BLUE HILL — As Parker Ridge residents filed in to a screening of the silent film “The Virginian” on a recent Monday afternoon, Ralph Pettie demonstrated that you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t take the classroom out of the teacher.

As the audience filled bowls of popcorn and took seats in the makeshift movie hall, Pettie stood ready to start the video recording of the silent film made in 1914.

But first the teacher in him emerged to instruct his “students” in some of the interesting aspects of the film.

It was the first movie made by Cecil B. DeMille, who would become one of the most successful filmmakers in Hollywood history. The movie would be remade twice: in 1925 starring Gary Cooper and in 1946 starring Joel McCrea.

Though these facts were delivered with enthusiasm, it was obvious that to Pettie they paled in comparison to the fact that the title role was played by Dustin Farnum, one of two brothers raised in Bucksport. Dustin and his brother William would become two of Hollywood’s most successful and highly paid actors, appearing opposite some of New York and Hollywood’s most famous actors.

As Pettie reiterated several times throughout the screening at Parker Ridge, “Not bad for a kid brought up in Bucksport.”

A native of Bucksport, Pettie first heard about the Farnum brothers in his childhood, but he didn’t hear much.

People would tell him that the two brothers raised in Bucksport were famous Hollywood and stage actors, but no one could tell him what films they made or provide other details about their lives or careers.

“Nobody could tell me a single thing about them,” Pettie lamented to his Parker Ridge audience.

He left Bucksport after high school and attended West Virginia Wesleyan College where he earned an undergraduate degree in English. He then earned a master’s degree at the University of Maine. After a two-year stint in the Army, he headed to Connecticut where he would teach literature for the next 34 years.

Throughout his career, he was plagued by the paucity of information available about the Farnum brothers and by the lack of attention that he believed they deserved. That would change soon after his retirement in 1992.

Though he greatly appreciated being only an hour outside of New York City during his teaching career, he now believed the environment was “too frantic, too crazy” for his retirement. He decided to come home, and in 1993, he moved into one of the first cottages sold at Parker Ridge.

“When I was growing up in Bucksport, I heard we had two famous actors, but they couldn’t tell me anything about it,” Pettie said in an interview. “That’s where the interest came from. I couldn’t believe the careers of these two brothers were overlooked. I was incensed about this Farnum brothers thing. I couldn’t understand why there wasn’t a fuss made about them.

“I wanted to make people aware of the fact these two boys came from Bucksport. Their maternal grandmother was named Gross and came from Orland.”

With that, Pettie submerged himself in relentless research. He found an extensive article about William Farnum in the Jan. 1928 issue of Photoplay, and paid $25 to buy the copy that sold for 25 cents when it was published. He scoured the libraries in Bangor, Bucksport, Blue Hill and Ellsworth for information about the brothers, their family and their lives in Bucksport. Though they played on stages and in movie houses across the United States and Europe, the Farnum brothers always returned to Bucksport.

Pettie’s research uncovered photos from sources such as the Museum of the City of New York, the American Film Institute in Los Angeles and the Bucksport Library. He visited local historical societies and combed through yellowed newspaper clippings. He read dozens of books on silent movies, motion pictures and theater.

In 2000, he self-published “The Farnum Brothers of Bucksport.” The slim volume includes a treasure trove of photos and provides the long-awaited details of the brothers’ lives in Bucksport and on the world stage.

The book includes filmographies listing the work of Dustin and William Farnum, as well as the directing and acting work of their brother Marshall.

Signed copies of the book are available at North Light Books in Blue Hill and from Pettie, who can be reached at 374-2398. They sell for $10.95 a copy, but Pettie says he wrote the book to raise awareness about these “boys from Bucksport” and to give their careers the credit they deserve in the world of American film.

True to his word, Pettie donates all proceeds from the sale of his book to a local animal shelter.

Pettie, 76, remains active in retirement, but now the roles have changed.

“I’m not reading 30 compositions a day,” he said. “So, now I can do some writing on my own. I enjoy doing that. I’m having fun. It’s my turn to do a bit of writing.”

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