Ward Allen: Savannah River Market Hunter

Jack Cay & John Cay
Two colorful characters and their unlikely friendship in early 20th century Savannah, Georgia: Ward Allen, a romantic and bombastic character who rejects his plantation heritage for the freedom of life on a river, and his long-time friend, a freed slave named Christmas Moultrie, fight for their rights as market hunters. Jack Cay grew up listening to stories about gun toting, Shakespeare quoting Allen from an elderly Christmas Moultrie. Jack collected them in a book and his son, John Cay, made the book into a movie. The reprinted book includes movie stills of actors Jim Caviezel, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sam Shepard and Hal Holbrook.
John E. (Jack) Cay Jr. was a native of Savannah and was educated at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jack originally wrote Ward Allen as a paper for the Madeira Club, a literary society that has been meeting in Savannah since the early nineteenth century.

John Cay III is a native of Savannah, Georgia. Mr. Cay received the Distinguished Citizens Award and was voted 'Outstanding Young Man of the Year.' He was also the recipient of the Edgar J. Dunlap Awards, and was appointed mayor of the Savannah Olympic Committee in 1996. During his career Mr. Cay has served as board member, director, or chairman for more than 30 organizations, including two New York Exchange companies and a number of the region's most prestigious non-for-profit entities. This collection of non-fiction anecdotes was passed down to Cay from his father Jack. John and his wife Billings served as executive producer of the film 'Savannah.'