FARMINGTON — Sumner McKane’s “The Northeast by Eastern” will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at North Church, 118 High St.

The film, history and live music combine to illustrate a way of life from a simpler, more patient, yet enterprising American era. Film and music by Sumner McKane, live music by McKane and Josh Robbins.

For years, Belfast-based Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company sent traveling photographer-salesmen on the roads all over New England and beyond with cameras, catalogues and order books, seeking buyers and markets for their unique “real photo” postcards.

The Northeast by Eastern combines Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company’s comprehensive collection of early 20th century photographs with archival film footage, interviews, oral histories, a musical soundtrack featuring period music, as well as an original score by McKane.

Combined, these stories and images illustrate an era unlike any other in American history. Interviews and oral histories not only detail the history of the Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Co., and the postcard craze of the early 1900s; but also divulge stories from a quieter, simpler, yet stirring and enterprising time period.

The audience can hear first-hand accounts of smuggling during prohibition, of river drivers brawling for fun, of growing up without worry and without constant adult supervision, and of slop buckets spilling on tourists’ pies. These accounts are woven together amidst an exceptional backdrop of archived films and Eastern Illustrating’s work.

The show will be preceded by a pie social at 6 p.m. in the Church Meeting Hall. Pie, coffee and other refreshments will be made available to attendees before the show and at intermission.

Cost is $15 for adults, $10 for upper grade students, or free for elementary students. For a reservation, call 778-2006.