer Willis, 7 years old, is seen barefoot on
more than one occasion. In one scene the soles of her feet are shown
as she sits down to watch television, her legs out in front of her.

* "Ghosts of Mississippi" 1996. Alexa Vega, 7 years old, has
numerous barefoot scenes while wearing her nightgown both inside and
outside the house. Views of her soles can be seen in medium close-up
as she is carried around the house in the arms of her father.

* "Harriet the Spy" 1996. Michelle Trachtenberg, 10 years old, and
her friends, Gregory Smith, 12 years old, and Vanessa Lee Chester, 11
years old, draw a design on their soles as an indication of their
solidarity. The feet of all three children are in medium close-up.
Michelle also has a scene in the bathtub where she brings her foot out
of the tub, her sole in full view of the camera in medium close-up.
Additionally, she has a scene in a girls' restroom where she removes
one shoe and sock, and places her foot in a wash fountain.

* "Matilda" 1996. Mara Wilson, 8 years old, dances barefoot with her
teacher, Miss Honey, near the end of the film, then sits cross-legged
on a chair to reveal the bottom of her right foot.

* "Ponette" 1996. Victoire Thivisol, 4 years old, walks around
barefoot in her pajamas in this French film about a motherless little
girl at a boarding school. In one scene she lifts her legs out of bed
and shows the bottom of her foot, but it is a brief shot requiring
freeze-frame.

* "A Simple Wish" 1997. Mara Wilson, 9 years old, displays her feet
in an early scene where she sits on her father's lap and is lifted up
to be taken to bed.

* "The Education of Little Tree" 1997. Joseph Ashton, 10 years old,
stars in this film about Native American prejudice in the early 20th
century and appears barefoot briefly when he removes his shoes while
climbing a trail with his grandfather. Mika Boorem, 9 years old, also
appears in the film as his friend and is barefoot in all of her
scenes, and when she puts on a moccasin the camera shows her right
foot in close-up.

* "Jurassic Park 2 - The Lost World" 1997. Camilla Belle, 10 years
old, explores an island beach while barefoot. When she comes upon a
tiny dinosaur near the edge of the jungle, she kneels to examine the
creature and shows the bottoms of her feet in medium close-up.

* "FairyTale: A True Story" 1997. Florence Hoath, about 13 years
old, and Elizabeth Earl, 10 years old, are barefoot while playing in a
river, and show their feet numerous times while indoors walking about
and climbing stairs.

* "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" 1997. Courtney Pelden, 15 years
old, and all of her friends show their feet throughout the entire
movie. In one scene Courtney arrives home from gymnastics school and
rips her shoes and socks off. She then uses her bare feet to
antagonize her mother who is on the telephone. This film is listed
here for those who may regard a 15-year-old as a child, although many
do not.

* "Madeline" 1998. Hatty Jones, 9 years old, in the title role, and
her various schoolmates appear barefoot several times in the movie as
they walk and run about in their nightgowns. In a couple of instances
Hatty shows the soles of her feet as she lies on her stomach and
reaches over the edge of a bed, and in a later scene when she stoops
to pet her dog.

* "Billboard Dad" 1998. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, 12 years old,
display their bare feet throughout this straight-to-video film.

* "Paulie" 1998. Hallie Kate Eisenberg, 5 years old, exhibits her
toes in extreme close-up several times while wearing sandals early in
the film. Minutes later, in a bedroom scene, she gives a brief
glimpse of her bare feet when she throws the covers back from the bed
and swings her legs to the floor.

* "The Parent Trap" 1998. Lindsay Lohan, 11 years old, has several
close-up barefoot scenes as she jumps out of her summer camp bed and
as she walks on a pier to dive into a lake. Later, in a scene at the
California home, her left sole is briefly seen when she tucks her legs
underneath herself.

* "A Map of the World" 1999. Kayla Perlmutter, about 5 years old,
shows her feet in numerous scenes throughout the movie. At one point,
after taking a bath, her soles can be clearly seen as she lies on her
bed with some friends.

* "Run the Wild Fields" 2000. Alexa Vega, 10 years old, shows her
bare feet, including a close-up of her toes, while she is getting
sized for a new dress by her mother.

* "Where the Heart is" 2000. Mackenzie Fitzgerald, 4 years old, can
be seen barefoot in this movie when she is sleeping with her friends,
who are also barefoot, on the couch downstairs.

* "My Dog Skip" 2000. Caitlin Wachs, 10 years old, walks barefoot
through the woods with her boyfriend.

* "The Others" 2001. Alakina Mann, 11 years old, is briefly shown
dancing barefoot in a sunlit room towards the end of the movie.

* "Mockingbird Don't Sing" 2001. Tarra Steele, 11 years old, is kept
prisoner by her father and strapped to a chair while she is barefoot.
Early in the film there are many medium to close-up shots of her feet
as she sits in the chair.

* "Don't Say a Word" 2001. Skye McCole Bartusiak, 8 years old, after
being kidnapped and losing her sock in the struggle, is barefoot
throughout the entire movie. In one scene she is sitting on a bed and
her foot is dangling from the edge, and the camera slowly pans from
the bottom of the bed to the top, showing her toes. Her soles can
also be seen as she gets up and tries to communicate with her mother.

* "The Ring" 2002. Daveigh Chase, 11 years old, climbs barefoot out
of a well and walks into a house to terrorize its inhabitants in this
horror film. During a part of this scene the camera shows her feet,
soiled and bruised and made up to appear as if she is a member of the
"undead," in close-up as she walks.

* "Panic Room" 2002. Kristen Stewart, 11 years old, plays Jodie
Foster's diabetic daughter and displays her feet in many scenes. At
one point, when she goes into a coma, her soles are shown in extreme
close-up as she clinches her toes and then relaxes them.

* "We Were Soldiers" 2002. Sloane Momsen, 4 years old, is in pajamas
and barefoot as she prays with her family at bedside. While she
kneels, the camera lingers on her bare feet in medium close-up, where
her soles are in three-quarter angle to the camera.

* "Uptown Girls" 2003. Dakota Fanning, 8 years old, shows the
bottoms of her feet when she is tossed to the floor by her nanny and
lands on her posterior. She also displays her feet in several other
scenes when she walks about barefoot in her room and down the hallway.

* "Eloise at Christmastime" 2003. Sofia Vassilieva, 10 years old,
has a brief barefoot scene when she kicks the covers from her bed and
reveals her feet, including her soles at about a three-quarter angle
to the camera, positioned directly above the bed in medium distance.

BOYFEET:

* "The Champ" 1931. Jackie Cooper, 8 years old, lies on his back on
his bed with his feet out in front of him as he gets undressed to go
to sleep.

* "How Green Was My Valley" 1941. Roddy McDowall, 12 years old, lies
on his stomach on a table in his house with his feet in the air.

* "The Yearling" 1946. Claude Jarman, Jr., 11 years old, shows his
bare feet throughout the film set in rural Florida, USA, of the late
19th century. Views of his feet range from medium to medium close-up.

* "Oliver Twist" 1948. John Howard Davies, 9 years old, scrubs
floors on his hands and knees barefooted with the camera behind him.

* "So Dear to my Heart" 1949. Luana Patten, 10 years old, and Bobby
Driscoll, 11 years old, walk about barefoot numerous times in this
film set in a rural area.

* "The Clown" 1953. Tim Considine, 11 years old, shows his bare feet
as he lies on his bed while talking with his father. His soles are
visible in medium distance.

* "It Started in Naples" 1960. Marietto Angeletti, 9 years old,
walks around the streets and his apartment barefoot in many scenes,
and shows his soles when lying about on his bed.

* "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" 1982. Henry Thomas, 10 years old,
lies on a gurney barefoot as doctors examine him and his friend E.T.
in a special lab.

* "The Buddy System" 1984. Wil Wheaton, 11 years old, shows the
bottoms of his feet as he plays frisbee on the beach.

* "Misunderstood" 1984. Henry Thomas, 10 years old, and Huckleberry
Fox, 7 years old, show their feet in medium to medium close-up range
as they play about on their bunk beds in their bedroom in their
pajamas.

* "Witness" 1985. Lukas Haas, 8 years old, gives a brief glimpse of
his bare feet when he sits beside his mother to observe the barn
raising activity in this film of Amish life. Other boys and girls
also appear barefoot during the event.

* "D.A.R.Y.L." 1985. Barrett Oliver, 11 years old, is barefoot on a
gurney as he is rolled into an examination machine. The camera is
overhead and in a comparatively long distance from Barrett, but his
bare feet are clearly evident.

* "Stand by Me" 1986. Wil Wheaton, 13 years old, walks barefoot from
a campfire to see his friend River Phoenix and shows the bottoms of
his feet as he walks.

* "Where the River Runs Black" 1986. Alessandro Rabelo, about 10
years old, is a long-haired "wild child" in the Amazonian jungle who
shows his feet constantly during the first two-thirds of the film, and
frequently displays his soles as he dives in the river.

* "Vice Versa" 1988. Fred Savage, 11 years old, displays a bare foot
in close-up while recovering from a sprain. The foot is in the
foreground of the shot and shows his sole in slightly soft focus.

* "Cinema Paradiso" 1989. Salvatore Cascio, 9 years old, apprentices
to an elderly movie projectionist and in one scene is placed upon a
stool so he can be better positioned to the projector. Salvatore is
barefoot in this scene, and his feet are shown close-up as he placed
on the stool. This is an Italian-language film available with
subtitles.

* "Dutch" 1991. Ethan Randall (later known as Ethan Embry), 12 years
old, shows his feet, including the bottoms of his feet, as he
practices karate on a pad in the gymnasium of his boarding school.
His soles are shown in medium distance.

* "The Power of One" 1992. Guy Witcher, 7 years old, gets picked up
in the boarding school bathroom and shows the bottoms of his feet as
he's carried off.

* "The Force" 1994. Jarrett Lennon, 12 years old, wears a karate
uniform in one scene and performs martial arts moves while barefoot.
The bottoms of his feet show when he raises his legs to perform the
moves, although they are quick and require freeze-frame to observe his
soles more closely.

* "Stepmom" 1998. Liam Aiken, 8 years old, is in his pajamas and
barefoot as he stands on his bed and lip-synchs "Ain't No Mountain
High Enough" with his family. He is also picked up and held for
further barefoot scenes.

* "The Miracle of the Cards" 2001. Thomas Sangster, 11 years old,
who portrays a child with a life-threatening illness, is rolled on a
gurney into a hospital MRI machine. The bottoms of his bare feet are
in medium close-up as he is moved.

* "Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles" 2001. Serge Cockburn, 10 years
old, shows his feet in soft focus as he appears in a background shot
while wearing his pajamas.

* "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" 2001. Daniel Radcliffe, 11
years old, climbs in his pajamas atop a window seat ledge to gaze out
the window, and he displays his bare feet as he does so.

* "AI: Artificial Intelligence" 2002. Haley Joel Osment, 12 years
old, is barefoot in a swimming pool scene and shows the bottoms of his
feet in medium close-up as he walks about.

CARTOON GIRLFEET AND BOYFEET:

* "The Jungle Book" 1967. Bruce Reitherman, 11 years old, voices the
character Mowgli, about 10 years old, in this jungle tale of a wild
child who is barefoot throughout the movie. In many scenes Mowgli's
soles are shown, some in medium close-up. At the end of the film, the
character Shanti, about 10 years old and voiced by Darleen Carr, 16
years old, is introduced as she gathers water into her jug from a
stream. Shanti is barefoot in the scene.

* "The Rescuers" 1977. Michelle Stacy, about 7 years old, voices the
character Penny in this film of mice rescuing a kidnapped little girl.
Penny appears barefoot, with her soles briefly showing, as she climbs
about her bed and while getting dressed.

* "The B.F.G." 1989. Amanda Root, an adult, voices the character
Sophie, about 10 years old, in a film about a Big Friendly Giant (the
acronym of the title). In one scene, Sophie splashes about in an
indoor swimming pool and shows her feet often, once raising her foot
out of the water to reveal her sole.

* "All Dogs Go to Heaven" 1989. Judith Barsi, 9 years old, voices
the character Anne-Marie, about 6 years old, a little girl who runs
away and befriends a pack of talking dogs. In one scene she climbs
into the back seat of a car to go to sleep, and her soles are shown in
medium close-up to the camera as she lies down.

* "The Little Mermaid" 1989. Jodi Benson, an adult, voices the
character Ariel, about 16 years old, in this film about a mermaid who
wishes to have legs and explore humankind on dry land. Although the
character is a teenager and perhaps not considered by some moviegoers
as a child, she shows and wiggles a foot, revealing her sole in
close-up, when she is first transformed on the beach into a human.
She then appears barefoot in following scenes as she adapts to land.

* "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" 2000. Tara Strong,
later known as Tara Charendoff, 17 years old, voices the character
Melody, about 12 years old, daughter of Ariel, in this
straight-to-video movie about a human child with two legs who wishes
to explore the sea as her mother did when Ariel was a mermaid. Melody
is barefoot in many scenes before she is transformed into a mermaid
herself.

* "Lilo and Stitch" 2002. Daveigh Chase, 11 years old, voices the
character Lilo, about 6 years old, in this tale of a little Hawaiian
girl who befriends a dog-like alien. Lilo appears barefoot throughout
the film, with frequent views of the bottoms of her feet.

* "The Jungle Book 2" 2003. Haley Joel Osment, 14 years old, voices
the character Mowgli, about 11 years old, in this sequel. Once again
Mowgli and his young girlfriend Shanti, about 11 years old and voiced
by Mae Whitman, 14 years old, appear barefoot throughout the film and
often show their soles.

SPECIAL SECTION: BAREFOOT CHILDREN ON TELEVISION

* "The Twilight Zone" 1962. Susan Gordon, 12 years old, is barefoot
in a bedroom scene as she lies down in her pajamas, and later shows
the bottoms of her feet as she and a double walk barefoot out of the
room as twins. This episode, titled "The Fugitive," was first
broadcast March 9, 1962.

* "The Twilight Zone 1964. Mary Badham, 11 years old, is barefoot in
the entire episode as she walks about a backyard pool and swims in it.
She shows the bottoms of her feet when she dives in and in some
underwater scenes. This episode, titled "The Bewitchin' Pool," was
first broadcast June 19, 1964.

* "Bonanza" 1968. Linda Sue Risk, about 10 years old, turns up at
the Cartwright ranch as a scruffy child who requires bathing. After
her bath and in some bedroom scenes, she is barefoot and occasionally
shows her soles in medium close-up. This episode, titled "Little Girl
Lost," was first broadcast November 3, 1968.

* "ZOOM" 1972. Edith Mooers, 8 years old, Danny McGrath, 11 years
old, and Bernadette Yao, 12 years old, are perhaps the most prominent
children who appear barefoot frequently in this public television
series. In the earliest years of the show, every child in the cast
went barefoot as part of the ZOOMer's "look," along with rugby shirts
and dark slacks. There were usually 7 boys and girls in the cast at
any one time during a show, and they would periodically be replaced by
other boys and girls, who would continue the "tradition" of going
barefoot.

* "Punky Brewster" 1984. Soleil Moon Frye, 8 years old, shows the
bottom of one of her feet when she swings her legs up while lying on
the couch in the apartment of her guardian, Henry. When first taped,
Soleil was wearing socks as she lay on the couch, but in a re-shoot
and edit, her feet are bare when she lifts them up. This episode,
titled "Punky Finds a Home, Part 1," was first broadcast September 16,
1984.

* "Punky Brewster" 1984. Soleil Moon Frye, 8 years old, is taken to
a lake by her guardian Henry to go fishing. Soleil shows her bare
feet several times, including a scene in which she dangles her feet
from a pier just above the water. This episode, titled "Gone Fishin',"
was first broadcast October 14, 1984.

* "Punky Brewster" 1984. Soleil Moon Frye, 8 years old, is barefoot
and pillow fighting in her bedroom with Cherie Johnson, 8 years old,
and Ami Foster, 9 years old, both of whom are also barefoot. They
discuss an upcoming children's beauty pageant, and a few minutes later
Soleil climbs into her bed and shows the bottoms of her feet as she
does so. This episode, titled "Miss Adorable," was first broadcast
November 25, 1984.

* "Ramona" 1988. Sarah Polley, 9 years old, climbs into bed while
wearing her new pajamas and has her slippers removed by her mother.
Sarah's soles are fully in view in medium close-up when this occurs,
and her feet continue to show as she slips her feet beneath the
covers. This episode, titled "New Pajamas," was first broadcast
during the fall 1988 to spring 1989 series, but as of this writing an
accurate episode guide, which would give the specific air date and
allow an accurate calculation of Sarah's age during filming, is not
yet available. It is possible she may have been 10 years old when the
scene was filmed. She was born in January 1979 but the series was
likely completed in filming before her 10th birthday. In this episode
she appears to be not only 9 but even younger.

* "Gerbert" 1990s. Numerous boys and girls are barefoot in one of
the episodes during a special segment called "Things That Go," in
which the children's feet are the focus. The camera has many
close-ups and frequently shows the bottoms of the boys' and girls'
feet in close-up. This episode, titled "The Crush," was rotated in
broadcast with other episodes during the early 1990s.

* "7th Heaven" 1999. MacKenzie Rosman, 9 years old, is lying
barefoot on a bed with her on-screen brother, David Gallagher, 14
years old, and the camera shows the bottoms of MacKenzie's feet in
medium close-up for several seconds. David is also barefoot but the
view is obscured. This episode, titled "The Tattle Tale Heart," was
first broadcast September 20, 1999.

* "According to Jim" 2003. Taylor Atelian, 8 years old, and Billi
Bruno, 6 years old, frequently appear barefoot in this sitcom which
first aired in 2001 when Taylor and Billi were 6 and 4, respectively.
In many episodes they are seen wearing pajamas and showing their bare
feet, including their soles. Although many examples can be cited, the
one chosen here for description is an episode which depicted the girls
feeling spooked at home after seeing a violent sci-fi film featuring a
female robot. In one scene they run barefoot in their pajamas into
their parents' bed and briefly show the bottoms of their feet as well
as regular views of the tops and sides of their feet. This episode,
titled "Scary Movie," was first broadcast November 4, 2003.

Kevin Burke

unread,

Nov 28, 2003, 7:10:25 PM11/28/03

Nothing like a post on sexually graifying ones base lusts on the
barefeet of children.

Now why would any one think for even a minute that some very ill people
post here?

Ollie

unread,

Nov 29, 2003, 2:37:21 PM11/29/03

It could be down to the fact that my brother lives a true barefoot
lifestyle, so I am rather exposed to bare feet all the time, but I
really never understood the whole foot fetish thing. When the
weather's decent, and I'm not working, I'll happily join Ky and go
barefoot, but it certainly doesn't gratify me sexually. I think it's
possible to look attractive (for want of a better word) barefoot, in
the way that professional photographs often compose family or
childrens portraits with bare feet, but that's more to do with the
whole "natural look" more than anything. Depending on what he's
wearing Ky can look good barefoot, but that's about it.

I hope that made sense - I know what I mean! :)

Ollie
Remove NOSPAM if replying by e-mail.

Just A. Fan

unread,

Nov 29, 2003, 3:02:00 PM11/29/03

Ollie wrote:

"... but I really never understood the whole foot fetish thing."

- - - - - - -

I never "got it" either, but then that's the whole nature of what a fetish
is:

"Something, such as a material object or a nonsexual part of the body, that
arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification."

What most people would not normally associate with sexuality (like feet, or
belly buttons, or shoes, or any of those other fetishes) are precisely that
for people who do have one or more. That probably explains
what's-his-name's obsession with Jeremy's "outie". I'm with you, I'd rather
take notice of the whole person, not just looks and not just one facet.

Do You Want To Live Forever?

unread,

Nov 29, 2003, 8:15:00 PM11/29/03

KGB...@webtv.net (Kevin Burke) wrote in message news:<5710-3FC...@storefull-2238.public.lawson.webtv.net>...

Yeah, especially when children's bellybuttons in cinema has gone
ignored faaaaar too long. Boys w/ outies rule, man!!!!!!!

- 'My Father's Glory' (Julien Ciamaca)
- 'Stand By Me' (Will Weaton)
- 'Cloak And Dagger' (Henry Thom|as)
- 'Boys Of St. Vincent' (Johnny Morina)
- 'Lord Of The Flies' 1990 (Badgett Dale, Edward and Andrew Taft)

...and others

---
Zeitgeist
401 BLOWS
http://www.zeitgeistinc.org/videos/401blows/401blows.html

MuckTheDuck

unread,

Nov 30, 2003, 8:16:59 AM11/30/03

Here is an article that I found that has some references regarding this
thread.

Excerpt from the article below:

Joe and I meet in a comfortable office far away from his cell. He asks
that I not use his last name, because he says he wants to reclaim a
private life when he gets out. Tall and thin, with dark hair and pocked
skin, he reveals first that he has a foot fetish, meaning he feels
aroused when he touches or tickles feet. He's willing to settle for
women's feet, but more than that, he fantasizes about boys' feet --
specifically, pubescent boys'.

The Boston Globe

Hot Pursuit

James McLaughlin is one of the most successful online detectives in
America. Talking dirty and flirting openly in Internet chat rooms, he
lures potential sexual predators to their arrest. But do his tactics
cross the line?

By Carlene Hempel, 11/23/2003

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2003/11/23/hot_pursuit/

It's a Tuesday morning in downtown Keene, New Hampshire, where the aroma
of coffee floats from quaint cafes and hymns ring over the city's quiet
square from the steeple of Grace United Methodist Church. Just steps off
the main drag, inside a small, second-floor office, James McLaughlin
logs on to his computer and enters a chat room for men who want to have
sex with boys.

He's zapping messages to a 34-year-old Oregon resident named Bob. Thanks
to a webcam, all who sign on to the Yahoo! room "Dads 4 Boy Sex" can see
that Bob is wearing eyeglasses, a wedding ring, and nothing else. Bob
takes a quick shine to McLaughlin, because the veteran police detective
has signed on as a 14-year-old boy named "Adam."

McLaughlin types out a sexually suggestive message, one of about two
dozen he will fire off to Bob in the language he knows a teenager would
use. "Adam" tells Bob that he hasn't had sex yet with a man but wants
to. He asks Bob to e-mail nude pictures of other kids and -- ping -- one
arrives in his in-box. The detective e-mails back a picture of a
14-year-old boy. It's not of himself, though Bob wouldn't know that. And
McLaughlin has his newest target for arrest.

"It's interesting sitting here watching this guy," he says. "There he
is. He's married, and he's at home masturbating and looking for young
boys."

McLaughlin isn't surprised by any of this. He deals with guys like Bob
all the time, because the Internet has changed the nature of
pornography. Teenagers no longer sneak peeks at their fathers' Playboys.
Instead, they can stare at hard-core smut online or, unsolicited, in
their e-mail boxes. Interest piqued, they enter a chat room. An adult
stranger sends a quick hello. Suddenly, a normal curiosity has blossomed
into every parent's nightmare.

That's where McLaughlin comes in. He's a new breed of investigator, an
undercover cop who doesn't need a disguise, only a computer, a phony
Internet profile, and the teenage lingo that entices suspects interested
in illegal sex.

What unfolds is an almost absurdist exhibit of extremes. Offenders take
outlandish risks, making explicit advances toward girls and boys,
sending illegal pictures from their e-mail accounts. They'll even send
pictures of themselves and offer their home address, job title, phone
number. On the other side of the screen are the cops who spend countless
hours soliciting kiddie porn or watching men expose themselves. Then,
after building cases by hooking their suspects through dirty-talk chats,
they move in for the arrest.

There is a developing federal blueprint for this kind of work. Five
years ago, the US Department of Justice created the Internet Crimes
Against Children task force, sinking $25 million -- $12 million in the
last year alone -- into a program to educate more than 50,000 people
across the United States in ways to nab suspected pedophiles. Since
1998, ICAC cops have busted 1,500 people.

McLaughlin focuses specifically on men interested in boys. After
initially participating in the ICAC program, he decided to work on his
own as a Keene police detective. McLaughlin himself has racked up nearly
400 arrests, making him one of the best, and most publicized, "dirty
cops" in the nation.

He's arrested police officers, a US Air Force captain, a priest, a
social worker, and 17 teachers. His record includes several high-profile
arrests as well, among them Joseph Doyle, a former Natick High School
hockey coach and teacher, in May and Christopher J. Rozema, a one-time
volunteer with the Molly Bish Foundation, in July.

What the accused have in common is their attraction to McLaughlin. Not
the pudgy, 48-year-old married police detective from New Hampshire, but
one of his two naive, sandy-haired alter egos. "Adam" and "Brad" are
both 14, like to swim, play sports, and ride a bike. They also confess
to having recently started masturbating and contemplating sex with an
older man.

That morning in McLaughlin's office, the detective had said we'd be
talking to a possible pedophile within minutes. The public Internet chat
rooms he visits are created in a flash by users and can disappear just
as quickly. So while Internet companies will address specific complaints
about these sites, they don't monitor or regulate their activity. We
sign on to the Yahoo! room at 11:01. By 11:08, Bob is using his black
jockey shorts as a towel.

McLaughlin tells me that he missed his chance to get any identifying
information this session. These guys will give up all kinds of details
while they're aroused, he says. McLaughlin saves the exchanges and any
photographs sent to him for trial evidence. But once his suspects are
satisfied, they clam up. It's OK, though, the detective says. He'll get
another chance. Bob tells "Adam" that he has added him to his "buddy
list." That sends a signal to Bob's computer whenever "Adam" is online.

"Bye, dear," Bob writes in his final message. "I'm on most mornings."
And then he's gone.

I have come to New Hampshire to see McLaughlin at work. The Doyle case
piqued my interest. For two weeks, Joseph Doyle and McLaughlin -- posing
as "Brad" -- exchanged dozens of e-mails. Doyle asked to meet "Brad" at
the YMCA in Keene. When he arrived, McLaughlin was there instead and
arrested him. Doyle pleaded not guilty and is out on bail.

I couldn't understand why a 44-year-old married father of two would
write to "Brad" 10 times a day and confess to a stranger, a child, that
he felt urges with some of his players at school, according to court
papers. Who was this detective who targets men trying to have sex with
boys? And what kind of person spends his days in chat rooms, writing
messages so obscene they could make Larry Flynt blush?

So much has gone into the creation of McLaughlin's online identity.
There were the government-run training sessions early on, designed to
teach detectives how to think like a pedophile and talk like a kid.
There are the degrees he has earned: police science from Mount Wachusett
Community College, psychology from Keene State College, a master's in
criminal justice from Fitchburg State College, plus 70 additional
educational programs on child abuse and exploitation.

As 14-year-old "Adam" or "Brad," McLaughlin is an open book, willing to
talk explicitly to strangers about his sexual fantasies. He'll reveal
his fetishes, his desire to be with an older man or a younger boy or two
people at once -- depending on his e-mail partner's preferences.

What James Francis McLaughlin will not reveal -- not to his online prey,
not to the reporters who call him, not even to his parents -- is what
truly makes him tick. He is, in many ways, as hard to pin down as his
teen-bait persona. He'll let me sit alongside him, day after day, as he
talks dirty with strangers from around the country. Yet he turns down
numerous requests to visit him at home or to accompany him on one of the
daily 15-mile bike rides he takes to keep sane. He'll allow me to join
him at lunch with a pair of good buddies from the police station, but he
won't let me attend a family reunion hosted by one of his sisters at
Shirley Lake.

He doesn't avoid the subject when I press. He says this is his policy,
that what he does for a living stays downtown in Keene and separate from
his home, 10 miles or so south in Fitzwilliam.

This much is known. He was born in Leominster, the third of seven
children. His Italian mother, Frances, ran the household while his Irish
father, John, a two-term mayor and 25-year veteran of the City Council,
spent most nights out at work. They weren't rich, and they weren't poor.
McLaughlin -- they called him "Jamie" at home -- always did his chores,
helped take care of the younger children, and shared a bedroom with two
brothers. He was a good boy, his mother says, only occasionally
requiring that she set him straight with a slap on the forehead with her
wooden spoon.

John and Frances describe their boy as low-key and at times mischievous.
As a young child, he once bit into an electrical cord and blackened his
teeth. Another time, he snacked his way through a jar of baby aspirin
and had to have his stomach pumped at an emergency room. He was a Boy
Scout, attaining the rank of Eagle, then serving as troop counselor
during summers when he was a student at Leominster High School. He
earned money for his first car, much of it coming from drying the hides
of muskrats and mink that he trapped and skinned in the woods of
Lunenburg.

When he got older, McLaughlin was a Marine and then a cop. Just three
years after he joined the Keene police force as a patrolman in 1981, he
was tapped to work on sex-assault cases, which led to his work with
abused and exploited children.

Then, now, always, he has kept information about himself quiet. He is
very close to his parents, yet they have to follow the newspapers to
read about what he's up to. "He doesn't tell you too much," says John
McLaughlin. "He was here one day, and he got up to leave, and we said,
'Where are you going?' He said, 'Searstown' " -- a local mall -- " 'I've
got to do a little shopping.' It came out in the papers that he arrested
someone who worked there."

Anna, McLaughlin's 47-year-old wife and a real estate agent, likes to
say that her husband is comfortable in his own skin. "Jim's a very
private person. Before I met him, he lived up at the end of a road, in a
little house all by himself," she says. "He doesn't need a lot of
action."

It is Zaza, his stepdaughter since she was 3, who provides the best
insight into McLaughlin. Or at least she's the one willing to share. Now
20, she studies art at a local college and regards McLaughlin as the one
to go to when she needs advice on relationships. He's also the one who
cooks dinner and tidies the house. And he loves to bake; blueberry pies
are his specialty.

There's a strict side to McLaughlin, too, she says. He doesn't approve
of drinking alcohol, for example, and doesn't like it when Anna buys
scratch tickets. He also didn't approve, Zaza suspects, when her
boyfriend got a tattoo.

Zaza used to think it was a drag that her stepfather was in the business
of catching sickos. Once, she wanted to go to the local YMCA with
friends. He wouldn't let her because he had nabbed a pedophile there.
Another time, she wanted to go to a friend's house for a sleepover.
McLaughlin stepped in again, this time because the family was new to
town, and there was an older brother in the house whom he didn't know.

Now she's proud of her stepfather and has been reading the local
newspaper to clip any articles that mention him. She's putting together
a scrapbook that she hopes her parents will keep on their coffee table
so that when people come over, they'll know all about what her dad's
done.

McLaughlin is not everybody's hero. His detractors say it's no surprise
that his bust rate is so much higher than that of other kiddie-porn cops
in the country. To them, McLaughlin is a rogue, so blinded by his
mission that he'll do whatever it takes to make a case. He will ask his
prey to reveal their deepest, darkest fantasies, and then, after months
of suggestive banter from his own keyboard, McLaughlin will take that
rope of desire and hang them with it.

"You might chat and find someone else who is into that," says David N.
Greenfield, a Connecticut psychologist whose book Virtual Addiction
McLaughlin admires and has on a shelf at work. "And that's very powerful
and very affirming, especially for someone who feels shame."

Greenfield suggests that what McLaughlin does is akin to plugging in to
a man's dreams to check whether his fantasies feature his wife. Often
they don't, which Greenfield says is a harsh but real truth. We all have
deviant thoughts, he says, and that could include feeling attraction
toward children or teenagers. Some people will act on those desires,
others won't. What the Internet does, though, is open a door and make it
somehow seem safe to explore.

That's when McLaughlin makes his move. He invites his enchanted Internet
prey to a small community in New Hampshire. They agree on a date, a
place -- hotel room, restaurant parking lot, health club -- and a
detailed, scripted erotic game plan. Then, when the guy actually shows,
he's greeted not by his 14-year-old Netpal but by handcuffs.

"One has to wonder whether this is a form of entrapment," says
Greenfield, "if you're creating a crime that otherwise would not have
occurred."

Louis P. Aloise, a defense attorney in Worcester, offers a critique of
McLaughlin that isn't so measured. "In my view, he's a zealot," says
Aloise, who defended two men whom McLaughlin had arrested. "If you ask
him, I'm sure what he'd tell you is: 'Look, I am just luring out these
creeps.' But I am sure there are times when the person never ever would
have done what he did if McLaughlin wasn't so aggressive. He establishes
an intentional relationship, and he fosters it and nourishes it. It's no
different than a woman or a man pursuing a relationship. And there are
times when I think he goes too far." Aloise has never alleged entrapment
in his court arguments.

Residents whisper complaints, too. John A. Bell, a Keene attorney who
has defended clients against charges brought by McLaughlin, says some
people wonder why one of their police officers spends taxpayer money
tracking criminals who live someplace else. Then, worse, he invites them
to town for a visit. "The city of Keene is not too happy that he's
drawing alleged pedophiles here. That's unsettling," says Bell. "I can
understand Jim McLaughlin's point, but I can also understand the point
of the parents who don't want their kids going around there when the
police are laying a trap."

Measuring McLaughlin within the law enforcement establishment is far
more complicated. There are those who praise him as a pioneer. Hal G.
Brown, a captain of the Keene police, is the man who pulled McLaughlin
off patrol 15 years ago to become a detective. He says the department is
behind McLaughlin whether his dragnets involve locals or not. Then there
are colleagues who simply won't discuss him. They will talk off the
record but decline to say anything when their names will be attached.

Brad Russ, former police chief in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and now a
trainer for the federal Internet Crimes Against Children programs,
wouldn't comment on McLaughlin specifically. But he was willing to make
a statement about cops who he thinks are dangerous because they operate
outside the ICAC system and, in doing so, put some people at risk.

"What we're trying to do is not encourage every law enforcement agency
to do undercover investigation, because that can create issues for us
all down the road," Russ says. "There are the boundaries within which we
can operate. They could create bad case law for all of us if they don't
follow certain protocols."

As an example, he says his trainees would be told never to lead a
subject into the topic of sex. "You can't, say, be posing as a
15-year-old and throw something out like, 'I'm really questioning my
sexual orientation, and I wonder if someone out there can help me with
that.' That's really leading and, in my opinion, entrapment," says Russ.
"So many offenders are slam-dunk cases. You don't have to push the
envelope to get them."

On a hot day in mid-August, I drive 12 miles north of Keene along a
quiet country road to the Cheshire County Jail. McLaughlin has sent
about 25 people there over the last three years to await trial. A
43-year-old Connecticut man named Joe is one of them. Joe has been
charged with attempted sexual assault on a minor and illegal use of a
computer service, according to McLaughlin.

His relationship with McLaughlin started on March 26, 2003, according to
court papers, when he sent an e-mail to "Adam" at the suggestion of a
friend who had corresponded with the supposed boy. "I'm into tickling, a
LOT," Joe wrote. "He says you want to be tickled, a LOT. I'm an adult,
though I act like I'm 13. Would you be interested in being tickle
buddies? Tell me about yourself, what you like, what your fantasies are,
where you're ticklish. Anything you want to share!"

Over the next month, the two chatted or sent e-mails frequently,
sometimes with pages-long messages that discussed cars, how tough it is
to be gay, the deaths of their fathers (imagined, in Adam's case), and
bowling. But mostly, they talked about feet, tickling, and sex.

An excerpt: "You ever teach a guy his first time?" Adam asks Joe around
3 p.m. on March 30.

"Well, I haven't had much experience with guys believe it or not -- not
sexually -- a lot of tickling yes, but I'm more than willing to help a
young guy along," answers Joe, adding: "We can both learn some things as
we go -- are you into tickling as much as just being with a guy?"

Adam responds: "Well I am a total virgin so far -- you into a guy my age
for sex or just tickling?"

In the e-mails, Joe admits to masturbating an adult male once and once
masturbating himself while looking at a picture that Adam had sent of
himself. Adam asks several times for pictures of children engaged in
sex, or at least children being tickled. Joe doesn't have sex photos, he
says, but he offers to go find some -- and does. He also sends pictures
of fully clothed kids being tickled.

By March 31, the pair are starting to talk about a meeting. Joe floats
the idea of a "capture, strip, tickle torture session" in which they
will pretend that Adam has broken into Joe's hotel room with the
intention of stealing something, and, as punishment, Joe will tickle him
until he gasps for breath and urinates. Adam agrees to this, adding that
he'd like to do "sex stuff" as well, including "jerking" and "oral
stuff."

On May 2, a Friday, after weeks of highly charged communication and an
exhaustively planned tickle scenario -- including scripts of dialogue --
Joe gets into his Toyota and heads northeast to the Holiday Express in
Keene. He's booked a room with two double beds and a TV with movie
channels. He checks in at 3 p.m. and starts setting up when there's a
call from downstairs that a teenager is on his way up. Minutes later,
there's a knock on the door, and when Joe opens it, McLaughlin is
standing there with two other cops.

"I couldn't talk, I couldn't think," Joe tells me. "My entire life just
shriveled up at that moment. I've lost everything." He's not married but
has a girlfriend who so far is sticking by him. Just before he started
corresponding with Adam, he was laid off from his $60,000 computer
programming job for the state of Connecticut. That led, he says, to his
spending too much time on the Internet and, ultimately, to the mess he's
in now.

Regardless, he must have known this was wrong, I say. And he agrees. On
the drive to Keene that day, he says, "I actually had a little
conversation with myself: 'Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?' It
seemed like the chance of a lifetime to explore something that's always
been part of you, but has gone unexplored, with someone who is willing.
It's wrong no matter which way you turn it, but that's basically it."

Joe, who had no prior criminal record but pleaded guilty in October
because he says it meant reduced jail time, isn't angry with McLaughlin
for deceiving him. The detective has "done good things. He takes some
potentially hazardous people off the streets," Joe says. "But there are
people who sit in their little corner of fantasy and would never leave
that room and stray out of that little fantasy world. And he brings them
out of that into a world of reality and nails them. That's probably
something you'll find common to anyone else who has dealt with him."

On that same Friday in May that McLaughlin was driving Joe to be booked
at the police station in New Hampshire, officers in Connecticut were
knocking on the door of his home, where his mother also lives. Inside,
they found nearly 400 videotapes dating back 10 years, many sexual in
nature, of local boys ranging in age from 10 to 16 years old. Several
warrants have been issued there for Joe's arrest -- for injury to a
child, sexual assault on a child, and voyeurism. He'll be charged once
his case in Keene is resolved.

It's a Friday in early fall, and McLaughlin is chatting with the wife of
a man he just busted for having thousands of images of boys in sexual
poses. The couple happens to live in Keene, so when the wife locked
herself out of the house, she had to go downtown to get the keys from
her husband, who is in jail. McLaughlin asks her if she knew something
was wrong. She tells him she likes watching videos of men masturbating.
It never dawned on her to think it odd that her husband also liked to
watch them.

This is McLaughlin's landscape. For years, he has been amassing a
catalog of the ugliest examples of human behavior. His brain is
cluttered with stories, so many that sometimes they tumble out. The
Keene man who was having sex with his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter.
The Wakefield, New Hampshire, man who was arrested trying to meet
McLaughlin's young alter ego so he could administer an enema before sex.
The Wisconsin man who was aroused by fantasies of dead children in
sexual poses (he was living above a funeral home). All the officers who
work on crimes against children can go on like this. But McLaughlin's
list is longer than the rest.

We're sitting in Papagallos, a pleasant Italian restaurant just south of
Keene's city center. I tell McLaughlin that people say he's so
successful because he breaks too many rules. He already knows.

"I'll tell you the truth," he says. "I've had this conversation with
these people directly. I tell them that there's no such thing as bad
case law. If you think about it, what they're saying is unethical. What
they're saying is, 'Let's remain under the radar screen and keep this
going' vs. 'Wait a minute, if there's any procedure that's
unconstitutional, the courts should tell us that we can't do this.' You
go and go and go, and the courts will review our work and tell us what
we should and what we shouldn't do."

This is the McLaughlin way: Be as aggressive as possible until you're
told to knock it off. He has volumes about entrapment law sitting on his
shelf, and he swears he's read every page. He also points to the fact
that after 400 arrests, he has a nearly 100 percent success rate for
conviction. Part of that is due to an inordinate number of guys pleading
guilty because the evidence is voluminous and damning. Only five of his
cases have gone to trial. In two of those, the defense attorney claimed
entrapment, but both arguments were dismissed by the judge.

Our plates of cheese-and-spinach ravioli are almost finished, so I ask
what this job has done to him, if it's changed him. To answer,
McLaughlin tells a story. "I'm in a video store," he begins, "and a guy
comes in with a 12-year-old boy. They call each other by their first
names. So in my mind, I'm thinking, 'What's this relationship?' Then the
man tells the boy to pick out anything he wants, and that they should
take the trail home, not the road. And finally, the guy says to the kid
that he doesn't have to go home until tomorrow at 3.

"Your average person would not even hear that, wouldn't even think
anything," says McLaughlin. "But all of a sudden, my trip to the video
store has become invaded. And then I try to say to myself, 'It's OK.' "

He ended up ignoring the situation, but something about it continued to
bother him. So much so that he's been thinking it's time to finally get
up from his desk in that small, second-floor office near the main drag
in Keene and walk away. "I think I truly want to get out of this field,"
he says, which startles me. "I've put away hundreds and hundreds of
people. I think
I've done my share."

Carlene Hempel is a freelance writer living in Arlington.

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