# Samantha Reed Smith: child actress/child peace activist **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2018, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379 "2018-10-23T11:06:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/1 "2018-10-23T11:06:06Z")
I just want to remember a girl who wrote to an “Evil Empire” and made a journey for peace. She became a bit of a celebrity but she kept her feet on the ground. A little girl from Maine led America on a tour of the Soviet Union. She was urbane. charming and cosmopolitan. Just what was needed in the “Second Cold War” of the early eighties. As i said, Samantha was urbane, cosmopolitan and charming which helped her catch on with the media. I doubt a little girl from Alabama with a honeyed Deep South accent would have succeeded as well - they’d have been much more vulnerable to the “ignorant hick” stereotype. Samantha was an “innocent abroad”. She’s pretty in this Lime Street screenshot. The blue dress is nice, but '80s-tastic. [![](https://i.imgur.com/VZ0b9UT.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/VZ0b9UT.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/2 "2019-10-09T04:58:53Z")
Even without Samantha Smith’s death, **Lime Street** would still have been destroyed by **The Golden Girls** , **227** , and the complete lack of support from the **American Breadcrumbling Company** (As Dan Ingram called them). As I said elsewhere, Samantha Reed Smith should have been cast in a show that was like **The Torkelsons** or **The Wonder Years**. She would have made a great Winnie Cooper in an earlier-produced **Wonder Years**. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/3 "2019-10-09T10:52:19Z")
An outstanding girl. Imagine what she would’ve been today. Don’t let your kids fly airplanes, folks. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/4 "2019-10-09T13:48:36Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > An outstanding girl. Imagine what she would’ve been today. > > Don’t let your kids fly airplanes, folks. Wasn’t that a “Bar Harbor burial”? ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/5 "2019-10-09T14:17:35Z")
in that “blue dress” photo from Lime Street you can see obvious makeup on her face when they do the closeup after she comes down in the dress. She was only 13 but it was the **American Bonehead Company**. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2019, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/6 "2019-10-09T22:45:44Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > Wasn’t that a “Bar Harbor burial”? Yes, my mistake. I mixed Samantha up with Jessica Dubroff, 7, who died trying to be the world’s youngest pilot, at the behest of her glory-hungry parents. Sometimes, I can’t tell one flash in the pan little media darling from another. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/7 "2019-10-10T02:01:02Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Yes, my mistake. I mixed Samantha up with Jessica Dubroff, 7, who died trying to be the world’s youngest pilot, at the behest of her glory-hungry parents. > > Sometimes, I can’t tell one flash in the pan little media darling from another. Bar Harbor Airways were always an adventure. Was flying to Bangor one time and they lead us out to a multi-engine (props) tail dragger. Pilot starts things up, then starts beating on a gauge to get it to come up. Real confidence inspiring. ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2019, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/8 "2019-10-10T05:16:10Z")
Ah, yes, Jessica Dubroff and “Can you hear the rain, Mommy?” ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/9 "2019-11-11T01:15:28Z")
She was the best thing about “Lime Street”. She should have been cast as the daughter in a family situation comedy rather than as an afterthought in an action adventure series. The fact that the American Breadcrumbling Company put “Lime Street” up against the freaking “Golden Girls” was an unfortunate event. by the way, Samantha was heterosexual while Maia Brewton, who played her little sister in “Lime Street”, is lesbian as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/10 "2019-12-06T00:50:15Z")
[Samantha Smith Press Conference](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T4lZnGnY3A) ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/11 "2019-12-06T03:51:49Z")
I sense that you were very fond of her. ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/12 "2019-12-06T03:56:34Z")
No just think she shouldn’t be forgotten by history. ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2019, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/13 "2019-12-08T00:41:37Z")
> [@Princess\_Perfume](#): > > by the way, Samantha was heterosexual while Maia Brewton, who played her little sister in “Lime Street”, is lesbian as an adult. Thanks. It’s really important to know that a child who died in 1985 at the age of 13 was “heterosexual.” ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/14 "2019-12-09T20:52:29Z")
Sorry, I should have been more tactful. Thank you for calling me out. ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/15 "2020-01-14T12:45:39Z")
can you here help me expand [Lime Street (Series) - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/LimeStreet) ? there’s only one episode of it up on You Tube, the “Samantha Reed Smith’s character ends up in an eighties-'tastic blue satin dress in the last few scenes” episode - [Lime Street - S0102 - "The Mystery of Flight 401" - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4D2U1YyLP8) if she and the boy were going out for pizza, that dress would be ridiculous, but for a school dance… still, even in 1985, girls should have been able to get away with pants. The dress looks even worse when she’s lying on her bed after her date stands her up. And, are those shoes dyed blue to match? ---
**Author:** ![Princess\_Perfume](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/princess_perfume/32/16518_2.png) [@Princess\_Perfume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princess_Perfume)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/16 "2020-02-21T08:41:22Z")
Looking at the newspaper editorial cartoons at the time of Samantha’s visit that are up on samanthasmith.info, most of them depict her in a dress or skirt plus long hair. Shows the age of most editorial cartoonists in 1983. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/17 "2020-02-21T09:55:44Z")
I wonder if Mort Sahl ever told a joke about Samantha Reed. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/samantha-reed-smith-child-actress-child-peace-activist/823379/18 "2020-02-21T21:30:28Z")
It seems that nobody is interested in discussing this. This does not give you license to repeatedly bump it. It’s not going to get any more discussion the next time.